Brittney Griner

Griner was traded for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. The swap did not include retired Marine Paul Whelan who remains imprisoned in Russia, ...

The White House said it made a "substantial offer" over the summer — widely reported to involve a [suggested trade](https://www.npr.org/2022/08/02/1115113622/jailed-arms-dealer-bout-the-merchant-of-death-may-be-swapped-for-2-americans) of Bout — in exchange for Griner and Whelan. Last month, she was transferred to a prison colony in Mordovia — 300 miles southeast of Moscow — to begin serving out her sentence. He said last month that he hoped Russian President Vladimir Putin would be more willing to discuss a prisoner exchange after the U.S. "The Russian citizen has been returned to his homeland." The president was under increasing pressure to secure Griner's release. Marine Paul Whelan who remains imprisoned in Russia, on espionage charges that the U.S. "We will never give up." The exchange did not include former U.S. Griner's detention had been a top priority for Biden and his administration. She's on a plane. "She's safe. "

WASHINGTON: US basketball star Brittney Griner has been released in a prisoner swap with Russia and is on her way back to the United States, President Joe ...

Griner was detained in February at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport after Russian authorities said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage.

Player released in exchange for imprisoned Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

US basketball star Brittney Griner was freed in a prisoner exchange for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout nearly 10 months after she was arrested at a ...

The American basketball star was imprisoned in Russia for 10 months as diplomatic relations between Washington and Moscow ground to a halt.

Biden said at a press conference Thursday freeing Griner but not Whelan was not a “choice of which American to bring home,” asserting Russia is treating Whelan’s potential release differently for “totally illegitimate reasons.” American Trevor Reed, a fellow Marine veteran, was released by Russia in April Marine Paul Whelan is now the only known American imprisoned in Russia. [for allegedly](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/international-arms-dealer-viktor-bout-convicted-new-york-terrorism-crimes) selling arms to a designated terrorist group. The U.S. She is on a plane.

Griner was arrested 10 months ago for possession of two vape cartridges containing hashish oil while traveling through an airport near Moscow.

Russia has freed Brittney Griner in a dramatic high-level prisoner exchange that is bringing the WNBA star back to the United States after almost 10 months' ...

Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn't going to happen," he said. He was not included in the Reed prisoner swap, escalating pressure on the Biden administration to ensure that any deal that brought home Griner also included him. 4 and receiving a nine-year punishment her lawyers said was out of line for the offense, an emotional Griner apologized "for my mistake that I made and the embarrassment that I brought on them." Whelan's brother David said in a statement he was "so glad" for Griner's release but also disappointed for his family. Such a public overture drew a chiding rebuke from the Russians, who said they preferred to resolve such cases in private, and carried the risk of weakening the U.S. USA Basketball also celebrated Griner's release in a statement, saying Griner "has shown bravery and resolve over the last nearly 300 days. He also thanked the "NBA and WNBA community" for their efforts to maintain awareness of Griner. Today is the day we've been praying for, and we will continue to pray as she reunites with her family and begins recovering from her experience. [he was hopeful](/wnba/story/_/id/34988732/joe-biden-hopeful-vladimir-putin-more-willing-negotiate-brittney-griner) that Russia would engage in a deal after the U.S. Even so, the fact that the deal was a one-for-one swap was a surprise given that U.S. "BG has shown extraordinary courage and dignity in the face of enormous adversity. Biden spoke with Griner on the phone Thursday while her wife, Cherelle, was in the Oval Office.

WASHINGTON: Over the past 48 hours US. basketball star Brittney Griner traveled from custody in a penal colony in Russia to Moscow, to an airport in the ...

"Ultimately ... "The negotiations ... WASHINGTON: Over the past 48 hours US.

Roosevelt Room 8:38 A.M. ESTTHE PRESIDENT: Well, good morning, folks. And it is a good morning. Moments ago, standing together with her.

Those who have who have worked with Mercury center Brittney Griner throughout her basketball career expressed relief and gratitude that she is headed home ...

