According to President Joe Biden’s announcement on Thursday that Brittney Griner had been freed, the United States had sent the arms dealer Viktor Bout to Russia in exchange.
The president remarked from the White House, “Moments ago, standing along with her wife, Cherelle, in the Oval Office, I spoke with Brittney Griner. After being wrongfully jailed in Russia for months and being held in appalling conditions, she is safe, on a plane, and travelling home.
Cherelle Griner and Vice President Kamala Harris, who flanked Biden at the announcement, were also there when he spoke with Griner in the Oval Office.
Griner’s gruelling 10-month ordeal comes to an end with the prisoner swap, which was carried out at the Abu Dhabi airport. Griner was detained by Russian officials in February for having vape cartridges containing hash oil. She was recently sent to a correctional camp 300 miles outside of Moscow after being given a nine-year prison sentence in August.
Griner is his route to a San Antonio hospital for a routine examination.
For the family of Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who has been detained in Russia since 2018 on speculative espionage claims, the news will probably be bittersweet. Paul’s sister Elizabeth Whelan said in September that she “does not want to see him left behind again and has pushed the U.S. government not to let the Russian Federation do so.”
The administration informed Whelan’s family that he was not included in the agreement.
Biden stated, “This was not a choice of which American to bring home. “Unfortunately, Russia is handling Paul’s situation differently than Brittany’s for completely unjustified reasons. And although if we have not yet been successful in getting Paul’s release, we will keep trying. Never do we give up.
Whelan’s release would continue to be a priority for the Biden administration, he pledged.
The Biden administration tried for months to swap Griner and Whelan for Bout, but the Russians insisted that only a one-for-one exchange was permissible. Moscow demanded the release of a Russian spy in return for Whelan, but the U.S. has long maintained that it does not hold any such individuals in jail. Then, a U.S. official claimed, the Russians requested another person who was being held by the Germans.
Blinken said on Sunday’s “Face the Nation” that “the other side deserves a vote in this” when asked about the Russian position. Not simply what we want, either. It is what they are willing to do.
According to a U.S. official, the Biden administration intended to achieve Griner’s release by Christmas. Within the next 24 hours, Griner should arrive in the United States.
Vladimir Putin was never willing to have a direct talk about a prisoner exchange, despite Biden’s previous indications to the contrary.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Griner is the second American hostage to have been handed over to American authorities. Former Marine Trevor Reed, who had been detained for almost a year, was freed in April.
Following Biden, Cherelle Griner stated that she and Brittney will fight for American nationals who were unjustly detained abroad, such as Whelan.
