The exchange of prisoners between Russia and the United States took place between arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as “the merchant of death”,
who was serving a 25-year sentence in a US prison, and US basketball player Brittney Griner, who had been arrested in February of this year in Russia for drug trafficking.
(Also: U-turn for Brittney Griner, imprisoned basketball player in Russia)
Griner landed in Texas, according to footage from CNN and Fox News television networks.
In a Russian security video released by the TASS agency, a tall figure in a red jacket enters a track and a short, smiling man with a gray mustache comes out to meet him.
The men in suits who accompany them greet each other on both sides and leave in the opposite direction. In the exchange images, the athlete appears with her hair loose, without her usual long dreadlocks.
“A few moments ago I spoke with Brittney Griner. She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home,” Biden had said hours before. in a brief speech at the White House, assuring that the athlete had “good morals” despite the “trauma” she suffered.
His wife, Cherelle Griner, said she was “overwhelmed with emotions.” “My family is complete,” she noted, expressing her “thank you” to the Democratic administration. In a subsequent statement, the Griner family asked that her privacy be respected as she embarks on the “path to healing.”
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the concern of everyone in the US women’s league “has now turned into a collective wave of joy and relief.”
“Bravo to the Joe Biden administration for the difficult diplomatic work it took to get there,” former President Barack Obama tweeted..
Saudi Arabia also participated in the exchange procedure, according to a joint statement with the United Arab Emirates, which specifies that “the mediation was carried out” by the president of the Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed, and by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. Arabia, Mohamed bin Salman.
Biden appreciated the participation of the Emirates, but the White House downplayed his role and that of Saudi Arabia. “The only countries that participated in the negotiations are the United States and Russia,” said her spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. A senior US official said the discussion with Moscow had focused on Griner’s release and that Washington had let Ukraine and other allies know.
“Strong disappointment”
Griner had been subjected to strong physical and moral pressure
Another American detained in Russia, ex-military officer Paul Whelan, was not included in the exchange. “Even if we fail to secure Paul’s release, we will never give up,” Biden said.
In a telephone communication with CNN from the penal colony where he is being held in Russia, Whelan said he was “very disappointed” not to be part of the trade. “I don’t understand why I’m still here,” he said. Arrested in December 2018 in Russia, Whelan was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison for “espionage”, a sentence that the former military man denounced as unfounded.
Griner, two-time Olympic champion, was arrested in February at a Moscow airport with a vape and liquid containing cannabis, a product prohibited in Russia. He explained that he used it to calm the pain related to his intensive basketball practice, but in August she was sentenced to nine years in prison.
After her appeal was rejected, she was transferred in November to a penal colony in Mordovia, in central Russia. For her followers, the athlete was held hostage by Moscow to negotiate with Washington.
The name of Viktor Bout began to circulate in the boreal summer. Famous 55-year-old Russian arms dealer arrested in Thailand in 2008, sentenced to 25 years in prison in United States. Nicknamed the “death dealer,” his life inspired the film “Lord of War,” in which Nicolas Cage stars as a cynical arms dealer.
The Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, told Bout in a video message that he was aware that he had been subjected to “strong physical and moral pressure” in prison, according to the Russian news agency TASS. Russian state televisions showed Bout smiling as he arrived in Moscow, where he was welcomed by his family. “They woke me up in the middle of the night and told me to collect my things. There was no clear information beforehand,” he told Rossiya 24. “I got here, that’s the most important thing,” he added.
AFP
#Brittney #Griner #arrives #prisoner #swap #Russia