Jailed basketball star Brittney Griner has been released by Russia – with the US handing over notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange, officials have said.
The high-level prisoner swap, at a time of heightened tensions over Ukraine, achieves a top goal for US President Joe Biden but carries a heavy price and leaves behind an American jailed for nearly four years in Russia.
The deal, the second such exchange in eight months with Russia, has procured the release of the most prominent American detained abroad.
Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist whose months-long imprisonment on drug charges brought unprecedented attention to the population of wrongful detainees.
READ MORE: Russia bans series of Scottish politicians over their stance on war in Ukraine
Mr Biden’s authorisation to release a Russian criminal once nicknamed “the Merchant of Death” underscored the escalating pressure his administration faced to get Griner home, particularly after the recent resolution of her criminal case and her subsequent transfer to a penal colony.
The swap has been confirmed by US officials with direct knowledge of the negotiations who were not authorised to publicly discuss the deal before a White House announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Mr Biden spoke with Griner on the phone on Thursday while her wife, Cherelle, was in the Oval Office.
“She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home,” Mr Biden said later.
In an address from the White House, he said the “past few months have been hell for Brittney” but she is in good spirits.
Russian and US officials had conveyed cautious optimism in recent weeks after months of strained negotiations, with Mr Biden saying in November he was hopeful Russia would engage in a deal now the midterm elections are over.
A top Russian official said last week a deal was possible before the end of the year.
Even so, the fact the deal was a one-for-one swap is a surprise given US officials for months expressed their determination to bring home both Griner and Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive jailed in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges his family and the US government have said are baseless.
In releasing Bout, the US freed a former Soviet army lieutenant colonel once described by the Justice Department as one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers.
Bout, whose exploits inspired a Hollywood movie, was serving a 25-year sentence on charges that he conspired to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons US officials said were to be used against Americans.
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