By means of pleading accountable to drug fees in a Russian court this week, the American basketball famous person Brittney Griner has doubtlessly speeded up her case’s conclusion, clearing a trail for both a take care of the US or, in all probability, a request for clemency.

With a accountable verdict an all however a foregone conclusion in a Russian prison gadget that closely favors the prosecution, her very best hope, professionals say, is that the Biden management protected her freedom by means of liberating a Russian held in the US. The title of 1 prisoner particularly has emerged: Viktor Bout, a Russian hands broker serving a 25-year jail sentence.

However this sort of negotiation can happen handiest after the formalities of the Griner trial are over, Russian officers say.

“It’s transparent that we have got now not finished the important judicial procedures,” a deputy overseas minister, Sergei A. Ryabkov, advised Russian information companies on Thursday when requested a couple of attainable trade. “Till this occurs, there are not any nominal, formal or procedural grounds for any longer steps.”

Ms. Griner nonetheless faces the conviction and sentencing levels of her trial, and her subsequent date in courtroom is scheduled for Thursday, July 14.

Ms. Griner is charged with unlawful drug ownership and with smuggling a “important quantity.” Showing sooner than a pass judgement on outdoor the Russian capital on the second one day of her trial, Ms. Griner mentioned she had by accident carried a banned substance into the rustic as a result of she had packed in a rush. The Russian government say they discovered vape cartridges with 0.7 grams of hashish oil in her baggage when Ms. Griner arrived in February to play basketball, and he or she has been detained ever since, dealing with 10 years in jail in a penal colony.

Hours after her accountable plea Thursday, it gave the impression that her advisers could be laying the groundwork for diplomatic efforts between U.S. and Russian officers to take the lead.

“Bearing in mind the character of her case, the insignificant quantity of the substance and B.G.’s persona and historical past of certain contributions to international and Russian recreation, the protection hopes that the plea can be regarded as by means of the courtroom as a mitigating issue and there can be no serious sentence,” her prison workforce mentioned in a commentary.

American officers insist that they’re doing all they may be able to to protected the discharge of Ms. Griner, 31, a seven-time W.N.B.A. All-Famous person, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and the primary overtly homosexual athlete signed to an endorsement contract by means of Nike. At Thursday’s listening to, the chargé d’affaires on the American Embassy in Moscow, Elizabeth Rood, passed Ms. Griner a letter from President Biden.

However with tensions between the US and Russia at their worst degree in many years as a result of President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Biden has few choices to protected her freedom. That used to be underscored by means of Mr. Ryabkov on Thursday as he made one of the maximum in depth feedback by means of any Russian respectable about Ms. Griner’s case within the just about 5 months she has spent in custody.

“Hype and exposure, for the entire love for this style amongst fashionable politicians, handiest will get in the way in which on this specific example,” Mr. Ryabkov mentioned. “This doesn’t simply distract from the case, however creates interference within the truest sense of the phrase. That’s why silence is wanted right here.”

He hinted, alternatively, that Moscow used to be inquisitive about negotiating over Ms. Griner’s destiny, announcing she can be helped by means of “a significant studying by means of the American facet of the alerts that they won from Russia, from Moscow, via specialised channels.”

Mr. Ryabkov didn’t specify what the ones alerts have been, despite the fact that the Russian state information media has prompt that the Kremlin could be inquisitive about exchanging the American athlete for Mr. Bout, 55, a former Soviet army officer who made a fortune in international hands trafficking sooner than he used to be stuck in a federal sting operation.

With out a deal, Ms. Griner may face years in jail.