Brittney Griner

Those who have who have worked with Mercury center Brittney Griner throughout her basketball career expressed relief and gratitude that she is headed home ...

"There has not been a day over the past ten months where we all haven't had Brittney Griner on our minds and in our hearts," WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement. Our prayers remain with her and her family as they recover and heal together." "The emotions for our organization, just like for our fans and so many across the world, are those of joyous celebration, deep gratitude, grief for the time lost, and sincere hope for all families still awaiting the return of a loved one." "I cried, and I'm a girl from Philly. and then, honestly, I cried," Staley said on ESPN's "First Take." "It has been a terrible ordeal for BG, but thankful for President Biden and Vice President [Kamala] Harris and everyone that has helped get her home.

US basketball player Brittney Griner has been released from prison in Russia and is on her way home.

The deal, the second in eight months amid tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, secured the release of the most prominent American detained abroad.

Russia freed WNBA star Brittney Griner early today in a dramatic prisoner exchange, as the US released notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout but failed ...

Player released in exchange for imprisoned Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The former U.S. Marine has been held in Russia since 2018. As supporters celebrate Brittney Griner's release, they — Whelan himself included — are wondering ...

“The Philadelphia House Delegation is proud to join in welcoming Brittney Griner home from nine months of illegal and unjust detention in Russia.

Griner was freed in exchange for the US releasing notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, ending an eight-month saga.

In an extraordinary move during otherwise secret negotiations, Blinken revealed publicly in July that the US had made a “substantial proposal” to Russia for Griner and Whelan. The public overture drew a rebuke from the Russians, who said they preferred to resolve such cases in private, and carried the risk of weakening the US government's negotiating hand for this and future deals by making the administration appear desperate. He was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison. Her supporters had largely stayed quiet for weeks after her arrest, but that approach changed in May once the State Department designated her as unlawfully detained. Biden issued an executive grant of clemency to free the arms dealer from a federal prison in Illinois to effect the prisoner swap. Whelan's brother David said in a statement he was “ so glad” for Griner’s release but also disappointed for his family. In releasing Bout, the US freed a former Soviet Army lieutenant colonel whom the Justice Department once described as one of the world's most prolific arms dealers. The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the swap, saying in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that the exchange took place in Abu Dhabi and that Bout had been flown home. However, US officials said they did not see an immediate path to bringing about Whelan's release, saying Russia has treated his case differently because of the “sham espionage” charges against him. A top Russian official said last week that a deal was possible before year's end. Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, Baylor University All-American and Phoenix Mercury pro basketball star, whose arrest made her the most high-profile American jailed abroad. Griner, who also played pro basketball in Russia, was arrested at an airport there after Russian authorities said she was carrying vape canisters with cannabis oil.

This is a significant moment for President Joe Biden, who's been under public pressure to bring Brittney Griner home, and for Griner's wife Cherelle, ...

"The other side always gets a strong vote," US Hostage envoy Roger Carstens recently said. The official said the administration was told it could either bring Griner home - or no-one. It exchanged him for a Russian pilot sentenced to cocaine trafficking charges in the US, demonstrating that the two countries could keep open a channel separate from their geopolitical tensions. Her case tells us a lot about America's approach to hostage diplomacy - and the limits of that strategy. He has been convicted of espionage and is serving a 16-year prison sentence. But Griner's case was shadowed by added layers of complexity and pressure - not least that negotiations took place against the backdrop of a war in which the US is arming Ukraine.

Deal led to exchange of notorious arms trafficker for US basketball star while not including former marine.

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Griner was jailed for carrying cannabis oil at a Moscow airport in February, and was exchanged for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout on Thursday. The pair were ...

In the video, apparently provided by Russian security services, Bout was warmly greeted by two Russian officials as Griner, who is 6ft 9in (206cm), looks on. Pictures showed him hugging his mother and wife at the airport tarmac. During her trial in Russia, she said the cannabis oil found in her bag had been an "honest mistake". She is one of the best-known sportswomen in America. Footage on Russian state media showed them crossing on the tarmac with their respective teams. He has been held in an American prison for 12 years.

Griner was freed in a high-profile prisoner exchange which saw her swapped for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout.

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Basketball star lands at Texas airbase after being swapped for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

In releasing Bout, the US freed a former Soviet army lieutenant colonel whom the Justice Department once described as one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers. Before her conviction, the US state department declared her to be wrongfully detained, a charge that Russia has sharply rejected. Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, Baylor University All-American and Phoenix Mercury pro basketball star.

American basketball star Brittney Griner returned to the United States early Friday after being freed in a high-profile prisoner exchange following nearly ...

The release of WNBA star Brittney Griner after 10 months of Russian detention is cause for justifiable celebration. It has spared Griner from the ...

The US basketball star Brittney Griner was released from Russian jail on December 8 in a prisoner swap for notorious arms dealer Victor Bout, known ...

