US basketball star Brittney Griner freed from Russia in prisoner swap
Extraordinary scenes as WNBA star Brittney Griner is freed by Russia, after Joe Biden agreed to swap her with a notorious international arms dealer.
The imprisoned American basketball star Brittney Griner flew home from Russia on Friday after President Joe Biden agreed to swap her for a notorious international arms dealer known as the “merchant of death”.
Griner, 32, a two-time Olympic gold medallist who was serving nine years in a Russian penal colony for possession of cannabis, was exchanged with Viktor Bout, 55, in the United Arab Emirates after months of tense negotiations against the backdrop of war in Ukraine.
Amid celebrations by Griner’s family and supporters there was fresh despair for Paul Whelan, a retired marine who has been in Russian custody for nearly four years on espionage charges that the US says are a sham.
Moments ago I spoke to Brittney Griner.
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 8, 2022
She is safe.
She is on a plane.
She is on her way home. pic.twitter.com/FmHgfzrcDT
He was originally thought to be under consideration for a trade with Bout but the White House said late on Thursday that Bout was never part of the Whelan discussions. Mr Biden said the Russians drove a hard bargain that left the 52-year-old, who has US, British and Irish citizenship, out of the deal.
“It’s my job as president of the United States to make the hard calls and protect American citizens anywhere in the world. And I’m proud that today we have made one more family whole again,” Biden said at the White House alongside Griner’s wife, Cherelle, as he announced the sportswoman’s release.
In April a prisoner exchange led to the release of Trevor Reed, a former marine serving nine years for allegedly assaulting a police officer. He was swapped for a Russian drug trafficker serving a 20-year sentence.
“We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan, who’s been unjustly detained in Russia for years,” Mr Biden added. “This was not a choice of which American to bring home. We brought home Trevor Reed when we had a chance earlier this year. Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney. And while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up.”
Mr Biden thanked the UAE for helping “facilitate” Griner’s release. The UAE issued a joint statement with Saudi Arabia saying it was the result of “mediation efforts” by leaders of the two Arab nations. Griner and Bout were flown to Abu Dhabi on private planes, the statement said, and exchanged “in the presence of specialists from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia”.
The White House denied reports that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in the deal.
“The only countries that negotiated this deal were the United States and Russia,” said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre when asked about the reported role of the Saudi prince.
Griner, who has played since 2014 during the WNBA off-season in Russia for UMMC Ekaterinburg, spent 294 days in captivity after being arrested at a Moscow airport in February for having vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her suitcase.
At her trial she apologised for what she said was an honest mistake. She said she used medical cannabis to relieve the pain from injuries. Both recreational and medicinal uses are prohibited in Russia. “I did not intend to do this,” Griner said.
Alexander Boykov, one of her lawyers, told a three-judge appeal panel sitting in Krasnogorsk, on the outskirts of Moscow in October that “no judge, hand on heart, will honestly say that Griner’s nine-year sentence is in line with Russian criminal law”.
Mr Whelan told CNN by phone from a penal colony that he was “very disappointed” and surprised not to be included in the prisoner swap but very happy for Griner. “This is a precarious situation that needs to be resolved quickly and I would hope that (Mr Biden and his administration would do everything they could to get me home regardless of the price they might have to pay at this point.”
His brother, David, called for the US to be “more assertive”, adding: “If bad actors like Russia are going to grab innocent Americans, the US needs a swifter, more direct response and to be prepared in advance. In Russia’s case, this may mean taking more law-breaking, Kremlin-connected Russians into custody. It’s not like there aren’t plenty around the world.”
There was criticism from conservatives of the Griner deal. John Bolton, the national security adviser under Donald Trump, tweeted: “The Bout-for-Griner prisoner swap is not a trade, it’s an American surrender. This is not what American strength looks like. Terrorists and rogue states are smiling.”
Analysts said that Mr Biden was focused on the Griner case because black women were such an important constituency for his party. “This is the backbone of the Democratic Party under assault overseas and you can put Griner’s name next to the first black woman vice-president, the first black woman on the Supreme Court This is a president who understands who brought him to the dance,” Van Jones, a black political commentator, said.
Cherelle Griner pledged that she and her wife would continue to work for the release of other wrongfully detained Americans.
Bout talked to members of his family by phone and told them he was on Russian territory. He had been arrested in Thailand in 2008 during a sting operation run by US agents. Expectations of a prisoner swap had grown since President Vladimir Putin and Mr Biden discussed Bout during a summit in Geneva in June 2021 — before Griner was arrested.
The Times