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New details are emerging about the high-stakes negotiations that led to the release of basketball star Brittney Griner but left American Paul Whelan in prison, including Russia’s demand to release a murderer serving a life sentence for committing murder at broad daylight in Berlin.
The Biden administration had been trying to negotiate the release of Griner and Whalen for months. But as the US tried to secure his release and even hanged convicted arms dealer ‘merchant of death’ Viktor Bout, Moscow added its own lawsuit.
Russia wanted the release of Vadim Krasikov, a former FSB colonel who was convicted of shooting dead a Georgia-born Chechen separatist in broad daylight in a central Berlin park, as the price for freeing both Americans, the New York Times reported. York Times.
It was a bold question due to the crude nature of the crime. Krasikov is convicted of riding a bicycle to his victim and executing him in Berlin’s Kleine Tiergarten park. A German court called it ‘state contract murder’.
Former US Marine Paul Whelan remains in a Russian prison. It was revealed that Moscow tried to free a convicted hitman as part of any exchange involving Whelan, who strongly denies the spying charges against him.
By contrast, Griner was convicted of possessing a small amount of cannabis oil inside vape cartridges at a Moscow airport, and the government and Whelan deny espionage charges brought against him.
US negotiators did not reject the idea outright and tried to offer a three-way trade, according to the Times.
But the Berlin authorities were not interested in releasing someone who had openly violated the law and ignored their sovereignty.
The lawyer for Russian Alexander Vinik, who has been extradited to California and is accused of running an illicit cryptocurrency scheme that laundered $4 billion, wants him to be part of the trade negotiations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his openness to further negotiations. He continues to oversee a brutal war in the Ukraine.
In this image taken from video provided by Russia’s Federal Security Service, WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner smiles on the flight to Abu Dhabi after her release was negotiated.
The revelation came a day when Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his openness to new negotiations, following a deal that some Republicans have already attacked as unfavorable.
“We do not refuse to continue this work in the future,” Putin said after Bout arrived in Moscow and Griner landed in San Antonio, Texas, in the early hours of Friday morning.
Putin said “everything is on the table” and pointed to past “compromises” as the White House faces criticism for leaving Navy veteran Paul Whelan to languish in a Russian jail while the Olympic medalist returned home.
A senior White House official said CNN on Friday they believe that Moscow will continue to negotiate a deal on Whelan because there are “things they want in this world.”
In some signs that the store is open to further negotiations, it emerged Friday that the lawyer representing Alexander Vinik, who was extradited from Greece and charged with running an illicit cryptocurrency money laundering operation, had pushed for his client to out of the conversations.
federal prosecutors to accuse Vinik of using the BTC-e crypto exchange to launder $4 billion in criminal proceeds.
The indictment alleges that cybercriminals around the world participated in laundering the proceeds of ransomware scams, hacking, identity theft, corrupt public officials, narcotics distribution networks, and fraud.
The exchange netted over $4 billion worth of bitcoins. He was charged in the August indictment with operating a money services business without a license, conspiracy to commit money laundering, plus 17 counts of money laundering and two counts of involvement in illegal money transactions.
The United States is known to want the release of Pennsylvania man Marc Fogel. He is serving a 14-year prison sentence after being caught at a Moscow airport with less than an ounce of medical marijuana used for a spinal condition.
The State Department sought his release on humanitarian grounds and is facing pressure from lawmakers to formally classify him as “wrongfully detained.”
The White House declined to comment on his case when asked about it on Thursday.
Pressed to confirm the details of Russia’s push for the release of convicted murderer Krasikov, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded:I’m just not going to go into detail about any of the negotiations.
Asked if the United States would consider working with a third country to try to meet one of Moscow’s demands, he said: ‘I received your question and I understand. I just can’t get into what we will or won’t do… We want to make sure we get them home safely. Negotiating from here… certainly wouldn’t be wise.