American basketball player Brittney Griner, released on Thursday in a prisoner swap between Washington and Moscow, is undergoing various medical check-ups at a Texas hospital before returning to her normal life, John Kirby, one of the spokesmen for the organization, said on Sunday. White House.
Griner is in the city of San Antonio, at the Brooke Military Medical Center, "receiving the pertinent mental and physical care to make sure that she is prepared for her reintegration into society," she said on ABC.
The player had been detained in Russia since last February, a few days before the start of the invasion of Ukraine ordered by the Kremlin, accused of drug smuggling for carrying hashish oil in her suitcase, a prohibited substance in the Eurasian country.
"The information we have is that she is lively and doing well," Kirby said, adding that doctors have yet to determine how long she should remain in the hospital.
Griner was sentenced in August to nine years in prison for drug possession and smuggling and an agreement with Russian authorities was announced on Thursday to release her in exchange for arms dealer Viktor But. The pact did not include fellow American Paul Whelan, sentenced to 16 years for espionage.
"(The Russians) treated Paul separately because of the espionage charges against him. We are still negotiating his release," added the presidential spokesman, according to whom in the summer Washington made a "very serious and specific" offer for the two released, but "didn't get anywhere.
Kirby added that they kept trying until the time they closed the deal on Griner and will keep up the effort to bring him back home. "Now we have a better understanding of the expectations of the Russians and we will continue to work on it," he concluded.
