ReportWire

Tag: Paul Whelan

  • Who is Paul Whelan? Brittney Griner’s freedom draws attention to U.S. Marine veteran still held in Russia

    Who is Paul Whelan? Brittney Griner’s freedom draws attention to U.S. Marine veteran still held in Russia

    [ad_1]

    More than three years before the WNBA star Brittney Griner was arrested at an airport outside of Moscow for traveling with cannabis oil in her bag, another American, retired U.S. Marine Corps veteran Paul Whelan, was taken into custody in Russia’s capital city.

    At the time, Whelan’s brother said that he was visiting Russia to attend the wedding of a Marine colleague. He was arrested in December 2018, on espionage charges that the U.S. has said are false, and sentenced to 16 years in prison following his conviction two summers later. Ahead of the conviction, Whelan was hospitalized and underwent an emergency hernia surgery, his brother said.

    Whelan, now 52, is an American national who also holds citizenship in Canada, where he was born, the United Kingdom and Ireland. He was accused by Russian prosecutors of working for U.S. intelligence, and they claimed before a court in Moscow that he had been caught “red-handed” receiving a flash drive that contained classified information during his trip abroad. After maintaining his innocence throughout the legal proceedings and arguing that he had been framed, Whelan and his defense team declined to appeal the conviction, saying they hoped his freedom would be secured by way of a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia.

    It has been nearly four years since Whelan was initially imprisoned, and he has since been transferred to multiple detention centers across Russia, including the infamous Soviet-era Lefortovo Prison and a remote penal colony where he is currently serving his sentence. Despite Whelan and his lawyers’ hopes for a prisoner exchange to win his release, no such agreement has been reached.

    American citizen Paul Whelan attends a sentencing hearing at the Moscow City Court, on charges of espionage against Russia, in June 2020.

    Photo by Anton NovoderezhkinTASS via Getty Images


    On Thursday, Griner returned home after federal officials successfully negotiated a prisoner swap for notorious international arms dealer Viktor Bout. In April, Trevor Reed, also a Marine Corps veteran, was freed from Russian custody in exchange for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot and convicted drug smuggler previously detained in the U.S.

    “We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan,” said President Joe Biden, in remarks about Griner’s release on Thursday, adding that U.S. officials “will never give up” on efforts to secure his release.

    David Whelan, Paul Whelan’s brother, praised the Biden administration for reaching a deal with Russia to bring Griner home in a statement issued after her release. However, he described his brother’s continued detention as “a catastrophe” and urged the federal government to take more decisive steps toward securing his freedom.

    “At some level, our family has steeled ourselves for this likelihood.  And I think, as the use of wrongful detentions and hostage diplomacy continues around the globe, it’s clear the U.S. government needs to be more assertive,” David wrote. “If bad actors like Russia are going to grab innocent Americans, the U.S. needs a swifter, more direct response, and to be prepared in advance.”

    He noted that, despite knowing all along that the latest prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia might not include Paul Whelan, “our family is still devastated,” and added, “I can’t even fathom how Paul will feel when he learns.”

    Paul Whelan reportedly told CNN on Thursday that he was happy to hear of Griner’s release, but said he was “greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release, especially as the four-year anniversary of my arrest is coming up.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Brittney Griner released by Russia in 1-for-1 prisoner swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout

    Brittney Griner released by Russia in 1-for-1 prisoner swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout

    [ad_1]

    Washington — Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who was held for months in Russian prisons on drug charges, was released Thursday in a one-for-one prisoner swap for international arms dealer Viktor Bout, bringing an end to an ordeal that sparked intensive high-level negotiations between the U.S. and the Kremlin to secure her freedom.

    “She’s safe. She’s on a plane,” President Biden said at the White House, announcing the exchange.”She’s on her way home, after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances. Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones and she should have been there all along. This is a day we’ve worked toward for a long time. We never stopped pushing for her release.”

