Britney Griner, the American basketball star who was arrested by Russian authorities in February, has returned safely to the United States after being released from custody as part of a prisoner exchange.
Griner, 32, “arrived at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, early Friday … and was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center for a routine evaluation,” a State Department official told CNN.
US officials who met Griner said she was “in good spirits” and “incredibly polite,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN. Griner got off the plane shortly after 5:30 a.m. ET at Kelly Field.
LIVE UPDATES: Brittney Griner’s release, Russia’s war in Ukraine
“So happy to have Brittney back on US soil. Welcome home BG!” tweeted Roger Carstens, a State Department official who was traveling with Griner, on Friday morning.
Griner’s release was secured following a prisoner swap between the US and Russia involving international arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was arrested in 2008 in Thailand and extradited to the US in 2010.
Bout’s switch was finalized only after US officials saw Griner on Thursday on the tarmac at the Abu Dhabi airport where the exchange took place, the White House said. President Joe Biden had signed off on Booth’s conversion on Dec. 2, the document posted on the Justice Department’s website shows.
A joint statement from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia said the Gulf countries played a role in brokering the exchange between the US and Russia.
The exchange is not a sign of improvements in US-Russia relations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.
Griner’s arrest and conviction occurred in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and added attention to the plight of other Americans in Russian custody, including Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed. Whelan’s release could not be secured in the latest prisoner swap, while Reed returned to the US in April after a nearly three-year ordeal.
The Biden administration will continue negotiations with Russia to secure Whelan’s release, it said Friday. The Russians “have things they want in this world” and Moscow knows that eventually the two sides will reach “a mutually acceptable deal if they keep talking to us,” a senior government official told CNN.
Biden said efforts to bring Griner home had required “painful and intense negotiations,” as he thanked members of his administration for their involvement.
“This is a day we have been working towards for a long time. We have never stopped pushing for her release,” he said on Thursday.
The final deal was reached within 48 hours, senior US government officials said, beginning the process of moving Griner from the penal colony where she was serving a lengthy sentence. Biden gave final approval for the prisoner swap to release Griner last week, an official familiar with the matter said.
Bout has returned to Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. The prisoner exchange with Griner was “successfully completed at Abu Dhabi airport” on Thursday, the ministry said.
Griner’s family thanked Biden and his administration in a statement Thursday, as well as former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, whose Richardson Center worked on behalf of the family to secure Griner’s release. They also expressed their gratitude for the public support they have received.
“We sincerely thank you for your kind words, thoughts and prayers – including Paul and the Whelan family who have been so generous with their support for Brittney and our family during what we know is a heartbreaking time,” it said. the statement.
“We pray for Paul and for the speedy and safe return of all wrongfully imprisoned Americans.”
As Griner’s return was heralded as a diplomatic achievement, officials and supporters expressed disappointment that Whelan also could not return home.
An American, Irish, British and Canadian citizen, Whelan was detained in a Moscow hotel in December 2018 by Russian authorities who claimed he was involved in an intelligence operation. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges which he vehemently denied. The US State Department declared him unjustly detained.
Russia handled the Whelan and Griner cases differently, based on what each has been charged with, he said, and indicated recently that it would negotiate only for Griner, even as the Biden administration made offers to let Whelan go be released as part of this agreement.
“It wasn’t a choice about which American to bring home,” Biden said Thursday. “Unfortunately, for completely illegal reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s case. And while we have not yet managed to secure Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up.”
Whelan was glad Griner was freed but “disappointed” the Biden administration didn’t do more to secure his release, he told CNN Thursday by phone from a penal colony in a remote region of Russia.
“I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here,” he said.
The Biden administration has ideas for “new forms of bidding” to try with the Russians to secure Whelan’s release, a senior administration official told CNN on Thursday. There is a recognition that the US needs to offer “something more, something different” than what it has offered so far, the official said, not ruling out offering a Russian spy in US custody in a possible prisoner exchange.
“There is a willingness to pay even a very high price on the part of this president,” the official said.
Whelan’s family was happy Griner was heading home, but “devastated” he was left behind, they said Thursday. The Biden administration notified Whelan’s family of her release before Griner’s announcement, Paul’s brother David Whelan told CNN.
Footage of Griner’s time in Russian custody surfaced Friday via video released by RIA News Telegram.
A small card bearing Griner’s photo is zipped to a white metal bed frame in what appears to be a bunk room, an undated video shows. No location given. The bed is covered in white sheets, one with a deep blue stripe, and is among five beds visible in the room with pink walls and sheer white curtains along four windows.
In another clip, Griner sports a short haircut – minus her now-famous haircuts – while pushing a tray carrying two plates along the food line, apparently among dozens of small plates and bowls displayed on open serving shelves. Griner then sits next to a woman at a small square table, raising a dish to her mouth, shows a still image.
Then, in a different, brightly lit room, Griner wears a dark headscarf while sitting across from a woman and writing with a pen on paper, RIA’s Telegram News reel shows. Again wearing a headscarf, the American basketball star in another frame holds a phone and, after an exchange with a woman, looks up and smiles.
In a final outdoor scene, Griner bends over a table to write on a piece of paper while a woman wearing a hat with ears speaks, the video shows.
Griner’s Russian lawyer said she cut her hair while in a penal colony to make life easier during the Russian winter. Maria Blagovolina told ESPN – and confirmed to CNN – that Griner cut her hair almost two weeks ago upon her arrival at the prison. Griner had told her lawyers when she was washing her hair that she would catch a cold and catch a cold, Blagovolina said.
Most women in the penal colony worked during the day sewing uniforms, but Griner couldn’t sit at a work table because of her height (she’s 6-foot-9) and her hands were too big to handle the sewing. Instead, Griner wore cloth all day, her attorney said.
Griner plays for the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA and is a six-time all-star and two-time defensive player of the year.
For years she played in the offseason for a Russian women’s basketball team until she was arrested on drug-smuggling charges at an airport in the Moscow region in February.
Griner testified that she had mistakenly packed the hemp oil found in her luggage. She was sentenced to nine years in prison in early August and transferred to a penal colony in Mordovia in mid-November after losing her appeal.
On Friday, Phoenix Mercury President Vince Kozar addressed the issue of whether players should continue to play in certain countries during the WNBA’s offseason.
“Players have an incredible commitment to how they choose to live and where they choose to play,” he told CNN. “It’s fair to say that a lot of players, you know, have to consider their safety when they’re looking at where they’re going to live overseas.”
“My aim is that no player has to go abroad,” he said. “My goal is for players to be able to play here in the WNBA and make a living, and that’s what we’re working on here in Phoenix and 11 markets around the country.”
