This marked her first on-court appearance since October 2021, as she had faced legal issues and conviction in Russia on drug-related charges in 2022.
Despite her team, the Phoenix Mercury, suffering a 94-71 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks in their season opener, Griner delivered an outstanding performance during the game.
Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner (42) drives as Los Angeles Sparks forward Chiney Ogwumike (13) defends during the first half of a WNBA preseason basketball game, Friday, May 12, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)
She finished with a team-high 18 points to go with six rebounds, two assists, and four blocks, all in 25 minutes. Griner was 7 for 9 from the field, per Sporting News.
Griner was released from Russian custody in December 2022 after the U.S. reached a prisoner swap deal that sent international arms dealer Viktor Bout in return.
Vice President Kamala Harris attended the game in her home state of California and met with Griner in the locker room pregame, per SI.
Pau Gasol, former Lakers forward Robert Horry, and coach Darvin Ham were also in attendance. Tennis legend Billie Jean King and LA Lakers icon Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson attended the game too.
Griner reacts to WNBA return
The 32-year-old was delighted with her return.
“The love from the fans who came out was amazing,” said Griner. I definitely feel it, and I felt it while I was over there too…It felt good, it felt real good. It felt like the last time I played,” via BBC.
Thank you @VP Kamala Harris for everything you and the Administration did to bring our sister home.
The two-time Olympic champion is playing in her 10th WNBA season with the Mercury.
“I appreciate everything a little bit more now,” Griner said. All the little, small moments. I used to say, oh I’m so tired, I don’t want to go to practice today. I think that has changed. I’m just appreciating everything because tomorrow is not guaranteed. You don’t know what it’s going to look like.”
Griner opens up on Russian captivity
Sports Brief earlier reported on Griner speaking publically for the first time five months after being released from Russian imprisonment. She vowed never to play overseas again.
US WNBA basketball superstar Brittney Griner arrives to a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow on June 27, 2022. – Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and WNBA champion, was detained at Moscow airport in February on charges of carrying in her luggage vape cartridges with cannabis oil, which could carry a 10-year prison sentence. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
She held her first news conference since her release on April 27 at the Footprint Center.
She said her detention in Russia was a big adversity in her life.
“I’m never going overseas to play again unless it’s to represent my country,” she said. “The whole reason a lot of us go over is the pay gap… to support our families, to support ourselves.”
The WNBA player Brittney Griner, who was unlawfully detained in Russia and later released, is penning a memoir that will be published in the spring of 2019.
“After an incredibly challenging 10 months in detainment, I am grateful to have been rescued and to be home.
Griner stated in a press release issued by Alfred A. Knopf on Tuesday.
After being detained in February 2022 and convicted to nine years in prison on drug-smuggling charges after Russian police discovered cannabis oil in her suitcase, the two-time Olympic gold champion spent over 300 days in their detention.
Griner, who the US State Department deemed wrongfully detained, was released last December in a prisoner swap that involved Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Griner had for years played on a Russian women’s basketball team during the WNBA off-season and was detained in a Moscow airport as she traveled to rejoin the team.
“That day was the beginning of an unfathomable period in my life which only now am I ready to share,” she said in the news release.
“The primary reason I traveled back to Russia for work that day was because I wanted to make my wife, family, and teammates proud.”
Her detainment spotlighted the salary caps WNBA players face in the US – which has pushed athletes to go overseas to earn more during their off-seasons.
She will make her return to the WNBA next season after signing a one-year deal in February with the Phoenix Mercury.
The book announcement comes after Russian authorities last month detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who the US State Department deemed wrongfully detained on Monday. Detained American Paul Whelan has also been held in Russian custody since 2018.
“By writing this book, I also hope to raise awareness surrounding other Americans wrongfully detained abroad,” Griner said
WNBA star and former political prisoner Brittney Griner has called on the Biden administration to help free American reporter Evan Gershkovich following his detainment in Russia.
“Our hearts are filled with great concern for Evan Gershkovitch and his family since Van’s detainment in Russia,” reads a statement that was signed by both Griner and her wife Cherelle Griner. “We must do everything in our power to bring him and all Americans home. We are grateful for President Biden and his administration’s deep commitment to rescue Americans. We celebrate their recent successful efforts to bring home Jeff Woodke and Paul Rusesabagina.”
Griner’s statement comes a week after Russian security officials arrested the Wall Street Journal reporter, age 31, on espionage charges. His arrest comes during a particularly tense time for U.S. and Russia relations, as President Vladimir Putin continues to wage war in Ukraine. The arrest marks the first time since the Cold War that a U.S. journalist has been arrested on espionage charges in Russia.
“Every American who is taken is ours to fight for and every American returned is a win for us all,” the statement continues. “That is why we call on all of our supporters to both celebrate the wins and encourage the administration to continue to use every tool possible to bring Evan and all wrongfully detained Americans home.”
President Joe Biden has already called on Russia to release the journalist and shared a message with reporters on Friday. “Let him go,” he said. Gershkovich was arrested in Ekaterinburg last week and was flown to Moscow the following day. The Wall Street Journal has denied accusations leveled against him, while Vice President Kamala Harris said she was “deeply concerned” by the news.
Griner was arrested on drug smuggling charges in Russia in February 2022 and was eventually freed from Russian custody by December as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States.
Since being released from a Russian penal colony, Brittney Griner has made her first public appearance.
The American basketball star and her wife Cherelle were spotted posing for photos at a rally in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, honouring Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Before being released in a prisoner exchange, 32-year-old Mrs. Griner spent nearly ten months in custody on drug-related charges.
