Prominent American basketball player Bizhini was arrested in Russia on drug charges and served her sentence in remote exile after her luggage was found in February this year with e-cigarette cartridges containing marijuana oil. On Thursday (8), the US government exchanged prisoners with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange for Bizhini’s return to the country.
After the US-Russia prisoner exchange at the Abu Dhabi International Airport in the UAE, US President Biden and Bizhini’s wife had a conversation with Bizhini at the White House, Biden said the other part had flown back and that all was safe. This is the highest-level prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia since the Cold War. Since July, US Secretary of State Blinken has proposed using Bout to exchange US citizens imprisoned in Russia. Bout was sentenced to 25 years in prison in the United States in 2011 on terrorism charges and has served 11 years so far.
In his speech, Biden said that the past few months have been hell for Bizhini and that he relies on his good mood and expresses his gratitude for his release. Washington’s prisoner swap with Russia has failed to secure the release of former US soldier Paul Whelan, who has been imprisoned in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges. Waylon expressed great disappointment at this, and even his family feared that Waylon would not win back his freedom in the next few years, but they still supported this prisoner exchange deal. Biden stressed that he will not give up on saving Waylon.