    CBS News was first to report the swap, which took place in the United Arab Emirates, after it was confirmed by a U.S. official. The exchange agreement negotiated with Moscow in recent weeks was given final approval by Mr. Biden within just the last week, according to sources familiar with the deal.

    Five former U.S. officials told CBS News the agreement had been reached as of last Thursday.  

    The president said he spoke to Griner by phone from the Oval Office, where he was joined by Griner’s wife Cherelle, Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Per standard procedure for freed U.S. prisoners, Griner was expected to quickly undergo a medical evaluation. 

    Mr. Biden said that he was “glad to be able to say Brittney is in good spirits,” and that she was looking forward to getting home. The president dismissed the “show trial in Russia” that landed her in prison and said “she didn’t ask for special treatment.” 

    To secure Griner’s release, the president ordered Bout to be freed and returned to Russia. Mr. Biden signed the commutation order cutting short Bout’s 25-year federal prison sentence. 

    Notably, the Griner-for-Bout exchange leaves retired U.S. Marine Paul Whelan imprisoned in Russia. Whelan has been in Russian custody for nearly four years. He was convicted on espionage charges that the U.S. has called false.

    “We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan,” Mr. Biden said Thursday, adding “we will never give up” on securing his release. U.S. officials told reporters that it became clear in talks with the Russians that the prospect of exchanging both Griner and Whelan for Bout was a nonstarter, with one saying the U.S. had was “a choice between bringing home one particular American — Brittney Griner — or bringing home none.”

    Griner, a 32-year-old star center for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, was detained at a Russian airport in February and later pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the discovery of cannabis-derived oil cartridges in her luggage. Griner said she didn’t mean to bring the cartridges with her when she traveled to the country to play in a Russian basketball league during the WNBA offseason. 

    After five months of stalled diplomacy and various permutations of potential swap arrangements — including a previously unreported offer by the U.S. this past summer to send two prisoners back to Russia for the two Americans — sources say the one-for-one exchange came together over the last two weeks. 

    Whelan, who once worked as a corporate security contractor, was in Moscow for a friend’s wedding when he was detained at a hotel in December 2018.  Russian authorities later sentenced him to 16 years in prison for espionage — a charge the U.S. and Whelan denied. This month marks the fourth anniversary of Whelan’s time in Russian custody. 

    Bout, who was most recently held at a federal prison in Marion, Illinois, was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Agency in Thailand following a sting operation in 2008. He was convicted of conspiring to kill Americans and began his 25-year sentence a decade ago.

    Griner’s arrest coincided with the February start to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and all U.S. dealings with the Kremlin have been complicated by that conflict. The U.S. has said both Griner and Whelan were “wrongfully detained,” and officials have suspected that Russia has been using the American prisoners as leverage. 

    Griner’s return for Bout marks the Biden administration’s second prisoner swap with Russia. In April, the U.S. traded Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian smuggler convicted of conspiring to import cocaine, for Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine who had been imprisoned in Russia for nearly three years. 

    CBS News learned last Thursday that the Griner-for-Bout swap was in the offing but agreed to a White House request to hold the reporting because officials expressed grave concern about the fragility of the then-emerging deal. 

    The Biden administration officials warned that making details of the swap public beforehand would almost certainly lead Russia to pull out of the agreement and potentially endanger Griner’s well-being. 

    Nancy Cordes, Ed O’Keefe, Sara Cook, Camilla Schick, Tucker Reals, Haley Ott and Melissa Quinn contributed reporting. 

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • U.S. ‘Actively’ Working On Brittney Griner, Paul Whelan Release From Russia

    U.S. ‘Actively’ Working On Brittney Griner, Paul Whelan Release From Russia

    [ad_1]

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. is “actively” working to secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and former marine Paul Whelan, two Americans currently imprisoned in Russia.