She expressed her joy at returning home to the local media.
An All-Star centre with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medallist, Mrs Griner was arrested in Russia in February – days before Russia invaded Ukraine – after authorities at a Moscow airport found cannabis oil in her luggage.
She was later convicted of smuggling and possessing narcotics and sentenced to nine years in a penal colony.
Her case drew international attention, with high-profile figures like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and NBA star Lebron James calling on the White House to secure her release.
In December, the Kremlin traded Mrs Griner for arms dealer Viktor Bout, convicted in 2011 of conspiring to kill Americans. The deal did not include Paul Whelan, another American who has been sentenced to 16 years on espionage charges.
She flew back home to her native Texas on 9 December, a moment described by Phoenix Mercury President Vince Kozar as “a really special moment”.
“She was so excited and we were so excited for just that moment, we had gotten past any of the fear or sadness or anything else that came along with it,” Mr Kozar told the ABC-15 news outlet.
Brittney Griner has shared her first statement since her release from Russiancustody earlier this month.
“It feels so good to be home!” wrote Griner alongside a photo of her leaving the plane that brought her back to the States, and another of her hugging her wife Cherelle Griner. “The last 10 months have been a battle at every turn. I dug deep to keep my faith and it was the love from so many of you that helped keep me going. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your help.”
Griner thanked everyone who personally helped organize her release, including Cherelle and the Biden-Harris Administration. She also announced her intentions to play for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season.
“President Biden, you brought me home and I know you are committed to bringing Paul Whelan and all Americans home too,” she continued. “I will use my platform to do whatever I can to help you. I also encourage everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home. Every family deserves to be whole.”
The 32-year-old said she looks forward to returning to the court, and thanked everyone who advocated, wrote, or posted for her return.
Griner was freed in a prisoner swap that saw the U.S. release convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout last week. Biden confirmed the news in a tweet, where he said he spoke to Griner and said she was coming home.
Her family shared a statement to express “sincere gratitude” to Biden and others who helped end her wrongful detainment, which stemmed from her arrest in Moscow in February over the possession of hash oil cartridges.
Viktor Bout was released from a 25-year US prison sentence last week in exchange for basketball star Brittney Griner.
According to the party’s leader, a Kremlin loyalist, Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was released from US custody last week in a prisoner swap for American basketball star Brittney Griner, has joined the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR).
On Monday, LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky said on Telegram that “the Liberal Democratic Party’s party card” had been “personally handed” to Bout.
“I am sure that Viktor Bout – a strong-willed and courageous person – will take a worthy place in it. Welcome to our ranks!,” he wrote in a post that included a picture of the two men.
Founded in 1991, the LDPR espouses a hardline, ultranationalist ideology that demands Russia reconquer the countries of the former Soviet Union.
It has been one of the most vehement supporters of the invasion of Ukraine, often calling for a more severe approach from Moscow.
In recent years, the party has assumed a subordinate role in Russia’s political system but provides token opposition to the ruling United Russia bloc while remaining aligned with the Kremlin on most issues.
Bout returned to Russia on December 8 after being released from a 25-year prison term in exchange for Griner, who was arrested in mid-February after officials at Moscow airport when cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage.
Griner, who the US State Department has said was “wrongfully detained”, was sentenced to nine years in prison in August.
Bout had been arrested by US authorities in Thailand in 2008, with prosecutors charging that his extensive arms smuggling in hotspots across the world amounted to material support of “terrorism”. The Kremlin has maintained the arrest was politically motivated.
Dubbed the “merchant of death”, Bout has also been implicated in violating or contributing to violating UN arms embargoes in Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The prisoner swap came during the ninth month of Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, a conflict that tanked already strained ties between Washington and Moscow and complicated release negotiations.
In Russia, Bout’s release was viewed as a victory for Moscow.
Meanwhile, the administration of US President Joe Biden faced criticism for agreeing to the exchange, with detractors citing the disparity in the severity of charges against Bout and Griner.
Biden critics were particularly upset that US officials were unable to secure the release of Paul Whelan, a former marine serving a 16-year sentence for alleged espionage in Russia, in the deal.
The LDPR has a history of recruiting controversial personalities into Russian politics, with its founder and long-time leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky gaining a reputation as a political showman for his outrageous stunts and eccentric behaviour before his death in April.
In 2007, Andrey Lugovoy a former KGB agent wanted in Britain for the murder the previous year of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, was elected to parliament for the LDPR.
In his first interview since his release, Bout told the state-run Russia Today channel that the West sought to “destroy and divide Russia” in the years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The US and Russia have exchanged jailed US basketball star Brittney Griner for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, held in an American prison for 12 years.
President Joe Biden said Griner was safe and on a plane home from the United Arab Emirates.
“I’m glad to say Brittney’s in good spirits… she needs time and space to recover,” he said at the White House.
Bout – widely known as the “merchant of death” – has arrived back in Moscow, Russian media reports.
“In the middle of the night they simply woke me up and said ‘Get your things together’ and that was it,” Bout said in brief remarks to a reporter from national television, after landing in Russia.
Bout reportedly came down the aeroplane steps carrying a bouquet of flowers before embracing his mother and his wife.
Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February for possessing cannabis oil and last month she was sent to a penal colony.
The Biden administration proposed a prisoner exchange in July, aware Moscow had long sought Bout’s release.
