First shots at freedom: Brittney Griner on the plane after a prisoner exchange.

DLNews Breaking News:

It's a victory for freedom. But at a very high price.

U.S. Olympic champion Brittney Griner, 32, sentenced to nine years in Russia, is free. Exchanged for one of the most dangerous criminals in the world: Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout (55), who was to serve 25 years in prison in the USA and is now free after just ten years.

The deal, negotiated at the highest level of the state, took place at Abu Dhabi airport.

"She's safe. She's on the plane. She's on her way home," U.S. President Joe Biden, 80, wrote on Twitter after Griner's release. There had been "meticulous, intense negotiations" before the prisoner exchange.

Bout, dubbed "Merchant of Death," sold weapons to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, to Liberia and the Philippines

Bout dubbed the "Merchant of Death," sold weapons to al-Qaida and the Taliban, to Liberia and the Philippines. Then, in 2008, he fell into a trap at a luxury hotel in Bangkok: he offered 100 surface-to-air missiles to U.S. agents disguised as Colombian rebels. Bout was arrested and extradited to the United States.

Both are now back in their home countries. The U.S. has a top athlete back in Russia, a man over dead bodies.