Highlights: Brittney Griner released from Russian prison, Paul Whelan reacts

Brittney Griner likely entered a system of isolation, grueling labor and psychological torment when she was transferred to a penal colony, the successor to the infamous Russian gulag, former prisoners and advocates said prior to her release in a prisoner swap Thursday. 

Griner was transferred to a penal colony more than 200 miles east of Moscow last month, to begin a nine-year sentence handed down by a Moscow court in October.

She was free Thursday after a trade for arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Human rights violations are a regular feature of many of the camps, according to the U.S. State Department, human rights groups and others who have maintained regular contact with prisoners in Russia. That the WNBA star is a gay Black woman could have added unknown variables to a penal system that is known to be remote and harrowing. 

“Conditions in prisons and detention centers varied but were often harsh and life threatening,” a 2021 State Department report on Russian human rights abuses said. “Overcrowding, abuse by guards and inmates, limited access to health care, food shortages, and inadequate sanitation were common in prisons, penal colonies, and other detention facilities.”

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The exchange of WNBA star Brittney Griner and arms dealer Viktor Bout was a rare moment of successful diplomacy between Moscow and Washington as relations between the two countries deteriorate over the war in Ukraine.

For many, the trade will evoke memories of Soviet-era spy swaps — a more positive reminder of that era than the nuclear standoff that President Joe Biden recently said left the world facing its most dangerous moment since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Analysts said the fact that the Biden administration and the Kremlin were still able to carry out such talks was a notably positive sign as Russia and the West enter what many see as a new Cold War.

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Some prominent lawmakers expressed concern about the prisoner swap Biden approved to secure Griner's release.

"The Russians and other regimes that take American citizens hostage cannot pretend that there is equivalence between the Brittney Griner’s of the world and people like Viktor Bout, the so-called ‘Merchant of Death,'" said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez, D-N.J., in a statement.

"Nothing could be further from the truth, and we cannot ignore that releasing Bout back into the world is a deeply disturbing decision," Menendez continued. "We must stop inviting dictatorial and rogue regimes to use Americans overseas as bargaining chips, and we must try [to] do better at encouraging American citizens against traveling to places like Russia where they are primary targets for this type of unlawful detention."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., signaled this could set a dangerous precedent in future situations. While he refused to blame the administration for the decision to bring Griner home, he told reporters he worried about Bout's release because it could encourage other foreign adversaries to kidnap Americans abroad.

"It’s easy to throw rocks at people. But you know, when your nickname is the 'merchant of death,' you probably should not be released unless you have to be, but what I worry about [is], this sets in motion, you know, just grab an American," he said. "You know, that’s that’s the problem with these things, but let’s just celebrate her coming home. Let’s redouble our efforts to get Paul home and not put ourselves in these positions anymore."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly dismissed claims that Saudi Arabia was involved with meditating Griner's release.

"So as I've said before, this negotiation was between the U.S. government and Russia and that's how we were able to secure Brittney's release, and I don't have anything further to share on that," Jean-Pierre said at the daily press briefing.

Asked again if the U.S. extends its gratitude toward the Saudi government, Jean-Pierre said, "Again the only countries that negotiated this deal were the United States and Russia and there was no mediation involved. We are grateful for the UAE — as the president mentioned, as I am mentioning now — for facilitating the use of their territory for the exchange to take place."

Jean Pierre added that the U.S. is grateful to other countries like Saudi Arabia for raising the issue of wrongfully detained Americans with the Russian government.

The Emirati government issued a joint statement with the Saudi government Thursday in which they appeared to take credit for Griner's release. The statement said that "the success of the mediation efforts is a reflection of the joint and close friendship between their two countries, the United States of America, and the Russian Federation, and the important role played by the leaderships of the two brotherly countries in promoting dialogue between all parties."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., joined other Republican lawmakers lashing out at President Joe Biden in response to Griner’s release.

“The President of the United States traded Russian terrorist arms dealer, Viktor Bout, left a U.S. Marine in Russian jail, and brought home a professional basketball player,” Greene tweeted Thursday.

“How many people will Viktor Bout now kill bc Biden set him free?” she continued.

Greene has filed multiple articles of impeachment against Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland in the past two years. She was stripped of her assignments last year after a series of incendiary remarks. With Republicans taking control of the House next month, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told CNN that he would reinstate the far-right lawmaker’s committee assignments if he becomes speaker.

During a background briefing, senior administration officials said Russians “made clear through multiple engagements” that the release of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout was the “only route” to securing Brittney Griner’s release.

“Nothing can change the fact that Bout has spent over 12 years behind bars and U.S. custody, paying a price for his crimes,” officials said. "In the last 48 hours, as this has all come together, Brittany was moved from the penal colony where she was being held to Moscow.”

Officials said that they believe that have “every reason to believe the channel” to continue negotiations for Paul Whelan’s release will “remain open" and that Russians know how “unacceptable” the U.S. finds his detention.

WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and the NBA’s Phoenix Suns celebrated news of Brittney Griner’s release.

“Miraculously, mercifully, the count of days detained has ended at 294, and our friend, our sister is headed back home where she belongs,” they said in a joint statement Thursday. “The emotions for our organization, just like for our fans and so many across the world, are those of joyous celebration, deep gratitude, grief for the time lost, and sincere hope for all families still awaiting the return of a loved one.”

The teams went on to praise the WNBA All-Star for her strength and “unwavering belief” over the past 10 months, and ended their post with a celebratory message: “We no longer have to Bring BG Home — she’s on her way."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Brittney Griner’s release was “not a choice of which American to bring home.”

“The choice was one or none. I wholeheartedly wish that we could have brought home Paul home today on the same plane as Brittney,” Blinken said, referring to Paul Whelan, a former Marine who remains imprisoned in Russia on suspicion of spying.

Blinken said he wishes that Griner and Whelan were brought home upon the release of American Trevor Reed in April, who spent nearly three years in a Russian jail and was freed in a prisoner exchange.

“But we will stay at it,” Blinken said, reiterating President Joe Biden’s remarks earlier Thursday that negotiations would continue until Whelan is free.