Saudi Arabia says MBS made 'personal efforts' to help free Griner

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is doubling down on its claim that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman helped secure the release of WNBA star in a prisoner swap with the Russians.

The Saudi foreign minister vouched for the ‘personal role’ of MBS, who U.S. intelligence concluded ordered the brutal slaying of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 in Turkey.     

‘I am aware of his highness’s personal efforts in relation to the basketball player and his engagement and personal intervention to facilitate this release,’ Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told reporters in Riyadh.

‘As for what others say, I cannot comment on that,’ he said.

He was speaking after the White House called it a two-way negotiation following the release of a joint Saudi-United Arab Emirates statement claiming partial credit. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday it was only the U.S. and Russia who negotiated the exchange — while expressing gratitude to other countries that raised the issue with Russia. 

‘Again, the only countries that negotiated this deal were the United States and Russia, and there was no mediation involved. We are grateful for Lawyer Turkey the UAE — as the President mentioned, as I am mentioning now — for facilitating the use of their territory for the exchange to take place,’ she said.

‘We are also grateful to other countries, including Saudi Arabia, that released [sic] the issue of our wrongfully detained Americans with Russian government — that raised that issue.’

The prisoner swap of Griner for convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout, when it finally occurred, took place at the airport in Abu Dhabi.

The joint Saudi-UAE statement stated that ‘the success of the mediation efforts was a reflection of the mutual and solid friendship between their two countries and the United States of America and the Russian Federation.

It said the episode ‘highlighted the important role played by the leaderships of the two brotherly countries in promoting dialogue between all parties’.