**Key Sentences Extracted:**

1.

Prior to being detained in a Russian prison for 294 days, Brittney Griner was on top of the world.

Ms. Griner, a leading player with the Urals city of Yekaterinburg’s UMMC basketball team, was arrested on Feb. 17, before the war started, and charged with possession of a small quantity of hashish oil.

She was later sentenced to nine years in Russian prison.

Brittney Griner to make another court appearance at a hearing in Russia.

“Please do all you can to bring us home,” Griner wrote.

A prisoner exchange was proposed by the US in July.

He was being held in a US jail for stoking some of the world's worst conflicts, but was freed and flown to Russia on a private jet in exchange for Griner's freedom.

Russia frees US basketball star in swap with arms dealer Bout.

Brittney Griner is on a plane back to the United States.

In February, Griner re-signed with the Phoenix Mercury for a one-year deal.

She will make her 2023 season debut on the road on Friday, May 19 against the Los Angeles Sparks.

In fact, Griner has already been harassed this season when a conservative media personality confronted her and her teammates inside a Dallas airport in mid-June.

The Black lesbian feminist poet Audre Lorde once said that she wrote “for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves.”
14.

So I think she has that joy.

(reference to Griner’s joy upon release and return)
15.

It’s a shame that it had to get to rock bottom.

So I’m glad that they finally got it together and are going to allow us to do this.

(on the US government's effort)

These sentences cover the arc of Brittney Griner’s detention, the intersection of sports and politics, her experiences during incarceration, the political negotiations for her freedom, and her challenges adjusting back to public life post-release.

**Key Sentences Extracted:**

1.

Title:

Content: Foreign sports stars flee Russia as world shuns their teams

Darko Vojinovic/AP/File
Russia players react at the end of the 2019 Women's EuroBasket European Basketball Championship match between Russia and Sweden in Belgrade, Serbia, July 6, 2019.

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Less than a year ago, Russia’s domestic sports leagues, like their peers across Europe, flourished with a mix of foreign and domestic players.

What a difference a war makes.

Why We Wrote This

The Ukraine war’s ramifications may not be hitting the Russian public hard, but Russian sports are suffering as foreign players and organizations boycott them.

Russian basketball, hockey, and soccer teams have been excluded from international competition since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and star foreign players are dropping their contracts and leaving the country. U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner’s 9-year prison sentence on drug smuggling charges has not improved the atmosphere.

Russian athletes have been shut out of international sports before – from the Russian Revolution in 1917 until 1952 – and the effects were clear. “There was no way to compare our level” with that of other countries, says Nikolai Yeremenko, a leading sports journalist.

Some veteran Soviet athletes say Russia’s isolation should be taken as an opportunity to better develop Russian players. But Russian sports fans will be the biggest losers, as the quality of games drops in the absence of foreigners.

“Right now we have no foreign players in our club,” says Sergei Druzhinin, manager of the Metallurg ice hockey team in Magnitogorsk. “The level of our games ... will be dragged down.”

Less than a year ago, Russia’s domestic sports leagues, like their peers across Europe, flourished with a mix of foreign and domestic players.

What a difference a war makes.

Today, amid deepening Cold War-like tensions between the Kremlin and the West, and as WNBA star Brittney Griner faces a 9-year sentence in a Russian penal colony, Russian basketball, hockey, and soccer teams are finding themselves forced out of international competition. And many of the one-time “legionnaires” – foreign players – on whom they depend are dropping their contracts and leaving the country.

Why We Wrote This

The Ukraine war’s ramifications may not be hitting the Russian public hard, but Russian sports are suffering as foreign players and organizations boycott them.

The alienation of Russian athletes from global sports has been an ongoing saga for years, since massive doping allegations largely forced official Russia out of the Olympics. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February led most international sports federations to ban Russian teams from scheduled competitions.

But less well known is the fate of hundreds of foreign players who, like Ms. Griner, had brought their expertise to far-flung local Russian sports teams that had been developing reputations at both the national and European levels.

