US basketball star, Brittney Griner, who had been jailed in Russia, has been freed in an exchange for notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence in the United States.
Moscow confirmed the exchange on Thursday.
“On December 8, 2022, at the Abu Dhabi airport, the exchange of Russian citizen Viktor Bout for US citizen Brittney Griner… was successfully completed,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Moscow said it had been negotiating with Washington to secure Bout’s release “for a long time” and that initially the US had “refused dialogue” on including him in any swap.
“Nevertheless, the Russian Federation continued to actively work to rescue our compatriot.
The Russian citizen has been returned to his homeland,” the defence ministry said.
Bout was sentenced in 2012 to 25 years in a US jail after he was accused of arming rebels in some of the world’s bloodiest conflicts.
Griner, 32, was arrested shortly before Russia’s February offensive in Ukraine at a Moscow airport for possessing vape cartridges with cannabis oil.
Her lawyers confirmed to AFP on Thursday that the exchange took place.
Five former U.S. officials told CBS News the agreement had been reached as of last Thursday, Dec. 1.
A White House official said President Biden was in the Oval Office Thursday morning, Dec. 8, on the phone, speaking with Griner and her wife, and that Vice President Kamala Harris was also in the room.
President Biden is expected to speak at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) at the White House about the prisoner swap that saw Brittney Griner released.
Biden signed the commutation order cutting short Bout’s 25-year federal prison sentence.
