Brittney Griner: WNBA star arrives at US hospital after being released by Russia in prisoner swap

NBA stars, WNBA teammates and high-profile figures from the wider sporting community are celebrating the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner after nine months in Russian custody.

Ms Griner, 32, is on her way back to the United States after authorities negotiated a prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Many high-profile athletes had publicly campaigned for her release since she was arrested at a Moscow airport in February for inadvertently carrying a small amount of cannabis oil.

Figures from within the US sporting community, including WNBA legend Sue Bird, fellow Phoenix Mercury teammates and even tennis great Billie Jean King, joined a chorus to celebrate the famed basketball star’s release. “Brittney Griner is free!”

My colleague Bevan Hurley shares more details about these reactions here.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday that Brittney Griner’s release was “the product of months and months of painstaking negotiations”.

Officials from the White House, the State Department and across the administration worked tirelessly and relentlessly to see this moment through,” said Ms Jean-Pierre, highlighting how the Secretary of State had said publicly back in July that the US government had pursuing “many different avenues over the course of last six months”.

“As the President said this morning, she represents the best of America. I had the opportunity to speak to Cherelle Griner a couple of hours ago, who was looking forward to seeing Brittney as soon as she returned home later today.”

“She also wanted to reinforce the commitment she and Brittney have made to stand up and speak out for other Americans wrongfully detained abroad,” added Ms Jean-Pierre.

Following the announcement that former WNBA star Brittney Griner was released from Russian custody via prisoner swap, he told reporters that the Biden administration was working “relentlessly” to secure the release of former Marine Paul Whelan, who has been held in a Russian jail since 2018.

“While we’re elated at Brittney returning home we continue to work relentlessly to bring Paul Whelan home as well...This was not a choice of which American to bring home,” he said. “The choice was one or none.”

Conservatives took to Twitter to blast Joe Biden over the release of former WNBA star Brittney Griner, with some complaining that imprisoned Marine Paul Whelan was not part of the deal, while others — including Donald Trump Jr — suggested the deal would set a dangerous precedent.

What many detractors did not include was that Mr Whelan was taken captive during the Trump administration, and that the Trump administration reportedly refused a deal to trade arms dealer Viktor Bout for Mr Whelan. Further, Mr Trump’s administration also negotiated the release of Americans via prisoner swap during his tenure.

Read the full story at the The Independent.

Donald Trump Jr has launched a belligerent Twitter tirade against Joe Biden and WNBA star Brittney Griner after her release from a Russian prison.

Don Jr whined about the deal to swap Ms Griner for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in a series of posts on Twitter on Thursday morning, repeating some of his father Donald Trump’s favourite talking points about Mr Biden’s negotiating skills.

“No one cuts better deals than Biden,” he wrote sarcastically. “We get an awful America hating WNBA player, while Russia gets an INTERNATIONAL ARMS DEALER!”

Bevan Hurley has more details here.

Former WNBA star Brittney Griner reportedly passed the notorious arms merchant Viktor Bout on the tarmac of a United Arab Emirates airport when she was released into US custody, officials said.

According to Politico, Ms Griner was released into US custody at an airport in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. As she left her Russian captors she reportedly walked past Bout, who earned the nickname “Merchant of Death” for his numerous arms deals around the world.

She reportedly did not make eye contact with the man when the two passed.

The Women’s National Basketball Association, the league in which Brittney Griner has played as a professional basketball player with since the 2013 draft, celebrated the news that the 32-year-old centre would be coming home after a nine-month detention in Russia.

“After 294 days of tireless work… Our friend, sister, loved one, Brittney Griner is FREE. We love you BG,” tweeted the American basketball league on Thursday.

On 17 February, Brittney Griner, an Olympic gold medallist and WNBA star, was detained in Russia after she was stopped when she flew into Sheremetyevo airport and was found to be in possession of cannabis oil, one week before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

She was sentenced to nine years in prison over charges that the US maintained were wrong from the start.

On Thursday, Ms Griner was exchanged for an international arms dealer in a prisoner swap between Russia and the US.

Here, my colleague Andrew Buncombe traces how the Texas-born basketball player and international star became a political pawn in the US-Russia geopolitical war.

Several GOP senators and members of congress seemed to hold President Joe Biden personally responsible for not securing detained American Paul Whelan’s release in addition to Brittney Griner’s on Thursday, with many airing their grievances at the US president online in the immediate aftermath of the bombshell news.

“While we appreciate and celebrate the release of Brittney Griner from a Russian penal colony – held on trumped up charges and facing an excessive sentence - we must not lose focus on the fact that Paul Whelan remains unjustly held in Russia,” tweeted Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, while highlighting how Mr Whelan is a former marine who has been “unjustly accused of spying for the United States.”

“It is a bitter pill to swallow that Mr. Whelan remains in custody while we release the “Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout back to Russia.”

Those concerns were similarly taken up by Senator Rick Scott of Florida, who said that while he was “glad” that Ms Griner had been released, he wanted to refocus attention on Mr Whelan.

“He’s still held by Putin in Russia. For Biden to give Putin a dangerous arms dealer - someone known as the “Merchant of Death” - is weak & disgusting. Doing so while leaving Paul behind is unforgivable,” he tweeted.

Sen John Cornyn of Texas offered a more direct rebuke of Mr Biden, saying pointedly that he was “disappointed” in the Biden administration for failing to secure “additional U.S. citizens in the exchange,” after saying how “glad” he was to learn that Ms Griner, a Texas-native, would be coming home.

US President Joe Biden confirmed while delivering remarks about the release of Brittney Griner that he and his administration would “never give up” trying to free other Americans who have been wrongfully detained by Russia, including former US Marine Paul Whelan, who has been in Russian custody since he was arrested just after Christmas in 2018 on what American officials have described as bogus spying charges.

Mr Whelan, 52, was initially included in swap proposals by the US but was not part of the agreement reached this week, forcing Mr Biden to deny prioritising Ms Griner’s return over his, telling reporters that there “was not a choice of which American to bring home”.

Mr Whelan reacted to the news in a CNN interview from a Russian jail cell, saying he is “greatly disappointed” to have been left out of the swap.

He said that while welcomed Ms Griner’s release from Russian custody, he had been “led to believe things were moving in the right direction” with efforts to secure his release.

“I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here,” he said, calling himself a victim of “political extortion”.

My colleague Joe Sommerlad explains here why Mr Whelan, detained in a remote Russian penal colony, was detained.