Jailed US basketball star Brittney Griner has been freed by Russia in a prison swap deal.
WNBA player Griner was stopped at a Moscow airport in February and was found to have cannabis oil on her.
She was jailed for nine years and sent to a Russian penal colony, but has now been freed in exchange for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout — known as the “Merchant of Death” — who has been held in an American jail for 12 years.
The two prisoners were flown to the United Arab Emirates where they were handed over to officials of each nation at Abu Dhabi Airport.
Both Griner and Bout have been pardoned by their home countries meaning they are now free and will serve no more prison time.
However in a blow for the US Paul Whelan, another American prisoner in Russia, has not been freed which his family has said is “devastating”.
Washington had been hoping to get Griner and Mr Whelan in a two for one deal for Bout.
“It was a choice to get Brittney or nothing,” a US official told CNN.
Whelan, a former US Marine detained in 2018 and accused of spying, was not part of the prisoner exchange and he told CNN he was “greatly disappointed.”
“I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here,” Whelan told the US television network in a phone call from the Russian penal colony where he is imprisoned.
President Joe Biden pledged to continue to seek Whelan’s freedom, saying “we will never give up.”
“Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case different than Brittney’s,” he said.
Biden said on Thursday morning (US time) Griner was “on her way home”.
“She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home,” he tweeted alongside pictures of himself in the Oval Office with Griner’s wife Cherelle Griner.
He revealed that Griner had written to him in July asking not for “special treatment” but simply asked: “Please don’t forget about me and the other American detainees”.
In comments at the White House, Mr Biden said: “I’m glad to say Brittney’s in good spirits.
“She’s relieved to finally be heading home, and the fact remains that she’s lost months of her life, experienced a needless trauma.
“She deserves space, privacy and time with her loved ones to recover and heal from her time being wrongfully detained.”
Griner’s wife ‘overwhelmed’
Speaking beside the President, Cherelle Griner said: “I’m overwhelmed with emotions.”
She added that the incarceration of her wife had been “one of the darkest moments” of her life.
Ms Griner said she and “BG” were committed to helping getting Paul Whelan home too.
USA Basketball tweeted “Welcome home, BG”.
Russia praises release of notorious arms dealer
Russian state media confirmed the prisoner swap. Notably it called Bout a “businessman” with the Russian foreign ministry saying he was a “compatriot”.
“The Russian citizen has been returned to his homeland,” the ministry said in a statement.
Bout, dubbed the “Merchant of Death”, sold arms to rogue governments following the fall of the Soviet Union.
He was caught in Bangkok in 2008, much to the anger of Moscow.
In the US he was jailed for 25 years for conspiring to kill Americans and for supporting terrorists. Bout had spent most of his jail time at a federal prison in Marion, Illinois, 200km south east of St Louis.
Bout’s lawyer said the release of his client was a “fair” swap.
“Given the fifteen long years that Viktor Bout has been in custody since the United States government targeted him in 2006, his exchange for Brittney Griner, who has only been in custody for a few months, is fair,” said Steve Zissou.
He added that the people of Russia “never gave up” on Bout just as Americans never gave up on Griner.
“Hopefully, this is just the first of many reasonable agreements between the US and Russia that will lead to better relations and a safer world,” Mr Zissou told CNN.
Why Griner ended up in a Russian prison
Griner, a two-time Olympic basketball gold medallist and Women’s NBA champion, had been in Russia to play for the professional Yekaterinburg team during her off-season from the Phoenix Mercury WNBA side. She said the cannabis in vape cartridges was to treat pain from her sporting injuries, but Russia does not allow medical marijuana use.
In August, the Khimki city court, outside Moscow, found Griner guilty on charges of possession and smuggling and sentenced her to nine years in jail.
She was also fined more than $23,000.
Griner’s case drew outrage in the US, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaching out to Russia to propose the deal to free her despite soaring tensions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
She will initially be flown to a medical facility in San Antonio, Texas, for medical treatment. She will also be reunited with her wife there.
Saudia Arabia alongside the UAE played a key role in the prisoner swap, it’s benne reported. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan were both heavily involved, both Middle Eastern nations said in a joint statement.
‘Devastated’ family of US prisoner in Russia not freed
The deal leaves Paul Whelan stranded in Russia, at least for now. He has been held in a Russian prison for nearly four years after a conviction on espionage charges which the US has deemed false. he was given a 16 year sentence.
Whelan has said he spends his days sewing in a prison clothing factory which he has deemed a “sweatshop”.
Regarding Mr Whelan, President Biden said: “While we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release we have not given up; we will not give up”.
Mr Whelan’s family welcomed Griner’s freedom and said they had been warned he would not be released on this occasion.
Nonetheless, they said they were “devastated” and that the US needed to be “more assertive”.
“If bad actors like Russia are going to grab innocent Americans, the US needs a swifter, more direct response,” Mr Whelan’s brother David said.
The family said they feared there were “no concessions the Russian Government will take for Paul Whelan,” and that he would not survive a further 12 years in a prison camp.
