The governments of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia confirmed on Thursday a joint role in facilitating the prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia, leading to the release of US basketball star Brittney Griner after nearly nine months in detention.
A high-level Gulf source with access to the details of the exchange told Al-Monitor that the exchange took place at a UAE airbase at 5:00 pm Abu Dhabi time (8:00 am ET), with the US plane departing Abu Dhabi at 6:10 pm local time (9:10 am ET).
