US women's basketball star Brittney Griner has been released from Russian custody, and has spoken to President Joe Biden, the White House announced Thursday.
"Moments ago I spoke to Brittney Griner," President Biden tweeted. "She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home."
"These past few months have been hell for Brittney," Biden said. "I'm glad to be able to say Brittney is in good spirits. She's relieved to finally be heading home, and the fact remains that she's lost months of her life, experienced a needless trauma. She deserves space, privacy and time with her loved ones to recover and heal from her time being wrongfully detained."
Griner was arrested in February after several cartridges containing hashish oil were found in her luggage while traveling to Russia to play in its Premiere League. Her arrest sparked concerns that Russia would use her and other American and western prisoners as leverage to remove the sanctions placed on the country following its invasion of Ukraine later that month. She was found guilty of smuggling in July and in August was given a sentence of nine years in prison plus a one million dollar fine.
US officials have attempted to secure her release for months. In addition, the US has sought the release of Paul Whalen, and American citizen who was arrested at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 on espionage charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Russian officials recently signaled to their US counterparts that they would be willing to be flexible in Griner's case, US officials said. No such flexibility was signaled in Whalen's case.
President Biden said: "We've not forgotten about Paul Whalen, who has been unjustly detained in Russia for years. This was not a choice of which American to bring home. We brought home Trevor Reed when we had a chance earlier this year. Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul's case differently than Brittney's,"