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 United States.
Griner, 32, was exchanged in a trade for Viktor Bout, according to a statement from Russia’s foreign ministry and senior Biden administration officials. The president didn’t mention Bout, known as the “merchant of death,” in his remarks, and acknowledged that his administration has so far failed to achieve the release of another American the U.S. considers unjustly imprisoned in Russia, former Marine Paul Whelan.
“She’s safe, she’s on a plane,” Biden said Thursday at the White House, referring to Griner. “She’s on her way home after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances. Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones.”
