President Joe Biden announced that WNBA star Brittney Griner had been released from detention in Russia, celebrating her one-to-one swap for a notorious arms dealer who had been convicted and imprisoned in the U.S.
“She’s safe, she’s on a plane,” Biden said Thursday at the White House. “She’s on our way home after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances. Brittany will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones.”
Griner, 32, was exchanged in a one-to-one swap for Viktor Bout, a notorious arms dealer, according to a statement from Russia’s foreign ministry. The president didn’t mention Bout’s name in his remarks.