    “We did put a significant proposal on the table many months ago,” Blinken said Sunday. “And since then, we’ve been engaged repeatedly, in any way that we can, to try to advance it and to look to see if there are different permutations that could achieve what we’re trying to achieve, which is to get our people home.”

    “We will not stop until we do,” he added.

    Blinken noted that despite what the U.S. offered, “the other side gets a vote in this. It’s not just what we want. It’s what they’re prepared to do.”

    Griner was arrested in February in Moscow after authorities found a small amount of cannabis oil in her luggage. She was convicted in August and sentenced to nine years in a penal colony, where she was transferred last month. Whelan has been held since 2018 after being arrested during a visit to the country for a wedding. He was convicted on espionage charges and sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison.

    President Joe Biden has said he is “determined” to bring Griner home, saying he was hopeful Russian President Vladimir Putin would be more open to discussions after this year’s midterm elections.

    “The proof will be in the pudding,” Blinken said Sunday. “We are not resting on the laurels of having put forward a proposal some months ago, we’ve been actively engaged over these many months to try to move things forward.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • CIA director Burns to meet Russian counterpart in Turkey

    CIA director Burns to meet Russian counterpart in Turkey

    [ad_1]

    WASHINGTON — CIA Director Bill Burns will meet in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday with his Russian intelligence counterpart to underscore the consequences if Russia were to deploy a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, according to a White House National Security Council official.

    The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Burns and Sergey Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s SVR spy agency, would not discuss settlement of the war in Ukraine. Burns is also expected to raise the cases of WNBA star Brittney Griner and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, two Americans detained in Russia whom the Biden administration has been pressing to release in a prisoner exchange.

    The official said that Ukrainian officials were briefed ahead of Burns’ travel to Turkey.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday he could neither confirm nor deny reports of U.S.-Russia talks in Turkey.

    Two Turkish officials said they had no knowledge about a meeting between U.S. and Russian delegations. A Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • CBS Evening News, November 3, 2022

    CBS Evening News, November 3, 2022

    [ad_1]

    CBS Evening News, November 3, 2022 – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    John Fetterman defends record on crime; U.S. diplomats granted access to Brittney Griner

    Be the first to know

    Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.


    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • U.S. diplomats granted access to Brittney Griner

    U.S. diplomats granted access to Brittney Griner

    [ad_1]

    U.S. diplomats granted access to Brittney Griner – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    U.S. Embassy officials in Russia visited imprisoned WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was sentenced to nine years in prison for drug possession. The U.S. is trying to get Griner and Marine veteran Paul Whelan released in a prisoner swap.

    Be the first to know

    Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.


    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • US Embassy Officials Visit Brittney Griner In Russia Prison

    US Embassy Officials Visit Brittney Griner In Russia Prison

    [ad_1]

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow visited jailed WNBA star Brittney Griner on Thursday, more than a week after a Russian court rejected her appeal of her nine-year sentence for drug possession.

    State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a tweet that the American representatives “saw firsthand her tenacity and perseverance despite her present circumstances.”

    Price said the Biden administration is continuing to press for the immediate release of Griner and Paul Whelan, who was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison in Russia on espionage-related charges that he and his family say are bogus, and “fair treatment for every detained American.”

    White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Griner “is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances” and that the administration was working “to resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful detentions” of Griner and Whelan.

    Griner was was convicted in August after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. Her arrest in February came at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, just days before Russia sent troops into Ukraine. At that time, Griner was returning to play for a Russian team during the WNBA’s offseason.

    She admitted at her trial to having the canisters in her luggage but testified she packed them inadvertently in her haste to make her flight and had no criminal intent. Her lawyers have called the punishment excessive.

    The United States regards Griner and Whelan as wrongful detainees and has been trying for months to negotiate with Russia for their release. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said over the summer that the U.S. had made a “substantial proposal” to Russia to try to secure their release, and President Joe Biden told relatives of Griner and Whelan in a White House meeting in September that his administration was committed to bringing them home.

