Video captures moment Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout trade places in prisoner swap
Brittney Griner (in red) and Viktor Bout prisoner swap was caught on camera
US basketball star Brittney Griner and notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout crossed paths on an airport strip after the United States and Russia agreed to a prisoner swap.
A video shows Griner, wearing red, heading towards a plane, reportedly at Abu Dhabi airport, alongside officials as Bout, once nicknamed “the Merchant of Death" walks towards them, also flanked by security.
Griner stands and watches Bout, carrying yellow papers, shakes a man's hand and embraces him, before the groups walk past each other to go their separate ways.
Griner was arrested in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport after vape canisters containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage - but she maintained it was an honest mistake.
Mr Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris confirmed on Thursday morning they had already spoken by phone with Griner and she is said to have been in good spirits.
He had described the negotiations as "painstaking and intense".
The prisoner exchange, the second in eight months amid tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, secured the release of the most prominent American jailed abroad.
Some have criticised the terms of the swap, ITV News' Robert Moore reports as he recaps Griner's ordeal
Securing the release of Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was a top goal for President Joe Biden but it carried what US officials described as a heavy price.
“She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home," Biden said from the White House, where he was accompanied by Griner's wife, Cherelle, and administration officials.
A senior administration official said the president made the difficult decision to accept Russia's negotiation terms as it was made clear the choice was bringing home Griner on her own or nobody.
The official added that Mr Biden had issued an executive order on increasing efforts to bring hostages and wrongfully detained US nationals back home to America from abroad.
In a celebratory tweet accompanied by Griner’s wife, Cherelle, Mr Biden said the basketball star, a native of Houston, Texas, is on a plane home and is safe.
The prisoner exchange with Griner reportedly took place at Abu Dhabi Airport.
The Russian foreign ministry said it traded Griner for Russian citizen Bout, a former Soviet Army lieutenant colonel whom the US 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 US officials said were to be used against Americans.
He sold weapons to rogue states and murderous warlords in Africa, Asia and South America.
The dramatic high-level prisoner exchange, however, did not include the release of Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive jailed in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges.
Mr Whelan's family and the US government say the accusations against him are baseless. He was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison.
“We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan,” Mr Biden said following the news of the exchange. “We will keep negotiating in good faith for Paul’s release.”
Mr Whelan’s brother David said in a statement he was “so glad” for Griner’s release but also disappointed for his family.
He credited the White House with giving his family advance notice and said he did not fault officials for making the deal.
Griner pleaded guilty in July, though still faced trial because admitting guilt in Russia’s judicial system does not automatically end a case.
She acknowledged in court she possessed the canisters, but said she had no criminal intent and said their presence in her luggage was due to hasty packing.
The 32-year-old is a star of the Women's National Basketball Association's Phoenix Mercury.
Her status as an openly gay Black woman, locked up in a country where authorities have been hostile to the LBGTQ community, infused racial and gender dynamics into the picture and made each development a matter of global importance.
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