Russia's Foreign Ministry said it exchanged the US
basketball star for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in a prisoner swap.
Russian news agencies reported that Bout’s swap with Griner
took place at Abu Dhabi airport.
US President Joe Biden celebrated the news on Twitter and
wrote: “Moments ago I spoke to Brittney
Griner. She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home.”
Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February for
possessing cannabis oil and last month sent to a penal colony.
President Biden signed the order for Bout's release,
commuting his 25-year jail term.
Viktor Bout sold arms to warlords and rogue governments,
becoming one of the world's most wanted men.
Dubbed the "merchant of death" for gun-running in
the years after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian's exploits inspired
the 2005 Hollywood film Lord of War, which was loosely based on his life.
His secretive career was brought to an end by an elaborate
US sting in 2008, when he was arrested at a hotel in the Thai capital Bangkok,
to the anger of the Russian government.
He was extradited two years later and has spent the past 12
years languishing in an American jail for conspiring to support terrorists and
kill Americans.
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