    People familiar with the offer have said the U.S. had offered to release convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for Griner and Whelan.

    There have been no outward signs of progress since then in the negotiations.

    Jean-Pierre told reporters traveling with the president to New Mexico that “despite a lack of good faith negotiation by the Russians, the U.S. government has continued to follow up on that offer and propose alternative potential ways forward with Russia through all available channels. This continues to be a top priority.”

    Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP

    Follow AP’s coverage of Brittney Griner at: https://apnews.com/hub/brittney-griner

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Russian court upholds WNBA star Brittney Griner’s 9-year prison sentence

    Russian court upholds WNBA star Brittney Griner’s 9-year prison sentence

    [ad_1]

    A Russian court on Tuesday upheld American basketball star Brittney Griner‘s nine-year prison sentence for drug possession, rejecting her appeal in a session where she appeared via video call from a penal colony outside Moscow. Griner can still appeal to a higher court, but her lawyers have yet to confirm whether they will take the case further.

    In the ruling, the court stated that the time Griner will have to serve in prison will be recalculated with her time in pre-trial detention taken into account. One day in pre-trial detention will be counted as 1.5 days in prison, so the basketball star will have to serve around eight years in prison.

    The decision clears the way for the WNBA star to serve that sentence in a penal colony, unless the U.S. government negotiates a deal.

    The eight-time all-star center with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist was convicted on August 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. 

    “This has been very traumatic experience, waiting for this day, waiting for the first court, and getting nine years for a crime that I was barely over the significant amount,” Griner told the Moscow hearing on Tuesday. “I don’t understand the first court’s decision to give one year less than the max when I’ve been here almost 8 months, and people with more severe crimes have gotten less than what I was given… I really hope that the court will adjust this sentence, because it’s been very, very stressful and very traumatic to my mental and psyche, being away from my family and not being able to communicate.”

    “While their legal system is very different from ours, there is no doubt that the original sentence she received was extreme, even for the Russian legal system,” the WNBA said in a statement after Tuesday’s decision. “This appeal is further verification that BG is not just wrongfully detained – she is very clearly a hostage. Let us not be divided in this moment. Rallying around BG and all wrongfully detained Americans is the common thread of humanity that unites us without regard to ideology or political party. We must unite and support the stated public commitment of the Biden Administration and Congressional leaders to do everything possible to get her home.”

    Earlier this month, Brittney’s wife, Cherelle Griner, told “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King that she was terrified of the WNBA star’s fate.


    Brittney Griner’s wife on WNBA star’s detention in Russia

    01:10

    “It’s like a movie for me. I’m like, ‘In no world did I ever thought, you know, our president and a foreign nation president would be sitting down having to discuss the freedom of my wife.’ And so to me, as much as everybody’s telling me a different definition of what B.G. is, it feels to me as if she’s a hostage,” Cherelle said.

    “That must scare you,” King replied.

    “It terrifies me because, I mean, when you watch movies, like, sometimes those situations don’t end well. Sometimes they never get the person back,” said Cherelle.Griner’s February arrest came at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, just days before Russia sent troops into Ukraine. At the time, Griner was returning to Russia, where she played during the U.S. league’s offseason.

    U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner appears in court via video link in Krasnogorsk
    U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner appears on a screen via video link from a detention center before a court hearing to consider her appeal of her prison sentence on Oct. 25, 2022.

    EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA / REUTERS


    During her trial, Griner admitted that she had the canisters in her luggage, but testified that she had inadvertently packed them in haste and that she had no criminal intent. Her defense team presented written statements that she had been prescribed cannabis to treat pain.

    The nine-year sentence was close to the maximum of 10 years, and Griner’s lawyers argued after the conviction that the punishment was excessive. They said in similar cases defendants have received an average sentence of about five years, with about a third of them granted parole.

    Before her conviction, the U.S. State Department declared Griner to be “wrongfully detained” — a charge that Russia has sharply rejected.

