Following Griner’s release, US lawmakers want a “National Hostage” day
Washington DC, USReuters Days after the release of US basketball star Brittney Griner from imprisonment in Russia, Democratic and Republican US lawmakers will introduce legislation on Tuesday to establish 9th March as an annual day to remember Americans detained abroad. The bill, according to text seen by Reuters, seeks to make 9th March “National Hostage […]
Brittney Griner’s return reignites debate about prisoner swaps
Washington DC, USReuters Thursday’s release of US basketball star Brittney Griner in exchange for a convicted Russian arms dealer has resurfaced an old question: Do prisoner swaps do more harm than good? Amid the celebrations following Griner’s return some critics, including members of Congress and federal law enforcement, argued such trades only encourage foreign states […]
Russia attacks in east Ukraine, appears to scale back war aims; Griner released in prisoner swap
Near Bakhmut, Ukraine Reuters Russian forces attacked settlements in eastern Ukraine from the ground and air, officials said on Thursday, in support of the Kremlin’s apparently scaled-back ambition to secure only the bulk of Ukrainian lands it has claimed in the war. Fighting was under way along the entire line of demarcation in the Donetsk […]
Russia sentences Griner to nine years in prison, White House calls for her release
Khimki, RussiaReuters A Russian court sentenced US basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison on Thursday after finding her guilty of deliberately bringing cannabis-infused vape cartridges into Russia, a ruling that US President Joe Biden called “unacceptable”. Griner was escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs by police after the ruling, turning to […]
Russia captures power station, redeploys troops toward southern Ukraine
Reuters Russian forces have taken over Ukraine’s second-biggest power plant in eastern Donetsk region and are undertaking a “massive redeployment” of troops to three southern regions, a Ukrainian presidential adviser said. Russian-backed forces claimed on Wednesday that they had captured the Soviet-era coal-fired Vuhlehirsk power plant intact, in what was Moscow’s first strategic gain in […]
US, Russia swap prisoners Reed and Yaroshenko amid war tensions
Washington DC, USReuters The United States and Russia swapped prisoners on Wednesday amid their most tense relations in decades over the war in Ukraine, with former US Marine Trevor Reed released in exchange for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko. The swap was not part of broader diplomatic talks and did not represent an American change in […]