Businessman Viktor Bout and WNBA star Brittney Griner were involved in a high-profile prisoner swap between Russia and the US.
Griner was given a sentence to a correctional colony in Russia on drug smuggling charges, while Bout had been serving a 25-year sentence in a US prison for 11 years.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the exchange took place at Abu Dhabi Airport in the United Arab Emirates after extensive talks between the two nations.
“Washington categorically refused to discuss including the Russian national in the exchange scheme. Nevertheless, the Russian Federation continued to actively work on rescuing our compatriot,” the ministry noted.
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According to some reports, US President Joe Biden has already phoned Griner. Before the exchange, the governments of Griner and Bout both granted them pardons, allowing them to avoid finishing their sentences at home, according to TASS.
Shortly after the exchange, Biden gave a speech at the White House in which he praised the work of US officials engaged in talks with Moscow and vowed to “never give up” on attempts to gain the release of other US citizens held by Russia, including Whelan.
“We never stopped pushing for her release. It took painstaking and intensive negotiations and I want to thank all the hard working public servants across my administration, who worked tirelessly to secure her release,” Biden said.
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Russian businessman Bout was taken into jail by Washington in 2008 after being apprehended in Thailand as part of a US Drug Enforcement Administration sting operation. Later, after being found guilty of crimes related to the trafficking of firearms, he was extradited to the US and given a 25-year term in 2012. Bout has continuously maintained his innocence.
When cannabis oil was discovered in professional basketball player Griner’s luggage back in February, she was taken into custody at a Moscow airport. She was given a nine-year prison term in a correctional colony in August for drug-related offences. Griner entered a guilty plea, but insisted that she had packed a vape containing cannabis oil “accidentally” and had not intended to breach any laws.
The potential prisoner exchange between the two countries has been under discussion for months now between the US and Russia. Several media outlets claim that Washington has been attempting to arrange the simultaneous release of Griner and Paul Whelan, who was found guilty of espionage in Russia and imprisoned there. Whelan, a former US Marine, was found guilty in 2020 and is currently serving a 16-year prison term in Russia.
