Brittney Griner is on her way back to the United States, President Biden announced early today on Twitter. A White House press conference is planned for later Thursday morning.
Briner had been detained in Russia for over 10 months during an investigation of drug possession, her trial and subsequent conviction. She was facing up to 10 years in prison, and had been transferred to a penal institution.
According to ESPN, Biden agreed to release Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, once nicknamed the “Merchant of Death.”
“Moments ago I spoke to Brittney Griner. She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home,” Biden wrote.
Biden spoke with Griner on the phone Thursday while her wife, Cherelle, was in the Oval Office.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also confirmed the swap Thursday, saying in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that the exchange took place in Abu Dhabi and that Bout has been flown home.
The prisoner swap leaves Paul Whelan in a Russian prison. The Michigan corporate security executive has been held since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government have said are baseless.
ESPN called Griner “the most high-profile American jailed abroad.”
“Her status as an openly gay Black woman, locked up in a country where authorities have been hostile to the LGBTQ community, infused racial, gender and social dynamics into her legal saga and made each development a matter of international importance.”
