SAN DIEGO — On Dec. 8, 2022, WNBA star Brittney Griner was released after 10 months in Russian captivity, exchanged for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. From the time she was arrested Feb. 17 that year for bringing vape cartridges of cannabis into Russia, until she shook hands with Bout on a tarmac in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, she knew little of the geopolitical maneuverings to get her out, or the extent of what her wife, Cherelle, and family were going through in the United States.
Griner never denied bringing the cartridges with her but said she had packed them accidentally. After she was arrested, it quickly became clear that, while she was technically guilty, she was not going to be treated like a criminal defendant, she was going to be a hostage of Vladimir Putin’s government — as former U.S. marine Paul Whelan had been for three years at that point.
Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian labor camp but eventually was traded for Bout, while Whelan was left behind. She soon found out how…
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