    Reflecting the growing pressure on the Biden administration to do more to bring Griner home, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the unusual step of revealing publicly in July that Washington had made a “substantial proposal” to get Griner home, along with Paul Whelan, an American serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for espionage.

    Blinken didn’t elaborate, but The Associated Press and other news organizations have reported that Washington has offered to exchange Griner and Whelan for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who is serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. and once earned the nickname the “merchant of death.”

    The White House said it has not yet received a productive response from Russia to the offer.

    Russian diplomats have refused to comment on the U.S. proposal and urged Washington to discuss the matter in confidential talks, avoiding public statements.

    In September, U.S. President Joe Biden met with Brittney’s wife, Cherelle, as well as the player’s agent, Lindsay Colas. Biden also sat down separately with Elizabeth Whelan, Paul Whelan’s sister.

    The White House said after the meetings that the president stressed to the families his “continued commitment to working through all available avenues to bring Brittney and Paul home safely.”

    The Biden administration carried out a prisoner swap in April, with Moscow releasing Marine veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for the U.S. releasing a Russian pilot, Konstantin Yaroshenko, convicted in a drug trafficking conspiracy.

    Moscow also has protested the arrest of another Russian currently in U.S. custody, Alexander Vinnik, who was accused of laundering billions of dollars via an illicit cryptocurrency exchange. Vinnik had been in custody in Greece after being arrested there in 2017 at U.S. request before being extradited to the U.S. in August. It wasn’t clear if Russia might demand Vinnik’s release as part of a potential swap.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Biden admin has been in touch with Russia in recent days as part of efforts to secure Griner and Whelan’s release | CNN Politics

    Biden admin has been in touch with Russia in recent days as part of efforts to secure Griner and Whelan’s release | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    The Biden administration has had communications with Russia to try and secure the release of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan “as recently as within past days” said a senior administration official, speaking to CNN on Griner’s 32nd birthday, which she will be spending in a Russian jail.

    The United States first put an offer for a prisoner swap on the table with Russia back in June – the details of which CNN exclusively reported – and “conversations have not been static since then” the official said.

    Despite the “pretty persistent” pace of discussions between the US and Russia to secure the Americans’ release, the official said that the Biden administration has yet to receive a serious counteroffer from the Russian side.

    “We have worked hard to try to demonstrate the sorts of things that could well be the basis for resolving this and each time we have articulated that it’s been met not with a serious counteroffer,” the official said.

    They said the Russians have countered with “something not in our control, not in our ability to deliver,” but did not go into further specifics.

    “They’re not non-responsive. I would say that they continue to respond with something that they know not to be feasible or available,” the official said of the Russian response.

    The official said the US has used multiple channels for discussions with the Russians and conversations have taken place both in-person, by phone, and “through other forms.” The US has dangled multiple ideas for “things that could be in play” to urge a serious response from the Russians.

    As negotiations continue, Griner and Whelan both remain behind bars, with the WNBA player detained since February and the ex-Marine detained since December 2018.

    Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison in August, and the US Embassy has not had consular access to her since then, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said last week.

    Griner released a statement on her birthday Tuesday thanking “everyone for fighting so hard to get (her) home.”

    “All the support and love are definitely helping me,” she said in the statement, which was shared by Maria Blagovolina, a partner at Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin and Partners law firm.

    The US senior administration said said that “every day is too long” for Griner to remain wrongfully detained.

    “I wish you weren’t spending this birthday in Russian detention. I wish you weren’t spending the past weeks and months there,” the official said in a message to Griner.

    “As far as we’re concerned, each day is too long and we will keep working this until we resolve it and get her home. Regrettably, the other side gets a vote in this. They’re the ones who created this horrific situation. They’re the ones we regrettably need to deal with to resolve it.”

    Next week Griner will appeal her 9-year prison sentence. It is unclear if the passage of that court date will bolster ongoing efforts to get her home.

