Russia frees US basketball star Brittney Griner in prisoner swap
Russia has released US basketball star Brittney Griner in a prisoner exchange, US and Russian officials have said.
Russia’s foreign ministry said she had been traded for Viktor Bout, a Russian former arms dealer jailed in the United States. The exchange took place at Abu Dhabi airport in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, Russian news agencies reported.
US President Joe Biden said Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was “on her way home”.
“She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home,” Biden wrote in a Tweet that featured a picture of him and Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner.
Griner, aged 32, a star of the Phoenix Mercury at the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), was arrested on February 17.
Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport when cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is banned in Russia, were found in her luggage. Her detention came days before Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24 invasion, as ties between Washington and Moscow came under further strain.
The Biden administration characterised her detention as “wrongful” early on.
Throughout her time in Russian custody, Griner’s relatives, teammates and supporters called on the US government to put its full weight behind the case to secure her release.
She was sentenced on August 4 to nine years in prison on charges of possessing and smuggling drugs. She had pleaded guilty, but said she had made an “honest mistake” and had not meant to break the law.
Last month she was taken to a penal colony in the Russian region of Mordovia to serve her sentence.
In a brief address at the White House on Thursday, Biden said the “past few months have been hell for Brittney” but that she was in good spirits. He praised the basketball star as an “incomparable athlete”.
“This is a day we’ve worked toward for a long time. We never stopped pushing for her release. It took painstaking and intense negotiations,” the US president said.
The prisoner swap did not include Paul Whelan, a US Marine veteran, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 on espionage charges that Washington maintains are false.
On Thursday, Biden vowed to continue to push for Whelan’s release. “While we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up,” Biden said. “We remain in close touch with Paul’s family – the Whelan family – and my thoughts and prayers are with them today.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also invoked the Whelan case as he welcomed Griner’s release.
“While we celebrate Brittney’s release, Paul Whelan and his family continue to suffer needlessly,” Blinken said in a statement. “Despite our ceaseless efforts, the Russian Government has not yet been willing to bring a long overdue end to his wrongful detention.”
The UAE and Saudi Arabia said in a joint statement on Thursday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed led the negotiations to secure the prisoner swap deal.
‘Merchant of death’
Bout was sentenced in 2012 to 25 years in a US jail after he was accused of arming rebel groups in some of the world’s bloodiest conflicts.
Moscow said it had been negotiating with Washington to secure Bout’s release “for a long time” and that initially the US had “refused dialogue” on including him in any swap.
“Nevertheless, the Russian Federation continued to actively work to rescue our compatriot. The Russian citizen has been returned to his homeland,” the defence ministry said.
Variously dubbed “the merchant of death” and “the sanctions buster” for his ability to get around arms embargoes, Bout, 55, was one of the world’s most wanted men before his arrest.