In a high-profile prisoner swap on Thursday, Russia released WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for the release of infamous Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, according to American officials.
President Joe Biden’s principal objective was fulfilled by the trade, which took place during a period of increased tensions over Ukraine, but it came at a high cost and left an American prisoner in Russia for over four years.
The deal, which marked the second such swap with Russia in eight months, secured the release of the most well-known American held overseas. Griner, a two-time gold medallist at the Olympics, was wrongfully imprisoned for several months on drug-related accusations, and this took the issue to a whole new level of public attention.
The increasing pressure on Biden’s administration to repatriate Griner was highlighted by his approval of the release of a Russian felon once known as “the Merchant of Death.” This was especially true given the recent conclusion of her criminal prosecution and her subsequent transfer to a correctional camp.
Under the condition of anonymity, U.S. officials with firsthand knowledge of the arrangements but who were not authorized to speak publicly about the agreement before a White House statement confirmed the trade.
While her wife Cherelle was in the Oval Office on Thursday, Biden spoke with Griner on the phone. Later in the morning, the president was scheduled to speak to the media.
After months of tense negotiations, Russian and American officials have recently expressed cautious optimism. Biden stated in November that he was confident that Russia will engage in a compromise now that the midterm elections are over. Last Monday, a senior Russian official suggested that a deal might be reached before the year is over.
Even so, the fact that the deal was a one-for-one swap came as a surprise given that American officials had previously stated their desire to bring both Griner and Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive who has been imprisoned in Russia as of December 2018 on espionage charges that his relatives and the US government have said are unfounded, home.
The United States liberated Bout, a former lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Army who the Justice Department previously referred to as one of the most active arms dealers in the world.
Bout, whose exploits were made into a Hollywood film, was given a 25-year sentence for conspiring to sell weapons worth tens of millions of dollars that U.S. officials claimed would be used against Americans.
More on this story via The Western Journal:
The Biden administration was ultimately willing to exchange Bout if it meant Griner’s freedom. The detention of one of the greatest players in WNBA history contributed to a swirl of unprecedented public attention for an individual detainee case — not to mention intense pressure on the White House.
Griner’s arrest in February made her the most high-profile American jailed abroad. Her status as an openly gay black woman, locked up in a country where authorities have been hostile to the LBGTQ community, infused racial, gender and social dynamics into her legal saga and made each development a matter of international importance. CONTINUE READING…
