After Griner gets jail, Russia ready to discuss swap with U.S

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, August 4, 2022. Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Friday it was ready to discuss a prisoner swap with the United States in private, a day after a Russian court jailed U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner for nine years for a drugs offence.

The case against Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) star, plunged her into the geopolitical maelstrom that followed Russia's sending of troops into Ukraine in February.