OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
WNBA star Brittney Griner has broken her silence since arriving back in the United States after being traded for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
“It feels so good to be home! The last 10 months have been a battle at every turn. I dug deep to keep my faith and it was the love from so many of you that helped keep me going. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your help,” she said on Instagram.
“I am grateful to each person who advocated for me, especially my wife, Cherelle Griner, my family, Lindsay Kagawa Colas and Casey Wasserman and my whole team at Wasserman, Vince Kozar and the Phoenix Mercury, the players of the WNBA, and my entire WNBA family, Terri Jackson, and the WNBPA staff, my Russian legal team Maria Blagovolina and Alex Boykov, the leaders, activists, and grassroots organizations, Gov. Richardson and Mickey Bergman of the Richardson Center, the Bring Our Families Home Campaign, Roger Carstens and the SPEHA team, and of course, a special thank you to President Biden, Vice President Harris, Secretary Blinken and the entire Biden-Harris Administration.
“President Biden, you brought me home and I know you are committed to bringing Paul Whelan and all Americans home too. I will use my platform to do whatever I can to help you. I also encourage everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home. Every family deserves to be whole.
“As I transition home to enjoy the holidays with my family, I want to acknowledge and thank the entire PISA staff and medical team at the San Antonio Fort Sam Houston Base. I appreciate the time and care to make sure I was okay and equipped with the tools for this new journey.
“I also want to make one thing very clear: I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season, and in doing so, I look forward to being able to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in person soon. Love always, BG #42.
She was traded for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death,” who is now said to be back with extremist groups in Russia since getting back home, Reuters reported. After 14 years in prison he has joined the Kremlin-loyal ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party, an announcement from the leader of the group said.
“I want to thank Viktor Anatolievich (Bout) for the decision he has made and welcome him into the ranks of the best political party in today’s Russia,” its leader, Leonid Slutsky, said in a video on Telegram.
Despite its name, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) has since its founding in 1991 espoused a hardline, ultranationalist ideology, demanding Russia reconquer the countries of the former Soviet Union. Its founder and long-time leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky gained a reputation as a political showman for his outrageous stunts and eccentric behavior before his death in April. Though seen as a serious contender for power in the 1990s, the LDPR has since assumed a subordinate role in Russia’s political system, providing token opposition to the ruling United Russia bloc while backing the Kremlin on most issues.
Pentagon officials are concerned that the Russian arms dealer, known as the Merchant of Death, who was traded to get WNBA star Brittney Griner back to the United States, continues to be a “grave threat.”
“I think there is a concern that [he] would return to doing the same kind of work that he’s done in the past,” a senior Defense Department official said on the condition of anonymity to Politico. “Every Africanist who has been working on this for years and years probably will have a little piece of flutter of disappointment inside. If his network … were to come to fruition, then we would definitely share the challenges of what illicit weapons or illegal weapons could mean for their prosperity.”
Even New Jersey Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez said he had concerns about Bout being free.
“We cannot ignore that releasing Bout back into the world is a deeply disturbing decision,” he said. “We must stop inviting dictatorial and rogue regimes to use Americans overseas as bargaining chips, and we must try do better at encouraging American citizens against traveling to places like Russia where they are primary targets for this type of unlawful detention.”
Bout is particularly notorious for his role in the first and second Liberian civil wars, which killed 250,000 people and destroyed much of the country. Between 1989 and 2003, Bout sold arms to warring factions in the conflict, most notably to corrupt former President Charles Taylor, violating several United Nations arms embargoes.
In addition to Liberia and Afghanistan, Bout was also active in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Angola, Yemen, Somalia, and the former Yugoslavia. Bout was arrested on March 6, 2008, in Thailand in a sting operation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. If Bout were to return to his old work, the U.S. military would focus on relaying to allies in Africa that he does not have their best interests at heart, the senior DoD official said.