"There has not been a day over the past ten months where we all haven't had Brittney Griner on our minds and in our hearts," WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement. Our prayers remain with her and her family as they recover and heal together." "The emotions for our organization, just like for our fans and so many across the world, are those of joyous celebration, deep gratitude, grief for the time lost, and sincere hope for all families still awaiting the return of a loved one." "I cried, and I'm a girl from Philly. and then, honestly, I cried," Staley said on ESPN's "First Take." "It has been a terrible ordeal for BG, but thankful for President Biden and Vice President [Kamala] Harris and everyone that has helped get her home.

WASHINGTON - After months of painstaking negotiations with Moscow, it became clear to the Biden administration that it faced a grave choice – to exchange ...

During the prisoner swap, Griner was met on the tarmac in UAE by chief US hostage negotiator Roger Carstens. US officials said they focused mostly on nuclear weapons-related issues but that Mr Burns also raised the cases of US detainees in Russia. “The choice was one or none.” [Excluded from the deal was another high-profile US detainee, Paul Whelan,](https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/detained-american-paul-whelan-im-disappointed-more-hasnt-been-done-to-release-me) who told CNN by phone that he was “greatly disappointed” more had not been done to secure his release. A joint UAE-Saudi statement said the UAE president and Saudi crown prince led mediation efforts that secured Griner’s release. She was “all smiles and extremely grateful for all the efforts both USG (US government) and outside the government that has been put on to get her home,” a US official said.

The former U.S. Marine has been held in Russia since 2018. As supporters celebrate Brittney Griner's release, they — Whelan himself included — are wondering ...

We can all rejoice at the news that Russia has freed basketball star Brittney Griner. Griner was detained at a Moscow airport in February, after officials ...

Perhaps a different president would have let Griner rot in a Russian penal colony until Putin selected a less monstrous crony to release, but that would have been the wrong decision. A professor of law at Yale University, he is author, most recently, of “Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster.” The money won’t make up for either the horrors Griner has undergone or the fear and anxiety suffered by her wife and loved ones. In the real world, we take what we can get. When Griner returns to the court, the ratings will justifiably explode. He earned his nickname, “the Merchant of Death.” Nevertheless, can anyone now argue seriously that it’s just as bad to be arrested in the US as in Russia? And looking for work with a criminal record is challenging, even if you never want to jail; a conviction for marijuana possession might impede employment even in the legal marijuana industry. I’m aware of the severe racial disparities in marijuana arrests. She was later convicted of possession and smuggling, and sentenced to nine years in prison and sent to a penal colony. In fact, on the day the pardon plan was announced, none of those affected by it were actually incarcerated. Let’s hope that with Griner home at last, the pressure for Whelan’s return only grows greater.

“The Philadelphia House Delegation is proud to join in welcoming Brittney Griner home from nine months of illegal and unjust detention in Russia.

For President Vladimir Putin, it was more a publicity coup than a real win: Russia didn't really want Victor Bout back. Read more at straitstimes.com.

“We cannot ignore that releasing Bout back into the world is a deeply disturbing decision.” Bout and Griner were traded in Abu Dhabi. Regardless of Bout or Griner’s relative importance, the optics were clear for Mr Biden. He said the irony is “they don’t really want Viktor Bout back”. He brought home a high-profile detainee, one whose imprisonment was widely seen as bogus. Mr Kevin McCarthy, who is in line to become Speaker of the House of Representatives in January, said trading Bout without getting Whelan is an “unconscionable” move and a “a gift to (Russian President) Vladimir Putin”.

After months of painstaking negotiations with Moscow, it became clear to President Joe Biden's administration that it faced a grave choice - to exchange ...

government) and outside the government that has been put on to get her home," a U.S. She was "all smiles and extremely grateful for all the efforts both USG (U.S. The swap leaves Whelan still in Russian custody, a situation his family called a "catastrophe." During the prisoner swap, Griner was met on the tarmac in UAE by chief U.S. "The negotiations ... "The choice was one or none." officials said they focused mostly on nuclear weapons-related issues but that Burns also raised the cases of U.S. Bout, nicknamed the "merchant of death," embraced a Russian official who greeted him and smiled broadly as he was led away. Marine held on what Washington called "sham" espionage charges, and had proposed multiple options that would have included him in a prisoner exchange, a Biden administration official said. But White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refuted the notion of any mediation role, and U.S. The two could be seen, in a video released by Russia's TASS news agency, being escorted past each other on the tarmac on the way to planes that would fly them home. Excluded from the deal was another high-profile U.S.

