What can the U.S. do about Bout and Whelan’s return to Russia if we don’t abide by their detention conditions?
“She’s safe. She is 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, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said that the basketball star was in good spirits and gracious when she was released from the medical center.
“As a result of intense efforts, we were able to agree with the Americans on an exchange of Bout for Griner,” the foreign ministry said. “The Russian citizen has been returned to his homeland.”
It’s not unusual for the U.S. government to resist prisoner swaps because they’re worried 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 official said the administration felt a “moral obligation,” as well as a policy obligation, to bring people who are being held hostage or detained home.
We start by asking ourselves how is it acceptable for someone of the same race to be put through sham proceedings and forced to go to a Russian penitentiary in horrible conditions. An official from the Department of Homeland Security said that they consider that unacceptable.
Senior administration officials told reporters on a conference call later that the agreement to secure Griner’s release was made in recent days after months of talks and a variety of proposals — proposals that were aimed at also trying to secure Whelan’s release.
“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 choice of whether to bring home one particular American or not.
Arrival time of Brittney Griner for a prisoner exchange between the US and Russia for notorious convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout
She said thank you to her family, the sports organization, her legal team, the San Antonio Fort Sam Houston Base medical team, the Biden-Harris administration, and several individuals and organizations who worked for her release.
As she boarded the plane, Griner was greeted by Phoenix Mercury GM Jim Pitman, team president Vince Kozar and teammate Diana Taurasi. They made a surprise appearance to welcome her home.
She was freed as part of a prisoner exchange between the US and Russia for notorious convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, an exchange that took months to negotiate after the basketball star was arrested on drug charges at a Russian airport in February and then sentenced to nine years in prison.
She admitted in court that she packed the two e-liquids in her suitcase, but provided documents that showed she was prescribed the narcotic for pain management in the US.
Whelan – a US, Irish, British and Canadian citizen – is currently 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. He, like Griner, had been declared wrongfully detained by US officials.
The next part of the journey back to the US was begun on Friday morning when she arrived at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.
“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.
Paul and Elizabeth Whelan: What do we want to hear about the BRITTNEY/GRINER/WHELAN swap?
The swap, which took months to negotiate and has drawn mixed reaction in the US for not also including fellow detainee Paul Whelan, occurred at an airport tarmac in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
“They all want to see her and might even want to see her back here at home, but I know that was a happy phone reunion to hear his daughter’s voice,” she said.
Jackson Lee, the representative for the 18th Congressional District of Texas that includes Houston, said that aspects of the two-time Olympian’s welfare have to be reviewed.
“I appreciate the time and care to make sure I was okay and equipped with the tools for this new journey,” she wrote on Instagram, referring to staff at the San Antonio base.
We would like to thank everyone for the kind words, thoughts and prayers, we know it is a sad time for our family, but we want you to know that Paul and the family have been very helpful with their support for us.
The Republican party criticized the Biden administration for releasing a dangerous prisoner back to Russia while not securing the release of another person.
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 situation needs to be solved quickly, according to Whelan. I would hope that the Biden administration could get me home, no matter what price they might have to pay.
“This was not a choice of which American to bring home,” Biden said Thursday. For illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than that of BRITTNEY. We are not giving up, even though 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.”
As far as Elizabeth Whelan is concerned, her brother is worth more than any Russian criminal, and that is something her family has made clear to the US government.
Griner’s detention and subsequent return home has once again spotlighted the pay disparity women athletes face in the US – which has pushed WNBA players to go overseas to earn more during their off-seasons, including countries such as Russia.
Women’s sports have been under-invested in for too long and less than 1% of corporate sponsorship funding goes to them.
The WNBA is a relatively young sports league, which was established in 1996. She said the organization was working on a three-to-five-year plan to drive up players pay.
The average tenure in theWLW is about five years, so she believes players will continue to play overseas.
It won’t be a problem for them to make more money outside the US during our off-season. What we want is them to come and play at the highest level once they’re back here at home.”
Jorge Toledo: Recovery after the Capture of a Cuban Prisoner, and the Challenges of Reintegration in American Life after a Week in Captivity
“If you promote the women just like the men, people will watch,” McCoughtry said. People will come to watch us once we get the brand partnerships behind us and people know who we are. It will grow.”
Jorge Toledo – one of the “Citgo 6” – spoke to CNN Saturday about how reintegration into society can take time and effort after prolonged captivity. Toledo was released as part of a prisoner swap, and had been held in Venezuela for over a year, while on a business trip with other executives from the Citgo Corporation.
Toledo, who was freed two months later, told of the challenges he has faced in returning to regular daily life and the advice he has for Griner.
I felt a great sensation of freedom when I arrived in San Antonio. And you never think about any aspects as a consequence of your captivity. He told CNN’s Pamela Brown that when he started getting into the normal life, he noticed that it was a challenge.
Toledo spent five years in captivity, and had to rebuild his relationship with his family, which had consisted of only babies at the time.
