INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
since the launch of Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine, the former Cold War rivals appeared to be edging closer to a new prisoner
Marine Paul Whelan, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges.Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday said
Moscow was willing to discuss the matter."We are ready to discuss this subject, but only within the framework of the (communication) channel
established by presidents Putin and Biden," Lavrov told a press conference on a visit to Cambodia."There is a special channel established by
the presidents and despite certain public declarations, it is still functional," he added.U.S
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who spoke to Lavrov about the exchange last Friday, said Washington will be "pursuing" discussions
agenda using individuals as political pawns."WNBA player Griner was on Thursday sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony and
ordered to pay a fine of 1 million rubles ($16,590) for possessing and smuggling narcotics.The two-time Olympic basketball gold medalist and
Women's NBA champion was detained at a Moscow airport in February after she was found carrying vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her
under stress, trying to recover from post-Covid and just trying to get back to my team," Griner said in her final statement before the
President Joe Biden called Griner's conviction "unacceptable" and said Washington would "work tirelessly" to secure her release.Blinken has
saying she hoped her husband and the U.S
athlete will be able to return home."Sympathy has no citizenship and nationality, it is a universal human emotion," she told Russian news