The war has brought all that to a grinding halt, and upended European championship hopes for Russian basketball and soccer teams. Many European and American players have decamped while the few who remain have been subjected to considerable opprobrium.

The exodus of foreign legionnaires has been the subject of considerable debate in the Russian sports media, with some arguing that it spells the end of Russia’s sports ambitions for a generation, while others claim it will give more opportunities to Russian players and boost domestic sports development.

“Not enough qualified players”

Ms. Griner, a leading player with the Urals city of Yekaterinburg’s UMMC basketball team, was arrested on Feb. 17, before the war started, and charged with possession of a small quantity of hashish oil. In August, she was sentenced to 9 years in prison, an exceedingly harsh judgement even by Russian standards, which has caused speculation that the Kremlin hopes to use her in a Cold-War-style prisoner exchange with the United States.

But her ordeal has added to the wartime chill that’s already driving foreign players out of Russia.

“Obviously if one of the best basketball players is sitting in prison, it’s going to have a very discouraging effect on all foreign players who might think of signing a contract in Russia,” says Eduard Sorokin, an independent sports expert.

“All efforts to create a situation that attracts players of the highest level to Russian sports teams have been undermined, and all the benefits ruined. It’s not to say that legal violations should be overlooked. She pleaded guilty, [but] she might have just been fined and justice satisfied with minimal punishment. Now the damage is done.”

In an extensive interview with the official RIA-Novosti agency, UMMC captain Yevgenia Belyakova, who went to Moscow to testify on Ms. Griner’s behalf, praised her as a “good person” and a “disciplined” player who did not intend to break any laws. She lamented the fact that all the team’s foreign players and its Spanish coach left in February after Ms. Griner was arrested and the team was excluded from the EuroLeague Women’s competition.

“Naturally, the situation with Brittney could not but affect our legionnaires,” she said. “[We were] a big and friendly family. We not only played together, but also spent a lot of time off the court. It’s no secret that our team was formed for the Euroleague, and victory in [the championship] was our main goal of the season.”

Evgenia Novozhenina/AP
WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner (background center) listens to a verdict in a courtroom in Khimki, Russia, just outside Moscow, Aug. 4, 2022.

A similar situation pervades other sports, including hockey, where Russian teams have long been seen as a spawning ground for the NHL. The Kontinental Hockey League, which includes several non-Russian clubs, saw teams in Latvia and Finland drop out in protest of the war, and many players have followed suit.

“There are not enough qualified players to fill all Russian hockey teams; we need foreign players,” says Sergei Druzhinin, manager of the Metallurg hockey team in the Urals city of Magnitogorsk. “Right now we have no foreign players in our club. They’ve all gone. It means the level of our games, both as spectacle and professional attainment, will be dragged down.”

Some see an opportunity

Russian soccer may be taking the worst hit of all, says Nikolai Yeremenko, editor of Sovetsky Sport, a leading sports daily. “Football [soccer] has suffered more than most other sports. The money earned by leading Russian teams in [European competition] was a serious support for club budgets. But now all the high-level foreign players have left.”

“FIFA [international soccer’s governing body] made this possible by changing the rules to allow foreign players to suspend their contracts [with Russian teams] without facing any legal consequences. As a result, teams cannot plan ahead,” he says. “A player can disappear and not face any punishment. It’s already clear that the level of Russian football has deteriorated. We can no longer compare our level with the European one.”

As of early August, 37 legionnaires had left the Russian Premier League, which includes 16 clubs, and 23 new foreign players have replaced them, according to the Moscow daily Sport Express. But most of those who have left were top-rated European players, and their replacements are lesser-known players from South America and Serbia.

“A year ago, the league was replenished with players from dozens of different countries, but now there is no such wide choice. In terms of newcomers, Brazil and Serbia are in the lead – countries that have always willingly sent footballers to Russia. The difference is that before they were one of many donors, and now they are almost the only ones,” the paper said.

Some Russians, such as Soviet-era basketball legend Stanislav Yeremin, argue that the crisis should be treated as an opportunity to develop Russian sports and forge new links with countries that will still compete with Russians.

