WNBA star Brittney Griner didn't want to be left alone during her long flight back to the United States following her release from prison.
It was reported that the 32-year-old was extremely talkative as she boarded her flight back home last week, after being behind bars since February.
On December 8, it was announced that the US basketball star had been freed from Russian detention in a "prisoner swap" between the two countries.
Approved by President Joe Biden, the swap saw the 32-year-old released from prison after she was originally detained at an airport in Moscow back in February for possessing cannabis oil. Griner was returning to Russia to finish her overseas season there when the arrest took place.
In order to secure her release, the US swapped notorious terrorist Viktor Bout, after holding him for 12 years.
According to the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, Roger Carstens, Griner wanted to make a special connection with everyone she came into contact with on the flight.
She told him that she has "been in prison for 10 months now, listening to Russian. I want to talk."
As per CNN, Griner then asked Carstens who the other people on the plane were, saying: "...Who are these guys?", before taking the time to introduce herself to each member of the crew.
"And she moved right past me and went to every member on that crew, looked them in the eyes, shook their hands and asked about them, got their names, making a personal connection with them," Carstens recalled. "It was really amazing."
The outlet also reported that Griner spent at least 12 hours of her 18-hour flight talking to those around her, speaking of the details of her detention in Moscow.
The news comes just a few days after a clip of her finding out she was traveling home went viral online.
With approximately 10.1 million views at the time of writing, the video shows her interaction with a Russian interviewer who uses an app to ask Griner what her mood is.
"Happy," she replies.
"Do you know where are you heading to?" the interviewer then asks.
"No," Griner says. "I don’t know."
"You’re flying back home," the interviewer says.
"To the U.S.?" Griner asks.
"To the U.S.," the person replies while the basketball star can be seen smiling. "Everything will be fine."
As per the Guardian, President Joe Biden formally announced Griner's release from the White House on Thursday.
"Moments ago, standing together with her wife Cherelle in the Oval Office, I spoke with Brittney Griner," Biden said. "She’s safe, she's on a plane, she’s on her way home after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances. Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones, and she should have been there all along."
Meanwhile, US officials have stressed that now that Griner is free, they're turning their focus to Paul Whelan, a former United States Marine who has been held in Russia since he was arrested in 2018.
As per NBC News, Whelan is being held under "espionage" charges, which both the veteran's family as well as US authorities have slammed as "baseless."
"They hold Mr. Whelan differently because of these espionage charges," John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said. "So we’re working through that now. We are now more informed, clearly having gone through this process over the last few months. We're more informed. We have a better sense of the context here, where Russia’s expectations are and we’re just going to keep working on it."
