Biden to meet family members of Russian detainees Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan

 President Joe Biden will meet Friday with family members of WNBA star Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan as the White House continues to push for their release from detention in Russia, said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

The meetings with Griner’s wife, Cherelle, and Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth, which will take place separately, will be the first between Biden and the family members, though they spoke to them by phone in July.

In the meeting Friday, Biden will “discuss his continuing commitment to bringing their family members home safely,” Jean-Pierre said. “As we have said before, we believe that Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittany and Paul under intolerable circumstances.”

The meeting was first reported by The Associated Press.

The White House has been in talks with Russian officials over the release of the two Americans, and Biden said last month that he was hopeful a deal could be made to release Griner. But since then, there have been few signs of progress from the administration.

In July that the U.S. had offered to exchange Griner and Whelan for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who has been serving a 25-year prison sentence. In August, after Griner’s sentencing, Russia said it was ready to discuss the possibility of a swap.

The Russians always want numerical parity, in other words, for the U.S. to trade two people in exchange for Griner and Whelan, but Thursday night U.S. officials say the Russians have not come up with a serious counteroffer.

The U.S. and Germany, meanwhile, have categorically rejected suggestions in Russian state media that Vadim Krasikov, a Russian convicted of a political assassination in Berlin, would be turned over by German authorities as part of a deal.