According to reports, WNBA star Brittney Griner has been freed from a Russian prison following a nearly 10 month standoff.
The Biden administration had been working with Russian authorities on freeing the 2x Olympic gold medallist via a prisoner exchange after it was alleged that Griner had cannabis oil in her luggage at an airport.
“This is a day we’ve worked toward for a long time,” President Joe Biden said. “We never stopped pushing for her release. It took painstaking and intense negotiations, and I want to thank all the hardworking public servants across my administration who worked tirelessly to secure her release.”
Griner’s wife Cherelle was also on hand at the White House and remarked that “Today my family is whole” before thanking numerous individuals who worked towards Brittney’s release.
The exchange ultimately resulted in a 1 for 1 swap. Heading back to Russia is notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was nicknamed “the Merchant of Death” due to the volume of weapons he traded, largely to the highest bidder via often illegal methods.
Unfortunately, Russian authorities were not willing to include American Paul Whelan as part of any exchange. Whelan, who is a corporate security executive, has been detained for 4 years on “espionage” charges which the US government has labelled as “baseless”. The Michigan native was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
Griner’s release caps off months of backchannel negotiations from various levels of White House officials, including the Secretary of State, former ambassadors, and other high level government staffers.
A Russian judge had previously sentenced Griner to 9 years in prison for having vape canisters in her luggage. The sentence was largely described as a travesty of justice, as it became evident Russia planned to use the WNBA star as a political pawn amidst deteriorating relations between the US and Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
According to reports, the prisoner exchange took place in Abu Dhabi, and both former captives are on their way home to their respective countries.
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