The Hall of Famer talked about the WNBA star’s move back to the United States. When WNBA star Brittney Griner got out of a Russian prison on Thursday, there were a lot of tweets and posts about it.
In exchange for Griner’s freedom, the U.S. agreed to send Viktor Bout back to Russia. Bout was a major arms dealer who sold weapons all over the world. Several current and former athletes talked about Griner’s decision to move back to the U.S. Charles Barkley was one of them.
He said it was a great time for the NBA and WNBA families. But the NBA analyst and Hall of Famer was still worried about her return and about Paul Whelan, a 52-year-old former US Marine who is still in Russian custody.
Barkley told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, “It’s a great day for the NBA, the WNBA, Brittney, and her family.” “It’s a bittersweet day because Mr. Whelan is still over there, and we let a scumbag arms dealer kill other people.”
You can’t help but feel sorry for Mr. Whelan. Wolf, he’s been there for four years, but we let a bad person out on the street.” Reports say that the US thought about getting Griner and Whelan back in exchange for Bout.
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But Russia didn’t agree to be part of the deal. Even though Whelan is still in Russia, which is a “catastrophe,” his family said in a statement that they were not upset by Biden’s decision.
Paul’s twin brother, David Whelan, told ABC’s Jay O’Brien on Thursday, “I am so relieved that Brittney Griner is on her way home.” “As a relative of a Russian hostage, I can only imagine how happy she will be to see her family in time for the holidays.”
There is no greater success than letting someone go home after they were wrongfully jailed. The Biden Administration did the right thing by bringing Ms. Griner home and making the best deal possible instead of waiting for a better one.”
Griner got to the U.S. without any problems early on Friday morning. CNN says that the 32-year-old man arrived at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston in Texas and was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center for a routine checkup.