Kirill Kudryavtsev AFP | Getty Images WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will sign an executive order that will expand the government’s available tools to prevent the hostage-taking and illegal detention of American citizens. The executive order, known as “Strengthening Efforts to Bring Hostages and Wrongfully Detained United States Citizens Home,” would authorize the imposition of financial penalties and visa bans on individuals involved in hostage-taking. “This executive order reflects the administration’s commitment not only to the issues in general but to families in particular and has been informed by the administration’s regular engagements with them,” said a senior Biden administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. to share details about the new executive order. “The president has been willing to say that what he has said publicly are tough but important issues when it means bringing Americans home,” the senior administration official said. The official also said the State Department will introduce a new danger indicator, the letter “D,” in travel advisories to inform Americans of the risk of illegal detention by a foreign government. The “D” indicator joins the existing “K” indicator which identifies the risk of abduction. The executive order comes as the Biden administration works to free WNBA star Brittney Griner from a Russian prison. Griner, 31, who plays professional basketball in Russia during the WNBA’s offseason, was arrested in February at a Russian airport on charges of smuggling hash oil. The Biden administration described Griner’s arrest, a dramatic revelation that came as the Kremlin prepared for war in Ukraine, as an illegal detention. Earlier this month, she pleaded guilty to drug charges in a Moscow court and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. “I’m afraid I might be here forever,” the Olympian wrote in a letter to Biden, asking for his immediate help in her case. At the end of the letter, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with her wife, Cheryl Griner. Biden reassured his wife that he was working to secure Griner’s release as soon as possible, according to a White House readout of the call. He also said in the call that he is working to free Paul Whelan, a US Marine serving a 16-year sentence in Russia. In April, Russia agreed to release former US Marine Trevor Reed in a prisoner swap with the United States. Reid was charged with assaulting a Russian officer and detained by authorities there in 2019. He was later sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison. Reed and his family maintained his innocence, and the US government described him as wrongfully imprisoned. For Reed’s release, Biden agreed to free Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States.
