"She will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones and she should have been there all along.".
Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was arrested for alleged spying in 2018, during a hearing in Moscow on Aug. 23, 2019.
Brittney Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, was in the Oval Office with Biden and the two were able to speak with her by phone, according to a senior administration official.
Cherelle Griner, speaking after Biden, expressed her "sincere gratitude" to Biden and several other officials she mentioned by name for their work.
Griner will be flown to a medical facility in San Antonio where she will receive care, a senior administration official said.
The entrance to the Russian penal colony IK-2 on Nov. 19, 2022, where Griner began serving her sentence.
Griner’s release is the second publicly known U.S. prisoner swap with Russia since the war in Ukraine started. »