The elaborate swap involved two private planes bringing the pair to Abu Dhabi airport from Moscow and Washington, and then flying them home.
Footage on Russian state media showed them crossing on the tarmac with their respective teams. In the video, apparently provided by Russian security services, Bout is warmly greeted by two Russian officials as Griner, who is 6ft 9in (206cm), looks on. Part of the swap is then edited out before the two parties go their separate ways.
“The Russian citizen has been returned to his homeland,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Brittney Griner’s wife Cherelle praised the efforts of the Biden administration in securing her release: “I’m just standing here overwhelmed with emotions.”
According to a joint Saudi-UAE statement, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman played a leading role in mediation efforts, along with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
The heir to the Saudi throne has good relations with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and in September he helped co-ordinate a complex swap of hundreds of prisoners held by Russia and Ukraine.
But the White House denied any mediation had been involved. “The only countries that negotiated this deal were the United States and Russia,” said press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
When negotiations began to secure Griner’s release during the summer, the US made clear it wanted ex-marine Paul Whelan to be included in an exchange.
Bout’s lawyer, Alexei Tarasov, told Russian TV that from the start the US wanted two of its citizens returned, and Russia’s foreign ministry complained that “Washington categorically refused to engage in dialogue”.
But it became clear that Whelan, jailed in 2018 on suspicion of spying, would not be part of the Russian swap, dashing his family’s hopes.
Paul Whelan told CNN he was “greatly disappointed” more had not been done to free him, as he had carried out no crime: “I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here,” he said.
President Biden finally signed the order for Bout’s release, commuting his 25-year jail term, in a direct swap for Griner.
Bout’s wife Alla told Russian TV she had spoken to him only two days ago: “He was supposed to call me tonight. Now we’ll see each other and hug each other. That’s better than any phone call.”
Viktor Bout sold arms to warlords and rogue governments, becoming one of the world’s most wanted men.
Dubbed the “merchant of death” for gun-running in the years after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian’s exploits inspired the 2005 Hollywood film Lord of War, which was loosely based on his life.
Image source, Reuters
Image caption,
Russian state TV showed images of Bout being reunited with his family in Russia
His secretive career was brought to an end by an elaborate US sting in 2008, when he was arrested at a hotel in the Thai capital Bangkok, to the anger of the Russian government.
He was extradited two years later and has spent the past 12 years in an American jail for conspiring to support terrorists and kill Americans.
Bout’s circumstances could hardly be more different from that of his opposite number in the prisoner swap.
Brittney Griner, 32, is one of the best-known sportswomen in America. During the US basketball season the double Olympic champion is a star centre for Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA.
Her only reason for flying to Moscow was to play in Russia during the off-season in the US. She told her Russian trial that the cannabis oil found in her bag had been an “honest mistake”.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken singled out the efforts of presidential envoy Roger Carstens, who accompanied Griner on the plane from the UAE.
Leading figures in US basketball welcomed her release, among them twice WNBA champion Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm.Griner was moved last month to a penal colony in Mordovia, a remote area some 500km, (310m) south-east of Moscow. She was held not far from where Paul Whelan is serving his 16-year jail term on spying charges.
In his statement President Biden said Russia had treated Whelan’s case differently from Griner’s for totally illegitimate reasons.
“While we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release we have not given up; we will not give up,” he vowed.
Whelan’s brother, David, praised Griner’s release and said US officials had warned the family in advance that Paul Whelan was not part of the exchange.
“It’s clear the US government needs to be more assertive,” he said in a statement. “If bad actors like Russia are going to grab innocent Americans, the US needs a swifter, more direct response.”
Former White House national security advisor John Bolton condemned the deal as a not a swap but a surrender by the Biden administration.
“Terrorists and rogue states all around the world will take note of this and it endangers other Americans in the future,” he said.
The deal was also criticised by Robert Zachariasiewicz, a former agent with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, who helped lead the team that arrested Viktor Bout.
“Today’s actions just placed a target on back of every United States citizen travelling throughout the world and they just became a commodity,” he told the BBC’s World Tonight.
“I think we just sent the message that it’s really good business to illegally detain and if not kidnap American citizens, and it’s really great to have one in your back pocket if you need them for a trade at some point.”
Image source, Reuters
Image caption,
Viktor Bout was extradited to the US from Thailand in 2010 (file pic)
Vladimir Osechkin – a former Russian MP who led a parliamentary investigation into Bout, and who is now a dissident in France – told the BBC’s Outside Source programme he believed Vladimir Putin wanted Bout back because of what he knew.
“Putin and the generals were worried that Viktor Bout might start providing detailed and consistent evidence of what he knew about Russian intelligence helping terrorist organisations and organising sabotage abroad,” he said.
“It was a matter of honour for them to take their agent back.”
However, the US Bring Our Families Home Campaign suggested Russians saw Bout in a very different light. “Over the years they built him up like the spy of the century. There’s a domestic political problem in Russia to keep the lie going,” said Jonathan Franks from the campaign.
Thursday’s prisoner exchange is not the first between Russia and the US this year. US marine Trevor Reed spent three years in jail for assault before being traded last April for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot convicted of smuggling cocaine.
Speaking from a Russian penal colony, Paul Whelan said he had been told that Russia “put me at a level higher than what they did with Trevor and Brittney”, because he had been accused of spying.
President Biden urged Americans to take precautions before travelling overseas, and warned of the risk of being wrongfully detained by a foreign government.
US basketball star and Olympic gold medalist, Brittney Griner has been freed in a prisoner-swap and is now in US custody.
