Russia has freed US female basketball star Brittney Griner in a high-level prisoner exchange, with the US releasing Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout a.k.a ‘Merchant of Death, according to the White House. Thursday’s prisoner swap, at a time of heightened tensions over Ukraine, achieved a top goal for US President Joe Biden, but carried a heavy price — and left behind an American jailed for nearly four years in Russia. In a separate statement following the announcement, Biden said Griner will need time to recover from the “trauma” of imprisonment in Russia. She is “in good spirits,” he said, but “experienced needless trauma.” “She deserves space, privacy and time with her loved ones to recover and heal from her time being wrongfully detained,” he added. Earlier, Biden posted on social media that he has spoken to Griner and that she is “on her way home”. “She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home,” Biden said in the tweet. The deal, the second such exchange in eight months with Russia, procured the release of the most prominent American detained abroad. The Russian Foreign Ministry also confirmed the swap, saying in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that the exchange took place in Abu Dhabi and that Bout has been flown home. Biden also recognised the United Arab Emirates’ diplomatic role in facilitating the swap.
In recent weeks Russian and American officials had conveyed cautious optimism after months of strained negotiations, with Biden saying in November that he was hopeful that Russia would engage in a deal now that the midterm elections were completed.
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