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Brittney Griner: Inside the logistical chess match of a Russian prisoner exchange

The scene looked like it was stolen from a Hollywood script.

On one end of a Turkish airport tarmac sat a Russian federal security plane. On the other was a private jet owned by a U.S. government contractor. Both had landed in secrecy within minutes of each other on April 27 to conduct a high-value prisoner exchange on neutral soil.

Trevor Reed, an American citizen and Marine veteran, was sentenced to nine years in prison in July 2020 after he allegedly endangered the “life and health” of Russian police officers in a drunken altercation. U.