Brittney Griner says US government should have imprisoned Marine Paul Whelan in Russian arms deal Viktor Bout in teaser for ABC interview set to air tomorrow
- Griner wishes she wasn’t the only person to return to the United States
- She was shocked to learn the deal didn’t also include Paul Whelan.
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Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner says she hoped she wouldn’t be the only American to be released from a Russian prison in 2022.
Griner was arrested in February 2022 and released in December as part of a prisoner exchange with the Russians.
In a preview of an interview Griner had with Robin Roberts on ABC’s 20/20, the WNBA star says she hoped Paul Whelan was on the plane with her.
Whelan has been detained in Russia since 2018 on espionage charges and was sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020.
“When I kept going and didn’t see him, I was like, okay, maybe I’m early. Maybe he’s next. Maybe they’ll bring him next.
Brittney Griner says she wishes Paul Whelan would join her on the flight back to the US
Griner thinks the trade to bring her back should have also included Whelan
“And when they closed the door, I was like, ‘Are you seriously not going to let this man come home now?’
Griner was traded for Viktor Bout, an arms dealer nicknamed “the Merchant of Death.”
She says the U.S. government should have tried harder to try to bring Whelan and herself back home.
“If it was up to me to decide this job, I would have gone and picked up Paul and brought him home,” Griner says.
“But any time we can bring an American home, it’s a win for Americans. No one should be left behind.
