In February of 2022, WNBA Superstar Brittney Griner was arrested by Russian Customs at Moscow airport shortly after local authorities discovered that she allegedly had vape cartridges full of cannabis oil in her luggage. The 31-year-old Center for the Phoenix Mercury has remained imprisoned ever since, where she faces up to 10 years behind bars. But over the course of the past five months, an outpouring of support from her wife, Cherelle Griner, and several high-profile celebrities such as LeBron James and Amy Schumer eventually helped land a campaign in support of her freedom squarely on the desk of the president of the United States, Joe Biden. It appears as though the collective pleas for help have prompted the 46th president and his administration to propose a trade for Brittney Griner that would send Russia an arms dealer named Viktor Bout (aka The Merchant of Death), nearly 10 years after he was captured by the United States back in 2012 and sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiring to kill Americans, providing material support to a terrorist organization acquiring and exporting anti-aircraft missiles. If this trade proposal is accepted by Russia, they would also have to return an American prisoner who they had previously apprehended for spying back in 2018 by the name of Paul Whelan (52). No deal has been made as of yet, but trade discussions are well underway.

“The presidents of Russia and the United States discussed the question of exchanging Russian and American citizens imprisoned or detained in these two countries some time ago,” said Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry. “They are instructed by the relevant agencies to launch talks on this subject. This is what the competent agencies are doing.”

The last time that the United States of America and Russia pulled off a trade of this magnitude was back in April, when Russia agreed to free former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed in exchange for a Russian pilot named Konstantin Yaroshenko.

For more on this story, click the link below.

Source: Yahoo! News