Russia has refused to release Paul Whelan, along with Brittney Griner, unless a former Russian domestic intelligence colonel now in custody in Germany is also released as part of a prisoner swap, US officials told CNN.

And this is even when the USA offered the names of several other Russian prisoners who are in custody in the USA, and which they are ready to exchange.

The US was unable to grant a request for former colonel Vadym Krasikov because he is serving a life sentence for murder in Germany.

CNN reported in August that the Russians had demanded the release of Vadym Krasikov, along with Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S., in exchange for Whelan and Griner.

U.S. officials quietly asked Germany if it might want to include Krasikov instead, a senior German government source told CNN earlier this year.

According to a German source, the German government was reluctant to seriously consider including Krasikov, who killed a Georgian citizen in broad daylight in Berlin in 2019.

According to the sources, the US made several other offers to the Russians to get them to agree to include Whelan instead. Among the names released by the US was Oleksandr Vinnyk, a Russian extradited to the US in August on charges of money laundering, hacking and extortion.

The US has also offered to exchange Roman Seleznev, a Russian cybercriminal who is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence in the US, the sources said.

• On the same topic: Did Biden make a ‘bad deal’? Griner’s exchange with the arms dealer is hotly contested