Brittney Griner Responds to the Release of Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan from Russian Captivity: 'A Big Win'

Brittney Griner Responds to the Release of Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan from Russian Captivity: 'A Big Win' https://ift.tt/YpDWiw0

Griner was released from Russian prison in 2022 after authorities alleged she brought cannabis into the country

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From Left: Brittney Griner; Evan Gershkovich; and Paul Whelan

Brittney Griner is opening up after news broke that journalist Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were released from a Russian prison — the largest prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia since the end of the Cold War.

On Thursday, Aug. 1, the WNBA All-Star, 33, told The New York Times it was a "great day."

"I am head over heels happy for the families right now. Any day that Americans come home, that’s a win," Griner said, adding she was "definitely emotional" after hearing the news.

“I’m just happy,” Griner continued. “Like this is a big win, huge win.”

Whelan, a 54-year-old former Marine, spent over five years in Russian detention after being accused of spying, and Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich, 32, who was arrested in March 2023, was also found guilty of spying in a Russian court.

The two men were freed on Thursday in a prisoner swap that took place in Ankara, Turkey, according to CNN. At least 16 adults who were held in several different countries were swapped in the exchange, with Turkish officials serving as mediators between Russia and six other nations: the U.S., Germany, Poland, Norway, Slovenia and Belarus.

Related: U.S. Journalist Evan Gershkovich and Ex-Marine Paul Whelan Freed from Russia in Historic Prisoner Swap

Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP/Shutterstock Brittney Griner in Russian court in 2022

Griner — who took on Belgium in women's basketball during the Paris Summer Olympics earlier on Thursday — was detained in Russia herself in February 2022. At the time, authorities alleged that she had vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage after arriving in Moscow from New York City to play for the Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg.

Although the Mercury center was sentenced to nine years in prison, news later broke that the U.S. and Russia had agreed to a prisoner exchange — in which the U.S. would send international arms dealer Viktor Bout to Russia — and on Dec. 8, 2022, she returned home to the U.S.

Whelan was originally included in the White House's negotiations when they first attempted to exchange Griner for Bout, who was serving 25 years in a U.S. prison. But the deal eventually turned into a one-to-one swap, and Griner told 20/20 host Robin Roberts in an April 2024 interview that she was shocked when she got on the plane back to the U.S. alone after hearing that the Marine would be coming with her.

"When I walked on [to the plane] and I didn't see him, I was like, 'Okay, maybe I’m early. Maybe he's next,' " the basketball star said. "And when they closed the door, I was like, 'Are you seriously not gonna let this man come home right now?' "

"If it was left up to me, in that trade, I woulda went and got Paul and brought him home," she added at the time. "But any time we can bring home an American, that is a win for Americans."

Christian Petersen/Getty

Related: Brittney Griner Hoped Paul Whelan Would Be Released with Her: 'No One Should Be Left Behind'

Following Whelan and Gershkovich's release on Thursday (in addition to another U.S. citizen and green card holder), President Joe Biden spoke out about the group's return to the U.S.

"Today, three American citizens and one American green-card holder who were unjustly imprisoned in Russia are finally coming home: Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza," Biden said in a statement.

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Kurmasheva, 47, is a Russian-American journalist who was detained in October 2023 after Russian officials accused her of being a "foreign agent." Kara-Murza, 42, who is also a journalist, was arrested in April 2022 for speaking out against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"The deal that secured their freedom was a feat of diplomacy," Biden continued in his statement. "All told, we’ve negotiated the release of 16 people from Russia — including five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country. Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over."

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