“Look forward,” Mr. Yeremin told the Sport MK newspaper. “I don’t think that we will be in Europe for at least two or three years. Therefore, we need to turn to the Russian market, or try to look for opportunities for international competitions with those countries and clubs that could still play with us. If you close yourself in, then it will be difficult.”

Russian sports have been isolated before – excluded from international competition from the Russian Revolution in 1917 until 1952.  “There was no way to compare our level, and so we were left completely outside normal development of sports” says Mr. Yeremenko. “I don’t believe in any claims that this situation can work to our advantage. Progress is only possible when the strongest compete with the strongest. Sports can’t develop under sanctions.

“It’s very hard to say what we should do now. When you have the ideology of a besieged fortress, everything gets all mixed up.”

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Title:

Content: ‘She brings light’: Brittney Griner’s triumphant return to the WNBA

Prior to being detained in a Russian prison for 294 days, Brittney Griner was on top of the world.

The 32-year-old was coming off one of the best WNBA seasons of her career. She was the Most Valuable Player runner-up, averaging 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds for the Phoenix Mercury, who she led back to the WNBA finals for the first time since winning the title in 2014. Meanwhile, Griner was on her way to play for Russian club UMMC Ekaterinburg, who she had led to four EuroLeague titles since she started spending her WNBA off-seasons there in 2014.

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At the time of her arrest Griner was, according to the testimony of her Russian teammate Evgenia Belyakova, “the most beloved player in Russia.”

To become such a popular figure in both America and Russia is no easy task for a gay, Black woman. But Griner’s ascent was never easy. She was bullied relentlessly growing up, first for her size and later for her sexuality, becoming one of the first active athletes in professional North American sports to come out as gay, shortly after being drafted No 1 overall by the Mercury in 2013.

In her first game as a pro, the 6ft 9in Griner towered over her opponents, changing the perceptions of what a female basketball player was capable of when she set a WNBA record with two dunks in a game. Griner went on to win a WNBA title, two Olympic gold medals, and seven WNBA All-Star appearances, on pace to achieve a level of greatness few ever have in the women’s game, and being marketed accordingly.

In fact, Griner was the first openly gay athlete to be endorsed by Nike. And the WNBA used her at the center of its marketing, acknowledging that gay athletes and LGBTQ+ activists like Griner were good for business.

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So when it all came crashing down at a Moscow airport on 17 February 2022, when Griner was found with vape cartridges containing traces of hashish oil in her luggage, not only did her career come to a screeching halt, but the league that she had been bound to since 2013 lost some of its forward momentum, too. She was later sentenced to nine years in Russian prison.

As much as Griner tried to stay positive, and as much as the WNBA community tried to help, a cloud hung over the entire 2022 season – one that would not dissipate until Griner was released and returned to America.

“Last year, it felt as though we couldn’t play with joy … It felt bad for us to be happy or to celebrate things because the weight of BG’s wrongful detainment weighed over us,” says former Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard.

When the US negotiated a prisoner swap to secure Griner’s freedom last December, she almost immediately announced her intention to return to the WNBA in 2023, signing a one-year deal with the Mercury. But nobody knew what to expect from Griner, who had spent almost a year under arduous physical and mental conditions.

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But, against all odds, Griner appears to be back to her normal self, on and off the court.

Related: WNBA power lies with two superteams. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing

In her first WNBA game in 579 days, Griner had 18 points, six rebounds and four blocks in a loss to the Los Angeles Sparks. In her first home game a couple of days later, she hit just the seventh three-pointer of her career, yelling “I’m back!” to the crowd of 14,000 cheering fans.

“I appreciate everything a little more,” Griner said about being back in the league. “All the little, small moments that I used to just [think]: ‘Oh, I’m so tired, I don’t want to go to practice today. And, oh, this and that.’ That has changed, honestly. Just appreciating everything because tomorrow’s not guaranteed.”

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Griner is averaging 19.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 2.4 blocks on a career-high 61.8% shooting through her first nine games of the 2023 season. She is back to being the Mercury’s best player, dominating in the post over swarms of defenders and blocking everything that comes her way on the other end of the floor. After being an honorary All-Star selection last season, Griner was named an All-Star starter on Sunday.

