On December 8, 2022, Russia and the United States conducted a controversial 1-for-1 prisoner exchange, trading Brittney Griner, an American basketball player, for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer. Griner, a WNBA champion, star, and Team USA Olympic athlete, had been convicted of smuggling and possession of cannabis in Russia in August 2022 and sentenced to nine years in prison. Bout had been arrested in Thailand in 2008 and transferred to the custody of the United States, where he was convicted of terrorism-related charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2012. The exchange took place at Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, following months of negotiations.
The possible release of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges in 2018, was also part of negotiations. Russia refused to release Whelan along with Griner as part of the prison exchange; U.S. President Joe Biden said that Russia was treating Whelan's case differently "for totally illegitimate reasons". The Russian position was that Whelan was an agent and so required an exchange of comparable value such as assassin Vadim Krasikov. Griner and Bout were just considered criminals and so were of lesser value in their view. Whelan would later be released by Russia through the massive 2024 Ankara prisoner exchange that would also release 25 other people from various nations.
Marc Fogel, another American detained in Russia for possessing 17 grams worth of marijuana, was also not included in the prisoner swap; Fogel would later be released on February 11, 2025 in exchange for cybercriminal Alexander Vinnik. However, Sarah Krivanek, an American detained for a domestic violence dispute, was deported from Russia on the same day as Griner's release.
Background on Bout In the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Bout became a notorious international arms dealer, selling Soviet-made weaponry in Africa (including Angola and Sierra Leone, as well as Liberia under Charles Taylor), in Asia (including to the Taliban), and in South America; his customers included warlords, rogue states, and insurgent groups in war zones.Factbox: Viktor Bout, the arms dealer Russia has swapped for Brittney Griner, Reuters (December 8, 2022).Adam Taylor & Claire Parker, Russia wanted Viktor Bout back, badly. The question is: Why?, Washington Post (December 8, 2022). A 2002 Interpol warrant was issued against Bout by Belgium for money laundering.Matthew Brunwasser, End of the Road for Notorious Arms Dealer?, PBS, NewsHour (March 24, 2008). After it was issued, and amid international pressure increasing, Bout fled to Moscow, where he lived in safety and was protected by Russian authorities.
U.S. criminal charges, arrest in Thailand, and extradition to U.S.
Bout was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand on March 6, 2008, after being the target of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sting operation, in which U.S. agents, claiming to represent the Colombian rebel group FARC, negotiated with Bout for the supply of 100 9K38 Igla surface-to-air missiles and armor-piercing rocket launchers to be airdropped by Bout to agreed landing spots in Colombia. The imposters invited Bout to Thailand to meet their leader."Revealed: trap that lured the merchant of death" The Observer, Sunday, March 9, 2008."Flying Anything to Anybody" , The Economist, December 18, 2008. U.S. prosecutors and law enforcement were aided by Andrew Smulian, a former South African intelligence agent and associate of Bout who acted as a go-between and became an informer against Bout.Benjamin Weiser and Colin Moynihan, Conduit to Arms Sting, a Star Witness Apologizes for His Crimes, New York Times (May 23, 2012).
After his arrest by Royal Thai Police in March 2008, based on an Interpol red notice requested by the U.S.,INTERPOL praises international co-operation behind arrest of suspected international arms dealer by Thai Police, Media release, INTERPOL, March 7, 2008. Retrieved April 18, 2015. Bout and the Russian government fought against Bout's extradition to the United States, but the Thai courts ultimately ruled (in 2010) that he could be extradited to face trial in U.S. federal court.Jim Heintz & Larry Neumeister, Reviled and revered Russian arms dealer is back in spotlight, Associated Press (July 14, 2022). On November 16, 2010, Bout was extradited from Thailand to the United States amid protests by the Russian government, who deemed it illegal.
U.S. prosecution and conviction Bout's arrest in Thailand in March 2008 was based on a U.S. Department of Justice criminal complaint filed by prosecutors in Manhattan federal court,International Arms Dealer Viktor Bout Convicted in New York of Terrorism Crimes, U.S. Department of Justice (November 2, 2011). which was unsealed the day after his arrest."International Arms Dealer Charged in U.S. with Conspiracy to Provide Surface-to-Air Missiles and other Weapons to a Foreign Terrorist Organization" . United States Department of Justice. In May 2008, Bout was indicted on four federal terrorism-related charges: conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals; conspiracy to kill U.S. officers and employees; conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles; and conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.U.S. Announces Indictment of International Arms Dealer for Conspiracy to Kill Americans and Related Terrorism Charges, U.S. Department of Justice (May 8, 2008). Additional charges against him were filed in February 2010."US files new charges against arms dealer Viktor Bout" . CNN.com, February 17, 2010. These included illegal purchase of aircraft, wire fraud, and money laundering."U.S. Announces New Indictment Against International Arms Dealer Viktor Bout and American Co-Conspirator for Money Laundering, Wire Fraud, and Conspiracy" . PDF, U.S. Indictment released February 17, 2010.
