New footage released Thursday by Russian state television showed Brittney Griner’s life in a Russian penal colony before she was released to be bartered for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
The WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist is hired to eat and eat with another prisoner.
The two meter tall basketball player makes a very narrow, very short bed.
The footage also showed Griner, with her short hair in a white wrap, doing some sort of work in the penal colony, with this footage being dated March 28, 2008.
Conditions in the Russian penal colonies have been described as appalling, with prisoners being overworked and kept in “slave-like conditions”.
Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, said it was like “a friendly concentration camp” after he was held in a Russian penal colony about 50 miles from Moscow. He also said the omnipresent cameras and police force reminded him of George Orwell’s 1984 novel.
Last month Navalny said he was placed in indefinite solitary confinement.
Bout was being held at US Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois and had five years left.
The footage showed him laughing and happily flying home.
Russian state television released footage of Brittney Griner’s life in a Russian penal colony. Here they reveal that they fed the basketball star during her incarceration
Brittney Griner dines with another inmate while incarcerated in a Russian penal colony
Brittney Griner is shown making a very narrow and short bed for her six foot nine foot frame
Footage from Russian state television showed images of Brittney Griner’s bed
Brittney Griner is also shown at work while incarcerated in a Russian penal colony
The footage was dated Nov. 28, a day before footage released Thursday showed their signing papers. It was unclear at the time if she knew she was being released
Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout was being held in US prison in Marion, Illinois, and had five years left to serve
Inside the US prison in Marion, Illinois, where Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout was serving his sentence before being traded for Brittney Griner
Footage released Thursday showed Griner smiling as she was told she was going home.
Griner is shown with her head shaved, signing papers in the Russian gulag where she has been held since August, and then coming out of prison with bags.
The date on the videos taken into custody is November 29th.
Then, in a picture taken today, she is seen on a plane where she is told she will be returning to the United States. When asked how her mood was, she said, “Happy.”
While Griner – who was convicted of possessing two cartridges of cannabis oil while entering Russia in February – was a win, the deal has been criticized as an embarrassing “surrender” for the Biden administration.
Republican critics see it as a gift to Putin and his war effort in Ukraine. They view it as a damning indictment of Biden’s diplomatic track record and are appalled at Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the negotiations.
The White House today denied Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved but also thanked the UAE for “using their territory” in what appeared to be a contradictory explanation.
Brittney Griner seen on a plane where she is told she will be returning to the US. When asked about her mood, she said: “Happy”
Merchant of Death Viktor Bout is shown in his private jet after being released from US custody
Griner above, smiling during an interaction with officers. It’s unclear when she was told she was going home
Griner is shown signing papers on November 29 — it’s unclear if she knew at the time that she was going home
Footage shows Bout getting off a jet this morning and walking past Griner
Brittney Griner shakes the hand of a United Arab Emirates official on the tarmac in Abu Dhabi today when she was swapped for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in a deal brokered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Merchant of Death Bout appeared smiling. Griner is shown at left
War criminal Bout smiled as he walked toward the jet that was waiting for him
Griner has not commented publicly, but her agents say they “relieved.”
They praised Biden and said they were determined to get Paul Whelan — and other Americans jailed abroad — out.
“Today we breathe a sigh of relief. Brittney Griner is on her way home.
“We are overwhelmed with gratitude to President Biden, Vice President Harris and the entire Biden-Harris administration,” they said.
Griner was playing for a Russian team when she was arrested. It was an off-season from the WNBA and she would be making significantly more in Russia than she would in the US.
She was caught with two cartridges of cannabis oil in a vaporizer – violating Russia’s strict drug laws – and jailed.
After a short trial in a Russian court in the summer, she was sentenced to nine years in prison.
The harsh verdict sent Griner’s fans and celebrity friends into an uproar, and Biden and Harris immediately vowed to bring them home.
The suggestion of a trade for Bout was quickly made.
But GOP critics were quick to question why Griner — who broke the law and admits it — should be released.
The loudest critics questioned why Griner should be replaced when Paul Whelan, who has been in prison for four years, hasn’t. Biden insists he’s still trying to get Whelan out.
The deal was negotiated with Vladimir Putin, who is responsible for the genocide in Ukraine – and with the help of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, just 48 hours after the US dropped a lawsuit alleging him for the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi was blamed.
Paul Whelan (shown in 2019) said he was “disappointed” not to have been included in the swap today. He has served four years in Russian prison for espionage and spying, which the Biden administration says is unlawful
Biden celebrates with Griner’s wife Cherelle in the Oval Office after securing the WNBA star’s release from a Russian penal colony
Left to right: Biden, Cherelle, Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken
President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the White House Thursday morning to discuss the release of Brittney Griner and the conditions of Americans still detained abroad
The news was met with anger by supporters of former Marine Paul Whelan, who remains in Russian prison.
Republicans condemned it as “ruthless” and said the White House was focusing on “celebrities” rather than veterans arrested by Putin.
Whelan said from prison he was “very disappointed” that the Biden administration did not do more to secure his release alongside Griner and said he was ready to “go home.”
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy called it “ruthless” to leave Whelan behind.
“Merchant of Death – that’s the nickname of the prisoner Biden who was returned to Putin.
He was convicted of conspiracy to murder American law enforcement agencies.
“This is a gift to Vladimir Putin and endangers American lives. Leaving Paul Whelan behind for this is ruthless.’
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican and former Air Force pilot, also complained.
“So a basketball star gets released, we can celebrate, but what about Paul Whelan?
“An American unjustly imprisoned for years,” Kinzinger tweeted.
“Maybe not high profile, but he’s innocent. It’s a dangerous path,” the anti-Trump Republican added.
Former ambassador John Bolton told CNN the deal was more of a “duty” than a “swap.”
“Obviously there is a lot of very understandable human emotion here to release Griner, but this is a very grave mistake by the Biden administration, but this is a very grave mistake by the Biden administration.
“It’s not a deal. This is not a swap. This is a surrender. And terrorists and rogue nations around the world will take notice, and it puts other Americans at risk in the future who can be grabbed and used as bargaining chips by people who don’t have the same morals and scruples as we do,” he said .
Griner will be shown this August after being found guilty