Russia agreed to swap her for its citizen, Viktor Bout, an infamous arms dealer nicknamed “Merchant of Death”.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist and all-star center for the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA was held in February after customs officers at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport allegedly discovered vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage.
Grinerconfirmed having the canisters in her suitcase at trial, but she claimed she packed them accidentally while rushing to catch her trip and had no malicious intent.
In written remarks, her defense team claimed that she had received a cannabis prescription to relieve chronic pain.
She was found guilty in August and given a nine-year prison term.
Viktor was caught in elaborate 2008 DEA sting operation in Thailand. He was convicted on terrorism charges and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
He is a former Soviet military translator whose clients included warlords, rogue states in Africa, Asia, South America.
Griner, the US basketball star and Olympic gold medalist, has been transferred to a penal colony 300 miles from Moscow, while Russian national Bout was apprehended in a sting in 2008.
Russia hopes to make a prisoner swap with the United States in exchange for the release of basketball star Brittney Griner in exchange for a convicted arms trafficker known as the “Merchant of Death.”
According to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Moscow and Washington are currently discussing a possible exchange.
According to her lawyers, Griner was transferred to a penal colony in Mordovia, about 500 kilometres (300 miles) southeast of Moscow.
The all-star centre with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and two-time Olympic gold medal winner was detained in February when customs agents said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
At her trial, Griner admitted having the canisters in her luggage, but testified she packed them inadvertently in haste to make her flight and had no criminal intent.
Her defence team presented written statements saying she had been prescribed cannabis to treat chronic pain.
She was convicted in August and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Speaking about the possibility of a prisoner swap, Mr Ryabkov said: “I want to hope that the prospect not only remains but is being strengthened, and that the moment will come when we will get a concrete agreement.”
“The Americans are showing some external activity, we are working professionally through a special channel designed for this.
“Viktor Bout is among those who are being discussed, and we certainly count on a positive result.”
Who is Viktor Bout?
Variously dubbed “the merchant of death” and “the sanctions buster” for his ability to get around arms embargoes, Bout was one of the world’s most wanted men prior to his 2008 arrest on multiple charges related to arms trafficking.
For almost two decades, Bout was one of the world’s most notorious arms dealers, selling weaponry to rogue states, rebel groups and murderous warlords in Africa, Asia, and South America.
Ever since his capture in an elaborate US sting, the Russian state has been keen to bring him back.
According to her attorneys, WNBA star Brittney Griner is being moved to a Russian penal colonyto serve the remainder of her drug smuggling sentence.
In a statement provided to CNN, attorneys Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov confirmed that Griner “is now on her way to a penal colony” as of Wednesday, Nov. 9. “We do not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination,” the attorneys added. “In accordance with the standard Russian procedure, the attorneys, as well as the U.S. Embassy, should be notified upon her arrival at her destination. Notification is given via official mail and normally takes up to two weeks to be received.”
Griner was detained in February by the Russian Federal Customs Service after they discovered vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage at Sheremetyevo International Airport, which is just outside of Moscow. In August, she was found guilty on drug charges by a Russian court, and received a sentence of nine years behind bars. Later that month, she and her legal team filed an appeal, which was rejected.
“Our primary concern continues to be BG’s health and well-being,” said Griner’s agent, Lindsay Colas. “As we work through this very difficult phase of not knowing exactly where BG is or how she is doing, we ask for the public’s support in continuing to write letters and express their love and care for her.”
U.S. government officials have condemned the detainment of Griner, who has repeatedly apologized for transporting a small amount of drugs into the country. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the news of Griner’s transfer is “another injustice layered on her ongoing unjust and wrongful detention.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added, “Every minute that Brittney Griner must endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too long.”
Brittney Griner, a convicted US basketball player, is being transferred from a Russian prison to a penal colony.
She was arrested in February at an airport near Moscow after cannabis oil vapes were discovered in her bags.
In August, the two-time Olympic gold medalist was convicted of smuggling and possessing cannabis oil and sentenced to nine years in a penal colony.
While the use of cannabis is illegal in Russia, Moscow has been accused of using Griner “as a political pawn”.
On Wednesday, the 32-year-old’s legal team said the transfer began last week and Griner was on her way to a penal colony, but they added that they had not been told where she currently is or where she is being sent to.
The US embassy is normally informed of where international prisoners are held. Griner’s team believe they may not be told for two weeks.
Penal colonies are the descendants of Soviet-era enforced labour camps, otherwise known as gulags.
In them, prisoners are housed in barracks and perform labour. Penal colonies are also a source of income, with some containing factoriesthat produce items such as food or clothing, while some inmates undertake construction work.
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Griner is the first woman in the league to consistently dunk
At the time of her trial, Griner pleaded guilty, but said she had made an “honest mistake” and had not meant to break the law.
Last month, Griner – who is seen by many as the greatest female basketball player of all time – and her legal team appealed against her nine-year sentence, but a court near Moscow upheld it, with the state prosecutor calling it “fair”.
The double Olympic winner apologised for her “honest mistake” in the appeal hearing via video link, saying her imprisonment had been “very, very stressful” and “traumatic”.
Speaking afterwards, the WNBA star’s lawyer, Alexander Boykov, said his team hoped that a prisoner exchange would be possible.
Mr Boykov has also criticised Griner’s sentence for being unduly harsh: “No judge, hand on heart, will honestly say that Griner’s nine-year sentence is in line with Russian criminal law,” he said after her appeal was rejected.