The Texas basketball star was first detained in February and was recently moved to a Russian penal colony.

Deal led to exchange of notorious arms trafficker for US basketball star while not including former marine.

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Ms. Griner has been at the center of a fraught geopolitical showdown between Washington and Moscow. The Biden administration traded her for Viktor Bout, ...

Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, said in a statement that the release of Ms. Griner was ready to return to the United States, the president signed a conditional grant of clemency to Mr. Instead, she was led into the Oval Office where she joined a call to her wife with Mr. That presented the administration with a brutal choice: agree to the deal for Ms. Bout, who was captured in Bangkok in 2008, extradited to the United States in 2010 and sentenced in 2012 to 25 years in prison. diplomats to include him as part of the deal with the Russians for the exchange with Mr. Bout on a plane headed to the U.A.E. Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen.” But he added that “it’s clear the U.S. The Biden administration’s efforts to negotiate a prisoner swap stalled for months as she was sent to a penal colony outside Moscow. The release of Ms. President Biden announced her release in a brief statement from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, with Cherelle Griner, Ms. The Biden administration traded her for Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death.”

Moscow said it traded the U.S. basketball star for arms dealer and Russian citizen Viktor Bout. The swap occurred at the Abu Dhabi airport, and President ...

Bout was variously dubbed "the merchant of death" and "the sanctions buster" for his ability to get around arms embargoes. Bout was one of the world's most wanted men before his arrest in 2008 in Thailand in a sting operation by U.S. A Biden administration official said the United States had proposed different options for Whelan's release and that Russia's "sham espionage" charges against him were the reason it treated his case differently. In a written statement, Griner's family extended their "sincere gratitude" to Biden, and said they were praying for Whelan's release. I was arrested for a crime that never occurred." "And the president decided that it was important to at least bring Brittney home now and continue to work on getting Paul back, too." Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone with Griner from the Oval Office, along with Griner's wife, Cherelle. Griner, 32, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and star of the Women's National Basketball Association's Phoenix Mercury, was arrested on Feb. Russia's foreign ministry said it traded Griner for Bout, 55, a Russian citizen who in 2012 was given a 25-year prison sentence by a U.S. officials in the UAE verified Griner had arrived there. "The choice before us was one or none," U.S. He said in his announcement, without providing details, that the Russians treated Whelan's case differently.

US President Joe Biden confirmed Brittney Griner was on a plane heading back to America having been released by a Russian prison in a prisoner swap for arms ...

And she's just been great to be around." "Nevertheless, the Russian Federation continued to actively work to rescue our compatriot. "It's been hard," Staley said. citizen Brittney Griner, who were serving their sentences in correctional institutions of the United States of America and the Russian Federation, respectively, was successfully completed at Abu Dhabi Airport," Russia's foreign ministry said. Engelbert said she'd give Griner and her family some space and time before any discussion about her return to the league. She's relieved to finally be heading home."

After months of painstaking negotiations with Moscow, it became clear to President Joe Biden's administration that it faced a grave choice - to exchange ...

During the prisoner swap, Griner was met on the tarmac in UAE by chief US hostage negotiator Roger Carstens. US officials said they focused mostly on nuclear weapons-related issues but that Burns also raised the cases of US detainees in Russia. “The choice was one or none.” Bout, nicknamed the “merchant of death,” embraced a Russian official who greeted him and smiled broadly as he was led away. A joint UAE-Saudi statement said the UAE president and Saudi crown prince led mediation efforts that secured Griner’s release. The two could be seen, in a video released by Russia’s TASS news agency, being escorted past each other on the tarmac on the way to planes that would fly them home.

Teased for being tall, she eventually became a dominant force in basketball. Then, a tiny misstep and a war in Europe upended her life.

