Moscow is ready to discuss a prisoner exchange that would return WNBA star Brittney Griner to the US, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
Mr Lavrov's comments came a day after a Russian court sentenced Griner to nine years in prison for drug possession and smuggling, a verdict that was criticised by US President Joe Biden.
“We are ready to discuss this topic, but within the framework of a channel that was agreed upon by Presidents [Vladimir] Putin and Biden,” Mr Lavrov said in Cambodia, where he is attending an Association of South-East Asian Nations regional forum.
“There is a special channel agreed upon by the presidents. Whatever is said publicly, that channel is still open,” he said.
The US said it made a “substantial” offer to Russia to secure the release of Griner and fellow detainee Paul Whelan.
Mr Whelan, a former marine, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020, after being convicted of espionage charges. The US denies the charges.
US media reported that Washington would exchange Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for Griner and Mr Whelan's release.
Nicknamed the “Merchant of Death”, Bout is currently serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted of conspiring to kill Americans and aiding a terrorist organisation.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Russia had made a “bad faith” response to Washington's offer.
And US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is also in Cambodia, said Washington is concerned about Moscow using wrongful detainees as “political pawns”.
“We put forward, as you know, a substantial proposal that Russia should engage with us on,” Mr Blinken told reporters.
“And what Foreign Minister Lavrov said this morning and said publicly is that they are prepared to engage through channels we've established to do just that and we'll be pursuing.”
The Kremlin warned the White House against publicising the issue.
“If the Americans again try to engage in public diplomacy and make loud statements about their intention to take certain steps, it’s their business — I would even say their problem,” Mr Lavrov said.
“The Americans often have trouble observing agreements on calm and professional work.”
Mr Biden has called for the immediate release of Griner and added that he would continue working to bring her and Mr Whelan home.
“I'm hopeful. We're working hard,” he told reporters at the White House on Friday.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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RESULT
Argentina 0 Croatia 3
Croatia: Rebic (53'), Modric (80'), Rakitic (90' 1)
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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If you go...
Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Name: Fareed Lafta
Age: 40
From: Baghdad, Iraq
Mission: Promote world peace
Favourite poet: Al Mutanabbi
Role models: His parents
