Russia freed WNBA star, Brittney Griner on Thursday, December 8, 2022 in a dramatic prisoner exchange, as the U.S. released notorious Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout.

US failed to win freedom for another American, Paul Whelan, who has been jailed for nearly four years.

The swap, at a time of heightened tensions over Ukraine, achieved a top goal for President Joe Biden but carried a heavy price.

The deal, the second of such exchange in eight months with Russia, procured the release of the most prominent American detained abroad.

Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist whose imprisonment on drug charges brought unprecedented attention to the population of wrongful detainees.

Biden’s authorization to release a Russian criminal once nicknamed “the Merchant of Death” accentuated the escalating pressure that 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 Russian Foreign Ministry also confirmed the swap, saying that the exchange took place in Abu-Dhabi and that Bout has been flown home.

Russian and U.S. officials had conveyed cautious optimism in recent weeks after months of strained negotiations, with Biden saying that he was hopeful that Russia would engage in a deal now that the midterm elections were completed.

Even so, the fact that the deal was a one-for-one swap was a surprise, given that, U.S. officials had for months expressed their determination to bring home both Griner and Paul Whelan.

Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive was jailed in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government said are baseless.

“We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan. We will keep negotiating in good faith for Paul’s release.”
President Joe Biden

In releasing Bout, the U.S. freed a former Soviet Army lieutenant colonel whom the Justice Department once described 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 that U.S officials said were to be used against Americans.

The Biden administration was ultimately willing to exchange Bout if it meant Griner’s freedom. The detention of one of the greatest players in WNBA history contributed to a swirl of unprecedented public attention for an individual detainee case.

Griner Was The Most High-Profile American Jailed Abroad

Griner’s arrest in February, 2022 made her the most high-profile American jailed abroad.

Griner’s status as an openly gay Black woman, locked up in a country where authorities have been hostile to the LBGTQ community, infused racial, gender and social dynamics into her legal saga and made each development a matter of international importance.

Her case not only brought unprecedented publicity to Americans who are wrongfully detained by foreign governments, but it also emerged as a major inflection point in U.S.-Russia diplomacy at a time of deteriorating relations prompted by Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

The exchange was carried out despite deteriorating relations between the powers.

Griner was arrested at the Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in February when customs officials said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage.

She pleaded guilty in July, though still faced trial because admitting guilt in Russia’s judicial system does not automatically end a case.

Griner acknowledged in court that she possessed the canisters, but said she had no criminal intent and said their presence in her luggage was due to hasty packing.

Before being sentenced on August 4, 2022, Griner apologized “for my mistake that I made and the embarrassment that I brought on them.” “I hope in your ruling it does not end my life,” she added.

Paul Whelan has been held in Russia since December 2018. The U.S. government also classified him as wrongfully detained. He was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison.

Whelan was not included in the Reed prisoner swap, escalating pressure on the Biden administration to ensure that any deal that brought home Griner also included him.