But what may be even more impressive is the enthusiasm and spirit she has brought to the Mercury and the WNBA, constantly flashing her trademark smile, joking around at press conferences, and uplifting her teammates at every opportunity.

“We were all hoping that she was going to be OK coming back, and that she did not lose her light, and she really didn’t,” says Mercury forward Megan Gustafson, adding that Griner’s presence has transformed the locker room. “I think we were a little bit surprised, because anyone that goes through an experience like that – I mean, I couldn’t even imagine being the same person. But she really is and I’m just so proud of her and just the light that she brings again … It’s really just her light, her positivity that [has] shone through.”

Sandy Brondello, who coached Griner in Phoenix for eight seasons prior to moving on to New York, is also glowing about the player’s return to the WNBA. “It’s like sometimes we sweat having a bad game – she was in prison,” says Brondello. “She had to live in prison for such a long time. So I think she has that joy. Just go out there and play.”

Griner has brought a lot of attention to the WNBA, which was already growing rapidly. Not only is the league averaging almost 1,000 more fans a game in Griner’s return season, but its broadcasts have also hit record viewership numbers – up 49% from last season across ESPN networks.

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“I think that if you look at last season, there was something and someone missing in the WNBA and that was obviously Brittney Griner,” former WNBA MVP and Griner’s one-time UMMC Ekaterinburg teammate Breanna Stewart says. “So the ability to have her back here kind of makes our circle complete, because she is such a force and a presence on and off the court and her ability to kind of be so dominant and aggressive but also such a kind, caring person – everybody’s missed that.”

Griner’s on-court play cannot be separated from her political advocacy off it, especially in a league as socially active as the WNBA. And Griner’s imprisonment has forced the WNBA to reckon with its lackluster treatment of athletes in the past, forcing the league to improve pay and travel standards so that the Griner situation does not repeat itself.

After all, the primary reason that Griner was in Russia in the first place is because her salary at UMMC Ekaterinburg is over $1m compared to the $165,100 she will make this year in the WNBA. In fact, 67 of the league’s 144 players still played internationally last off-season despite Griner’s detainment. Doing so is a financial necessity rather than a choice for most of the world’s best female basketball players.

The incident also highlighted concerns about commercial travel for WNBA players, many of whom are gay, Black women who can be targets of abuse. In fact, Griner has already been harassed this season when a conservative media personality confronted her and her teammates inside a Dallas airport in mid-June.

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In the past, the league has argued that charter flights create an unfair competitive advantage for teams that can afford to pay for them, fining the New York Liberty $500,000 for chartering flights last season. But the WNBA has already made improvements this season, allowing private flights for back-to-back games and for all playoff games. And after the news of Griner’s harassment and the pressure that came from it, the league recently announced that teams are permitted to fly on a public chartering service called JSX for the rest of the season.

It’s a step in the right direction that may not have been possible if not for Griner – a singular force who is as easy to galvanize around because of her on-court performances as she is for her personality. The league still has a long way to go in regards to growing the game and improving standards for its athletes, but Griner’s return has undoubtedly expedited the process.

“It’s a shame that it had to get to rock bottom. Because I feel like waiting for something to happen and then making a change, you don’t know what that something’s gonna be,” Griner said. “We’ve all seen what can happen in this world. And when you play the ‘let’s wait and see game,’ you’re really playing with fire. You’re playing with people’s lives.

“So I’m glad that they finally got it together and are going to allow us to do this. It’s just a shame that it took so damn long.”

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Brittney Griner Involved In Possible Prisoner Swap With Russia

In an effort to free Brittney Griner, the pro basketball star detained in Russia, the Biden administration has offered to swap her for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout and send him back to Russia, Forbes has learned. Negotiations are in the early stages, according to a non-government source in a position to know.

Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and six-time WNBA all-star who also plays professionally in Russia, was arrested in Moscow Feb. 17 after customs police claimed they found vape cartridges with hash oil in her luggage. Bout, the so-called “Merchant of Death,” inspired Nicolas Cage’s gunrunner character in the 2005 film, “Lord of War.” He’s serving a 25-year sentence in federal prison since his 2011 conviction in New York federal court of conspiring to sell millions of dollars in weapons to FARC, the Colombian terror group.

The possibility of a Griner-Bout trade was reported on May 13 by Tass, Russia’s state-owned news agency, and confirmed for Forbes by the source. “Currently, talks are underway on exchanging Bout for Griner,” Tass reported, citing “a source in the Public Monitoring Commission.” A second Moscow-based news outlet, Gazeta.Ru, had earlier reported a Griner-Bout exchange was in the works.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department declined to comment. Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, who leads the interagency team that’s working for Griner’s release, had no comment. The same was true for Bout’s New York attorney, Steve Zissou. Lindsay Kagawa Colas, Griner’s California agent, did not respond to requests for comment.

Despite the anti-Russian fervor in Washington sparked by President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war in Ukraine, the White House a month ago struck a deal to free Trevor Reed, a former Marine who had been held in a Russian prison for two years for allegedly attacking a Moscow police officer. In exchange, President Joe Biden commuted the sentence of Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was serving 20 years for conspiring to import $100 million in cocaine.

Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who’d been instrumental in Reed’s release, is also working on behalf of Griner’s family at their request, according to Mickey Bergman, vice president of the Richardson Center. He’s also working for the release of Paul Whelan, a former Marine detained in Moscow since 2018 on espionage charges. “The situation (as you might imagine) is sensitive,” Bergman said, declining to comment further.

Bout was a translator in the Soviet army before starting an air-freight company that transported tens of millions of arms he supplied during his heyday in the 1990s and early 2000s to sanctioned militias and rebels in conflicts throughout Africa and Asia. Soft-spoken, erudite, fluent in seven languages with an IQ of 170, Bout seemed more like a university professor than the world’s most notorious illegal arms trafficker. His 2008 arrest in Bangkok was part of a sting operation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

The U.S. government opposes the practice of wrongful detention as a bargaining chip because it represents a threat to the safety of everyone traveling, working and living abroad, a State Department official told Forbes. That disdain, however, didn’t stop the department from helping arrange the release of Reed and others.

Griner, 31, is by far the most high profile of the more than a dozen Americans detained by Russia in the last decade. That puts more pressure on the State Department, which is acutely aware that as a Black lesbian, Griner could be a target of Putin’s exclusionary politics. Since the maximum base salary in the WNBA is $228,094 — male stars can earn as much as Steph Curry’s $45 million annually — Griner and many other American women play during the WNBA off-season in Russia, where they can bring home more than $1 million. Griner has played several years for the team in Ekaterinburg.

Griner’s U.S. supporters were at first mostly silent over her plight. The government convinced them that Russia might deport her quickly only if her case did not become front-page news. Once it became clear that Russia planned to hold her, the State Department changed her status to “wrongfully detained,” opening the door to swap negotiations. Briner’s U.S. supporters have spoken out forcefully against her imprisonment.

One lingering question is whether a deal to swap Bout for Griner will get Biden’s approval. Given the president’s declaration that Putin is a “war criminal,” some on Griner’s team worry he might hesitate before freeing an infamous Russian arms trafficker.

“There’s a problem with releasing a convicted arms trafficker for Griner, whose drug possession would probably only be a fine in the U.S.,” says Shira Scheindlin, the retired federal judge who presided over the Bout trial and was required to sentence him to the 25-year mandatory minimum. “It would be better if Bout – who has already served too much time in my opinion – was exchanged for both Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan. Then there would be some moral equivalency about which few could complain.”

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Brittney Griner to make another court appearance at a hearing in Russia.

Title:

Content: Brittney Griner to make another court appearance at a hearing in Russia

The content originally appeared on: CNN

CNN

WNBA star Brittney Griner is expected to make another court appearance Thursday, a week after she pleaded guilty to drug charges at a Russian court near Moscow.

