Emmanuel Biden, the Russian ambassador to the US, and her message to the world on the “exchange of Bout for Griner”
She’s fine. She’s on a plane. She’s on her way home after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable conditions,” Biden said from the Roosevelt Room.
John Kirby spoke to CNN saying that the basketball star was gracious after her release and that she was in good spirits.
“As a result of intense efforts, we managed to agree with the American side on organization of an exchange of Bout for Griner,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. The Russian citizen has returned to his homeland.
The US resists prisoner swaps because they fear it will encourage the imprisonment of more Americans abroad. The exchange for Bout should not be interpreted as a new normal practice, but that there are times where there are no alternatives, a Biden official said.
The administration feels a moral obligation to bring people who are being held hostage home as part of a policy obligation.
She was released from prison on an international drug import charge after her departure from the U.S. to play basketball for the Mercury in the off-season
A Russian basketball player who had spent many years playing in the NBA off-season was charged with drug importation at the Moscow airport in February of 2022. Her detention, which became an international cause during a tense time in relations between the US and Russia, was deemed wrongful by American officials.
The United States sought a prisoner swap with Russia involving those two men as well as another American, Paul Whelan. The White House said it made a “substantial offer” over the summer in exchange for Griner and Whelan.
“This was not a situation where we had a choice of which American to bring home,” an official told reporters on a conference call. It was a dilemma between bringing home one American or not.
Cherelle said that she was flooded with emotion because of the support she received from the administration involved in securing her wife’s release. She thanked all the people who helped her.
I intend to play basketball for the Mercury this season, and in doing so, I will be able to thank those of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in person soon.
She was sentenced last August by a Russian court to nine years in prison for carrying less than a gram of hash oil into Russia when she arrived in February of this year for play in the Russian women’s professional basketball league. Last month, she was transferred to a prison colony in Mordovia — 300 miles southeast of Moscow — to begin serving out her sentence.
In court, she told the court that she mistook the two vape equipment for her luggage and that she had been prescribed an herbal remedy for pain management in the U.S.
Brittney Griner’s safe return to the US on Friday marked by a stop at an airport tarmac facility in response to a Russian prisoner swap
Colas added that Griner wants to use her newfound platform to help people, particularly others who have been wrongfully detained abroad. The only person still in Russia is Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine imprisoned in the first place and still awaiting trial. She inquires about him constantly, her agent said.
After being imprisoned in Russia for nearly 10 months, WNBA star Brittney Griner’s safe return to the US on Friday was marked by a stop at a Texas military medical facility for a routine evaluation, the US State Department said.
“We are now focused on ensuring that Brittney and her family’s well-being are prioritized and that all available assistance can be offered to them through an appropriate manner,” US State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a news briefing Friday.
While some in the US were angry that the swap was not including fellow prisoner Paul Whelan, others welcomed the fact that the swap occurred at an airport tarmac.
“She is thinking about his family and talked about her intention to call them as soon as she gets home,” Colas told CNN. “She’s really committed to telling this story and making sure that this population of wrongfully detained Americans, that people know their names.”
Jackson Lee, who represents the 18th Congressional District of Texas and is a Texans native, said certain aspects of the current welfare of Griner have to be reviewed.
“We hear that she has spoken to her family members here, she sounded good, looking forward to seeing them, and we also know that she walked on her own capabilities both in terms of the swap and then when she landed in San Antonio.”
We want to thank you all for the kind words, thoughts and prayers and in particular Paul and the Whelan family who have been very supportive of our family during this sad time.
While many are celebrating Griner’s return home – seen as a diplomatic win between two of the world’s largest nations at fierce odds over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – the fate of Whelan’s release remains unclear.
The US tried to persuade Russia to swap both Griner and Whelan for arms dealer Bout, but Russian officials would not budge on the matter, with Russia saying both of the Americans’ cases were handled differently based on the charges each of them faced.
The return home of Paul Whelan is not a choice for Russia: She said in an interview with Biden on CNN/Edin Burnett
She said that Biden is committed to bringing Paul and the other Americans home as well. “I will use my platform to do whatever I can to help you. I want everyone who played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring Americans home. Every family has the right to be whole.
“This was not a choice of which American to bring home,” Biden said Thursday. Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s. We are not giving up despite the fact that we have not been successful in securing Paul’s release. We will never give up.”
Paul Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Friday that the public discussion surrounding a potential swap has “been very difficult for my family to hear,” adding she believes her brother is being “discussed as if his only value was what we would have to give up for him.”
Elizabeth said that it was clear to them that her brother is worth more than any Russian criminal.
The pay disparity of women athletes in the US has been brought up once again, as the return home of the basketball star has exposed, which has forced many to go overseas.
“For too long women sports have been undervalued, under-invested in,” said Engelbert, who noted that less than 1% of all corporate sponsorship funding goes to women’s sports.
Engelbert also pointed out that the WNBA is a fairly young sports league, which was established in 1996. She added that there is a three-to-five-year plan to drive up players’ pay.
And as those changes are slowly underway, Engelbert said she believes players will continue to play overseas, especially because the average tenure in the WNBA is about five years.
“We’re never going to preclude them from making more money in leagues outside the US during our offseason. We would love for them to come and play at the highest level when they return to their hometown.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/10/us/brittney-griner-release-us-arrival-saturday/index.html
Bryantney Griner, an International Oil and Gas Executive in Venezuela, Revealed After His First Day in the U.S. Arrival
“If you promote the women just like the men, people will watch,” McCoughtry said. They will come to watch once we get the brand partnerships behind us and they know who we are. It will grow.”
The oil and gas executive from Citgo was held in Venezuela for over a year before being released in October as part of a prisoner swap.
