Russia and US announce prisoner swap

Victor Bout's exchange with Griner took place at Abu Dhabi airport on December 8, Russian news agencies reported.

US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Griner has been released and was in US custody.

"She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home," Biden tweeted.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone with Griner from the Oval Office, a US official said, adding that the call included Griner's wife, Cherelle.

The White House released a photo of the telephone call.

Biden was set to make remarks later, the White House said.

Griner, 32, a star of the Women's National Basketball Association's Phoenix Mercury, was arrested on February 17.

Talks to secure her release were complicated by Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent deep souring of ties between the US and Russia.

A two-time Olympic gold medallist, Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport when vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is banned in Russia, were found in her luggage.

She was sentenced on August 4 to nine years in a penal colony on charges of possessing and smuggling drugs.

She had pleaded guilty but said she had made an "honest mistake" and had not meant to break the law.

Last month she was taken to a penal colony in the Russian region of Mordovia to serve her prison sentence.

Variously dubbed "the merchant of death" and "the sanctions buster" for his ability to get around arms embargoes, Bout, 55, was one of the world's most wanted men before his arrest.

For almost two decades, Bout became the world's most notorious arms dealer, selling weaponry to rogue states, rebel groups and murderous warlords in Africa, Asia and South America.

Australian Associated Press