Russian State TV Claims U.S. Chose Griner Over Whelan Because of Identity

After Russia freed the jailed basketball star Brittney Griner in a prisoner exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout, Kremlin propagandist Margarita Simonyan gave her view on the dramatic swap.

U.S. President Joe Biden had made the release of Griner a priority after she had been "unjustly detained" for possessing cannabis oil following her arrest at a Moscow airport in February.

Standing next to Griner's wife Cherelle in the Oval Office, Biden expressed regret the deal did not include Paul Whelan, who was jailed by Russia in 2018 on espionage charges his family and the U.S. government deny.

"For totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul's case differently," Biden said.

But Simonyan, who is editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled media organization RT, told Russia-1 anchor Vladimir Solovyov that she was "very amused but not surprised that Bout was exchanged for Griner and not Whelan."

Bout "was not exchanged for the heroic spy," she said on Thursday, referring to Whelan, who in her view had "three problems."

"The first problem is that he is white. His second problem is he is a man, his third problem is he is a heterosexual, that is something that cannot be forgiven today."

Simonyan believed that "American voters were given a choice," in the exchange between "a hero who suffered while serving his fatherland," or Griner who was "hooked on drugs."

Simonyan concluded that the scenario was good news for Russia because it showed that the U.S. believed to it be "significantly more important to free a rightfully charged well-known athlete" than someone jailed "for serving his motherland."

"This says a lot about the state of this society, of these intelligence agencies and everything related to geopolitical confrontation."

The clip was tweeted by journalist and Russia watcher Julia Davis.

She wrote that it showed how Kremlin propagandists "reveal the narrative they'll be pushing to harm Biden and enrage Americans about the exchange…by falsely claiming that it wasn't Russia's decision to oppose Whelan's release, as opposed to Griner."

Whelan told CNN from a prison in Russia that he was "greatly disappointed" more had not been done to free him.

Bout was dubbed the "merchant of death" and was among among the world's most wanted men before his arrest for gun-running in 2008. He was serving a 25-year sentence. Russian media reported that Bout had returned to his country.

Griner, 32, is a double Olympic champion who played for Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA. She flew to Russia to play during the off-season in the U.S. and told her Russian trial that cannabis oil was found in her bag following an "honest mistake".

John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, told MSNBC that Russia had "a separate set of expectations" for Whelan compared with Griner.

He added that the deal the White House agreed "was the only deal we could get and now was the only moment we could get it, so we took advantage of that to get one American home."

Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment.