American basketball star Brittney Griner was imprisoned in Russia for nine months.

She was sentenced to nine years in prison after getting caught in a border control with cannabis oil.

Griner has now been released and returned to his home country and at the same time a Russian prisoner was released to make the same journey in the opposite direction.

His name is Viktor Bout and he is an arms dealer who built an empire on weapons left over from the fall of the Soviet Union.

He was in prison in the United States for 14 years after, among other things, assisting the Taliban and the terrorist network al-Qaeda with weapons.

Open for more exchanges

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not officially commented on the exchange, but in connection with a meeting in Kyrgyzstan, Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the door for more prisoner exchanges.

- We will not refuse to continue this work in the future, Putin said during a press conference on Friday, according to the AP news agency.

Last spring, the countries carried out a prisoner exchange.

Russia released former Marine Trevor Reed at the same time the US released Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby is cautiously positive about further talks.

- We recorded what Putin said.

Now we'll see what he actually does, he said according to the AP news agency.

The US has previously negotiated the release of former Marine Paul Whelan.

According to US authorities, Russia treated the Whelan case differently compared to Griner.

The reason is that he is accused of espionage, something the US denies.

"Creates a certain atmosphere"

Putin says the talks about the exchange between Grinner and Bout did not touch on Whelan's situation.

- We did not aim to go from those conversations to something else, but they create a certain atmosphere.

Kremlin spokesman Dimitriy Peskov states that the prisoner exchange is not a sign of improved bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington.

- The bilateral relationship is still in a gloomy state, Peskov said according to Reuters.