Joe Biden celebrated basketball star Brittney Griner’s release on Thursday, but was criticised for handing a notorious arms dealer to Russia in return and failing to free another imprisoned American.

Griner, 32, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and LGBTQ icon, was arrested in Moscow on drug charges just days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Customs officials at a Moscow airport said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage.

The WNBA star said she had permission from a US doctor to use medicinal cannabis for her injuries, but she was convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony in what the US called a “show trial”.

Read full article here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/12/08/brittney-griner-released-russia-prisoner-swap-viktor-bout/

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