Russia has freed US basketball star Brittney Griner in a prisoner swap with one of the world’s largest illicit arms dealers, US officials said.
Griner was set to serve nine years in a penal colony after a Russian court convicted her on a drug use charge.
This morning, Biden tweeted a picture of himself and Cherelle Griner Griner’s wife, in the Oval Office.
He wrote: ‘Moments ago I spoke to Brittney Griner. She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home.’
But in a wrenchingly long-sought deal, Griner, 32, has been released in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the ‘Merchant of Death’.
Bout has, among other things, been accused of supplying arms to Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and rebels in Rwanda.
He had served less than half of his 25-year-long prison sentence.
A senior administration official claimed president Joe Biden signed off on the deal while in the United Arab Emirates.
The deal has been on the table for months, though the offer that finally freed Griner has come with a price – Paul Whelan, an American corporate security executive jailed in Russia, has been left out.
The move marks one of the most high-profile prisoner swaps between Washington and Moscow since the Cold War.
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