WNBA star Brittney Griner has returned to Texas, where she was born and raised, ten months after departing for Russia to play basketball.
Griner, who was imprisoned in February for possessing cannabis oil at a Moscow airport, was on Thursday swapped for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
She was transported by air to San Antonio, where she will get medical attention.
John Kirby from the White House said on MSNBC on Friday that Griner is “in good spirits” and “in good health.”
On Thursday, Griner’s return to his home country was initially revealed by President Joe Biden. She was anticipating meeting up with her wife, Cherelle Griner, who was at Mr. Biden’s announcement at the White House.
“Brittney has had to endure an unimaginable situation and we’re thrilled that she is on her way home to her family and friends,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement about her return.
American basketball star Brittney Griner gets out of a plane after landing at the JBSA-Kelly Field Annex runway on December 9, 2022 in San Antonio
Griner was arrested in February – just days before Russia invaded Ukraine.
She is one of the best-known sportswomen in America. During the US basketball season the double Olympic champion was a star centre for Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA.
Her reason for flying to Moscow was to play in Russia during the off-season in the US. During her trial in Russia, she said the cannabis oil found in her bag had been an “honest mistake”.
The Biden administration proposed a prisoner exchange in July, aware that Moscow had long sought the release of Bout, a convicted arms trafficker known as the Merchant of Death. He has been held in an American prison for 12 years.
Footage on Russian state media showed them crossing on the tarmac with their respective teams. In the video, apparently provided by Russian security services, Bout was warmly greeted by two Russian officials as Griner, who is 6ft 9in (206cm), looks on. Part of the swap was then edited out, before showing the two parties going their separate ways.
“The Russian citizen has been returned to his homeland,” the Moscow foreign ministry said in a statement.
Live television in Russia showed Bout arriving in Moscow. Pictures showed him hugging his mother and wife at the airport tarmac.
“I made it. That’s the main thing,” he told reporters at the airport.
“In the middle of the night they simply woke me up and said ‘Get your things together,'” he added.
Griner, who turned 32 in October, will be welcomed in Houston with a light show, the city’s Mayor Sylvester Turner said.
In a tweet, the US special envoy for hostage affairs, Roger D Carstens, welcomed Griner home. “So happy to have Brittney back on US soil,” he said.
It is unclear how long she will remain in San Antonio before travelling to Houston, which is around 200 miles (320km) to the east.
On Friday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Griner was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio where she was offered “a range of support options”.
She declined to speculate on how long Griner would be at the facility. “They’ll take as much time as they need,” she said.
It is thought she will join the Department of Defense programme known as Pisa (Post Isolation Support Activities), which is reportedly designed to help former detainees adapt back to normal life.
On Thursday, state department spokesman Ned Price said the government would speak to Griner about what she needs.
“She may seek the assistance that the US is going to provide, and we are going to make all of that available to her,” he told MSNBC.
Republicans from several parties criticized the White House for approving the deal.
Former President Donald Trump tweeted on his Truth Social website, “What a’stupid’ and unpatriotic humiliation for the USA!!!”
“This is a gift to Vladimir Putin that puts the lives of Americans at jeopardy.”
Additionally, prominent Trump critic and Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger said on Twitter that the Biden administration had displayed “weakness” by approving Bout’s release.
