'Huge win': Brittney Griner opens up on Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan's release from Russian prison

WASHINGTON, DC: Basketball icon and former Russian prisoner Brittney Griner has opened up on the release of fellow Americans.

Journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-US Marine Paul Whelan returned to their homeland after the largest prisoner exchange between the US and Russia since the end of the Cold War.

"I am head over heels happy for the families right now. Any day that Americans come home, that’s a win," Griner told The New York Times.

Brittney Griner's first response on Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich's release

The WNBA All-Star admitted that she was "definitely emotional" after hearing about the news, and called it "great news."

“I’m just happy. Like this is a big win, huge win,” Griner said on Thursday, August 1.

Whelan, a 54-year-old former Marine who spent over five years in Russian detention after being accused of spying, and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, 32, was taken into custody by authorities in March 2023, for spying too in 2023.

The two were among the 16 adults who returned to the US in a prisoner exchange held in Ankara, Turkey. The latter nation played the role of mediator between  Russia and six other nations: the US, Germany, Poland, Norway, Slovenia, and Belarus.

What did Joe Biden say on Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan's release? 

Brittney Griner was released from Russian prison in 2022, after being accused of bringing Cannabis into the country.

Whelan was part of the White House’s negotiations too back then, but the deal didn’t work out back then, reported People.

"When I walked on [to the plane] and I didn't see him, I was like, 'Okay, maybe I’m early. Maybe he's next. And when they closed the door, I was like, 'Are you seriously not gonna let this man come home right now?'" Griner told 20/20 in April.

"If it was left up to me, in that trade, I woulda went and got Paul and brought him home. But any time we can bring home an American, that is a win for Americans,” the Basketball star added.

President Joe Biden also commented on the release on Thursday, "Today, three American citizens and one American green-card holder who were unjustly imprisoned in Russia are finally coming home: Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza," he said in a statement.