TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Dec 8, 2022

WNBA star Brittney Griner was today released from a Russian prison as part of a high-profile prisoner exchange in which the U.S. released notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, the Associated Press reports.  “She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home,” President Joe Biden said from the White House. He added that Griner would be back in the U.S. within 24 hours. Bout, a felon once nicknamed “the Merchant of Death,” is a former Soviet Army lieutenant colonel whom the Justice Department once described as one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers. Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, Baylor University All-American and Phoenix Mercury pro basketball star who was arrested in Russia in February for bringing less than a gram of cannabis oil in vape cartridges into the country. The U.S. failed to secure the release of Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan who has been jailed in Russia since 2018. Whelan was arrested on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government have said are baseless.