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More than nine months after being detained in Russia, American basketball star Brittney Griner arrived in her country on Friday, December 9, one day after being released. In exchange, Washington handed over to Moscow the Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year prison sentence, in the US. Both governments indicate his willingness to continue negotiating on eventual exchanges of other prisoners.
Brittney Griner was smiling and calm in the images taken on board the flight that returned her home on December 9.
In the early hours of this Friday, the basketball star landed at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
A return for which the basketball star waited nearly ten months and occurred thanks to the latest prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia.
In exchange, Washington released Viktor Bout, a notorious arms dealer known as ‘the merchant of death’, who since 2010 was serving a 25-year prison sentence.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist and active WNBA player on the Phoenix Mercury team was detained on February 17 at an airport near Moscow. The athlete admitted that she had cartridges of marijuana oil in her luggage and last August she was sentenced to more than nine years behind bars on charges of drug possession and smuggling.
The exchange materialized on Thursday, December 8, in the United Arab Emirates, which mediated the negotiations.
Griner, dressed in a red jacket and dark pants, arrived in Abu Dhabi, the Emirati capital, on a private plane from Moscow, while Bout flew by plane from the US capital.
A video from the local channel ‘Russia-24’ and rebroadcast by ‘The New York Times’ showed that both were escorted to the airstrip where they boarded the flights back to their countries. Bout hugged a Russian official who greeted him and smiled broadly as he was led away.
Russian state media video, verified by The New York Times, shows the prisoner exchange of Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout, the convicted Russian arms dealer known as “the Merchant of Death,” at an airport in the United Arab Emirates. https://t.co/sw6OPSRgrI pic.twitter.com/QTAYQUZDk8
—The New York Times (@nytimes) December 9, 2022
Moscow interprets the exchange as a “victory” for Putin
Russian state media reported that President Vladimir Putin “gained” by exchanging the athlete for the man considered by the Justice Department to be one of the world’s biggest dealers who sold weapons to terrorists in different countries for decades.
“Everyone will forget about Griner tomorrow (…) Bout’s life is just beginning,” said newscaster Yevgeny Popov.
Bout was arrested in 2008 in Thailand after US agents posing as members of Colombia’s now-defunct FARC guerilla group set him up in a Bangkok hotel. Two years later he was extradited to the United States.
The US press highlights the urgency faced by the Biden Administration to free Griner, after she was convicted and transferred to a penal colony, where forced labor shifts for detainees are usually between 12 and 14 hours a day.
The news of Griner’s release took to social media in the United States, but many also pointed out “disappointment” because the Biden government initially pressured for ex-marine Paul Whelan to be included in this exchange, arrested in 2018 and convicted in 2020 to 16 years in prison, for espionage charges that he rejects.
Meet Brittney Griner & Marine Paul Whelan.
Both Americans.
Both were convicted in Russian courts on dubious charges.
Both serving multi-year sentences in Russian prison.
Brittney hates America
Paul served AmericaGuess which one Biden traded a terrorist to free?
semper fi paul pic.twitter.com/tuP1R6AZpf
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 8, 2022
Negotiations in this regard were unsuccessful and although Washington did not obtain his release, the president promised to continue efforts to achieve it.
Several US newspapers replied that the ex-military man assured that he welcomes Griner’s release, but that he is “disappointed” that his government did not pressure Moscow enough for his release.
“I am very disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release, especially as the fourth anniversary of my arrest approaches (…) I was arrested for a crime that never happened,” Whelan said in an interview with ‘CNN’.
“This was not a situation where we had a choice of which American to take home. It was a choice between bringing home one American in particular, Brittney Griner, or not bringing home any,” added the man, visibly shaken by being left on Russian soil.
Washington and Moscow ready to enter further negotiations for future exchanges
President Vladimir Putin affirmed this Friday that it is possible that his government carry out new exchanges of detainees with the United States and that for this, the intelligence services of the two countries continue to be in contact.
“Everything is possible (…) Contacts continue. In fact, they have never stopped. A compromise was found, we do not refuse to continue this work in the future,” the Kremlin leader replied at a press conference.
The Russian news agency Interfax, which quoted Whelan’s lawyer, reported on Thursday, December 8, that talks between the two parties on the ex-marine’s release continue.
In his statements to the press, Joe Biden also insisted that his Administration does not cease efforts to bring him home as Brittney Griner celebrates today.
With Reuters and local media
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