In Russia, possession of less than 6g of cannabis is normally punishable by a fine or 15 days in detention. Griner is thought to have had less than 1g when she entered Russia to play basketball during the US off-season.
Following the rejection of her appeal, Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, told the CBS Mornings programme that the basketball star was a “hostage” of the Russian government.
She said she did not know if her spouse “has anything left in her tank to continue to wake up every day and be in a place where she has no-one”.
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, The basketball star has remained dominant in WNBA since her rookie year
Speaking after Griner’s transfer to the undisclosed penal colony, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the US was “unwavering” in attempts to free her and other detained Americans.
She added that US President Joe Biden had ordered his administration to swiftly “prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony”.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US expected Russian authoritiesto provide its embassy officials with access to Brittney and other Americans detained in Russia.
In late July, the Biden administration proposed a prisoner swap with Russia to secure Griner’s release, as well as ex-marine Paul Whelan, who Moscow accuses of spying. Officials said Russia had yet to respond positively to the suggestion and said diplomacy should not be conducted in public.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a week after Griner’s arrest and the US’s backing of Kyiv have further inflamed tensions between the two countries.
The Kremlin says it keeps the door open for talks on a possible prisoner swap with US basketball star Brittney Griner but reiterated that discussions must be kept strictly confidential.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked if Griner could be freed as part of a prisoners swap with Washington and said, “We always say that any contacts about possible exchanges can only be conducted in silence under a tight lid on any information.”
On Tuesday, Russian courts rejected Griner’s appeal against her nine-year sentence for drug possession.
Per a report from the Associated Press, Griner’s appeal in response to her nine-year sentence was rejected in Russian court on Tuesday. Thus, the sentence will be upheld, although the Moscow court in question is reported to have also said that the length of the sentence “will be recalculated” to include the time she spent detained before going to trial. Bloomberg writes that the 32-year-old will soon “leave pre-trial detention near Moscow and be sent to serve her prison term in a penal colony elsewhere in Russia.”
In August, Griner’s legal team filed an appeal following a conviction earlier that month in connection with the possession of a small amount of hash oil. In a statement shared in response to Griner’s conviction, President Joe Biden said this move by the Russian court marked an “unacceptable” development.
“Today, American citizen Brittney Griner received a prison sentence that is one more reminder of what the world already knew: Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney,” Biden said at the time.
The U.S. government has maintained this stance throughout coverage of Griner’s detainment, which began with her arrest at a Moscow airport in February. Prior to the detainment, Griner had played for the region’s UMMC Ekaterinburg team.
Griner’s detainment has remained a source of global criticism, as have the larger issues surrounding it. At one point, Dennis Rodman had plans to travel to Russia to offer assistance in securing Griner’s release. However, later that same month, it was reported that Rodman would actually not be making such a trip.
Breanna Stewart, meanwhile, has been among the fellow athletes who have pushed for Griner’s release. In a post shared to Twitter on Monday, the Seattle Storm player noted how long Griner had already been detained at that point, tagging President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the process.
It has been 249 days since our friend, Brittney Griner, has been wrongfully detained in Russia. It is time for her to come home. @WhiteHouse@potus@vp , we are paying attention and we are counting on you. #WeAreBG
A Russian court has rejected Brittney Griner’s appeal against her nine-year prison sentence on drug charges.
The sentence was upheld by a court near Moscow, with the state prosecutor calling it “fair.”
The double Olympic winner apologized for her “honest mistake” in her appeal hearing via video link, saying it had been “very, very stressful”.
Griner, 32, was convicted in August of smuggling and possessing cannabis oil.
It was not immediately clear whether all her legal routes had been exhausted. She is due to serve her sentence in a penal colony.
The sportswoman’s lawyer, Alexander Boykov, said his team hoped that a prisoner exchange would be possible.
In August, the Kremlin posed the possibility of a prisoner swap between the US and Russia involving the basketball player.
Reports in US media suggest imprisoned Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout – known as the Merchant of Death – could be transferred by Washington to the Russian authorities as part of the deal.
Mr Boykov said: “No judge, hand on heart, will honestly say that Griner’s nine-year sentence is in line with Russian criminal law.“
He added his legal team would be in talks with Griner as to whether she would want to pursue a further appeal.
The White House called the legal proceedings a “sham”.
In a statement, a US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Griner was being “wrongfully detained under intolerable circumstances” and that President Joe Bidenhad called for her release immediately.
A top US diplomat, who attended the hearing, called the sentence “excessive and disproportionate”.
The sports star spoke to the appeals court of three judges remotely from her detention centre in a town near Moscow.
“I really hope that the court will adjust this sentence because it has been very very stressful and very traumatic,” she had told the court.
“People with more severe crimes have gotten less than what I was given,” she added.
Considered one of the world’s top players, she was detained on 17 February at an airport near Moscow when vape cartridges containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage.
She had come to Russia to play club basketball during the US off-season.
Her case has become subject to high-profile diplomacy between the US and Russia, whose relations plummeted after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
Brittney Griner, the American WNBA basketball star whose appeal against a Russian prison sentence is set to be heard next week, thanked her supporters on her 32nd birthday.
“All the support and love are definitely helping me,” Griner was quoted as saying by her lawyers Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, who spent several hours with her in the Moscow pre-trial detention center where she is being held.
“Today is of course a difficult day for Brittney,” said Blagovolina, who is representing Griner in court.
“Not only is this her birthday in jail away from her family, teammates, and friends, but she is very stressed in anticipation of the appeal hearing on October 25.”