    “To the extent that that different phases of that decidedly imperfect system pass and open the possibility on the other side of real negotiations, we would welcome that. But the most candid answer is, we don’t know,” the official said.

    President Joe Biden said last week that he would consider meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 in November if he wanted to discuss Griner. When asked if there has been discussion between the US and Russia about that possible meeting on Griner the official said they would let Biden’s remarks “speak for themselves.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Former Gov. Bill Richardson suggests Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan may be released by end of year | CNN Politics

    Former Gov. Bill Richardson suggests Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan may be released by end of year | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Former Gov. Bill Richardson said Sunday he is “cautiously optimistic” that two Americans wrongfully detained by Russia will be released and suggested they could be freed by the end of the year.

    Richardson, a former Democratic governor of New Mexico, and his namesake center privately work on behalf of families of hostages and detainees. He recently traveled to Russia to discuss with Kremlin officials the possible release of basketball star Brittney Griner and former US Marine Paul Whelan, and he said Sunday that he’s working with the families of both Americans and coordinating with the White House for their release.

    “I do think so. Now, I hate making predictions, but yes,” Richardson told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” when asked if he believed Griiner and Whelan may be released before the end of this year.

    “I know (the families are) very emotional and this is a very emotional time. All I can say is that the Biden administration is working hard on it,” added Richardson, who served as US ambassador to the United Nations in the Clinton administration. “So am I. We coordinate, but not always agree on every tactical decision. But I’m not going to interfere in their process. I’m just giving you my assessment after two visits to Russia on behalf of American hostages.”

    Griner was sentenced in August to nine years in a Russian jail after pleading guilty to drug-smuggling. The two-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist had been arrested at a Moscow airport and accused by Russian prosecutors of trying to smuggle less than 1 gram of cannabis oil in her luggage – which she said she had accidentally packed while in a hurry.

    Whelan was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 and arrested on espionage charges, which he has consistently and vehemently denied. He was convicted and sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years in prison in a trial US officials denounced as unfair.

    President Joe Biden met separately with the families of Griner and Whelan at the White House last month, marking his first time personally meeting with them since their loved ones were detained in Russia.

    On Sunday, Richardson characterized his meetings in Russia as being with “senior Russian officials, individuals close to President (Vladimir) Putin.”

    “I am cautiously optimistic,” Richardson said of the negotiations over Griner and Whelan’s release.

    “I got the sense that the Russian officials that I met with, that I’ve known over the years, are ready to talk,” he said. “I got a good sense from the Russians – the vibrations – but I’m not a government official.”

    The Biden administration had previously distanced itself from Richardson’s efforts. Last month, a senior administration official told CNN that anyone “who’s going to Russia is going as a private citizen and they don’t speak for the US government.”

    “I’m not part of the government, the government channel. I’ve always made that clear. I respect that. I think any decision, for instance, a release, a prisoner exchange, has to be made by the President. And I think the administration has done a good job on that,” Richardson said on Sunday.

    Richardson on Sunday acknowledged the White House’s trepidation at him being involved in prisoner release negotiations, but cited his experience in past prisoner negotiations, including his role in the release of Trevor Reed from Russian custody earlier this year.

    A source familiar with the situation previously told CNN that members of the Richardson Center had traveled to Moscow in February, in the days immediately before the Russian war in Ukraine began, to meet with Russian leadership. Following that visit, the Richardson Center came away with a clear sense of what the Russians were willing to do and how they were willing to do it, which was presented to the White House. Reed was freed in a prisoner swap in April.

    “I’ve coordinated with the White House. I’ve coordinated as much as I can, but you know, sometimes they’re a little nervous about my doing this on my own,” he said.

    “But at the same time, we’ve had success recently with Trevor Reed, the American hostage in Russia some months ago. Danny Fenster, a journalist in Myanmar at the end of last year,” Richardson added. “So, I know what I’m doing.”

