WNBA star Brittney Griner was released from a Russian prison Thursday as part of an exchange for notorious international arms dealer Viktor Bout, almost 10 months after she was arrested on drug charges at a Moscow airport. Photo: Zuma Press

“She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home,” President Biden said in remarks from the White House, where he was joined by Griner’s wife, Cherelle. The two spoke with the Phoenix Mercury center over the phone, according to senior White House officials.

“She’s on her way home, after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances,” Biden said. “Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones and she should have been there all along. This is a day we’ve worked toward for a long time. We never stopped pushing for her release.”

The swap comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and after months of negotiations between the Kremlin and White House.

Biden signed off on the trade, which took place in the United Arab Emirates, and agreed to release the Russian felon nicknamed “the Merchant of Death.” 

In a joint statement, the Saudi and UAE ministries of foreign affairs said notorious Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the UAE’s president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, brokered the deal.

The Saudi-Emirati statement said, “The success of the mediation efforts was a reflection of the mutual and solid friendship between their two countries and the United States of America and the Russian Federation.”

Biden made no mention of the Saudi role in his White House remarks, but did single out the UAE for gratitude “for helping us facilitate Brittney’s return, because that’s where she landed.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also downplayed the role of the autocratic Arab allies during her regular briefing Thursday and didn’t elaborate on the supposed role of bin Salman, who the US intelligence community says ordered the 2018 attack that killed Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

 “The only country that actually negotiated this deal was the United States and Russia,” Jean-Pierre said.

Saudi Arabia in October sentenced US citizen Saad Almadi, 72, to 16 years in prison for tweets mildly critical of the crown prince, according to his family. Almadi’s son Ibrahim Almadi said Biden “sold my father for oil” by patching up relations with the killer crown prince without securing his dad’s release — as Biden sought to lower gas prices ahead of the midterm elections.

Bout was convicted in 2011 of conspiring to kill Americans, among other charges, by supplying weapons to the FARC narco-terror group based in Colombia. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

When asked why the White House would trade an international arms dealer and drug lord for a basketball player, a US official insisted “nothing can change the fact that Bout spent over 12 years behind bars.”

“There’s nothing to remove the stigma of a guilty conviction in the US, where I would emphasize, he received due process of law, access to counsel and a whole host of other rights and protections that Brittney was appallingly denied in the sham proceedings she faced in Russia,” the official said.

The deal also leaves behind other Americans, including Paul Whelan, who has been held in Russia for nearly four years on trumped-up espionage charges, and Marc Fogel, who like Griner was arrested with a small amount of marijuana in his luggage.

The deal also leaves behind another American, Paul Whelan, who has been held in Russia for nearly four years on trumped-up espionage charges.

On Thursday, Biden insisted the swap “was not a choice of which American to bring home.” 

“We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan. We will keep negotiating in good faith for Paul’s release,” he added.

The Biden administration initially asked for the release of both Griner and Whelan, only for Russia to insist on a one-for-one deal.

A US official said Thursday that Washington faced “a choice between bringing home one particular American, Brittney Griner, or bringing home none.”

In a statement, Whelan’s brother David said he was “so glad” for Griner’s release, but admitted the swap was “a public disappointment for us[, and] a catastrophe for Paul.”

“The Biden administration made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen,” he said. 

Griner, 32, was detained Feb. 17 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport after Russian authorities found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her suitcase.

Griner, who insisted she packed the cannabis oil inadvertently, pleaded guilty to drug charges and was sentenced to nine years in a forced labor camp in Mordovia.

The Houston native will first be flown to a medical facility in San Antonio, Texas, to receive treatment, NBC News reported, citing a senior administration official. Her wife will meet her there.