Brittney Griner: WNBA star arrives at US hospital after being released by Russia in prisoner swap
The WNBA star was detained at a Russian airport in February
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Brittney Griner has returned to US soil for the first time in 10 months after she was released from Russian custody in a prisoner swap with “Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout.
The WNBA star arrived at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio early on 9 December for examination and any additional medical treatment.
Footage showed Ms Griner and Bout being exchanged on the tarmac of a runway in the United Arab Emirates on 8 December following weeks of negotiations between Washington DC and Moscow.
The deal failed to include US Marine Paul Whelan, who has been detained in Russia for the last four years. Mr Whelan told CNN he was “greatly disappointed” to learn he was not part of the prisoner swap, saying: “I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here.”
President Joe Biden insisted that “we’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan” and vowed to “never give up” securing his release, as the swap divided opinion across the country. The White House was also forced to deny claims made by Saudi Arabia and the UAE that Mohammed bin Salman negotiated the deal.
Brittney Griner lands back on US soil after being freed from Russia in prisoner swap for Viktor Bout
White House denies Saudi claim MBS negotiated Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout prisoner swap
Trump turned down Paul Whelan and Viktor Bout prisoner swap years ago, John Bolton says
Biden says US ‘never stopped pushing’ for Brittney Griner release and will ‘never give up’ on Paul Whelan and othersBrittney Griner: Footage released of prisoner exchange in Abu Dhabi
WATCH: Russian arms dealer in Brittney Griner prisoner swap inspired Nic Cage movie
One of the stranger twists in the saga of Brittney Griner involves a Russian gun-runner who officials released from US custody to secure her release.
Viktor Bout: Who is the ‘Merchant of Death’ released in Brittney Griner exchange?
Viktor Bout, one of the world’s most infamous arms dealers, has been released from US custody. Also known as the Merchant of Death, he was freed as part of a prisoner exchange with basketball star Brittney Griner, detained in Russia. Bout, a former Soviet military translator turned international arms dealer, was imprisoned for more than a decade. “Viktor Bout, in my eyes, is one of the most dangerous men on the face of the Earth,” Michael Braun, the former chief of operations for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, said in 2010. Click here to sign up for our newsletters.
Viktor Bout, the so-called “Merchant of Death,” was so notorious for supplying weapons to world conflicts he even inspired a Nicolas Cage movie.
Here’s the trailer for 2005’s Lord of War. It’s not the most accurate depiction of Bout’s life, but who are we to turn down a video clip featuring Nic Cage AND the sounds of The Clash?
Brittney Griner’s Phoenix Mercury team says it will ‘follow her lead’ as new WNBA season approaches
The Phoenix Mercury, home club of newly freed WNBA star Brittney Griner, says it isn’t trying to rush their star center back onto the court now that she’s returning to the US from Russian prison.
“I can’t imagine how much this is to deal with and a reintroduction into freedom and everything else,” Mercury president Vince Kozar told The New York Times. “So we’re going to follow her lead on what she wants to do.”
The WNBA season restarts in May.
Biden administration defends decision to trade for Griner while leaving Paul Whelan in Russia
The White House is defending the prisoner swap that saw WNBA star Brittney Griner released from a Russian penal colony, in exchange for freeing convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout from US custody.
Conservative critics have argued Joe Biden should’ve done more to free Paul Whelan, an ex-Marine held since 2018 in Russia on espionage charges.
“The choice was bringing Brittney Griner home right now, or bringing no one home right now,” a senior administration official told CNN.
Once the deal was on, CNN adds, the president called Griner to welcome her back.
“It’s Joe Biden,” the president said. “Welcome, welcome home!”
Biden’s other 2022 prisoner swap: Trevor Reed
It may not have gotten as much attention, but Joe Biden helped arrange the release this year of another US citizen being held in Russia: ex-US Marine Trevor Reed.
Mr Reed, a 30-year-old from Texas, was handed a nine-year jail sentence in 2019 after being found guilty in a Russian court of endangering the lives of two police officers while drunk in Moscow.
Konstantin Yaroshenko, a convicted Russian drug trafficker who was serving out a 20-year sentence in the United States, was released after a lengthy negotiation process, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed on her Telegram channel.
Johanna Chisholm has the full story.
What happened to WNBA star Brittney Griner and why was she detained in Russia?
Brittney Griner, 32, has finally been freed from Russian prison after US officials negotiated a prisoner swap with Moscow for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout.
The WNBA star has spent the last 10 months in prison in Russia after she was detained at an airport back in February for allegedly carrying illegal cannibas oil in her luggage.
US officials revealed on Thursday that, following weeks of negotiations, a one-for-one swap had been carried out, exchanging the 32-year-old American basketball star for Bout.
Ms Griner’s family, friends and fans – alongside many public figures – have been calling on Russia to free her for months and for the US State Department to intervene.
Here’s everything you need to know about the ordeal, courtesy of Graig Graziosi and Abe Asher.
What the Brittney Griner saga says about the US prison system
Brittney Griner’s incarceration in Russia is a reminder of the US prison system’s own harsh conditions, US Voices columnist Michael Arceneaux argued earlier this year.
