Blinken, Russian top diplomat speak about Griner, Whelan

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he has spoken to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and urged Moscow to accept a U.S. proposal to release WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American detainee, Paul Whelan. Blinken did not provide details of Lavrov’s response to what he had previously called a “substantial proposal” for Russia to release the two. Russian officials issued a chiding statement after the call urging the U.S. to pursue the Americans’ freedom through “quiet diplomacy, without releases of speculative information.”