Brittney Griner's nine-year prison sentence 'compounds the injustice' against her, Secretary of State Antony Blinken says

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the nine-year sentence given to WNBA star Brittney Griner «compounds the injustice» she has gone through in Russia since her arrest earlier this year.

«It puts a spotlight on our very significant turn with Russia's legal system and the Russian government's use of wrongful detentions to advance its own agenda using individuals as political pawns,» Blinken said Friday at a meeting with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia.

Griner was convicted Thursday and sentenced to nine years in prison and fined 1 million rubles (about $16,700). She had been arrested Feb. 17 at a Moscow airport after vape cartridges containing hashish oil were found in her luggage.

The verdict and sentencing were expected steps toward a swap to bring Griner back to the United States, as Russia was not going to move forward with a trade until her trial was completed.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appeared to confirm that Friday when he said Russia was ready to discuss a prisoner swap in private. Lavrov said President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden had previously agreed on a diplomatic channel that should be used to negotiate a possible exchange.

«We are ready to discuss this topic, but within the framework of the channel that was agreed upon by presidents Putin and Biden,» Lavrov said in Cambodia. «If the Americans decide to once again resort to public diplomacy… that is their business and I would even say that it is their problem.»

Blinken has suggested the possibility of a prisoner swap for Griner and another American jailed in Russia, Paul Whelan. Sources have told ESPN's T.J. Quinn that a deal would also involve convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is