Brittney Griner left the country early on Friday, almost ten months after her arrest in Russia made her the most well-known American detained overseas and ignited a political uproar.
In addition to her popularity in women’s basketball and her imprisonment in a nation where the government have been unfriendly to the LBGTQ community, Griner’s status as an openly gay Black woman raised fears for her and generated a great deal of media attention. After her detention, things became even more tricky when Russia invaded Ukraine.
President Joe Biden’s first objective was accomplished with the agreement revealed on Thursday that saw Griner traded for renowned arms dealer Viktor Bout. Another American who has been imprisoned for almost four years, Paul Whelan, was not liberated by the United States.
Given the recent resolution of Griner’s criminal case involving drug charges and her subsequent transfer to a penal colony, as well as the increased urgency that his administration faced to get Griner home, Biden’s approval of Bout’s release, the Russian felon formerly known as “the Merchant of Death,” was significant.
Basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury and two-time Olympic gold champion, Griner was spotted exiting a plane after it touched down in Texas on Friday at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.
“Very glad to see Brittney returned in the United States. Welcoming back, BG! “, the special presidential envoy for hostage situations Roger Carstens tweeted.
The WNBA player, who also played professional basketball in Russia, was detained in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport after claims by Russian police that she was in possession of cannabis oil-filled vape cartridges. Griner was “unjustly imprisoned,” according to the U.S. State Department, a claim that Russia has categorically denied.
Griner entered a guilty plea in July, but a trial was still pending because a matter does not necessarily conclude when a defendant admits guilt in Russian law. Nine years were imposed on her.
She admitted having cannabis oil canisters in court, but said she did not want to commit a crime and had mistakenly packed them. Her defence team provided formal confirmation that she had received a cannabis prescription for pain relief.
In a statement distributed by Russian news organisations, the Russian Foreign Ministry acknowledged the swap that took place on Thursday, stating that it took occurred in Abu Dhabi and Bout had been flown home.
Griner and Biden chatted on the phone. She would be provided with psychotherapy and specialist medical care, according to American officials. The United States liberated Bout, a formerly military officer in the Soviet Army who the Justice Department previously referred to as one of the most active arms dealers in the world. He was detained in Thailand in 2008, and in 2010 he was returned to the United States.
Bout was incarcerated for 25 years after being found guilty of conspiring to supply weapons worth tens of millions of dollars that American officials claimed would be used against citizens of the United States.