A day after basketball star Brittney Griner was convicted of drug smugglingand sentenced to nine years in prison for carrying less than a gram of cannabis oil through a Moscow airport. The US and Russia have indicated they are ready to hold talks over a prisoner swap.
A day after basketball player Brittney Griner was found guilty of marijuana smuggling and given a nine-year prison term for bringing less than a gram of cannabis oil through a Moscow airport, the US and Russia made it known that they were prepared to hold negotiations over a prisoner swap.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Cambodia that the Kremlin is “ready to discuss this topic, but within the framework of the channel that has been agreed by the presidents,” state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
“There is a specified channel that has been agreed upon by [Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden], and no matter what anyone says publicly, this channel will remain in effect,” Lavrov reportedly said Friday at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.
Shortly later, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the same summit that the US will “pursue” talks with Russia.
Brittney Griner is facing a 9-year sentence in a Russian jail following her conviction. Here’s what could come next for the WNBA star
“We put forward, as you know, a substantial proposal that Russia should engage with us on.
And what Foreign Minister Lavrov said this morning and said publicly is that they are prepared to engage through channels we’ve established to do just that. And we’ll be pursuing that,” Blinken told reporters at a press briefing.
The comments from each side suggest that a negotiation process, which has already proven complex, could accelerate in the coming days.
Russian government officials requested last month that a former colonel from the country’s domestic spy agency, who was convicted of murder in Germany last year, be included in the US’ proposed swap of notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout for Griner and Paul Whelan, multiple sources familiar with the discussions told CNN.
Whelan, a US citizen, has been held by Russia since 2018 and was convicted by a Russian court in 2020 on espionage charges that he has strenuously denied. Griner’s conviction has raised similar concerns that she is being used as a political pawn in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The US State Department classifies the pair as wrongfully detained.
Griner, a Women’s National Basketball Association star, pleaded guilty to carrying cannabis oil in her luggage as she traveled through a Moscow airport on February 17.
She testified in court that she was aware of Russia’s strict drug laws and had no intention of bringing cannabis into the country, saying she was in a rush and “stress packing.”
Griner inside a defendant’s cage before the court’s verdict was announced on Thursday.
Prior to the verdict on Thursday, Griner apologized to the court and asked for leniency in an emotional speech.
“I never meant to hurt anybody, I never meant to put in jeopardy the Russian population, I never meant to break any laws here,” she said.
“I made an honest mistake and I hope that in your ruling that doesn’t end my life here. I know everybody keeps talking about political pawns and politics, but I hope that that is far from this courtroom,” she continued.
Griner’s lawyers had hoped that her guilty plea and statements of remorse would result in a more lenient sentence.
Her conviction, Blinken told reporters, “puts a spotlight on [Washington’s] very significant concern with Russia’s legal system and the Russian government’s use of wrongful detentions to advance its own agenda using individuals as a political pawn.”
“The same goes for Paul Whelan,” Blinken added.
Earlier Friday, a US State Department official told reporters there had been no “serious response” from Russia on a proposed swap. The same official said Blinken and Lavrov had not met while at the Cambodia summit, and that Blinken had no plans to do so.
Before the start of Thursday’s WNBA game between Griner’s Phoenix Mercury and the Connecticut Sun, members of both teams linked arms around the center court, and a 42-second moment of silence was held for Brittney Griner.
Near the end of those 42 seconds, members of the crowd started chanting, “Bring her home! Bring her home!”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
When questioned about this possibility, Mr Kirby dismissed it, saying: “I don’t think we go so far as to even call it a counter-offer.”
Griner, 31, told the court she had made an “honest mistake” and had not intended to break the law.
Considered one of the best female players in the world, she was detained in February at an airport near Moscow when vape cartridges containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage. She had come to Russia to play club basketball during the US off-season.
Soon afterwards, Russia invaded Ukraine and her case has become subject to high-profile diplomacy between the US and Russia.
Her defence team said they would appeal against the verdict.
Griner’s Phoenix Mercury teammates staged a gesture of solidarity on Thursday, when they and their Connecticut Sun opponents observed 42 seconds of silence before their game, in honour of her number 42 jersey.
US President Joe Biden called her sentencing “unacceptable”, adding: “I call on Russia to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates.”
Meanwhile Secretary of State Antony Blinken added: “Russia, and any country engaging in wrongful detention, represents a threat to the safety of everyone travelling, working and living abroad.”
Mr Blinken raised the issue in a phone call with Mr Lavrov last week, in the first conversation between the two men since the start of the war in Ukraine.
A day after Griner’s sentencing, Mr Lavrov said that Moscow is ready to discuss the topic of prisoner exchanges with Washington, but within the framework of an existing diplomatic channel agreed upon by Presidents Putin and Biden, Reuters news agency quotes him as saying.
Both Mr Lavrov and Mr Blinken are now in Cambodia for a meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations. The US says Mr Blinken will try to speak with Mr Lavrov again while they are there.
A Russian court has sentenced US basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison on drug charges.
Griner, 31, admitted possessing cannabis oil but told the court she made an “honest mistake”.
But the court convicted her of smuggling and possessing narcotics, and gave her close to the maximum sentence recommended by prosecutors.
Griner is a double Olympic gold medallist and is considered one of the best players in the world.
She was detained in February at an airport near Moscow when vape cartridges containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage. She had come to Russia to play club basketball during the US off-season.
