The United States and Russia have exchanged American basketball star Brittney Griner, who has been in a US prison for 12 years, with notorious arms dealer Victor Bott.
President Joe Biden said Greiner was safe and home on a plane from the United Arab Emirates.
“I’m happy to say Britney is in good spirits … she needs time and space to recover,” he said at the White House.
According to Russian media reports, the bot – widely known as the “Merchant of Death” – has returned to Moscow.
After landing in Russia, Bout said in brief remarks to a national television reporter, “In the middle of the night they just woke me up and said ‘get your things together’ and that’s it.
Bott reportedly came down the plane’s stairs carrying a bouquet of flowers before hugging his mother and wife.
Griner was arrested in February at a Moscow airport for possessing hemp oil and was sent to a penal colony last month.
The Biden administration proposed the prisoner swap in July, aware that Moscow had long demanded Bout’s release.
The elaborate exchange involved two private planes flying the couple from Moscow and Washington to Abu Dhabi airport, and then flying them home.
Footage on Russian state media – apparently provided by Russian security services – showed them walking the tarmac with their respective teams.
“The Russian citizen has been sent back to his homeland,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Brittney Griner’s wife Cheryl praised the Biden administration’s efforts to secure his release: “I’m overwhelmed with emotion here.”
According to a joint Saudi-UAE statement, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman played a key role in mediation efforts with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The heir to the Saudi throne has a good relationship with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and helped facilitate a complex exchange of hundreds of prisoners held by Russia and Ukraine in September.
But the White House denied that any mediation was involved. “The only countries that negotiated the deal were the United States and Russia,” said press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre.
When negotiations began over the summer to secure Greiner’s release, the U.S. made it clear it wanted ex-Marine Paul Whalen included in the exchange.
But it became clear that Whelan, who was jailed in 2018 on suspicion of espionage, dashing his family’s hopes, would not be part of the Russian exchange.
Bott’s lawyer, Alexei Tarasov, told JEE News that the US had wanted the return of its two citizens from the start, and the Russian Foreign Ministry complained that “Washington categorically refused to negotiate”.
Paul Whelan told JEE News that he was “very disappointed” that more had not been done to free him, as he had committed no crime: “I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here.” They said.
President Biden eventually signed an executive order releasing Bott, commuting his 25-year prison sentence directly to Griner.
Butt’s wife, Ella, told JEE News that he had only spoken to him two days earlier: “He was going to call me tonight. Now we’ll see each other and hug each other. It’s somebody. Even better than a phone call.”
Victor Bot sold arms to warlords and rogue governments, and became one of the world’s most wanted men.
Dubbed the “merchant of death” for his gun-running in the years following the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian’s exploits inspired the 2005 Hollywood film Lord of War, based on his life.
