Talks on freeing former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan from prison in Russia are continuing, the Russian Interfax news agency cited his lawyer as saying on Thursday, after U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner was released by Moscow in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
"Whelan is currently in the penal colony," Vladimir Zherebenkov was quoted as saying. "Discussions about his exchange are continuing at the level of the intelligence services, so everything is quite closed - but they are going on."
