On December 8, Britney was released as part of a prisoner exchange after the WNBA star was given a nine-year sentence in a Russian jail for drug offenses.
President Joe Biden vowed that his administration would exert unrelenting effort and use every available means to bring Brittney Griner home after a Russian court found her guilty of drug-related charges.
The Associated Press reported on December 8, 2022, that Brittney would be freed as part of a prisoner swap with Russia. The US will free Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange for Brittney's release.
Before Britney's conviction, there was speculation that she might be involved in a prisoner swap. According to reports, ...
...the US was prepared to exchange Britney and former Marine Paul Whelan for Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms dealer.
Whelan, who is currently an executive in corporate security, was detained in December 2018 on suspicion of espionage (although he has maintained his innocence). In June 2020, he was given a 16-year prison term.
Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, stated on August 5 that his country was prepared to discuss a trade.
Britney was described as being "wrongfully detained" by the US State Department prior to her trial, a phrase that President Biden used in a statement after she was found guilty.
According to his statement, Britney Griner, an American citizen, was wrongfully detained by Russia and today's prison sentence serves as yet another reminder of this fact.
On February 17, when Brittney was detained at the Moscow airport, the drama began.
During the WNBA offseason, the basketball star was on her way to the nation to represent Russia's UMMC Ekaterinburg when she was detained by law enforcement on suspicion of drug smuggling.
Brittney allegedly had less than one gram of cannabis oil in her luggage. She would later claim that she packed the vape cartridges inadvertently while rushing to catch her flight.
Up until her July 1 trial, Russia kept detaining Griner.