Putin and Biden Join Hands?
In a surprising turn of events, Russian President Vladimir Putin has just announced that more U.S.-Russia prisoner exchanges can be possible and both the United States and Russia recently exchanged WNBA star Brittney Griner for Russia’s “Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout.
This is a good sign since Russia currently has Marine Paul Whelan among other prisoners as well that President Biden failed to bring home.
According to The Hill, a Russian news agency reported that Putin told journalists that the deal happened through negotiations and compromises and that Russia is open to making more deals in the future.
Putin noted that Russian Federal Security Service made the deal happen with President Biden and the White House.
Griner was imprisoned in Russia for more than 9 months almost immediately after the country decided to invade Ukraine.
Paul Whelan was arrested in 2018 based on espionage charges and is facing a 16-year prison sentence.
President Biden has been heavily criticized for not getting Whelan home during the negotiation process. It is unclear at the moment if Biden and the White House are working on brining him back to the United States.