    Earlier this month, Biden announced the return of seven Americans who had been detained in Venezuela. The detainees were released in exchange for the release of two Venezuelans imprisoned in the US for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the country, both nephews of the Venezuelan first lady.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Venezuela releases 7 jailed Americans; U.S. frees 2 prisoners

    Venezuela releases 7 jailed Americans; U.S. frees 2 prisoners

    [ad_1]

    Venezuela on Saturday freed seven Americans imprisoned in the South American country in exchange for the release of two nephews of President Nicholas Maduro’s wife who had been jailed for years by the United States on drug smuggling convictions, a senior U.S. official said.

    The swap of the Americans, including five oil executives held for nearly five years, is the largest trade of detained citizens ever carried out by the Biden administration.

    “We are relieved and gratified to be welcoming back to their families today seven Americans who had been wrongfully detained for too long in Venezuela,” said Joshua Geltzer, the deputy homeland security adviser.

    It amounts to a rare gesture of goodwill by Maduro as the socialist leader looks to rebuild relations with the U.S. after vanquishing most of his domestic opponents. The deal follows months of back channel diplomacy by Washington’s top hostage negotiator and other U.S. officials — secretive talks with a major oil producer that took on greater urgency after sanctions on Russia put pressure on global energy prices.

    Those freed include five employees of Houston-based Citgo — Tomeu Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo and Jose Pereira — who were lured to Venezuela right before Thanksgiving in 2017 to attend a meeting at the headquarters of the company’s parent, state-run-oil giant PDVSA. Once there, they were hauled away by masked security agents who busted into a Caracas conference room.

    Also released was Matthew Heath, a former U.S. Marine corporal from Tennessee who was arrested in 2020 at a roadblock in Venezuela on what the State Department has called “specious” weapons charges, and Florida man, Osman Khan, who was arrested in January.

    The United States freed Franqui Flores and his cousin Efrain Campo nephews of “First Combatant” Cilia Flores, as Maduro has called his wife. The men were arrested in Haiti in a Drug Enforcement Administration sting in 2015 and immediately taken to New York to face trial. They were convicted the following year in a highly charged case that cast a hard look at U.S. accusations of drug trafficking at the highest levels of Maduro’s administration.

    Both men were granted clemency by President Joe Biden before the release.

    The Biden administration has been under pressure to do more to bring home the roughly 60 Americans it believes are held hostage abroad or wrongfully detained by hostile foreign governments. While much of the focus is on Russia, where the U.S. has so far tried unsuccessfully to secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American, Paul Whelan, Venezuela has been holding the largest contingent of Americans suspected of being used as bargaining chips.

    At least four other Americans remain detained in Venezuela, including two former Green Berets involved in a slapdash attempt to oust Maduro in 2019, and two other men who, like Khan, were detained for allegedly entering the country illegally from neighboring Colombia.

    Earlier this month, the family of Los Angeles attorney Eyvin Hernandez told CBS News that the 44-year-old took a trip to Colombia in April and never returned. They said he and a friend went to the Colombia-Venezuela border to get a passport stamp, but things went awry and the two were detained.

    The two were charged with conspiracy and association to commit crimes against the state, and Hernandez’s brother told CBS News he has had little communication with his family since he was imprisoned.

    The Biden administration did not release another prisoner long sought by Maduro: Alex Saab, an insider businessman who Venezuela considers a diplomat and U.S. prosecutors a corrupt regime enabler. Saab fought extradition from Cape Verde, where he was arrested last year during a stopover en route to Iran, and is now awaiting trial in Miami federal court on charges of siphoning off millions in state contracts.

    The oil executives were convicted of embezzlement last year in a trial marred by delays and irregularities. They were sentenced to between eight years and 13 years in prison for a never-executed proposal to refinance billions in the oil company’s bonds. Maduro at the time accused them of “treason,” and Venezuela’s supreme court upheld their long sentences earlier this year. 