The two-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist was arrested February 17 at a Moscow airport, a week before Russia invaded Ukraine. 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 hearing comes as many in the WNBA, along with other athletes, coaches and politicians, have called for Griner’s release over fears she is being used as a political pawn amid the war in Ukraine. The US State Department has classified Griner as wrongfully detained.

Griner also wrote a letter to President Joe Biden in which she said she fears she will be detained in Russia indefinitely and pleaded for the President not to forget about her or other American detainees.

“I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don’t forget about me and the other American Detainees. Please do all you can to bring us home,” Griner wrote. “I voted for the first time in 2020 and I voted for you. I believe in you. I still have so much good to do with my freedom that you can help restore.”

It is unclear if the hearing on Thursday will lead to a verdict or if the trial could drag into additional hearings. Griner admitted guilt in the last hearing but told the court that she had not intended to commit a crime, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

During Thursday’s hearing, the court could force the defense to expand further on her intention, or they could move on to sentencing her, US officials said.

Griner’s lawyers expect the court to take into account the 31-year-old athlete’s guilty plea and hope for leniency, Alexander Boykov and Maria Blagovolina told journalists last week.

Samples taken from Griner did not show any traces of drugs, Boykov added. “She was clean, and she was tested,” the lawyer said.

Griner’s legal team said it was her decision to plead guilty, adding that she “sets an example of being brave.”

“She decided to take full responsibility for her actions as she knows that she is a role model for many people,” their statement read.

“Considering the nature of her case, the insignificant amount of the substance and BG’s personality and history of positive contributions to global and Russian sport, the defense hopes that the plea will be considered by the court as a mitigating factor and there will be no severe sentence.”

Her lawyers said they expect the trial to end around the beginning of the August.

CNN’s Kylie Atwood, Rosa Flores, Jacqueline Rose, Alexa Miranda, Abby Phillip, Dakin Andone and Alaa Elassar contributed to this report.

“Please do all you can to bring us home,” Griner wrote.

Title:

Content: Global RiskNews Briefs

Russia frees US basketball star in swap with arms dealer Bout

The US and Russia have exchanged US basketball star Brittney Griner for arms dealer Viktor Bout in a prison swap. The arms dealer had been held in an American prison for 12 years. Brittney Griner is on a plane back to the United States.

Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February for possessing cannabis oil and was sent to a penal colony last month. A prisoner exchange was proposed by the US in July. As part of the prisoner exchange, US President Joe Biden signed the order to release Bout, commuting his 25 year jail term.

Read More: Russia frees US basketball star in swap with arms dealer Bout

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Title:

Content: 'What about the Merchant of Death?': Drug-smuggling WNBA star Brittney Griner is heckled about Russian prisoner swap by conservative influencer at DFW airport and asked if she still wants to boycott America

  • Brittney Griner was convicted of drug smuggling in Russia and imprisoned
  • She was released in controversial swap, but reception has not been all positive
  • DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news

Brittney Griner has been heckled about a prisoner swap which saw a notorious arms dealer handed over to Russia so she could be freed after smuggling weed into Moscow.

The WNBA star, 32, was confronted by conservative YouTube star Alex Stein at Dallas Fort-Worth Airport Saturday.

Stein said:  'Hey Britt, do you still wanna... do you still wanna boycott America?

'What about the Merchant of Death, Brittney?'

Griner did not appear to respond to the heckling, although a woman in her group could be heard calling Stein a 'weirdo.' He was held back from the controversial star by a male security guard.

Stein's questions referred to Griner's previous assertion that sports players should not have to stand for the national anthem ahead of games. She stopped doing so herself in 2020, following George Floyd's murder, but has since changed her mind and resumed doing so.

The 'Merchant of Death' remark referred to arms dealer Viktor Bout. He was being held in a US jail for stoking some of the world's worst conflicts, but was freed and flown to Russia on a private jet in exchange for Griner's freedom.

Griner (center) could be seen walking through the airport with her Phoenix Mercury team

A conservative influencer heckled WNBA star Brittney Griner at Dallas Airport on Saturday

Griner was busted with weed cartridges at Moscow airport in February 2022, while traveling to Russia to play for a women's basketball team there.