Soon after, Russia invaded Ukraine and her case has become subject to high profile diplomacy between the US and Russia.
US President Joe Biden called the sentencing “unacceptable”.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “Russia, and any country engaging in wrongful detention, represents a threat to the safety of everyone travelling, working, and living abroad.”
As Griner was being led out of the courtroom in handcuffs, Reuters news agency quoted her as saying: “I love my family.”
It is unclear how long she will actually spend behind bars, as the US and Russia have been discussing a potential prisoner swap that could involve the basketball player.
Reports in US media suggest imprisoned Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout – known as the Merchant of Death – could be transferred by Washington to the Russian authorities as part of the deal.
Griner’s defence team said they would appeal against Thursday’s verdict by the court in Khimki, near Moscow.
Reading the verdict, the presiding judge in Khimki said she took into account the fact that the American had already spent a considerable time in detention.
Earlier, Griner told the court after both sides presented closing arguments: “I made an honest mistake, and I hope in your ruling it does not end my life.”
“I did not conspire or plan to commit this crime,” she added.
Griner also said she had received neither an explanation of her rights nor access to a lawyer in the initial hours of her detention, and that she had to use a translation app on her phone to communicate.
A Russian court has sentenced US basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison on drug charges.
Griner, 31, admitted possessing cannabis oil but told the court she made an “honest mistake”.
But the court convicted her of smuggling and possessing narcotics, and gave her close to the maximum sentence recommended by prosecutors.
Griner is a double Olympic gold medallist and is considered one of the best players in the world.
She was detained in February at an airport near Moscow when vape cartridges containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage. She had come to Russia to play club basketball during the US off-season.
Soon after, Russia invaded Ukraineand her case has become subject to high profile diplomacy between the US and Russia.
US President Joe Biden called the sentencing “unacceptable”.
It is unclear how long Griner will actually spend behind bars, as the US and Russia have been discussing a potential prisoner swap that could involve the basketball player.
Reports in US media suggest imprisoned Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout – known as the Merchant of Death – could be transferred by Washington to the Russian authorities as part of the deal.
Griner’s defence team said they would appeal against Thursday’s verdict by the court in Khimki, near Moscow.
Reading the verdict, the presiding judge in Khimki said she took into account the fact that the American had already spent a considerable time in detention.
Earlier, Griner told the court after both sides presented closing arguments: “I made an honest mistake, and I hope in your ruling it does not end my life.”
“I did not conspire or plan to commit this crime,” she added.
Griner also said she had received neither an explanation of her rights nor access to a lawyer in the initial hours of her detention, and that she had to use a translation app on her phone to communicate.
The examination of the substance contained in vape cartridges that WNBA star Brittney Griner’s carried at a Moscow airportin February did not comply with Russian law, a defense expert testified Tuesday in her high-stakes drug-smuggling trial.
Among theviolations is that the results of the examination do not show the amount of THC in the substance, Griner’s lawyer, Maria Blagovolina, said after the hearing.
“The examination does not comply with the law in terms of the completeness of the study and does not comply with the norms of the Code of Criminal Procedure,” forensic chemist Dmitry Gladyshev testified for the defense during the roughly two-hour session.
The defense also interrogated prosecution expert Alexander Korablyov, who examined Griner’s cartridges taken from her luggage.
Griner’s appearance in the Khimki city courthouse marked her seventh hearing as Russian prosecutors accuse her of trying to smuggle less than 1 gram of cannabis oil into her luggage.Â
She has pleaded guilty to drug charges — a decision her lawyers hope will result in a less severe sentence — and faces up to 10 years in prison.
 Here’s what we’ve learned from the Brittney Griner trial in Russia after her latest testimony.
Despite the guilty plea, the US State Department maintains she is wrongfully detained. Supporters of Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who plays in Russia during the WNBA offseason, have called for her release over fears she is being used as a political pawn amid Russia’s war on Ukraine.
US officials face immense pressure from Griner’s family, lawmakers, and the professional basketball community to bring her home, perhaps as part of a prisoner swap. Griner wrote to President Joe Biden pleading with him to do everything in his power to facilitate her release.
 The 31-year-old sat Tuesday inside the defendant’s cage in the courtroom.
 The charge d’affaires of the US embassy in Moscow, Elizabeth Rood, attended Tuesday’s hearing and afterward said the US would “continue to support Miss Griner through every step of this process and as long as it takes to bring her home to the United States safely.”
Griner’s next hearing is set for Thursday.
Outside the courthouse, Tuesday, one of her lawyers told CNN that Griner is focused yet nervous about the coming verdict.
“… She still knows that the end is near, and of course, she heard the news so she’s hoping that sometime she could be coming home, and we hope, too,” Blagovolina said.
Asked about their team’s strategy to challenge Russian prosecutors’ evidence,Â
Blagovolina said: “Well there are a lot of factors which should be taken by the court into account.Â
She admitted that she did bring something, but we need to know what did she bring.
At trial, Griner has testified she has a doctor’s prescription for medical cannabis and had no intention of bringing the drug into Russia. Following her detention in February, she was tested for drugs and was clean, her lawyers previously said.
Attorneys make the case for an ‘improper’ detention
 Griner’s attorneys have already laid out some arguments claiming the basketball player’s detention was not handled correctly after she was stopped on February 17 by personnel at the Sheremetyevo International Airport.
Her detention, search, and arrest were “improper,” Alexander Boykov, one of her lawyers, said last week, noting more details would be revealed during closing arguments.
