Izuchukwu OkosiUnited States Women’s Basketball star Brittney Griner has been declared “safe” following her release from a Russian prison in a swap for the notorious arm dealer, Viktor Bout, the two nations announced on Thursday.
President Joe Biden delivered a nationwide address to Americans to announce the breakthrough in negotiations of the sports icon adding that he he had spoken to Griner just “moments ago.”
Join our WhatsApp Channel“She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home,” Biden revealed, adding that the basketball star should be back in the United States within 24 hours after her release.
The Olympic legend and LGBT trailblazer, who was being held in a remote penal colony, was arrested at a Moscow airport in February and handed nine years in prison in August for possessing vape cartridges with a small quantity of cannabis oil.
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Biden stressed that the basketball star would need time to recover from “needless trauma” after time spent in Russia’s IK-2 penal colony, a facility in the town of Yavas in the central region of Mordovia.
Reiterating that Griner was in “good spirits” despite the incident, Biden noted she deserved “space, privacy and time with her loved ones to recover and heal from her time being wrongfully detained.”
Biden during his emotional speech was flanked by Griner’s husband Cherelle Griner as well as Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“I’m just standing here, overwhelmed with emotions. It’s one of the darkest moments of my life,” Griner’s husband, Cherelle told the media.
The news was corroborated by Russia.
“On December 8, 2022, at the Abu Dhabi airport, the exchange of Russian citizen Viktor Bout for US citizen Brittney Griner was successfully completed,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Biden confirmed that the United Arab Emirates facilitated Griner’s release. She transited through the country en route back to the United States, where she was expected within 24 hours.
The US President however conceded that the United States had not yet succeeded in freeing Paul Whelan, a retired US Marine arrested in December 2018 and accused of spying.
Bout was sentenced in 2012 to 25 years in a US jail after he was accused of arming rebels in some of the world’s bloodiest conflicts.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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