WNBA star Brittney Griner was free Thursday after the Biden administration negotiated her release from a Russian penal colony in exchange for an arms dealer. Everything we have heard from her short stay in the penal colony had been terrible things that were set to come her way, but now we are getting a first-hand look at the things she was doing.
We now have a video of Griner being put to work while trying to communicate with prison officials. We also see the bed where she slept and see her as she went in line to get food.
President Joe Biden signed off on the trade, which took place in the United Arab Emirates, even though it meant leaving another American behind in Paul Whelan, who remains jailed in Russia.
“She is safe, she is on a plane, she is on her way home,” Biden said Thursday morning at the White House. “She will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones, and she should have been there all along.”
“I’m proud that today we have made one more family whole,” Biden said, adding that he will continue to work to free Whelan. “We’ll keep negotiating for Paul’s relief. I guarantee it.”
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral WNBA stories via Google! Follow Us
Griner has since returned to U.S. soil to a medical facility in San Antonio where she will receive care. Griner’s return will cap a monthslong saga that began in February, when she was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport after Russian authorities said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage.
She later admitted her guilt and was sentenced to nine years. Things likely lasted longer than expected as it came during a time where Russia invaded Ukraine.
Whelan is serving a 16-year prison sentence after he was accused of spying, which the U.S. has denied.
