Kremlin poker-faced on US swap offer to free Griner and Whelan

Brittney Griner (Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool Photo via AP)

The Kremlin has warned that a possible prisoner swap with the United States involving American basketball star Brittney Griner needs to be negotiated quietly without fanfare.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Washington had offered Russia a deal that would bring home Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan.