Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner has been released from a Russian penal colony and is in United States custody after a prisoner exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout, President Biden confirmed Thursday morning.
CBS News was first to report the exchange.
In a news conference at the White House, Biden said the exchange had been in the works for the past two weeks, and he had given the final go-ahead for the swap. Biden spoke with Griner on the phone, and Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, was at the White House on Thursday. The swap took place in the United Arab Emirates.
Biden said that the “past few months have been hell for Brittney” but that she is in good spirits.
“We never forgot about Brittney,” Biden said. “I’m glad to be able to say Brittney is in good spirits. She’s relieved to finally be heading home, and the fact remains that she’s lost months of her life, experienced a needless trauma. She deserves space, privacy and time with her loved ones to recover and heal from her time being wrongfully detained.
“She wrote to me back in July. She didn’t ask for special treatment, even though we’d been working on her release from day one. She requested, a simple quote, ‘Please don’t forget about me and the other American detainees,’ ” Biden added.
Biden said the United States is still working to bring home Paul Whelan, who has been jailed in Russia since 2018 on charges of espionage.
Cherrelle Griner thanked Biden and the administration for their efforts.
“So over the last nine months, you all have been so privy to one of the darkest moments of my life, and so today I’m just standing here overwhelmed with emotions, but the most important emotion that I have right now is just sincere gratitude for President Biden and his entire administration,” Cherrelle Griner said.
WATCH LIVE: Griner freed from Russia, President Biden gives remarks
Griner, an eight-time WNBA all-star center and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was convicted Aug. 4 and sentenced to nine years in prison after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. Griner admitted she had the canisters in her luggage but testified she had inadvertently packed them in haste and that she had no criminal intent.
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TIMELINE: What has happened since the WNBA star was detained
The U.S. government had repeatedly said Griner, 31, was wrongfully detained.
Bout, 55, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death,” is a former Soviet Army lieutenant colonel who, according to U.S. officials, was trying to sell weapons to be used against Americans. He was serving a 25-year sentence.at a federal prison in Marion, Illinois, and was set to be released in August 2029, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
