SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Brittney Griner is back on US soil.
The WNBA star landed in San Antonio’s Kelly Field Air Force Base around 5:40 a.m. EST following her release to US officials in a prisoner swap for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout within the United Arab Emirates.
Griner and three other people were seen getting off the Gulfstream G550 corporate jet, which landed at Kelly Field after a flight from the United Arab Emirates via Manchester in the UK.
The athlete was wearing basketball shoes, leggings and a hat as she emerged from the plane.
After arriving in her home state, Griner, who spent 10 months in a Russian women’s prison, was expected to undergo an in depth physical and mental medical evaluation at Brooke Army Medical Center, KENS5 reported.
Dr. Ralph Riviello, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at UT Health San Antonio, told the news outlet that doctors will search for anemia, electrolyte imbalances and infections she could also be affected by. Medical professionals can even discover any injuries she could have sustained while she was incarcerated.
Inside just a few days, Dr. Riviello said a “multi-disciplinary team” will likely conduct a deeper assessment of Griner’s experience locked up abroad.
“(They might seek) more details about what happened to them during their incarceration and what they could have endured. Was there any physical violence? Was there any torture? Was there psychological torture or manipulation?” he told the outlet.
State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said that the US is prepared to offer Griner whatever she needs, if she requests it.
“She may seek the help that the US goes to offer, and we’re going to make all of that available to her. How long she takes advantage of that assistance, that may be a query for Brittney Griner, it’s a matter for Cherelle. Nevertheless it goes to be an ongoing conversation we’ve got with them,” Price said on MSNBC
The 32-year-old Phoenix Mercury center was detained at a Moscow airport in February for carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is banned in Russia.
She was arrested only one week before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, resulting in speculation she was kept as a pawn to make use of as leverage against the US.
Griner, who claimed she had by chance packed the cannabis oil in her luggage, pleaded guilty to drug charges and was sentenced to nine years in a forced labor camp in Mordovia.
Photos released by Russian News Agency TASS, revealed the tiny cot the 6-foot-9, eight-time all star was forced to sleep in for months at Women’s Penal Colony No 2 in Mordovia, Russia while US officials scrambled to barter her return home.
Griner may be seen wearing green prisoner clothes in her shortly cropped her — making her hardly recognizable beside her towering frame. Other photos show the dreary meals she was forced to eat and the basketball player going to work.
Following her medical evaluation Griner will return to her 3,000-square-foot property in Arizona, where she’s going to have loads of time and space to stretch out.
Critics blasted the federal government’s decision to swap Griner for Bout — a world arms dealer also generally known as the “Angel of Death.”
Bout was convicted in 2011 for conspiring to kill Americans, amongst other charges, by supplying weapons to the FARC narco-terror group based in Colombia. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Omitted of the deal were Paul Whelan — an ex-marine who has been held in Russia for nearly 4 years on espionage charges. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the US tried to barter for Whelan, however the Russians wouldn’t budge.
Whelan’s family supported the deal to bring Griner home, calling it “the precise decision” fairly than wait for one more opportunity that will never come.
Marc Fogel, who like Griner was arrested with a small amount of marijuana in his luggage, also stays incarcerated in Russia serving a 14-year sentence.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Brittney Griner is back on US soil.
The WNBA star landed in San Antonio’s Kelly Field Air Force Base around 5:40 a.m. EST following her release to US officials in a prisoner swap for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout within the United Arab Emirates.
Griner and three other people were seen getting off the Gulfstream G550 corporate jet, which landed at Kelly Field after a flight from the United Arab Emirates via Manchester in the UK.
The athlete was wearing basketball shoes, leggings and a hat as she emerged from the plane.
After arriving in her home state, Griner, who spent 10 months in a Russian women’s prison, was expected to undergo an in depth physical and mental medical evaluation at Brooke Army Medical Center, KENS5 reported.
Dr. Ralph Riviello, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at UT Health San Antonio, told the news outlet that doctors will search for anemia, electrolyte imbalances and infections she could also be affected by. Medical professionals can even discover any injuries she could have sustained while she was incarcerated.
Inside just a few days, Dr. Riviello said a “multi-disciplinary team” will likely conduct a deeper assessment of Griner’s experience locked up abroad.
“(They might seek) more details about what happened to them during their incarceration and what they could have endured. Was there any physical violence? Was there any torture? Was there psychological torture or manipulation?” he told the outlet.
State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said that the US is prepared to offer Griner whatever she needs, if she requests it.
“She may seek the help that the US goes to offer, and we’re going to make all of that available to her. How long she takes advantage of that assistance, that may be a query for Brittney Griner, it’s a matter for Cherelle. Nevertheless it goes to be an ongoing conversation we’ve got with them,” Price said on MSNBC
The 32-year-old Phoenix Mercury center was detained at a Moscow airport in February for carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is banned in Russia.
She was arrested only one week before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, resulting in speculation she was kept as a pawn to make use of as leverage against the US.
Griner, who claimed she had by chance packed the cannabis oil in her luggage, pleaded guilty to drug charges and was sentenced to nine years in a forced labor camp in Mordovia.
Photos released by Russian News Agency TASS, revealed the tiny cot the 6-foot-9, eight-time all star was forced to sleep in for months at Women’s Penal Colony No 2 in Mordovia, Russia while US officials scrambled to barter her return home.
Griner may be seen wearing green prisoner clothes in her shortly cropped her — making her hardly recognizable beside her towering frame. Other photos show the dreary meals she was forced to eat and the basketball player going to work.
Following her medical evaluation Griner will return to her 3,000-square-foot property in Arizona, where she’s going to have loads of time and space to stretch out.
Critics blasted the federal government’s decision to swap Griner for Bout — a world arms dealer also generally known as the “Angel of Death.”
Bout was convicted in 2011 for conspiring to kill Americans, amongst other charges, by supplying weapons to the FARC narco-terror group based in Colombia. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Omitted of the deal were Paul Whelan — an ex-marine who has been held in Russia for nearly 4 years on espionage charges. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the US tried to barter for Whelan, however the Russians wouldn’t budge.
Whelan’s family supported the deal to bring Griner home, calling it “the precise decision” fairly than wait for one more opportunity that will never come.
Marc Fogel, who like Griner was arrested with a small amount of marijuana in his luggage, also stays incarcerated in Russia serving a 14-year sentence.
