US, Russia free prisoners in swap deal

KABUL (Pajhwok): US and Russian have freed prisoners in a swap deal resulted by an eight months of saga of high diplomacy and dashed hopes, according to a media report.

American basketball star Brittney Griner headed home Thursday night, freed from Russian prison in exchange for the US releasing notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

But the US failed to win freedom for another American, Paul Whelan, jailed in Russia for nearly four years.

The deal, the second in eight months amid tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, secured the release of the most prominent American detained abroad and achieved a top goal for President Joe Biden. Yet it carried what US officials conceded was a heavy price.

“She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home,” Biden said from the White House, where he was accompanied by Griner’s wife, Cherelle, and administration officials.

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