After he was freed, Toledo said, he was part of a program in San Antonio that involved six days with a group of psychologists. He says the program was “extremely important” for his reintegration and hopes Griner can take advantage of similar resources.
“When I just landed in San Antonio … I felt great to taste the freedom and the smell of freedom. And you never think about any aspects as a consequence of your captivity. As you start getting into the normal life you realize that it means a challenge, he told Brown.
Toledo’s family members had to rebuild their relationships with him after he had spent five years in captivity.
Toledo had trouble sleeping and other problems after returning to the US, and everyday tasks like driving became a source of anxiety.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/11/us/brittney-griner-us-arrival-sunday/index.html
A Memorino of the Phoenix, Arizona, Destination for a Loved One: Memories of a 12-month-old Detainee in Russia
“It’s very important to feel the presence of your family, the love of your family, and let the family love you. Because the feel of love is something so important,” he said.
The 32-year-old Griner had said she would return to Phoenix in a social media post in December, after she returned home from her 10-month ordeal in Russia that included time in a Russian jail. After being arrested on drug possession charges at Moscow’s airport a year ago, the man was brought home in a high-level prisoner exchange.
Thanks to the collective efforts of many, my heart was made whole yesterday. I am proud of their hearts. Humans are in their purest form to care for one another. Griner’s wife wrote.
I wanted to personally thank the people that helped to make it possible for me to see my wife again, as we begin our process to heal our minds, body, and spirits. Her statement continued.
Griner’s friend, WNBA player Angel McCoughtry, said she knows Griner will need time and space, but believes she’ll eventually return to the basketball court.
She didn’t attend a USA Basketball training camp but was given enough time to decide if she wanted to play for the US again.
The first day of her stay in the U.S. is exciting: When she learned she had a haircut and a ball and dunked her first ball
A week later, she was released from the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. She stayed with her wife in a residential facility on the base. A tree is displayed in their living space.
For Griner – who spent nearly 10 months in detention in Russia – “normal” has meant indulging in her favorites: a Dr Pepper soda, the first drink she had in the airplane hangar after landing.
The athlete has been eating far more nutritious food and supplements compared with her time in detention, Colas said. “Her energy level was really high,” she added.
Griner also got a haircut to clean up what family and friends jokingly called her “Russian fade.” Her long, signature dreadlocks were cut while in captivity as she continuously battled the flu because her wet hair kept freezing, according to Colas.
Colas said that it was “really encouraging” that she picked up a ball and dunked her first ball. She was very excited.
She arrived at the San Antonio medical facility for a checkup after she was released from what US officials deemed to be wrongful imprisonment.
She’s been battling for the last 10 months, but she’s still going to Arizona with her husband, Cherelle, and her family
Colas said that she has had a lot of psychological support. “The resources are very robust. It is very supportive and centered. Her agency is that of her developing.
Griner opted into the Department of Defense’s post isolation program, which other wrongfully detained Americans, including Trevor Reed, have participated in, Colas said.
Colas said that she was thinking about the future. “She’s already talking about the position that she’s now in to help other people come home.”
“It feels so good to be home! In a December post, she wrote that she’s been fighting every turn over the last 10 months. It was the love from so many of you that helped keep me going and that’s what I was fighting for. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your help.”
She said she was thankful to the people who advocated for her and that she had left the Texas military facility. Another foreign prisoner in Russia who was not part of a prisoner swap that secured her freedom was remembered.
While her representatives wouldn’t confirm exactly where she was going, they did say that she was headed back to Arizona. CNN reports that Griner and her husband, Cherelle, will move to a different area once she returns to the US.
Viktor Bout Returns to the U.S. After 16 Years in a Prisoner Swap: A Conversation with Viktor Whelan
Her detention, after Russian officials found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage, became an international cause during a delicate time in relations between Washington and Moscow. US officials thought it was a wrongful detaining.
The Mercury center returned to the US on December 9th after the prisoner swap for notorious convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout took place.
For months, a delicate diplomatic dance played out between the US and Russia, which waged war in Ukraine. The US went ahead with sanctions after the conflict even though they had open lines of communication with Moscow.
Whelan is a US, Irish, British and Canadian citizen who is imprisoned in a Russian penal colony after he was arrested in December 2018 on espionage charges, which he has denied. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist shared the news — and expressed thanks for the people who helped bring her home — in an Instagram post on Friday, a week after she returned to the U.S. in a prisoner swap.
“I also want to make one thing very clear,” she wrote. “I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season, and in doing so, I look forward to being able to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in person soon.”
The 2023 WNBA season begins on May 19. Griner was the Mercury’s leading scorer and rebounder in the 2021 WNBA season, in which Phoenix lost in the finals.
Griner already had hit the basketball court, she said, emphasizing that “the most important thing is that the things that she’s doing now, it’s all her choice.”
A statement from the Mercury commissioner about the Phoenix All-star re-signed with the Los Angeles Sparks in the early May 21st game
Before that, the seven-time All-Star had played all nine seasons with the franchise since being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft.
Phoenix are scheduled to open the season on the road against the Los Angeles Sparks on May 19. On May 21st the team will play their first home game.
Griner, who was a free agent, re-signed with the Mercury on a one-year contract according to a person familiar with the deal. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Saturday because no announcement has been made.
The 6-foot-9 center last played for the Mercury in 2021 and helped the team reach the WNBA Finals. She averaged 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds that season.
“We are aware of the unique situation”, the commissioner told the AP earlier this month. “We’ve been planning and we’ve been thinking it through with security experts, BG’s side, our side. We will make a statement about it when she is with a team.
Diana Taurasi was signed to a multiyear contract by the Mercury. The Mercury drafted the all-time leader in the league in 2004, but she has only been there for a short time.