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The US has offered Russia a rare prisoner swap to free Brittney Griner, an American basketball player, and a former US marine with British citizenship in exchange for a notorious Russian arms dealer.

Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, on Wednesday night confirmed the US had communicated a “substantial offer” to Moscow in order to bring home Griner and Paul Whelan, a former marine, although he declined to go into detail.

But US media reported the plan, approved by President Joe Biden, was to hand over Viktor Bout, an arms trafficker jailed for 25 years in the US.

Mr Blinken said he intended to discuss the matter during a call with Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, in what would be their first conversation since the invasion of Ukraine.

The families of Whelan, who has been held for alleged espionage since 2018, and Griner, who was jailed in Moscow for drug possession in February, have urged the White House to secure their release, via a prisoner exchange if necessary.

Griner, 31, appeared in a Russian court on Wednesday to claim she did not intend to smuggle drugs and did not know how cannabis oil ended up in her luggage, as she had packed hastily while under stress and recovering from Covid.

“I take responsibility, but I did not intend to smuggle … [cannabis oil] to Russia,” Griner told the court.