Russia balks at US prisoner swap offer, views it as unequal

Bloomberg

Moscow is leaning towards rejecting a prisoner swap unless it gets two Russians in return for the two Americans the US wants released, according to people familiar with the Kremlin’s thinking.
The US has called on Russia to free WNBA player Brittney Griner and former US Marine Paul Whelan, offering to free convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout. Discussions have been stop-start since June, with Moscow reluctant to agree to a deal it sees as unequal, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential matters.
Russia has not yet supplied a detailed response to the American proposal, another person familiar with the discussions said.
The delicate nature of the discussions shows the level of mistrust that has only heightened since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. The US has strongly supported the government in Kyiv with weapons and financial aid, and President Joe Biden has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” and “murderous dictator.” Biden is under pressure at home to secure the release in particular of Griner, arrested in Russia on drug charges, but equally cannot be seen to be giving ground to Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned against “megaphone diplomacy,” saying it won’t achieve results. “Any exchange of information should be discreet,” he told reporters on a conference call Tuesday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last Wednesday the US had made a “substantial” offer to Russia weeks ago, and on Friday he held a phone call with his counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The Russian foreign minister “strongly advised a return to professional dialogue in the context of ‘quiet diplomacy’ without any dubious media leaks,” the ministry in Moscow said in a statement afterward.
A person familiar with the matter said Blinken called Lavrov because Moscow had not accepted or even responded to the written proposal so far.
Griner’s case has attracted substantial publicity in the US, and if Biden can’t arrange a deal for her release, polls indicate he risks adding to Democrats’ troubles in the November midterm elections.