STORY: Brittney Griner on her way home. The US basketball player, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia, was released on Thursday in a prisoner swap with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Both arrived in Abu Dhabi on a private plane from Washington and Moscow respectively. The President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Sajed al-Nahjan, and the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said they mediated in the case. Bout was greeted by his family and reporters at Moscow Airport late Thursday evening. He said of his trip: “I made it, that’s the main thing.” He was not informed in advance about his release. Before his arrest in Bangkok in 2008, Bout was one of the most wanted men in the world. Because of his ability to circumvent arms embargoes, he has also been nicknamed the “dealer of death” and the “sanctions breaker”. In 2010 he was extradited to the USA and later sentenced to 25 years in prison. Brittney Griner, who played basketball for a Russian team in the US off-season, was arrested in Russia in February just before the start of the Ukraine war for drug possession and sentenced to incarceration in August. At trial she said she used cannabis oil to relieve chronic pain. She had a prescription for it in the USA, but the drug is banned in Russia. Despite all the joy at the release of the 32-year-old top athlete, some in the USA feel it is a bitter aftertaste that Griner and the US ex-Marine Paul Whelan could not be released in exchange for the arms dealer Bout. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said: “We couldn’t choose which Americans to bring home. It was one or none.” Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in prison in Russia in 2020 for alleged espionage. A crime that, according to the ex-soldier, never happened. The US government has promised to continue to work for Whelan’s release.