Having spent five years in captivity, Toledo said he came home with trouble sleeping and other health issues, and saw minor, everyday tasks like driving become sources of anxiety.
The Memory of Betty Griner, the Happiest Fan of Your Families, and in the Love of your Family, And When You Want to See Her
“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.
Russian officials have repeatedly said that releasing Bout was the only way that they’d be able to free her.
Thanks to the collective efforts of many, my heart was made whole yesterday. I’m humbled by their hearts. To care for another, a stranger to some, a friend to some— is humanity in its purest form!” Griner’s wife wrote.
“As BG and I start our journey to heal our minds, body, and spirits— I wanted to personally say thank you to some of the hands; seen and unseen, that helped make it possible for me to see my wife again!” her statement continued.
Angel McCoughtry said that she expects the basketball player to eventually return to the basketball court.
We all want to see her but we are going to give her time and space to be evaluated.
The 32-year-old arrived at the San Antonio medical facility for a routine evaluation after her release Thursday from what US officials deemed wrongful detention.
Griner landed in San Antonio last Friday after her release in a prisoner exchange. At the time, the White House said that she was doing well.
During her time there, she had to cut her dreadlocks to make life easier in the Russian winter, Maria Blagovolina, her Russian lawyer, told CNN.
Most of the women in the penal colony worked sewing uniforms, but the 6-foot-9 Olympic gold medalist was too tall to sit at a work table and her hands were too big to manage the sewing, so she carried fabric all day, her attorney said.
Talk to the Russians in their Prisons: What happened to Richardson and Britney Carstens when he was in the United States
“We’ve got to give them a little space, a little time to readjust because they’ve had a horrendous experience in these Russian prisons,” said Richardson, who served as US ambassador to the United Nations in the Clinton administration.
But it didn’t feel real until the moment he was able to board the plane and tell her that “on behalf of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and Secretary of State Tony Blinken, I’m here to take you home,” Carstens said.
“When she finally got on to the US plane, I said, ‘Brittney, you must have been through a lot over the last 10 months. You sit in your seat. Please feel free to decompress. Carstens said we will give you your space.
“And she said, ‘Oh no. I’ve been in prison for 10 months now listening to Russian, I want to talk. But first of all, who are these guys?’ She moved past me and looked at the members of that crew, shook their hands and inquired about them, making a personal connection with them. It was really amazing,” Carstens said.
The Dr Pepper soda that she drank with a little while she was at the Brooke Army Medical Center: A friend of the athlete who was in detention
For the week he was at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio,Griner stayed for a routine evaluation. She stayed with her wife in a place that was on the base. A Christmas tree decorated their living space.
The Dr Pepper soda that was her first drink after landing in Russia has been a staple in her diet since she was released.
Colas said the athlete has been eating a lot of vitamins and minerals while she was in detain. “Her energy level was really high,” she added.
It was encouraging that she picked up the ball and first thing she did was dunk it. “She was really excited.”
“She’s had a lot of psychological support,” Colas said. The resources are very large. It’s very supportive and very BG centered. It’s about her developing agency.”
What has happened to Cherelle Griner in Houston, Texas, Three months after she was released from the Department of Defense, and when she returned to the United States
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 is already talking about the position that she is going to be in and helping other people return home.
“It feels so good to be home!” The actor wrote on the social networking site. It has been a battle the last 10 months. I kept my faith despite the fact that it was being hampered by the love from so many of you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your help.”
Griner, 32, said she was “grateful to each person who advocated for me” and thanked the staff at the Texas military facility she briefly called home. She also remembered another foreign prisoner in Russia whose release could not be secured in the prisoner swap that secured her freedom.
Her representatives wouldn’t confirm where she was heading back to, citing security concerns. CNN previously reported that Cherelle and her husband, David, had already made plans to emigrate upon her return to the US.
She Was Born and Born: The Mercury Center Freeze-Out After Viktor Bout’s War with Russia During the 2011 Moscow-Ukraine Conflict
She was held for seven days after Russian officials found cannabis oil in her luggage, and the case became an international cause. US officials thought it to be wrongful.
The Mercury center became a pawn in Russia’s war in the Ukraine, and returned to the US after the prisoner swap for notorious convict Viktor Bout.
For months, a delicate diplomatic dance played out between the US and Russia, which waged war in Ukraine. US sanctions against Russia were enacted after the conflict while diplomats talked to Moscow about prisoner negotiations.
After being arrested on espionage charges in December of last year, Whelan is now imprisoned in a Russian Penal Colony, which he has denied. He was sentenced to a long time 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 plan to play basketball for the Phoenix Mercury this season and will be able to say thanks to those of you who wrote, advocated, and posted for me.
May 19 is when the NBA season begins. Griner was the Mercury’s leading scorer and rebounder in the 2021 WNBA season, in which Phoenix lost in the finals.
She said that the most important thing was that the things she was doing now, it was her choice.