CNN is reporting that Brittney Griner has been released from Russian detention in a prisoner swap for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
The WNBA star – who had for years played in the off-season for a Russian women’s basketball team, had been detained since February when she was arrested on drug smuggling charges at an airport in the Moscow region
Bout, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death” is a former Soviet military officer serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States on charges of conspiring to kill Americans, acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles, and provide material support to a terrorist organization.
Moscow had slammed his sentencing in 2012 as “baseless and biased” and Bout has maintained he is innocent.