John Kirby speaks during a news conference in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, August 2. (Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
US National Security Council Director for Strategic Communications John Kirby echoed President Joe Biden’s comments Thursday, calling for Brittney Griner's immediate release.
“This sentence, this trial just reaffirms what we have been saying all along: Brittney has been wrongfully detained and she needs to be immediately released by Russian authorities so she can be home with her wife, her teammates, and her friends and family and the President is going to stay 100% committed to achieving that outcome,” Kirby said during an appearance on MSNBC.
He pointed to the United States' “serious proposal” for a prisoner swap with the Russians.
“We urge the Russians, again, to seriously consider that proposal, to act on it. And let’s get these two Americans home where they belong,” Kirby said, later calling their counteroffer a “bad faith attempt … just to cloud up the waters, make things muddy, and to avoid having to make what is a consequential and serious decision.”
Although Kirby indicated that Secretary of State Antony Blinken would “buttonhole” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss the proposal while they are both in Cambodia, a senior State Department official said the two diplomats did not speak while they both attended a dinner at the ASEAN meetings Thursday.
State Department officials have repeatedly said there are no plans for Blinken to meet with his Russian counterpart, with whom he spoke by phone last Friday.
And following the sentencing, Kirby said that the US would push for consular access to Griner.
“We're going to continue to insist — as we must — to have consular access to Mrs. Griner so that we can make sure we can keep that communication going and we can make sure that we can continue to make sure that she's being well treated,” he said.