Washington, USA, December 10, 2010 (ANI) Brittney Griner, a US basketball player, was released from R US”> USsian prison on Friday in exchange for an arm dealer.
Vedant Patel, the United States Principal Deputy Secretary, stated that the Griner arrived at Joint Base San Antonio Fort Sam Ho “> ton. He was then taken to Brooke Army Medical Center in order to have a check-up.
“The US welcomes Brittney Griner’s release from detention in R “> USsia. We believe you saw the Special Envoy Carstens tweet about it late last night. However, we can confirm that Brittney Greiner arrived at Joint Base San Antonio Fort Sam Ho “> ton in Texas earlier today. She was then taken to Brooke Army Medical Center for routine examination,” Vedant Patel stated in a press conference.
Griner was freed in a prisoner exchange that involved Viktor Bout, an arms dealer and R us”> USsian. Viktor Bout was currently serving a 25 year sentence in a US jail. The swap was made at Abu Dhabi’s airport. The US President Joe Biden made the announcement of the release of the basketball player in an address to nation at the White Ho “> e.
Brittney Griner was taken into custody at a Moscow airport nine month ago. Brittney Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport nine months ago. She was charged with possessing vape cartridges containing a small amount of cannabis oil. She was sentenced to nine years imprisonment in Aug > t. Viktor Bout was a R sian arms dealer, known as the “Merchant of Death”. He was arrested in Thailand in 2008.
Vedant Patel stated that the US administration is focused us ed to ensuring Brittney Griner’s well-being and that of her family. He assured them that they will receive all assistance in a timely manner. Patel stated that he would not discuss any details due to security concerns and out of respect for Brittney and Cherelle Griner.
Patel stated that both Brittney Griner as well as Paul Whelan were released by the US. R us”> sia’s categorization made it impossible for Paul Whelan to be released. The US made a difficult decision because it was not clear whether Brittney Griner could be released or not. He stated that the US would continue to work hard to secure the release of Paul Whelan.
“We have been very transparent and Secretary Blinken had made it clear when he spoke to the room about the substantive proposal to the R sian Federation regarding the release of Brittney Griner as well as Paul Whelan. At the press briefing, Patel stated that Paul Whelan’s release was impossible due to the way in which the R “> sian Federation had been categorizing Paul.
He added, “And it became clear to us”> that it wasn’t up to us to bring Brittney back or not to bring any American citizens home. So we made the hard decision to do so. He said, “We will continue to work tirelessly in order to bring Paul home. We will do everything possible to ensure his safety. Vedant Patel stated that they had a strong desire for Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan to be on the return flight. He stressed that Whelan’s release is a priority for the US. It was a difficult decision for US President Joe Biden, he said.
On December 8, Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State of the United States, praised Brittney Griner’s release from R us”> ussian detention. He said that the US government will continue to work to bring Paul Whelan home.
Blinken made these remarks at a press conference with Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Havisto and Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom. He stressed that R Use this site “> Use this site sia is still unwilling to end Paul Whelan’s “wrongful detention”. He expressed gratitude to the US State Department team as well as his colleagues for their tireless efforts in securing Brittney Griner’s release. He stressed that his top priority is to secure the release of Americans “wrongfully detained”. (ANI)
