Page 34 - Bargaining Chips News Today

You cant tolerate an american -- to say nothing of a great american athlete being held in a cage like that is just unimaginable. at the same time, you know, once youve negotiated, you give people a pretty good incentive to keep seizing bargaining chips, right? and i think the question that you asked your guests a little while about will she go back to russia, i cant imagine the calculus behind going back to russia when theyve shown what theyre capable of and eager to do. >> and thats just one of...

You cant tolerate an american -- to say nothing of a great american athlete being held in a cage like that is just unimaginable. at the same time, you know, once youve negotiated, you give people a pretty good incentive to keep seizing bargaining chips, right? and i think the question that you asked your guests a little while about will she go back to russia, i cant imagine the calculus behind going back to russia when theyve shown what theyre capable of and eager to do. >> and thats just one of...

Negotiating with other governments and russia will once either a convicted terrorist like they gots, or they are going to want possibly concessions, including concessions having to do with what is going on in ukraine. how do we manage and talk about detainees when theyre held by governments, as opposed to by ransom groups of bandits? >> i think for many, many years, some governments, where the security services and that you distilleries are ponds of the political leadership, see u.s. citizens an...

Im sure we probably made a bid to get broegt brittney griner as well as whelan out, and im sure the russians said, no, its one to one. >> theres been criticism from republicans and democrats in congress that this makes things more dangerous for americans overseas, that other countries, russia and others, will decide to grab americans for potential bargaining chips down the road? do you think thats true? >> its one of these issues we have in open societies. were americans. we want to be able to t...

>> absolutely. if something bigger and better in vladimir putins view came along they said lets hold on for just a second. there could be politics, there often are behind the scenes stuff that is happening where the russians will say why dont you do this in that for us, one of the things that the russians are extremely serious about and ive seen a number of persona non grata situation where diplomats are thrown out and that happens, the russians are back on reciprocity, so they are one for one k...

Physically in a cage. as we got further in the fall, i spoke to her again after she met in the white house with president biden. cherelle griner was very hopeful but was deeply fearful about brittney griners state of mind. this is before she was transferred to the penal colony. she felt like brittney griner was deteriorating mentally and emotionally under the conditions that she was in and with the prospect that this could not be resolved. >> conditions designed to demean. abby phillip, thank yo...

Speaking alongside president biden from the white house brittney griners wife cherelle understanley emotional, grateful for her release. >> today my family is whole but as you all are aware, theres so many other families who are not whole and so bg is not here to say this but i will gladly speak on her behalf and say that bg and i will remain committed to the work of getting every american home including paul whose family is in our hearts today as we celebrate bg being home. we do understand tha...

>> what is your message to americans from all of this? i heard the admiral talking about just not going to russia right now. they clearly have a policy of grabbing americans as bargaining chips. >> one of the things the president talked about this morning, andrea, was this new designation the state department has on detention risks. all you gotta do is go to state.gov, look at countries around the world. if you are traveling, whether its for business or for pleasure, i urge everybody to go to th...

Agent, and thats been denied of course, but he was captured in 2018, outside of the context of this current ukraine war and they decided to deal with him on the same terms they were dealing with her. and they wont deal with us for him on some level, if there is some trade to be had, but the question is do who do they want that would be equivalent in their minds to him. having given up viktor bout and given up one of our trading chip, one of our bargaining chips that we could have had that would ...

Have been imprisoned unlawfully there. lucky ones are used as bargaining chips in prisoner swaps. when we first met her in april she was desperately looking for her daughter victoria. the young math teacher was taken from her home by russian soldiers on march 25th. after they found messages about russian movements in the area on her cellphone. she was taken to a detention center in russia. we hope that she will get in touch, she says, with somebody, somewhere. last month victoria was one of two ...