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Brittney Griner Released From Russian Custody

According to a senior administration official, Brittney Griner was released by the Biden administration . She was freed from a Russian penal Colony in return for arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Bout used his air transport companies to smuggle weapons from Eastern Europe to Africa and the Middle East during the 1990s and early 2000s, was convicted by a jury in New York City of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and officials, delivery of anti-aircraft missiles, and providing aid to a terrorist organization, and was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment in 2011. His person has been the inspiration for Nicholas Cage’s character in the Lord of War.

The trade, took place in the United Arab Emirates, was approved by President Joe Biden.

“She is safe, she is on a plane, she is on her way home,” Biden said Thursday morning. “She will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones and she should have been there all along. I’m proud that today we have made one more family whole,”

Griner had been in Russian custody and most recently a penal colony specifically, after Russian customs officials found vape cartridges that contained hashish oil in the basketball star’s luggage this past February.

The penal colony was stationed at is notoriously racist and homophobic, which made Griner’s fate anyone’s guess. “Beatings and torture” are common, medical care hardly exists.