Officials at the US Embassy in Moscow “were able to visit Brittney Griner today,” a basketball champion jailed in Russia, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.
• Also read: Washington condemned the Russian action against US basketball player Griner as “wrong”.
• Also read: Russia: Judiciary rejects appeal by US basketball player Brittney Griner
“They told us she was doing as well as she could given the circumstances,” she told reporters accompanying US President Joe Biden on a trip to New Mexico (southwest).
“The US government has made a significant offer to the Russians to end the unacceptable and unjustified imprisonment of Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan,” the spokeswoman said.
“The US government has maintained this offer and offered alternatives through every possible channel, even though the Russians are not negotiating in good faith,” she said.
The Russian judiciary on October 25 dismissed the appeal of the American basketball player who had been sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia for cannabis trafficking amid very high tensions between Moscow and Washington.
Russia is also detaining a former American soldier, Paul Whelan.
According to Russian diplomatic sources, a possible prisoner swap could particularly affect Brittney Griner and a Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout arrested in the United States.
Mr Bout was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and is currently serving a 25-year sentence in the United States.