WNBA player Brittney Griner has been released from Russian custody in a prisoner swap. The Biden administration agreed to swap Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for the release of Brittney Griner. Brittney was taken into custody in an airport in Moscow after being arrested for allegedly ‘smuggling in hashish oil’ according to Russian officials. She was taken into custody in February and has spent ten months in a Russian detention facility. 

Brittney played basketball in Russia where she played for the Ekaterinburg basketball team. She was traveling to Russia to rejoin her team when she was arrested. She pleaded guilty, but with no criminal intent. The charges against her led to her being sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony in Mordovia, about 210 miles east of Moscow.

Paul Whelan is a marine that was accused of spying in Russia in 2018 and is serving a 16-year sentence. The Kremlin has said that they will not release him unless a Russian spy is returned, although Washington has said that they do not have any Russian spies in custody.

Viktor Bout was arrested in the U.S. for conspiring with foreign terrorists to kill Americans. He is known to have supplied weapons to civil wars in South America, the Middle East, and Africa. Bout was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in jail. He ended up only serving 11 years after his release in this prisoner swap. 

The Biden administration had been trying to negotiate with Moscow for the release of Griner for months. Moscow demanded the release of Viktor Bout, an arms dealer known as the ‘merchant of death in exchange for the release of Griner. The Biden administration tried to have both Brittney and Paul Whelan sent home in exchange for Viktor Bout, but the Kremlin rejected that offer. This is one of the highest-profile prisoner swaps since the Cold War. 

The UAE’s president and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia helped mediate the prisoner swap. Griner was sent on a private plane from Moscow to Abu Dhabi while Bout was sent on a plane from Washington. Brittney Griner is being flown to a medical facility in San Antonio where her wife Cherelle Griner will meet her.