WNBA star Brittney Griner, who has been detained for months in Russia over drug charges, was released Thursday in a prisoner swap for a notorious international arms dealer, according to a US official, CBS News reported.
In the one-for-one swap, the US had reportedly been negotiating with Moscow for weeks to send arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange for the 32-year-old American basketball player.
“She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home,” said US President Joe Biden in a tweet confirming her release, adding later during an address that she was in “good spirits”.
“After months of being unjustly held in Russia she will soon be in the arms of her loved ones,” said the president from the White House.
Meanwhile, jailed US Marine Paul Whelan says he is “greatly disappointed” not to have been included in the prisoner exchange, telling CNN in a new interview that while he welcomed Ms Griner’s release, he had been “led to believe things were moving in the right direction” with efforts to secure his own release.
“I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here,” he told CNN.
