WNBA star Brittney Griner and accused US agent Paul Whelan will be returned to the United States after the Biden Administration proposed to swap them for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer, CNN reports.
The 25-year-old Griner was accused by the Russian government of drug trafficking after she was found with less than a gram of a cannabis concentrate. Whelan, a 52-year-old former Marine, was sentenced to 16 years in a Russian jail after being convicted of espionage after being found with a thumb drive listing Russian intelligence assets; Whelan, who was in Moscow for the wedding of a Marine he had served with, denied receiving the device.
Bout had been arrested in Thailand in 2008 in a joint operation with US intelligence services. He had been serving a 25-year sentence after being found guilty of plotting to kill American citizens, delivering anti-aircraft missiles to a terrorist group, and material support of a terrorist group for aiding Colombian rebels in plans to attack US soldiers.