The 32-year-old sportswoman, imprisoned in February in Russia, was exchanged for Viktor Bout, an arms trafficker who was serving a 25-year sentence in the United States. She arrived in Texas on Friday.
American basketball star Brittney Griner arrived in the United States on Friday, December 9 following being released from a Russian prison in exchange of an arms dealer nicknamed the “merchant of death”.
She landed in Texas around 10:40 a.m. GMT, according to footage from CNN and Fox News.
Brittney Griner, 32, who was arrested in Russia in February on drug trafficking charges, and Viktor Bout, 55, who was serving a 25-year sentence in a US prison, were swapped at an airport in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
>> The “merchant of death” Viktor Bout, a free Russian thanks to Moscow
In Russian security service video released by TASS, a tall figure in a red jacket walks down a tarmac, a small, smiling man with a gray mustache walks up to meet him. Men in suits who accompany them greet each other on both sides and then leave in the opposite direction.
In the images of the exchange, which seems straight out of the Cold War, the sportswoman appears with her hair cropped, 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 to the United States,” US President Joe Biden said earlier. during a brief address at the White House. The basketball player has “good morale” despite the “trauma” endured, added the American president.
In video (released by the Tass agency) of the exchange of American basketball player Brittney Griner and Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, at Abu Dhabi airport. pic.twitter.com/nlSRNnFw2x
— Guillaume Naudin (@gnaudin) December 8, 2022
“Overwhelmed by Emotions”
In a statement, Brittney Griner’s family said, “We would like to express our sincere gratitude to President Biden and his administration for their tireless work in bringing Brittney home.”
In another video broadcast by the pro-Kremlin channel RT, we see Brittney Griner leave his penal colony bags in hand. A guard asks her in Russian: “Do you think you will come back here one day?”
FSB images show her boarding a plane in the snow, then ensuring from the cabin to be “happy”, specifying that she did not know where she was being led.
In the United States, the basketball player’s wife, Cherelle Griner, said she was “overwhelmed by emotions”. “Not a day in the last 10 months that we haven’t carried Brittney Griner in our hearts and thoughts,” said WNBA Women’s Professional Basketball League Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who also hinted that the basketball player would land in Texas.
Saudi Arabia also participated in the exchange procedure, according to a joint statement with the United Arab Emirates, specifying that “the mediation was carried out” by the President of the Emirates Mohammed bin Zayed and by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. .
Joe Biden thanked Abu Dhabi but the White House still qualified his role as well as that of Saudi Arabia. “The only countries that participated in the negotiations are the United States and Russia,” said US executive spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.
Other “possible” prisoner exchanges
A senior US official said the discussion with Moscow remained focused on Brittney Griner’s release, and the US made this known to Ukraine and other allies.
The Kremlin stressed for its part on Friday that the negotiations “concerned only the exchange” and did not put an end to the “crisis” between the two countries, whose relations are “still in a deplorable state”.
Another American detained in Russia, ex-serviceman Paul Whelan, was not included in the exchange. “Even if we failed to secure Paul’s release, we will never give up,” assured Joe Biden. In a call with CNN from his penal colony in Russia, Paul Whelan said he was “strongly disappointed”. “I don’t understand why I’m still here,” he said.
In a statement, his family said they were “happy” for Brittney Griner but “still devastated” to know Paul Whelan in a Russian prison. Arrested in December 2018 in Russia, he was sentenced to sixteen years in prison for “espionage”, a conviction which he denounced as fabricated from scratch.
The day following the release of the American basketball player, the Russian president however indicated that other exchanges of prisoners between Moscow and Washington were “possible”.
“Contacts continue at the level of the intelligence services, they had never stopped. Are other (exchanges) possible? Yes, everything is possible”, declared Vladimir Putin, during a conference of press on the sidelines of a regional summit in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
Ten months imprisonment
Brittney Griner, a 32-year-old African-American sportswoman and two-time Olympic champion, was arrested in February at a Moscow airport with a vape and liquid containing cannabis, a product banned in Russia.
She had been hired by the Russian team in Ekaterinburg, during the American off-season, a common practice. In August, she was sentenced to nine years in prison and then, following her appeal was rejected, was transferred in November to a penal colony in central Russia.
His supporters have always denounced a hostage-taking to haggle with Washington in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine. The name of Viktor Bout had been mentioned in the summer. Famous Russian arms trafficker, arrested in Thailand in 2008, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison in the United States.
Viktor Bout landed in Russia on Thursday, according to a Russian public television channel. In an interview with Russian media RT on Friday, this former Soviet officer accused the West of wanting to “destroy” and “divide” Russia. Nicknamed the “merchant of death”, his extraordinary career served as inspiration for the film “Lord of War” with Nicolas Cage.
Americans and Russians accuse each other of detaining their respective nationals for political purposes. Several prisoner exchanges have taken place in the past.
With AFP