Here’s a taste of what he wrote back in August, a perspective just as salient today.
“If not for the gross wage gap that exists between NBA and WNBA players, Griner probably wouldn’t even have been in Russia to be subjected to any of this. So for her to not only become a political pawn, but a prisoner whose labor will be further exploited under the harshest conditions imaginable in a country with one of the world’s largest prison populations, is a particularly enraging example of injustice.
However, as harsh as this sentence was even by Russia’s own legal metrics, it’s worth noting that the US has a highly problematic and racist justice system of its own.
I don’t doubt the sincerity of Biden or Blinken in their pledges to do all it can to get Brittney Griner home, but as we wait for negotiations to unfold, I do think this is a time to offer a real gesture to women who face similar conditions — harsh prison sentences at subpar prisons where their labor is exploited – stateside.
I don’t say this as a means to distract from Griner’s situation or in any way downplay the significance. I want Brittney Griner to be home with her wife and family. I want her and other women professional basketball players to be better compensated so they don’t have to travel to make more money, potentially subjecting themselves to the will of foreign governments with axes to grind in doing so. I can say that and also point out that there are many people like Griner — Black, female, or both – sitting in American prisons who have had their lives stolen over a few ounces of weed or less.
Read his full column here.
Condemn Russia for what’s happened to Brittney Griner — but condemn the US too
Griner is in this position because of an international political row and a discriminatory policy that means WNBA players make far less than their male counterparts. And many people in American prisons have had their lives ruined for very similar so-called crimes
Donald Trump, who ignored Paul Whelan for two years, says deal to return Brittney Griner to US was ‘stupid’
Two years after his term in the White House ended without him mentioning his name, Donald Trump is now claiming the Biden administration’s prisoner swap to return wrongfully detained WNBA star Brittney Griner home is a “stupid” and “totally one-side transaction” because it did not include US Marine Corps veteran Paul Whelan.
Mr Trump, under whose watch Mr Whelan was detained on bogus espionage charges just three days after Christmas in 2018, hit out at the Biden administration’s latest return of an American hostage from abroad on his Truth Social platform, writing: “Why wasn’t former Marine Paul Whelan included in this totally one-sided transaction? He would have been let out for the asking”.
The disgraced ex-president, whose family business was convicted of criminal tax fraud earlier this week, also complained because the deal freed Ms Griner, a basketball player who he baselessly accused of hating the US, for Russian-born arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Andrew Feinberg has the full story.
Donald Trump slams Brittney Griner deal after ignoring Paul Whelan for two years
Mr Trump did not mention Mr Whelan’s name a single time during the two years he was held in Russia on his watch, nor did he bring up the former US Marine during a 2019 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin
Griner, a generational talent on the court, is coming home
WNBA star Brittney Griner‘s 10-month imprisonment in Russia on drug charges came to an end on Thursday, spreading relief and joy across sports world and beyond.
It’s unknown if and when she might return to a basketball court. But if she does, women’s basketball will get back a generational talent.
On the court, Griner was a dominant force in leading Baylor to the 2012 NCAA championship, then went onto stardom as a lanky anchor for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and as a two-time Olympic gold medallist with Team USA.
The 6-foot-9 centre is known for her ability to dunk, once a rarity in the women’s game. Griner holds the NCAA record with 18 dunks and has 13 since joining the WNBA in 2014. She has five more in WNBA All-Star Games.
Keep reading to learn more about Ms Griner’s gold medal-winning impact on the court, both on offense and defence, here with The Independent.
WNBA star Brittney Griner a generational talent on the court
WNBA star Brittney Griner’s 10-month imprisonment in Russia on drug charges came to an end on Thursday, spreading relief and joy across sports world and beyond
Is Viktor Bout, the arms dealer traded for Brittney Griner, a Russian agent?
Russia may have gotten more than just one of its citizens back in a prison swap trading arms dealer Viktor Bout for releasing US basketball star Brittney Griner.
The Kremlin may have recovered a top intelligence agent.
“It explains the reasons Russia has been so assiduously campaigning to get him back,” Mark Galeotti, a Russia expert and lecturer on Russia and transnational crime at University College London, told The New York Times. “All countries try to get their citizens out of rough jurisdictions, but it is clear that it has been a particular priority for the Russians in getting Viktor Bout back.”
Many have speculated that Bout, an arms trafficker who became known as the “Merchant of Death” for his work allegedly supplying the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Rwandan militants, worked for Russian spy services.
Over the years, Bout served time in the Russian Air Force, studied at a top Moscow language institute, and leveraged his military connections after the fall of the Soviet Union to become a prominent transnational businessman in the arms trade.
The arms dealer, who was convicted in 2011 of selling arms with the eventual intent to kill US citizens, has denied any such associations.
WATCH: ‘Happy’ Brittney Griner boards plane for US
Russian state media has released a brief video of WNBA star Brittney Griner on a flight bound for a US.
The basketball player, who was sentenced to years in a Russian penal colony on drug charges before a US-Russia prisoner swap freed her, answered questions briefly that she was “happy” to be heading home, according to CNN.
Here’s the full video of her boarding the flight.
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