Russians rejected all the proposals to free Paul Whelan, and the United States had a choice between bringing basketball star Brittney Griner home or no one at all, a senior US official told reporters on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th December, 2022) Russians rejected all the proposals to free Paul Whelan, and the United States had a choice between bringing basketball star Brittney Griner home or no one at all, a senior US official told reporters on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Griner was released from Russian custody in exchange for Russian citizen Viktor Bout.
"Through every step of the process to secure Brittney's release we at the government have fought to bring Paul Whelan home as well. We did so in good faith with the Russians and proposed multiple different options," the official said, adding that Russia treated Whelan's and Griner's situations differently due to the espionage charges against Whelan.
"And (Russia) rejected each and every one of our proposals for his release. So I want to be very clear. This was not a situation where we had a choice of which American to bring home. It was a choice between bringing home one particular American Brittney Griner or bringing home none," they added.