Bout was detained in Thailand’s capital of Bangkok in 2008 in a US sting operation where he thought he was meeting with Colombian guerrillas and arrested under a warrant issued by a local court at the behest of the US. Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said the same day that Russia will continue its work to release all Russians who were jailed by the US. He had been one of the world's most notorious arms dealers, selling arms to Afghanistan, Asia and Latin America. “Viktor Bout's Afghanistan dealings were always controversial,” Samuel Ramani, an associate fellow of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies at Oxford University, said in a tweet. Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and star of the Women's National Basketball Association's Phoenix Mercury, was arrested on February 17 after spending a few months playing professional basketball in the Russian regions. Bout was born in Tajik capital of Dushanbe in Soviet times. "The choice before us was one or none," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News. [Bout arrived in Moscow to a media circus](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jfGECP3gMCs-5bbi-8liBxVZZ9ZANdZT/view?usp=share_link) where he was met by his mother and wife. She was sentenced on August 4 to nine years in a penal colony. "The swap of Viktor Bout for US basketball player Brittney Griner can truly be described as a New Year gift. The elaborate swap involved two private planes bringing the pair to Abu Dhabi airport from Moscow and Washington, and then flying them home. The two prisoners were exchanged in Abu Dhabi airport before flying home and both received full pardons.

Brittney Griner returned to the United States early Friday (local time), nearly 10 months after the basketball star's detention in Russia made her the most ...

Ten months after she left the US to play basketball in Russia, WNBA star Brittney Griner has landed in her home state of Texas.

Some family members of U.S. citizens wrongfully detained in China are fuming following Brittney Griner's release from Russia, saying President Joe Biden ...

Biden played up that alleged advantage following his meeting with Xi on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting in Bali last month [by telling reporters](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/11/14/remarks-by-president-biden-in-a-press-conference-bali-indonesia/) that the two leaders “understand one another.” At the same time, Griner’s release is allowing relatives of arbitrarily detained Americans in China to see a potential road to freedom for their loved ones. [in-person access](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3201482/top-us-envoy-china-says-zero-covid-restrictions-block-access-americans-possibly-violating-agreement) to U.S. Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, [complained last month](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3201482/top-us-envoy-china-says-zero-covid-restrictions-block-access-americans-possibly-violating-agreement) that those restrictions flouted “our 1980 consular agreement to see American prisoners.” Embassy in Beijing](https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/ambassador-nicholas-burns-on-china-u-s-relations/) to negotiate for the release of their loved ones. He is one of three Americans imprisoned in China who the State Department has designated as “wrongful detainees.” The others are [ Mark Swidan](https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/mark-swidan-china-prison/269-ae03d41a-f398-46ff-b92e-002829bd0c16) and [ David Lin](https://www.christianpost.com/news/family-fears-health-of-us-pastor-imprisoned-in-china-is-deteriorating-after-bible-sent-home.html). Prisoner trades “are the one tool that seems to work and it’s one of the tools that we’ll be pushing.” citizens arbitrarily detained in China is particularly concerning due to Beijing’s inaction in the face of years of diplomatic efforts to free them. That [paved the way](https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2022/12/08/inside-bidens-decision-to-bring-brittney-griner-home-now-00073020) for Moscow to trade notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout for Griner on Thursday. declared Kai Li a [victim of arbitrary detention](https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000181-6317-d6d3-afc7-6b7747d20000) in 2021. [enlisting foreign governments](https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily) such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to lobby for her release. [office of the special presidential envoy on hostage affairs](https://www.state.gov/leadership-special-presidential-envoy-for-hostage-affairs/) and officials in the [U.S.

Brittney Griner, the American basketball star detained by Russian authorities in February, has safely returned to the United States after being released ...

“The players have incredible agency with how they choose to make their livings and where they choose to play,” he said on CNN. Griner’s Russian lawyer said she had cut her hair while in a penal colony to make life easier during the Russian winter. “My goal is for no players to have to go overseas,” he said. The Biden administration has ideas about “new forms of offers” to try with the Russians to secure Whelan’s release, a senior administration official told CNN on Thursday. Next, in a different, bright room, Griner wears a dark headscarf while sitting across from a woman and writing with a pen on paper, the RIA News Telegram reel shows. The bed is covered by white sheets, one with a deep blue stripe, and is among five beds seen in the room with pink walls and sheer white curtains along four windows. In another clip, Griner wears a short haircut – without her now-famous dreadlocks – while pushing along a food line a tray bearing two dishes, apparently from among dozens of small plates and bowls seen on open serving shelves. Whelan’s family was happy Griner was headed home but “devastated” he was left behind, they said Thursday. Whelan’s release could not be secured in the latest prisoner swap, while Reed [returned to the US](https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/politics/trevor-reed-russia/index.html) in April after a nearly three-year ordeal. A US, Irish, British and Canadian citizen, Whelan was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 by Russian authorities who alleged he was involved in an intelligence operation. Biden gave final approval for the prisoner swap freeing Griner over the past week, an official familiar with the matter said. The Biden administration will continue negotiating with Russia to secure Whelan’s release, it said Friday.