Brittney Griner returned home after being imprisoned for drugs in Russia
2022.12.08 08:50
Brittney Griner returned home after being imprisoned for drugs in Russia
Budrigannews.com – President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that American basketball star Brittney Griner has been released from a prisoner swap with Russia and is currently being held in the United States.
According to the Russian foreign ministry, Griner was exchanged for former arms dealer Viktor Bout, a Russian citizen. Russia news agencies reported that the swap took place at the Abu Dhabi airport in the United Arab Emirates.
She is secure. She is flying. “She is currently on her way home,” Biden tweeted.
A U.S. official said that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris called Griner from the Oval Office, and that Griner’s wife Cherelle was on the call. A picture of the phone call was made public by the White House.
According to the White House, Biden was scheduled to make remarks at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT).
Griner, 32, a star of the Ladies’ Public B-ball Affiliation’s Phoenix Mercury, was captured on Feb. 17. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and the subsequent severe deterioration of relations between Washington and Moscow made it difficult to reach an agreement on her release.
More Legendary Viktor Bout returned to Russia after 20 years of imprisonment in the US
Griner, a two-time gold medalist at the Olympics, was detained at a Moscow airport after vape cartridges containing marijuana oil—which is illegal in Russia—were discovered in her luggage.
On charges of possessing and smuggling drugs, she was given a sentence of nine years in a penal colony on August 4. Although she admitted guilt, she claimed that she had committed an “honest mistake” and had not intended to violate the law.
She was transferred to a penal colony in the Russian region of Mordovia last month to complete her sentence.
One of the most wanted men in the world prior to his arrest, Bout, 55, was dubbed “the sanctions buster” and “the merchant of death” for his ability to circumvent arms embargoes.
By selling weapons to rogue states, rebel groups, and murderous warlords in Africa, Asia, and South America for nearly two decades, Bout rose to the position of being the most notorious arms dealer in the world. Experts on Russian security services believe that Moscow’s ongoing interest in Bout strongly suggests ties to Russian intelligence.
