By Bird Rudd Olivia (Bird) Rudd
Russian officials released Britteny Griner, a W.N.B.A player for the Phoenix Mercury, in December of 2022 after her nearly 10 month long imprisonment. The prisoner swap involved the women’s basketball star and Viktor Bout, a Russian arms merchant commonly known as the “Merchant of Death.” Bout had been convicted of conspiring to kill Americans in 2011 and was serving in his 14th year of a 25-year long sentence.
Griner was detained in Russia based on charges regarding her possession of illegal drugs; she was holding less than a gram of cannabis oil at the time of arrest and had claimed she did so “inadvertently.” Griner received close to a maximum sentence for her crime and facedover nine years in prison if convicted.
The future looked bleak for Griner as Russia has some of the strictest drug laws in the world and punishments for being caught carrying illegal substances and/or paraphernalia are severe. Additionally, Russia does not handle convicts lightly; a whopping 99 percent of individuals are convicted in Russia if they go to trial. Also, while life in a Russian prison is shrouded with mystery, what is known paints a horrifying picture of the environment detainees must endure. Former Russian prisoner Maria Alyokhina served two years in prison after she staged a protest against President Vladimir V. Putin. She spoke out about her experience, relaying that Russian prisoners were handled like “scum.”
Griner directly reached out to President Biden to plead for his help in working toward her release from detainment. She crafted a handwritten note from her jail cell, writing, “[a]s I sit here in a Russian prison alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever.”
Before Griner’s letter, President Biden had been actively conferring with Russian officials over the release of both Griner and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine. Whelan had been convicted of espionage in Russia in 2018 after accusations of spying, a claim that U.S. authorities say is false. The American team was unable to secure a prisoner exchange involving both Griner and Whelan as Russian officials believed that giving up both American prisoners for Bout would be conceding too much to their foe. Instead, President Biden was forced to settle for a deal that would ensure at least one American would be making their way back to the United States.
Initially, many were upset about this deal as they believed that the US government had chosen Griner over Whelan. An American official conveyed to those angry about the hostage exchange that, “This was not a situation where we had a choice of which American to bring home…it was a choice between bringing home one particular American — Brittney Griner — or bringing home none.”
Sadly, the only exchange that may have involved both Griner and Whelan also included Vadim Krasikov. Krasikov is serving a life sentence in a German prison after assassinating a Chechan fighter in Berlin in 2019. German officials refused to release a dangerous murderer who had received a Russian directive to commit his crime even after Americans offered to provide an incentive to Germany to engage in the three-way deal. This banished the hopes of bringing home both American prisoners.
President Biden made the choice to free an American trapped in a horrid Russian prison who will surely suffer life-long trauma from her experiences there. This helped demonstrate to other countries that America protects its own and has no tolerance for another country using American citizens as pawns in their games, looking to gain leverage over the U.S. This was an extremely important message to send since relations between Russia and the United States are tense due to the immoral actions Russia has taken against Ukraine recently.
Some Americans at home were frustrated with the outcome of the trade. Many were angry that Whelan faces an unknown future as he sits in a ruthless Russian prison. Some also showed vexation over President Biden’s actions to free an individual convicted of drug possession, especially when her freedom seems to come at the expense of Whelan’s. This may also be related to a phenomenon amongst the American public where the majority of society is less supportive of people they feel may have done something morally wrong. Some Americans are focused on the charges of drug possession against Griner and therefore, lack significant support for government efforts to bring her home. Others claim that this irritation is rooted in the fact that Griner is a tattooed black woman, a celebrity, and a married lesbian. Overall, the contention over Griner’s release is mostly based on partisan bickering and disagreement, an extension of the current state of polarization in our country.
As of December, Brittany Griner has been brought home safely and is currently back with her wife. The fight to bring Whelan home is ongoing and President Biden’s team is still working toward his release. Americans no doubt will continue to push for Whelan’s release, and this is a task of utmost priority at the moment. It is unfortunate, however, that one American woman has seen resentment thrown her way after simply reclaiming her right to freedom.
References
Bensinger, Ken, and Jonathon Weisman. “Blowback Over Griner’s Release Exposes Depth of America’s Divisions.” The New York Times, 9 Dec. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/us/politics/griner-blowback.html?searchResultPosition=2. Accessed 24 Feb. 2023.
Cash, Meredith, and Barnaby Lane. “The scientific theory of why some Americans didn’t want Brittney Griner to come home from a Russian prison.” Insider, 8 Dec. 2022, www.insider.com/brittney-griner-russia-prison-release-pushback-deservingness-heuristic-2022-8. Accessed 24 Feb. 2023.
Holt L, Mitchell A. WNBA star brittany griner’s handwritten plea to president biden while she’s on trial for drug charges in russia. NBC Nightly News. 2022. https://www.proquest.com/other-sources/wnba-star-brittany-griners-handwritten-plea/docview/2685220068/se-2.
Hopkins, Valerie, and Misha Friedman. “Leader of Pussy Riot Band Escapes Russia, with Help from Friends.” The New York Times, 10 May 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/05/10/world/europe/pussy-riot-russia-escape.html. Accessed 24 Feb. 2023.
Ordonez, Franco, and Charles Maynes. “WNBA star Brittney Griner has been freed from a Russian prison.” NPR, 8 Dec. 2022, www.npr.org/2022/12/08/1141503355/brittney-griner-freed. Accessed 24 Feb. 2023.
Plaschke, Bill. “Column: An American Is Coming Home. So Why Are so Many Americans Upset Brittney Griner Is Free?” Los Angeles Times, 8 Dec. 2022, www.latimes.com/sports/story/2022-12-08/brittney-griner-released-russian-prison-reaction. Accessed 24 Feb. 2023.
Schnell, Lindsay. “Here’s what life in a Russian penal colony could have been like for Brittney Griner.” USA Today, 21 Dec. 2022, www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2022/12/21/brittney-griner-time-russian-penal-colony-conditions-prison/10891684002/. Accessed 24 Feb. 2023.
Shear, Michael, and Peter Baker. “Inside the Prisoner Swap That Freed Brittney Griner.” The New York Times, 9 Dec. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/us/politics/brittney-griner-prisoner-swap.html?searchResultPosition=2. Accessed 24 Feb. 2023.