Griner Released In Prisoner Swap

US’ Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, waits for the verdict inside a defendants’ cage during a hearing in Khimki outside Moscow, on August 4, 2022. – A Russian court found Griner guilty of smuggling and storing narcotics after prosecutors requested a sentence of nine and a half years in jail for the athlete. (Photo by EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA / POOL / AFP) (Photo by EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

WNBA star Brittney Griner is free.

The Biden administration reportedly negotiated her release from a Russian penal colony in exchange for an arms dealer.
Biden signed off on the trade, which took place in the United Arab Emirates and said, “She is safe, she is on a plane, she is on her way home. She will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones and she should have been there all along.”

Meanwhile, Paul Whelan, an American corporate security executive also jailed in Russia, was not part of the trade.