The United States and Russia have brokered a prisoner swap. WNBA star Britany Griner has been released from Russian detention and is in U. S. custody. She was exchanged for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, commonly know as the “merchant of death”. Griner is a two-time olympic gold medalist whose months long imprisonment on drug charges brought unprecedented attention to the population of wrongful detainees.
Bout was convicted of plotting to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons that officials say were to be used against the United States. Left behind was former Marine Paul Whelan, a Michigan Corporate Security Executive jailed in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges, that his family and the U. S. government has said are baseless.
President Biden says Whelan will not be forgotten:
