After almost 10 months of struggle, US basketball star Brittney Griner was finally released by Russia in exchange for a notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout.
American president Joe Biden said that the two-time Olympic gold medalist was safe and on a plane home from the UAE, where the swap took place.
Bout, on the other hand, was held in an American prison for the past 12 years and has now reached Moscow, local Russian media reported. Bout widely known as Merchant of Death was once described as the world's most prolific arms dealer.
Griner was arrested at the Moscow Airport in February after officials found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage. She was sentenced on August 4th and was sent to a penal colony last month.
The exchange between the 2 nations came at a time of heightened tensions over Ukraine. President Joe Biden however, failed to negotiate the release of Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive jailed in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the US government has said are baseless.
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