Russia says no deal yet on US offer to free Brittney Griner by exchanging prisoners

Russia said on Thursday that there is no deal to swap detained U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner for jailed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, but that negotiations with the United States on exchanging prisoners are ongoing.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "so far there are no agreements in this area."

The U.S. has made "a substantial offer" to Russia to release U.S. citizens detained there, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday, adding he would press his Russian counterpart to respond in a conversation planned for the coming days.

According to Blinken, Washington offered Moscow a deal to bring home WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan weeks ago, and hoped to advance the process when he speaks to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

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