WNBA star Griner swapped for Russian
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US basketball star Brittney Griner has been released in a prisoner swap with Russia in exchange for former arms dealer Viktor Bout and was heading back to the United States, ending what President Joe Biden called months of “hell” for her and her wife.
The swap was arranged after talks spanning months during a time of high tensions between the two countries following Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine.
Even as Griner was on a flight bound for Texas on Thursday, Bout arrived in Moscow and hugged his mother and wife after stepping onto the tarmac, television images showed.
Griner, held since a week before the invasion, travelled from a Russian penal colony to Moscow, then to Abu Dhabi’s airport in the United Arab Emirates where the exchange took place, with the two walking past each other on a tarmac, US officials said.
“She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances,” Biden told reporters at the White House.
“We never stopped pushing for her release.”
Russia rejected Biden’s attempt to gain the freedom of Paul Whelan, a former Marine also held in Russia, forcing Biden to opt to get out only Griner.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News the choice was one or none, “and the president decided that it was important to at least bring Brittney home now and continue to work on getting Paul back, too”.
Griner, 32, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and star of the Women’s National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Mercury, was arrested on February 17 at a Moscow airport after vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is banned in Russia, were found in her luggage.
She was sentenced on August 4 to nine years in a penal colony.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it traded Griner for Bout, 55, a Russian citizen who in 2012 was given a 25-year prison sentence by a US court on charges related to his arms-dealing career.
For almost two decades, Bout had been the world’s most notorious arms dealer, selling weapons to rogue states, rebel groups and warlords in Africa, Asia and South America.
“I made it. That’s the main thing,” Bout said on Russian television, adding he had not been told ahead of time what would happen.
The swap was a high-profile and rare example of co-operation between Washington and Moscow since the invasion.
The countries also swapped prisoners in April when Russia released former US Marine Trevor Reed and the United States released Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko.
Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris spoke by phone with Griner from the Oval Office, along with Griner’s wife, Cherelle.
Biden said Griner was in good spirits and had displayed “grit and incredible dignity”.
“These past few months have been hell for Brittney” and for her wife, family and teammates, Biden said.
The UAE president and Saudi crown prince had led mediation efforts, a UAE-Saudi statement said.
The White House expressed gratitude that Saudi Arabia and other countries had raised the issue, but said the talks were between Russia and the United States.
Some Republicans, including former president Donald Trump and House leader Kevin McCarthy, criticised the Democratic president, saying the swap was “stupid” and “a gift to Vladimir Putin”, respectively.
Cherelle Griner, who said she was “overwhelmed with emotions”, thanked Biden and his administration.
“Today my family is whole. BG and I will remain committed to the work of getting every American home,” she added, using her wife’s initials.
Biden vowed the United State wouldn’t give up trying to win Whelan’s release.
Reuters