After she was stopped at the airport, Griner was made to sign documents that she did not fully understand, she testified.Â
At first, she said, she was using Google translate on her phone but was later moved to another room where her phone was taken and she was made to sign more documents.
No lawyer was present, she testified, and her rights were not explained to her.Â
Those rights would include access to an attorney once she was detained and the right to know what she was suspected of.
 Under Russian law, she should have been informed of her rights within three hours of her arrest.
In her testimony, Griner “explained to the court that she knows and respects Russian laws and never intended to break them,” Blagovolina — a partner at Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin & Partners — said after last week’s hearing.
The detained player testified she was aware of Russian laws and had no intention of bringing the cannabis oil into the country, noting she was in a rush and “stress packing.”
Griner confirmed she has a doctor’s prescription for medical cannabis, Blagovolina said, which she uses to treat knee pain and joint inflammation.
“We continue to insist that, by indiscretion, in a hurry, she packed her suitcase and did not pay attention to the fact that substances allowed for use in the United States ended up in this suitcase and arrived in the Russian Federation,” Boykov, of Moscow Legal Center, has said.
Kremlin decries ‘megaphone diplomacy
The Kremlin warned Tuesday that US “megaphone diplomacy” will not help negotiations for a prisoner exchange involving Griner.
Speaking on a call with journalists,Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow believes these talks should be “discrete.”
“Megaphone diplomacy and public exchange of positions will not lead to results here,” Peskov added.
According to Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, Moscow will likely suggest a time for a call with US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
According to Mr. Blinken, the two will communicate on Wednesday to plan a swap of captives imprisoned in American and Russian prisons.
In an effort to free two Americans who were detained, including basketball player Brittney Griner, the US offered the prisoner swap agreement.
The US Women’s National Basketball Association player was detained on February 17 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport as she traveled back to Russia to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg.
In February, Brittney Griner was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
Police claimed to have discovered cannabis oil-filled vape cartridges in her luggage.
Ms. Griner, 31, who has been detained ever since pleaded guilty to charges that could result in a decade prison sentence for her.
But she testified at her drug possession trial that an interpreter translated only a fraction of what was being said while she was detained and that officials told her to sign documents, but “no one explained any of it to me”.
Mr. Blinken said he would raise the matter of both her detention and that of Paul Whelan -arrested in Russia in 2018, and accused of spying – in a call with Russia’s foreign minister.
A source said that Washington was willing to exchange convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout, jailed in the US, as part of such a deal.
US basketball star Brittney Griner — who has been held in Russia since February on accusations of drug smuggling – will remain in Russian custody through at least July 2, after a Russian court extended her detention, Russian state news agency TASS reported Tuesday.
Griner, 31, has been officially classified as “wrongfully detained,” a US State Department official told CNN in May.
Supporters, including Griner’s family and the WNBA, have vigorously advocated for her release, with some expressing concerns Russia would use Griner as a political pawn amid tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February, when Russian authorities claimed she had cannabis oil in her luggage and accused her of smuggling significant amounts of a narcotic substance, an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The two-time Olympic gold medalist and star of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury plays in Russia during that league’s offseason.
Griner’s detention has been extended repeatedly. A Russian court announced in March it had extended her pretrial detention until mid-May. Last month, Griner’s detention was extended once again until June 18, TASS reported at the time.
“Our position for some time on this has been very clear: Brittney Griner should not be detained. She should not be detained for a single day longer,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday.
The State Department learned of the news through Russian state media reports, Price said. The US last had consular access to Griner last month, he told reporters.
Griner’s case is being handled by the office of the US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, a State Department official confirmed to CNN last month. The office leads the government’s diplomatic efforts to secure the release of Americans wrongfully detained abroad and played a major role in securing the release of US citizen Trevor Reed in a late April prisoner swap with Russia.
In a statement late Tuesday, Griner’s agent said it was clear the player was being used as a “political pawn.”
“Her detention is inhumane and unacceptable. She has not had a single phone call in her 117 days of wrongful detention,” said Lindsay Kagawa Colas, who called on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to “act with urgency and do whatever it takes to bring Brittney home immediately.”
Teammates ‘want her back home’
News of Griner’s detention being extended comes a day after State Department officials — including those from the hostage affairs office –Â briefed her teammates on Griner’s situation and efforts to bring her home.
“We are on Day 116 since BG has been wrongfully detained,” Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard said, adding, “She’s our teammate, she’s an American and we want her back home.”
For star guard Diana Taurasi, the State Department’s announcement that Griner’s detention was wrongful signaled to the team that officials are taking the situation seriously, she said Monday.
“It’s something that we’ve all talked about intimately as a group, and now knowing the State Department at the highest level — from US President Joe Biden to the team that is working on bringing back all Americans who are wrongfully detained — gives us a lot of confidence that they’re working on it,” Taurasi said.
“Anything that we can do on our side to amplify and to put BG first will be our No. 1 priority,” she said.
Separately, Reed — an American veteran who spent nearly three years in a Russian prison – has filed a petition with the United Nations declaring Russia violated international law with his detention and poor treatment, he told CNN Tuesday.
Holding Russia accountable will “force Russia to end this practice for all Americans that they’re holding there,” including Griner and Paul Whelan, Reed told CNN.
Whelan, a US citizen and former Marine, was detained at a Moscow hotel in 2018 and arrested on espionage charges, which he has denied.
CNN has reached out to the UN and Russia’s Permanent Mission to the UN for comment on Reed’s petition.
In February, Brittney Griner was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.