Marijuana is totally-illegal in Russia, with Griner subsequently convicted of drug smuggling in October 2022. She claims she had authorization to take the drug medicinally in her native Arizona.

The sportswoman was arrested just before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, and news of her imprisonment did not emerge until the following month.

Griner was sentenced to spend nine years in a prison colony, but was freed in December after the Biden administration agreed to release Bout.

Her release sparked mixed reactions. Many said she should never have been jailed for carrying a drug she was legally entitled to use at home.

But critics said Griner should have been more cautious and respectful of Russian laws, and that she should have been well aware of the harsh penalties she'd face for breaking statutes there.

The WNBA and the her team - Phoenix Mercury - are reviewing the incident, which occurred as the team travelled home from their latest game in Dallas on Saturday.

Griner had played hours earlier in the WNBA, and the team were heading home on Saturday

Griner is pictured putting her bag through a scanner after she was approached by a sniffer dog at Moscow airport in February 2022

In a statement on Saturday, the league said it was looking into the team's run-in with a 'social media figure' whose 'actions were inappropriate and unfortunate.'

'The safety of Brittney Griner and all WNBA players is our top priority,' the league said, without specifying what exactly happened.

Griner and her supporters had lobbied for charter flights after she returned from detainment in Russia, saying the highly publicized case compromised her and others' safety. The league granted Griner permission to book her own charter flights to road games.

Mercury player Brianna Turner said in a tweet people at the airport followed the team with cameras 'saying wild remarks.'

Griner spent nearly 10 months in a Russian penal colony for drug smuggling last year

She was involved in a high-profile prisoner swap with 'Merchant of Death' Viktor Bout (above)

'Excessive harassment,' Turner tweeted. 'Our team nervously huddled in a corner unsure how to move about. We demand better.'

The WNBA has added charter flights for the playoffs this season, but only a handful of back-to-back regular season games were scheduled for such flights.

WNBA teams have flown commercially during the regular season since the league´s inception in 1997. The league typically doesn't allow teams to charter because it could create a competitive advantage for teams who can afford to pay for them.

'Prior to the season, the WNBA worked together with the Phoenix Mercury and BG's team to ensure her safety during her travel, which included charter flights for WNBA games and assigned security personnel with her at all times,' the league's statement reads. 'We remain steadfastly committed to the highest standards of security for players.'

Griner is pictured stepping back onto US soil after arriving at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas

The outside of the IK-2 penal colony in the town of Yavas in Mordovia, where Griner was held

The WNBA players' union issued a statement Saturday, saying the situation at the airport makes it 'quite clear that the matter of charter travel is NOT a 'competitive advantage' issue.'

'What BG and all of her PHX teammates experienced today was a calculated confrontation that left them feeling very unsafe,' the WNBPA statement reads. 'Everyone who was paying attention knew this would happen.'

The Mercury released a statement saying the team will be working with the league on next steps.

'We are committed to our support of BG and advocating for all American hostages abroad,' the team statement reads. 'We will continue our support of marginalized communities and fighting the kind of hate that targeted us today. No one, regardless of identity, should ever fear for their safety.'

Moment Brittney Griner is HECKLED over drug smuggling prisoner swap at Dallas airport

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Russia frees US basketball star in swap with arms dealer Bout.

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Content: Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
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Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude

Brittney Griner Is Ready to Tell Her ‘Unfathomable’ Story in New Memoir

The two-time Olympic gold medalist will finally tell the story of her Russian detainment.

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Ahead of her return to the WNBA, Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner has confirmed that she will tell the true story behind her wrongful detainment in Russia. According to The Associated Press, on Tuesday, the eight-time all-star announced that she is working on a memoir about her imprisonment. It is currently scheduled for release in spring 2024.

In February 2022, Griner was stopped in a Moscow airport when the police said they found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. The WNBA champion was charged with drug smuggling and possession. After a short trial, the basketball star was found guilty and sentenced to nine years in prison. Just as she was beginning her sentence in a labor camp, in December 2022 the U.S. and Russia conducted a prisoner exchange, with Griner coming home, while convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout was released into Russian custody.

