WNBA star Brittney Griner has been released from prison in Russia, President Joe Biden said Thursday.
The basketball star was arrested in February at a Moscow-area airport while in possession of vaping cartridges infused with cannabis oil, an illegal substance in Russia.
Griner pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a nine-year prison term in early August. She was moved to a penal colony in mid-November after losing her appeal. On Thursday, Griner was freed in a prisoner exchange for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, according to ABC News.
Biden spoke with Griner by phone and confirmed that she was on her way home.
“She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home,” Biden said from the White House Thursday morning alongside Vice President Kamala Harris and Griner’s wife, Cherelle. “After months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances, Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones, and she should have been there all along.”
Biden said efforts to bring Griner home took “painstaking and intense negotiations” and expressed his gratitude to his administration.
“This is a day we’ve worked toward for a long time. We never stopped pushing for her release,” he said.
The president acknowledged that Griner’s release was taking place while another American, Paul Whelan, remained behind bars.
“This was not a choice of which American to bring home,” Biden said. “Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s. And while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up.”
When asked when Griner would return home, Biden said it would be within the next “24 hours.”
Cherelle Griner expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the administration for assisting in obtaining her wife’s release. “Over the last nine months, you have been so privy to one of the darkest moments of my life, and so today I’m just standing here overwhelmed with emotions, but the most important emotion that I have right now is just sincere gratitude for President Biden and his entire administration,” she said.
As Griner makes her way home, her wife says that she and her family remain committed to fighting for those still wrongly held in prison.
“Today, my family is whole. But as you all are aware,” Cherelle Griner added. “There are so many other families who are not whole. BG’s not here to say this, but I will gladly speak on her behalf and say that BG and I will remain committed to the work on getting every American home, including Paul (Whelan), whose family is in our hearts today, as we celebrate BG being home.”