Detained for more than a month in Russia, US basketball star Brittney Griner has become an unlikely victim of the war in Ukraine — and the best way to free her remains a crucial question.
Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA champion, was detained in a Moscow airport on Feb. 17 on charges of carrying vape cartridges that contained cannabis oil in her luggage. She was immediately placed in a detention center, and on Thursday, a Russian court extended her arrest until May 19.
The 31-year-old — one of few women who can “dunk” a ball and considered one of the best players in the world — faces up to 10 years in prison.
Photo: AP
Griner was in Russia to play club basketball before the US season resumed, a common practice for US players, who can earn much higher salaries in foreign leagues than on domestic teams.
Griner’s detention was not made public until March 5 — 15 days after her official arrest.
The arrest came as relations between Moscow and the West hit rock bottom over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but it was greeted with a silence that seems deliberate.
Probably anxious not to cause drama in the midst of skyrocketing international tensions, USA Basketball, which oversees the Olympic teams, wrote on Twitter that it was “aware of and closely monitoring the legal situation facing Brittney Griner in Russia.”
Griner’s wife Cherelle Griner, who usually floods social media with pictures of her spouse, asked supporters to “please honor our privacy as we continue to work on getting my wife home safely.”
The same strategy could be seen in Washington, where there was fear the player could become a pawn in the Ukraine conflict.
“For any American citizen held, we typically do not get into specifics because that is not constructive to bringing people home,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said of the government’s silence on the issue.
However, Washington did step up its push for consular access to Brittney Griner on Friday: The US Department of State issued a statement demanding access to her.
“We are closely engaged on this case and in frequent contact with Brittney Griner’s legal team. We insist the Russian government provide consular access to all US citizen detainees in Russia, including those in pretrial detention, as Brittney Griner is,” the department said.
“We have repeatedly asked for consular access to these detainees and have consistently been denied access,” it added.
Russian media has said that Brittney Griner has not complained about her living conditions, although there is one small problem: The bed in her cell is far too small for her 2.06m frame.
More than a month after her arrest, others have opted for another strategy to try and win her release.
In a letter to US President Joe Biden dated March 10, two members of the US Congress urged the him to “look Putin in the eyes and send a clear message to the Kremlin that America will not tolerate Putin using Americans as his pawn during this treacherous and bleak moment in world history.”
This campaign has also won over LGBT circles, concerned about the fate of the openly lesbian player in Russia, where violence against homosexual people is common.
Former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton has also spoken out, calling on social media to “Free Brittney.”
The message was a nod to the #FreeBritney campaign, launched to “free” popstar Britney Spears from her 13-year conservatorship.
Additional reporting AP
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