Every single response in this thread is bullshit and a reminder of disconnected idealism you will see on reddit. "No one else will trust you again" and "they need to stick to their word for their reputation" is a lie and complete nonsense. You guys realize that taking prisoners for bullshit reasons itself is already bad for "reputation" right? You can see this throughout history where countries intentionally scam others nations and sell out their reputation for small gains if the other nation is not prepared.

No country relies on this fragile "trust" when making a deal. They plan behind the scenes in order to make it impossible PRACTICALLY for this to happen. They wouldn't even be able to scam the other nation if they wanted to. In Griner's case, both prisoners were sent by plane to have the trade mediated by a neutral nation, the UAE. Here's a video of the actual exchange How could they possibly trick each other here? Imagine all the behind the scenes checks that were made prior to this. It is impossible for there to be violence here. lol imagine flying off with the prisoner and not expecting to be blown out of the sky.