The Biden administration has distanced itself from Bill Richardson’s effort, but Brittney Griner’s family welcomes the visit.
Former US diplomat Bill Richardson visited Russia this week, several news outlets reported, amid efforts to secure the release of American basketball player Brittney Griner and former US soldier. Paul Whelan.
But the US State Department on Wednesday rejected the trip, insisting that Washington is engaging with Moscow through established channels to ensure two Americans’ release.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said Richardson’s visit – who has worked to free US citizens detained around the world – to Russia was not coordinated by the US government.
“Our concern is that private citizens try to broker a no-and-cannot deal with the US government, and we have appealed to private citizens not to travel to Russia, because of the dangers that they will have to face,” Price told reporters in a news release. conference.
He added that holding talks with Russia outside of designated diplomatic channels could “hinder” the push for the liberation of Griner and Whelan.
The Associated Press reported that the Richardson Center for Global Engagement declined to comment on the visit.
The center was founded by Richardson, a former UN special envoy and governor of New Mexico, who said they negotiate “to release prisoners and hostages held by hostile regimes or organized crime incarceration”.
Griner’s wife, Cherelle, told CNN the family turned to the Richardson Center for help. “We were encouraged to know that they were having meetings in Moscow,” said Cherelle Griner.
A two-time Olympic gold medalist and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star, Griner was convicted to nine years in prison last month for drug offenses.
She was arrested in February, days before Russia launched an all-out assault Invasion of Ukraineand her case has been moved through the Russian court system amid war-torn relations between Moscow and Washington.
Griner is accused of bringing vape canisters containing cannabis oil into Russia, where she was set to play for a basketball team in Yekaterinburg.
Since Griner’s arrest, loved ones, teammate and supporters have called on the US government to focus all its energies on the case to push for her release.
The US government said in May that Griner had “wrongfully detained“, and it called for her release.
After her conviction in August, President Joe Biden called her detention “unacceptable” and promised to “tirelessly pursue and pursue every avenue possible” to bring her and Whelan back. America.
Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 on espionage charges.
On Wednesday, Price said Washington had made a “Important offer“For Russia to secure the release of two US citizens, it added that discussions on the matter are “ongoing”.
