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The White House has secured the release of American basketball star Brittney Griner, President Joe Biden announced Thursday, confirming that the U.S. sent arms trafficker Viktor Bout to Russia in exchange.
“Moments ago, standing together with her wife, Cherelle, in the Oval Office, I spoke with Brittney Griner,” the president said from the White House. “She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances.”
Vice President Kamala Harris and Cherelle Griner, who stood behind Biden during the announcement, were also in the room for his Oval Office call with Griner.
The prisoner swap, conducted at Abu Dhabi airport, ends a brutal 10 months for Griner, who Russian authorities arrested in February for possession of vape cartridges containing hash oil. She was sentenced in August to nine years in prison and was recently sent to a penal colony 300 miles outside of Moscow.
Griner is on the way to a medical facility in San Antonio for a routine evaluation.
The news will likely be bittersweet for the family of Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine held in Russia since 2018 on unproven charges of espionage. Elizabeth Whelan, Paul’s sister, told POLITICO in September that “I do not want to see him left behind again and have urged the U.S. government not to let the Russian Federation do that.”
Whelan’s family was given notice by the administration that he was not part of the deal.
“This was not a choice of which American to bring home,” Biden said. “Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons Russia is treating Paul's case differently than Brittany's. And while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We are never giving up.”
Biden promised his administration would continue to push for Whelan’s release.
The Biden administration worked for months to trade both Griner and Whelan for Bout, but the Russian position was that there could only be a one-for-one deal. Moscow wanted the U.S. to release a Russian spy in exchange for Whelan, but the American position has long been that it doesn’t have such a person in custody. The Russians then asked for another person who was in German custody, a U.S. official said.
Asked about the Russian stance on Sunday, Blinken told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that “the other side gets a vote in this. It's not just what we want. It's what they're prepared to do.”
The Biden administration hoped to secure Griner’s release by Christmas, a U.S. official said. Griner was expected to be stateside within the next 24 hours.
Biden previously indicated an openness to discuss a prisoner exchange directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the Kremlin boss never agreed to such a conversation.
Griner is now the second U.S. hostage returned to American authorities since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Trevor Reed, a former Marine imprisoned for nearly 1,000 days, was released in April.
Cherelle Griner, speaking after Biden, said she and Brittney will advocate for Americans wrongfully detained abroad, including Whelan.
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