Washington: The US and Russia have exchanged jailed US basketball star Brittney Griner for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, held in an American prison for 12 years.
According to reports, Viktor Bout has landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport. He was jailed for selling arms to warlords and notorious criminals becoming one of the most wanted men in the world.
Brittney Griner was arrested at the Moscow airport in the month of February for carrying cannabis oil.
According to reports, US President Joe Biden said that “I’m glad to say Brittney’s in good spirits.. she needs time and space to recover,”.
Biden earlier promised that the US will not give up on citizens wrongfully detained in Russia and other countries abroad – including Paul Whelan.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has praised the release of American basketball player Brittney Griner from Russian detention. He stated that the administration will continue to make efforts to bring Paul Whelan back to the US.
Blinken said that Cherelle Griner spoke to her wife Brittney and stressed that listening to them connect for the first time after the basketball player’s release “was as moving as it was unforgettable.”
What is a prisoner swap?
The International Prisoner Transfer Program began in 1977 when the US government negotiated the first in a series of treaties to permit the transfer of prisoners from countries in which they had been convicted of crimes to their home countries.
Under this program, the US can transfer and exchange prisoners from those countries with which the United States has a treaty relationship provided all statutory and treaty requirements are satisfied. The program is designed to relieve some of the special hardships that fall upon offenders incarcerated far from home, and to facilitate the rehabilitation of these offenders.
Major prisoner swap carried out by countries
- More than 300 prisoners were exchanged between Ukraine and Russia amid the ongoing conflict in the month of September.
- Trevor Reed, former marine and US citizen was exchanged by the US for Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko. He was arrested in 2019 for endangering the “life and health” of Russian police officers.
- During the cold war in 1962, Rudolf Abel was exchanged for American pilot Francis Gray Powers who was subjected to interrogation and public trial in Moscow.
- In 1986, a US Journalist covering the Soviet Union was imprisoned in Moscow and was later exchanged by the United States for Gennadi Zakharov, a Soviet physicist arrested in New York on espionage charges.
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