American basketball star Brittney Griner arrived in the United States on Friday morning after being released from a Russian prison in exchange for an arms dealer nicknamed the “dealer of death”.
The 32-year-old African-American basketball player, two-time Olympic champion, landed in Texas around 4:40 a.m. EST.
Brittney Griner, 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.
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, 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 a statement, Brittney Griner’s family expressed their “sincere gratitude to President Biden and his administration for their tireless work in bringing Brittney home.” »
” Relief “
In another video broadcast by the pro-Kremlin channel RT, we see Brittney Griner leaving her 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 taken.
In the United States, the basketball player’s wife, Cherelle Griner, said she was “overwhelmed by emotions”.
“Not a day in the past 10 months that we haven’t held Brittney Griner in our hearts and thoughts,” said WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
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.
Paul Whelan “strongly disappointed”
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, 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.
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, her family said they were “happy” for Ms 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.
“Merchant of Death”
Brittney Griner was arrested in February at a Moscow airport with a vaporizer and liquid containing cannabis, a product banned in Russia.
She had been hired by the Russian team from Ekaterinburg during the American off-season, a common practice.
In August, she was sentenced to nine years in prison and then, after 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 journey served as inspiration for the film Lord of War with Nicholas Cage.
Americans and Russians accuse each other of detaining their respective nationals for political purposes. Several prisoner exchanges have taken place in the past.