Appraising her contribution to basketball, sportswriter Melissa Isaacson said: “She’s every bit the Tom Brady of her sport. “She was just like, ‘Screw that. “I’ve always been open about who I am and my sexuality,” she said. A year later, the team won the WNBA championship behind her dunking and blocking prowess. Since 2014, she had been flying to Russia to play off-season for the EuroLeague team UMMC Ekaterinburg. Griner was born on Oct 18, 1990.

WNBA superstar Brittney Griner is free from a Russian prison, but what kind of future awaits her?

Her life is now a feather in the cap of the Biden administration. In her new life and identity, part of her seems destined to remain confined inside other people’s agendas. And of course Griner’s wife, Cherelle, who attended Thursday’s announcement with Biden and Vice President Harris, dressed in red and had joy all over her face even as she recognized the Whelan family and the plight of others whose hopes of a reunion with their loved ones remain unfulfilled. Advocates will ask for her voice and her celebrity for their social and political platforms. Thankfully, Griner is free, but so far we have heard only the surface level of what a 6-foot-9 Black queer woman faced in a Russian penal colony. Still, her critics want to see Biden’s decision as a black-and-white one in which he should have picked the former Marine, not the athlete who called for the WNBA to stop playing the national anthem before games. And that she accomplished that feat in her first professional outing? “[Thursday] is just a happy day for me and my family, so I’m going to smile right now.” Unjustly imprisoned and robbed of her distinguishing identity as a game changer in women’s basketball, she will now be regarded as an avatar for Will we remember that Griner was the first WNBA player to dunk twice in a game? “This is a day we’ve worked toward for a long time,” Biden said. Whelan, who has been imprisoned in Russia since Donald Trump was in office, remains in custody.

Griner was jailed for carrying cannabis oil at a Moscow airport in February, and was exchanged for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout on Thursday. The pair were ...

In the video, apparently provided by Russian security services, Bout was warmly greeted by two Russian officials as Griner, who is 6ft 9in (206cm), looks on. Pictures showed him hugging his mother and wife at the airport tarmac. During her trial in Russia, she said the cannabis oil found in her bag had been an "honest mistake". She is one of the best-known sportswomen in America. Footage on Russian state media showed them crossing on the tarmac with their respective teams. He has been held in an American prison for 12 years.

American basketball star Brittney Griner returned to the United States early Friday after being freed in a high-profile prisoner exchange following nearly ...

In a Thursday press conference, Biden said he spoke by phone to Griner and that she was safe and relieved but deserved privacy and rest. The Biden Administration negotiated her release in exchange for officials said she would receive specialized medical services and counseling.

The US basketball star Brittney Griner was released from Russian jail on December 8 in a prisoner swap for notorious arms dealer Victor Bout, known ...

Bout was detained in Thailand’s capital of Bangkok in 2008 in a US sting operation where he thought he was meeting with Colombian guerrillas and arrested under a warrant issued by a local court at the behest of the US. Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said the same day that Russia will continue its work to release all Russians who were jailed by the US. He had been one of the world's most notorious arms dealers, selling arms to Afghanistan, Asia and Latin America. “Viktor Bout's Afghanistan dealings were always controversial,” Samuel Ramani, an associate fellow of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies at Oxford University, said in a tweet. Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and star of the Women's National Basketball Association's Phoenix Mercury, was arrested on February 17 after spending a few months playing professional basketball in the Russian regions. Bout was born in Tajik capital of Dushanbe in Soviet times. "The choice before us was one or none," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News. [Bout arrived in Moscow to a media circus](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jfGECP3gMCs-5bbi-8liBxVZZ9ZANdZT/view?usp=share_link) where he was met by his mother and wife. She was sentenced on August 4 to nine years in a penal colony. "The swap of Viktor Bout for US basketball player Brittney Griner can truly be described as a New Year gift. The elaborate swap involved two private planes bringing the pair to Abu Dhabi airport from Moscow and Washington, and then flying them home. The two prisoners were exchanged in Abu Dhabi airport before flying home and both received full pardons.

American basketball star Brittney Griner returned to the United States early Friday after being freed in a high-profile prisoner exchange following nearly ...