American basketball star Brittney Griner heading home after exchange with arms dealer Viktor Bout

American basketball star Brittney Griner headed home, freed from Russian prison in exchange for the U.S. releasing notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. This culminated an eight-month saga of high diplomacy and dashed hopes. The deal, the second in eight months amid tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, secured the release of the most prominent American detained abroad and achieved a top goal for President Joe Biden. Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, Baylor University All-American, and Phoenix Mercury pro basketball star, whose arrest made her the most high-profile American jailed abroad.

Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February for possessing cannabis oil and last month sent to a penal colony. Mr. Viktor Bout was held in an American prison for 12 years.