President Biden says WNBA star Brittney Griner has been freed from a Russian prison. Standing along side Griner's wife, Cherelle Griner, at the White House, Biden said it was a day that 'we worked for a long time. '
Standing along side Griner's wife, Cherelle Griner, at the White House, Biden said it was a day that"we worked for a long time.""She's safe. She's on a plane. She's on her way home after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable conditions," Biden said from the Roosevelt Room.
"Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones and she should have been there all along," Biden said. "As a result of intense efforts, we managed to agree with the American side on organization of an exchange of Bout for Griner," the foreign ministry said in a statement."The Russian citizen has been returned to his homeland."The exchange did not include former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who remains imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges that the U.S. says are false.
Senior administration officials told reporters on a conference call later that the agreement to secure Griner's release was made in recent days after months of talks and a variety of proposals — proposals that were aimed at also trying to secure Whelan's release."This was not a situation where we had a choice of which American to bring home," an official told reporters on a conference call.
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