WNBA's Brittney Griner Freed From Russian Penal Colony, Biden Administration Negotiates Her Release Via Trade for Arms Dealer

WNBA star Brittney Griner has been freed from a Russian penal colony after the Biden administration negotiated for her release.

The 31-year-old WNBA star was sentenced in August after police found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on February 17.

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A trade was negotiated in recent weeks in Moscow, Russia, and was approved by President Biden this week. It included a trade for Brittney in exchange for international arms dealer Viktor Bout. Bout was at one time nicknamed “the Merchant of Death.”

“She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home,” President Biden said in a tweet, which included a couple photos of himself in the Oval Office with Brittney‘s wife Cherelle Griner. Brittney is expected to undergo a medical evaluation ASAP. The President also personally spoke with Brittney.

She was sentenced to 9 years over the summer for the drug charge.