Brittney Griner Breaks Silence After Prison Release

Brittney Griner is thankful to be home.

The WBNA star spoke out a little more than a week after she was released from Russian custody on Dec. 8, sharing her relief for being back in the United States.

“It feels so good to be home,” she wrote alongside photos of herself stepping off a plane shared to Instagram Dec. 16. “The last 10 months have been a battle at every turn. I dug deep to keep my faith and it was the love from so many of you that helped keep me going. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your help.”

Brittney also went to thank those who assisted in getting her released, but also concluded her message with her outlook on the future.

“I also want to make one thing very clear: I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season,” she continued. “And in doing so, I look forward to being able to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in person soon.”

Her release comes almost a year after her February 2021 arrest at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport for allegedly possessing vape cartridges that contained cannabis oil in her luggage.

Brittney was found guilty on drug charges by a Russian court in August and was sentenced to nine years in prison. In November, four months after the verdict, she was transferred to a penal colony in Russia’s Mordovia region.

On Dec. 8, Brittney was released as part of a prisoner swap that saw the U.S. return Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was 11 years into a 25-year sentence, back to Russia.