While professional basketball player Brittney Griner was freed from prison and is expected to return to American soil on Dec. 9, U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan remains behind bars in Russia on espionage charges that he and the U.S. government say are false. Griner, 32, was serving a nine-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to…

LONDON—The United States is still talking to Russia about a deal to free jailed Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan but Moscow has not provided a “serious response” to any of its proposals, a senior U.S. diplomat said in comments published on Monday. Elizabeth Rood, the U.S. chargée d’affaires in Moscow, told Russia’s state-owned RIA…

LONDON—The United States is still talking to Russia about a deal to free jailed Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, although Moscow hasn’t provided a “serious response” to any of its proposals, a senior U.S. diplomat said in comments published on Nov. 28. Elizabeth Rood, the U.S. chargée d’affaires in Moscow, told Russia’s state-owned RIA…

NEW YORK—WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who are being held in Russia, could gain release by the end of this year, said former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson, who traveled to Moscow in September. Richardson told CNN in an interview on Sunday that he had met with…

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov by phone on Friday and urged Moscow to accept a U.S. offer to release two Americans detained in Russia. Blinken did not provide details of Lavrov’s response to what he had previously called a “substantial proposal” for Russia to release the…

WASHINGTON—Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday in the highest-level known contact between the two sides since Russia invaded Ukraine, with Blinken urging Russia to accept a deal to win the release of American detainees Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan. Russian officials gave no public hint…

TASHKENT—Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow would soon propose a time for a call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in which Blinken has said he wants to discuss an exchange of prisoners held in Russian and U.S. jails. Blinken said on Wednesday that Washington had made a “substantial offer”…

Former marine Trevor Reed recounted his horrendous experiences in a Russian detainment center in an interview with CNN after his release in late April as part of a prisoner exchange that took place amid strained bilateral relations between the United States and Russia. Reed, 30, from Texas, was held in a psychiatric treatment facility where…

MOSCOW—A Russian court plans to consider a request by a former U.S. Marine imprisoned in Russia to be transferred to the United States to serve his sentence there, his lawyers said on Wednesday. Russia convicted Paul Whelan—who holds U.S., British, Canadian, and Irish passports—of spying in June 2020 and sentenced him to 16 years in…