Brittney Griner released as part of a trade deal with Russia

President Joe Biden said Thursday that WNBA star Brittney Griner has been released from Russian detention. According to a source familiar with the matter, the swap involves convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. The swap did not include Paul Whelan, another American that the State Department has declared wrongfully detained. “She’s safe and on her way home,” Biden said at the White House Thursday morning alongside Griner’s wife, Cherelle. According to a source familiar with the matter, the swap involves convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. ”

“Sadly, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s for totally illegitimate reasons.” We haven’t yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, but we’re not giving up. “We will never give up,” Biden said of efforts to bring Griner home, thanking members of his administration who were involved in the “painstaking and intense negotiations.” ”
This is a day we have been working towards for a long time. “We never stopped pushing for her release,” he said. ‘The only deal we could make right now’

Biden gave final approval for the prisoner swap freeing Griner over the past week, an official familiar with the matter said. The official added that Biden was updated on the swap as it was taking place this morning. A US official says that he was briefed throughout the morning as he awaited confirmation that Griner was back in US hands. Once that happened, Biden spoke with Griner from the Oval Office, with Cherelle Griner, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken also on the call, a second official said. As this deal came together in the final days, Biden was “personally involved and in constant touch” with his team. He gave his personal green light to execute the trade. A senior administration official says the briefings were constant and questions Biden asked his team were constant. The official added that this was the right deal to make, but notably said this was “the only deal we could make right now.” The different handling of cases is based on the accusation. The Biden administration repeatedly made offers to get Whelan released as part of this deal, even after Russia made clear that only Griner was acceptable. The US had to accept that Russia was going to refuse on Whelan in the end. “Brittney was the only choice,” the US official said. The official says that was a “difficult decision” for Biden but again, one he felt he had to make. ‘Merchant of Death’ included in swap.

Russia said on Thursday that Bout has returned home to Russia, the Russian foreign ministry said. The prisoner exchange with Griner was “completed successfully at Abu Dhabi Airport” on Thursday, state media added. Bout, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death,” is a former Soviet military officer serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States on charges of conspiring to kill Americans, acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles, and provide material support to a terrorist organization. Moscow had slammed his sentencing in 2012 as “baseless and biased” and Bout has maintained he is innocent. Griner — who, for years, had played in the off-season for a Russian women’s basketball team — had been detained since February, when she was arrested on drug smuggling charges at an airport in the Moscow region.

Despite her testimony that she had inadvertently packed the cannabis oil that was found in her luggage, she was sentenced to nine years in prison in early August and was moved to a penal colony in the Mordovia republic in mid-November after losing her appeal. Whelan, a US, Irish, British and Canadian citizen, was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 by Russian authorities who alleged he was involved in an intelligence operation. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges he has vehemently denied. Whelan had been carrying out his sentence at a different labor camp in Mordovia, an eight-hour drive from Moscow, where he stated in June 2021 he spent his days working in a clothing factory that he called a “sweatshop.”

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