By Maya Gomez

Editor in Chief

Basketball player Brittney Griner is officially back on US soil after a 10-month-long imprisonment in Russia. On Feb. 17, 2022, Russian authorities arrested Griner on drug smuggling charges in a Moscow airport, later sentencing Griner to nine years in prison for the violation. The athlete was released on Dec. 8, 2022 as part of a prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Standing beside the athlete’s wife on the morning of Griner’s release, President Joe Biden said, “After months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances, Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones, and she should have been there all along.”

(Sources: CNN, TASS, Reuters, Texas Tribune)