Brittney Griner

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

US star, who was released from a Russian jail today, is one of the world's best players.

The deal procured the release of the most prominent American detained abroad.

US basketball player Brittney Griner has been released by Russia in a prisoner swap with arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was dubbed the 'Merchant of Death'.

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."

The USA star is one of the world's best players. Her talent led her to Russia, where she found herself in a diplomatic incident.

Jailed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout is exchanged by US at Abu Dhabi airport, according to Moscow.

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

A source familiar with the matter tells CNN that the swap involves convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. The swap did not include another American that the ...

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 ...

President Joe Biden had already personally informed Cherelle Griner that her wife was being released from Russian detention when aides arrived with more ...

This is a significant moment for President Joe Biden, who's been under public pressure to bring Brittney Griner home, and for Griner's wife Cherelle, ...

"The other side always gets a strong vote," US Hostage envoy Roger Carstens recently said. The official said the administration was told it could either bring Griner home - or no-one. It exchanged him for a Russian pilot sentenced to cocaine trafficking charges in the US, demonstrating that the two countries could keep open a channel separate from their geopolitical tensions. Her case tells us a lot about America's approach to hostage diplomacy - and the limits of that strategy. He has been convicted of espionage and is serving a 16-year prison sentence. But Griner's case was shadowed by added layers of complexity and pressure - not least that negotiations took place against the backdrop of a war in which the US is arming Ukraine.

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.”

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

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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.

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

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

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.

The release of the American basketball star puts an end to a 10-month ordeal in which she became a bargaining chip between Moscow and Washington.

Ms. The negotiations for Ms. Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, said in a statement that the release of Ms. That presented the administration with a brutal choice: agree to the deal for Ms. The release of Ms. “I stand out in the world,” she wrote, “and I love that about myself.” Griner told the players to take care of themselves and their bodies, and to listen to their coach, a message Ms. Robinson said Ms. “I woke up and I got the news and I was like, ‘I’ve got to head to the stadium.’ So I went, got a beer, celebrated a little bit. Venzant got the news of Ms. Venzant said of that season, in the mid-2000s, with Ms. “We pray for Paul and for the swift and safe return of all wrongfully detained Americans,” they said in a statement.

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.

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.

Basketball star Brittney Griner has returned to the United States after being freed in a high-profile prisoner exchange following nearly 10 months in ...

In releasing Bout, the US freed a former Soviet Army lieutenant colonel whom the Justice Department once described as one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers. He was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and extradited to the US in 2010. Bout was serving a 25-year sentence on charges that he conspired to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons that US officials said were to be used against Americans.

Russia has freed WNBA star Brittney Griner in a high-level prisoner exchange, with the US releasing Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

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.

Basketball star lands at Texas airbase after being swapped for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

In releasing Bout, the US freed a former Soviet army lieutenant colonel whom the Justice Department once described as one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers. Before her conviction, the US state department declared her to be wrongfully detained, a charge that Russia has sharply rejected. Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, Baylor University All-American and Phoenix Mercury pro basketball star.

Prisoner exchange is not a sign of improving US-Russia relations, says Moscow.

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