(Washington) American basketball star Brittney Griner, detained in Russia for nine months, was released in a prisoner exchange on Thursday with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, imprisoned for ten years in the United States. United.
The exchange took place Thursday at Abu Dhabi airport, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Telegram.
Brittney Griner immediately boarded a plane to the United States, where she is expected within 24 hours.
“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 during a brief address at the White House.
“I also want to thank the United Arab Emirates for helping us facilitate the release of Brittney,” added Joe Biden, adding that the sportswoman had “good morale” despite “the trauma” endured.
His wife Cherelle Griner said she was “overwhelmed with emotions”: “My family is complete,” she added, expressing her “gratitude” for the Democratic administration.
Another American detained in Russia, former 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.
PHOTO MAXIM SHEMETOV, REUTERS
Paul Whelan
In a press release, his family said they were “happy” for Mr.me Griner, but “still devastated” to know Paul Whelan in a Russian prison, as Christmas approaches that the family will spend “for the fourth time” without him.
Arrested in December 2018 in Russia, he was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison for “espionage”, a conviction which he denounced as fabricated from scratch.
“Lord of War”
The 32-year-old African-American sportswoman, double Olympic champion, was arrested in February at a Moscow airport with a vaporizer and liquid containing cannabis, a product banned in Russia.
She said it was a treatment to soothe pain related to her 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.
His supporters have always denounced a hostage-taking to haggle with Washington in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine.
PHOTO SAEED KHAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Viktor Bout in 2008
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.
Nicknamed the “merchant of death”, his extraordinary journey was the inspiration for the film “Lord of War” in which Nicolas Cage plays a most cynical arms trafficker.
Americans and Russians accuse each other of detaining their respective nationals for political purposes. Several prisoner exchanges have taken place in the past.
In April, former US Marine Trevor Reed, sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia for violence he denied, was exchanged for a Russian pilot, Konstantin Yaroshenko, imprisoned in the United States since 2010 for drug trafficking in connection with the Colombian FARC.