Biden strikes deal to free Brittney Griner from Russian custody
Griner will be exchanged for Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death.”
The White House has secured the release of American basketball star Brittney Griner, President Joe Biden announced Thursday, confirming that the U.S. sent arms trafficker Viktor Bout to Russia in exchange.
“Moments ago I spoke to Brittney Griner,” the president said in a tweet. “She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, were also in the room for the Oval Office call.
The prisoner swap ends a brutal 10 months for Griner, who Russian authorities arrested in February for possession of vape cartridges containing hash oil. She was sentenced in August to nine years in prison and was recently sent to a penal colony 300 miles outside of Moscow.
The news will likely be bittersweet for the family of Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine held in Russia since 2018 on unproven charges of espionage. In September, Elizabeth Whalen, Paul’s sister, told POLITICO in September that “I do not want to see him left behind again and have urged the U.S. government not to let the Russian Federation do that.”
