Arms trafficker Viktor Bout reportedly in line for exchange with the WNBA star facing drug charges
and the canisters ended up in her luggage inadvertently. Griner faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.“From a legal point of view, an exchange is only possible after a court verdict,” Griner’s lawyers said.
Whelan lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov told the Guardian on Thursday he believed Moscow wanted Bout to be part of a swap for his client. Zherebenkov said that at the time, an American diplomat met Whelan in prison and said that the trade was “unrealistic because Russia will start to kidnap our citizens, illegally accuse them and then trade for them”.“Now I think a trade is realistic because as far as I understand the Russian side has always been for a trade and in this case, it now appears to be the position of the American side.”
“We talked yesterday on the phone. Victor doesn’t know anything about the negotiations between Russia and the US. We, of course, assume such talks could be talking place … but we both don’t have any information on the talks,” she said.
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