    The men have all pleaded not guilty and the State Department has regarded them — and the two other Americans freed on Saturday — as wrongfully detained.

    Earlier this year, two American citizens who the U.S. considered unjustly detained were released from a Venezuelan prison. Gustavo Cardenas, one of the detained Citgo executives, and tourist Jorge Fernandez returned to the U.S. in early March.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Blinken speaks to Russian foreign minister about WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan | CNN Politics

    Blinken speaks to Russian foreign minister about WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Sunday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and called for the “immediate release” of detained Americans Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, according to the US State Department.

    “Secretary Blinken conveyed the United States’ grave concern over Russia’s unacceptable detention of a U.S. citizen journalist,” a readout from the department said.

    “Secretary Blinken further urged the Kremlin to immediately release wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan,” the readout continued, adding that the secretary and Lavrov “also discussed the importance of creating an environment that permits diplomatic missions to carry out their work.”

    Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter based in Russia, was detained last week on charges of espionage – the first time an American journalist has been detained on such accusations by Moscow since the Cold War. US officials in Moscow had not yet been granted consular access to Gershkovich as of Sunday.

    The Journal’s editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, said Sunday that the call between Blinken and Lavrov was “hugely reassuring.”

    “We know that the US government is taking the case very seriously right up to the top,” she told CBS News.

    Whelan, meanwhile, is serving out a 16-year prison sentence for the same charges, which he strongly denies. His brother David Whelan said in an email to the press Thursday that his family was sorry to hear “that another American family will have to experience the same trauma that we have had to endure for the past 1,553 days.”

    Whelan has been designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department, and Gershkovich is expected to receive the same designation but had not yet as of Sunday morning. Tucker said she hopes the US government will act swiftly to label Gershkovich as wrongfully detained, saying it will be anofficial recognition that the charges against the reporter are “entirely bogus.”

    The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Sunday’s phone call was initiated by the US and that Lavrov told Blinken that Gershkovich’s fate would be determined by a Russian court.

    Lavrov also blamed Washington and the Western press for politicizing the arrest.

    “It was emphasized that it is unacceptable for officials in Washington and Western media to hype up [the issue] with the clear intention of giving this case a political coloring,” the statement said.

    Gershkovich is currently being held in the notorious Lefortovo pre-detention center until May 29. He faces up to 20 years in prison on espionage charges.

    Sunday’s call was only the third time that Blinken has spoken with his Russian counterpart since the war in Ukraine began, and all of those conversations have discussed detained US citizens. The two spoke in person for the first time since the war broke out on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers meeting in India last month, and Blinken said he raised the issues of the war, Russia’s suspension of its participation in the New START nuclear agreement, and Whelan’s ongoing detention.

    The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee on Sunday expressed support for the Biden administration’s efforts to negotiate with Russia for Gershkovich’s release.

    “Certainly the Biden administration should continue its efforts to negotiate and to try to get the release of this journalist, but overall, people should be very cautious about staying in Russia,” Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

    Turner noted that the US government “gave people notice that they should get out of Russia” and said he would continued to encourage people to do so. The Biden administration has echoed those assessments. While the Kremlin has asserted that Russia is safe for accredited journalists, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told CNN on Friday, “Russia is not safe for Americans.”

    Turner appeared on “State of the Union” on Sunday from southern Poland, where he said he is “meeting with those who are active in intelligence and meeting with our servicemembers who are active in the support of Ukraine.”

    Pressed by Bash on remarks by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley that the war in Ukraine will likely not be won this year, the Ohio lawmaker appeared to agree.

    “One thing I can tell you is that Russia is not going to win either,” he said. “This is a war that Russia is not winning, and they’re not winning it because Ukraine realizes that they’re standing up for democracy, they’re fighting for their country. And as they continue to do so, the United States’ assistance and certainly the assistance of our NATO allies and partners are making a huge turnout for the battlefield.”

    This story has been updated with additional reaction.

    [ad_2]

    Source link