According to U.S. Marine Paul Whelan’s lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, the United States was previously offered a 1 for 1 exchange for the release of Whelan. Originally, Russia had offered to exchange Whelan for Russia’s “Merchant of Death,” Viktor Bout however the offer appears to have been rejected by U.S. officials.
NBC originally posted the following text but suspiciously edited the text shortly thereafter.
“A senior U.S. official told NBC News that the U.S. government had sought to have both Griner and Whelan released as part of a swap with the Kremlin, which wanted the return of Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who has served 11 years of a 25-year sentence in the U.S. But the official said Russia has treated Whelan differently because he is an accused spy, and that the Kremlin gave the White House the choice of either Griner or Whelan — or none.”
NBC sneakily edited the text to read:
“A senior U.S. official told NBC News that the U.S. government had sought to have both Griner and Whelan released as part of a swap with the Kremlin, which wanted the return of Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who has served 11 years of a 25-year sentence in the U.S. But the official said Russia has treated Whelan differently because he is an accused spy, and that the Kremlin ultimately gave the White House the choice of either Griner or no one after different options were proposed.”
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