Today, Les, Jess, and Jamil discuss WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner’s release from a Russian prison and return to America. Griner was traded for the release of notorious arms merchant Victor Bout. The freedom of Griner has been contrasted by some to former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan’s continued detention in Russia.

Did Vladimir Putin intentionally give the Biden Administration a difficult choice in this prisoner exchange? Does the U.S. need a regularized process of freeing prisoners? Are prisoner releases overly politicized, or should they be even more politicized?

Hear our experts debate these issues and more in our latest episode of Fault Lines!

Want to learn more about this topic? Check out these articles that our experts used to frame our discussion:

https://apnews.com/article/brittney-griner-freed-viktor-bout-swap-us-russia-ee51f5c14f35dc4d4cf21224a8e44eaa 

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/brittney-griner-back-us-release-russia-prisoner-swap-viktor-bout/ 

Follow our experts on Twitter:

@jamil_n_jaffer

@NotTVJessJones

@lestermunson

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