American basketball player Brittney Griner, who was released in Russia in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, arrived in the USA this Friday (9). He will be taken to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, where he is expected to undergo a health check.
Instead of going straight to his home in Phoenix, Arizona, Griner will stop by the medical center at the San Antonio base, where military personnel or civilians who have experienced torture or traumatic experiences are taken. The swap took place at Abu Dhabi airport on Thursday. Footage released by Russia shows Grines passing Bout on the track, accompanied by Russian and American representatives.
The 32-year-old, two-time Olympic champion, was arrested at a Moscow airport in February with vaporizer capsules, a type of electronic cigarette containing hemp oil (marijuana), a product banned in the country. He revealed that he used the substance to relieve pain from intense basketball training, but was sentenced to nine years in prison in August.
After his appeal was denied, he was transferred to a penal colony in Mordovia in central Russia in November. His followers have always condemned that the athlete is a kind of hostage of Moscow to negotiate with Washington in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine.
war king
Russian television showed the arrival of Viktor Bout, who inspired Nicolas Cage’s character in the movie “Lord of War”, for free in Moscow in exchange for Griner. He carried a bouquet of white flowers and embraced mother and woman. The arms dealer was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and extradited to the United States, where he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
“They woke me up in the middle of the night and told me to get my stuff,” Bout told Rossiya 24. “I came here, that’s the most important thing,” he added. Paul Whelan, another American imprisoned in Russia, was not included in the exchange. “Even if we can’t get Paul released, we will never give up,” Biden said.
His family said in a statement that they were “happy” for Griner, but “still devastated” as Whelan ended up in a Russian prison before Christmas and the family would spend “the fourth time” without him.
Speaking by phone to CNN from his penal colony in Russia, Whelan said he was “very disappointed” that he was not part of the exchange. “I don’t understand why I’m still here,” he complained. The former soldier, who was arrested in Russia in December 2018, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 for “espionage”, which he said was a fabricated charge to justify the sentence.
source: Noticias
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.