Griner’s homecoming was a disappointment for another American.
Two-time Olympic basketball champion Brittney Griner landed by plane in his native United States on Friday.
The plane carrying Griner was at the airport in Texas on Friday morning local time.
Griner, who had been imprisoned in Russia for months, got home when the United States and Russia reached an agreement on a prisoner exchange. A disgraced arms dealer left the United States for Russia Viktor Bout.
The exchange took place in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. A video was shot of the exchange, which you can watch above.
According to the BBC, the video was shown on a Russian state TV channel and estimates that it was filmed by the Russians. Part of the exchange moment has been cut out.
The prisoner exchange has been reported in very different ways in Russia and the United States.
Russian sports channel Match TV in its news, it does not say at all where Bout served his prison sentence in the USA. The news item praises the persistent efforts of the Russian government to free Bout.
American of CBS in the news, the president of the United States Joe Biden called Griner’s imprisonment in Russia unjust and described Griner’s conditions in Russia as intolerable.
CBS knew about the swap in advance, but did not report it at the request of the White House.
Griner was arrested in February at the Moscow airport when e-cigarette cartridges containing cannabis oil were found in his suitcase.
The two-time Olympic champion received a nine-year prison sentence in August for drug smuggling and possession.
Bout, on the other hand, served a 25-year sentence in the United States. The man is also known as the “Merchant of Death”.
Arms dealer Bout made a career as a court procurer for various terrorist organizations and his goal was to kill as many American citizens as possible.
In some respects, Griner’s exchange for Bout was cast in a questionable light in the United States, because the American citizen Paul Whelan has been in prison in Russia for four years already.
Paul Whelan is imprisoned in Russia. EPA/AOP
Whelan is being held in Russia on charges of espionage. The United States has called the accusations false.
According to the US authorities, Russia did not agree to a deal where both Griner and Whelan would have moved in the other direction.
– The alternative was to bring home one particular American, i.e. Brittney Griner, or no one at all, an anonymous source told CBS.
Whelan said CNN’s in the interview that he was happy about Griner’s return home. At the same time, however, the man is very disappointed.
– I am disappointed that more has not been done to free me, Whelan said.
– I was arrested for a crime that never happened. I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here.
President of the United States, approved the exchange of Griner and Bout Joe Biden assured that he has not forgotten Whelan.