On November 2, 2011, after a three-week jury trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, a federal court in Manhattan, Bout was convicted on all charges. On April 5, 2012, Bout was sentenced to 25 years in prison, the minimum sentence for conspiring to sell weapons to a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist group."Russian Arms Trafficker Viktor Bout Gets 25 Years in US Prison" . Voice of America, April 5, 2012. US District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that the minimum sentence was appropriate because "there was no evidence that Bout would have committed the crimes for which he was convicted had it not been for the sting operation".
Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement denouncing Bout's sentence as "a political order". During the trial, Bout's lawyers implied that he was a political prisoner. Bout's wife Alla said shortly afterwards that the judge conducted the trial in a proper way. Bout claimed that if the same standards were applied to everyone, all American gun shop owners "who are sending arms and ending up killing Americans" would be in prison.
Sentencing and imprisonment In September 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld Bout's conviction. The court rejected Bout's contention that he had been the victim of a vindictive prosecution and that there was no legitimate law enforcement reason to prosecute him. In 2014, Bout hired the law firm of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to represent him, seeking a new trial based on claimed "newly discovered evidence"; the courts rejected Bout's claim, finding it meritless.United States v. Bout, No. 15-3592-cr (2d Cir. 2016).
Prior to the 2022 prisoner swap, Bout had been scheduled for release in August 2029.
Background on Griner
Brittney Griner is an American professional and Olympic basketball player. Beginning in 2014, she played basketball during the WNBA offseasons for Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg. On February 17, 2022, Griner was detained at Sheremetyevo International Airport after the Russian Federal Customs Service found she was carrying vaporizer cartridges containing less than a gram of hash oil; in Arizona she had been prescribed medicinal cannabis which is illegal in Russia. Some U.S. officials expressed concern that Russia was possibly using her as leverage in response to the international sanctions imposed against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in February of that year. Former Pentagon official Evelyn Farkas expressed concern that Griner could be used as a "high-profile hostage" by Russia. Houston, Texas, Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee called for Griner's release.
In an interview with CNN, California Democratic Congressman John Garamendi estimated that it would be "very difficult" to get Griner out of Russia. He stated that although there might be negotiations to have her released, they would be stymied by the fact that diplomatic relations between Russia and the United States were strained because of invasion of Ukraine. In March 2022, Russian state news agency TASS reported that a Moscow court had extended the period of Griner's detention while under investigation until May 19, with an official from the Russian Public Monitoring Commission stating that "the only objective problem has turned out to be the basketball player's height. The beds in the cell are clearly intended for a person of lesser height". On March 23, the United States Department of State stated that an American diplomatic official had been able to visit Griner in detention, reporting that she was "in good condition".
In early May 2022, the U.S. State Department stated that they had determined Griner was being "wrongfully detained", indicating a more aggressive approach towards securing her release. On May 13, CNN reported that the Russian court had extended her pre-trial detention to June 18, 2022. Griner's Russian attorney Alexander Boykov told the Associated Press he believed the relatively short extension of the detention indicated the case would come to trial soon. On May 15, it was reported that the United States and Russia would consider a prisoner swap, with Russia exchanging Griner for Bout, who had served 10 years of a 25-year federal prison sentence in the United States for illegal arms dealing. In May 2022, in Griner's first public interview since she had been detained, Griner's wife Cherelle spoke to Good Morning America and called Griner a "political pawn". Cherelle stated she had heard from Secretary of State Antony Blinken and said, "I was grateful for the call. You say she's top priority, but I wanna see it".
Russian prosecution and conviction
In a closed-door hearing on June 27, a court in Khimki scheduled Griner's trial to begin on July 1 and extended her detention by six months pending the outcome of her case, according to her attorney, Alexander Boykov. She was photographed by the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse arriving at the hearing. On the second day of her trial, July 7, Griner pled guilty and then said, "But there was no intent. I didn't want to break the law". Griner requested that she be allowed to give testimony to the court as soon as she had sufficient time to prepare.
Sentencing and imprisonment On August 4, the court found Griner guilty and sentenced her to nine years in prison, which would have made her release occur in 2031. They additionally fined her 1 million rubles (US$16,301). On November 17, Griner's lawyers said that she had been transferred to IK-2, a female penal colony in the town of Yavas in the region of Mordovia; previously she was held in an undisclosed location.
Discussion of Paul Whelan and Marc Fogel
Other individuals whose names were brought up in connection with a potential prisoner exchange included Paul Whelan and Marc Fogel.