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“That day (in February) was the beginning of an unfathomable period in my life which only now am I ready to share,” Griner said in a statement released by Alfred A. Knopf.

When she was arrested, Griner was headed back to Russia to join UMMC Ekaterinburg, the professional team she played for there. Most top WNBA stars play overseas the rest of the year, as they don’t earn much money competing in the United States.

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“The primary reason I traveled back to Russia for work that day was because I wanted to make my wife, family, and teammates proud,” she said. “After an incredibly challenging 10 months in detainment, I am grateful to have been rescued and to be home. Readers will hear my story and understand why I’m so thankful for the outpouring of support from people across the world.”

The two-time Olympic gold medalist went on to say that she hopes “her book would raise awareness of other Americans detained overseas.” In December 2022, the Baylor alum announced on Instagram that she planned to play during the upcoming season, writing, “I also want to make one thing very clear: I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season, and in doing so, I look forward to being able to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in person soon.”

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In February, Griner re-signed with the Phoenix Mercury for a one-year deal. She will make her 2023 season debut on the road on Friday, May 19 against the Los Angeles Sparks.

The Black lesbian feminist poet Audre Lorde once said that she wrote “for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves.”
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Content: Last Updated on July 4, 2022 by BVN

S. E. Williams |

The Black lesbian feminist poet Audre Lorde once said that she wrote “for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves.”

Lorde further stated, “We’ve been taught that silence would save us, but it won’t.”

However, in the decades since Lorde penned those words many Black lesbians are no longer silent. Yet, we must ask the question, how safe are Black lesbians today? Perhaps we should ask WNBA basketball star, Brittney Griner, who is among the growing number of prominent Black lesbians in America living out loud.

Most have battle scar evidence of their struggle to find a peaceful life in a world that in many ways, still considers who they are and who they love an aberration.  And, although disrespect and dangers continue to lurk for members of the LGBTQ+ community in America, it is still safer to live here than in many other places in the world.

Unfortunately for Griner, however, she is now trapped in a country, where racism against Blacks is normalized and where the government is working to ostracize members of the LGBTQ+ community. But how different is this really from many places in America today.

Despite the spread of anti-gay sentiments in Russia and right leaning countries across Europe, Griner plays basketball internationally during the WNBA’s off season. This despite writing about her “coming out” in her 2017 autobiography, “In My Skin: My Life On and Off the Basketball Court,” which helped make her one of the most recognizable lesbians in the world.

Racism and Homophobia in Russia

For those who have not followed Griner’s fate in recent months, she was arrested on drug charges in Russia on February 17. Her arrest came just days after a Russian court suspended a lawsuit (February 11) intended to shut down its LGBT Network—the country’s most powerful gay rights organization—for  purportedly spreading gay views, which of course, could farcically include anything from a view out one’s window of gay people walking down the street, to realistically include gay people advocating for the same rights to live and love as they choose like any other Russian.

Identifying as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender or queer has been legal in Russia since 1993 (how enlightened) however in 2013 under Vladimir Putin’s leadership, the nation adopted what’s been called the “gay propaganda” law that made it illegal to speak words related to the LGBTQ+ community around minors.

Racism and homophobia in America

Before Russia took such action, America was already contriving to do the same.

There has been much criticism recently of Florida’s recently enacted Parental Rights in Education Bill signed into law in April that appeared to follow Russia’s lead. But, it was revealed by The Center for Media and Democracy (Center), a nonprofit that tracks the work of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), that the Parental Rights Amendment was actually listed under its “Education Task Force and included in the 1995 ALEC Sourcebook of American State Legislation.

Also, according to the Center, although ALEC has tried to distance itself from this controversial legislation since 2011, it is difficult to identify any efforts to advocate against the current movement to codify this legislative into law across the country.

ALEC is a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives that drafts models of legislation for distribution and adoption by conservative legislatures around the country and for decades has worked to pull America toward extremism.

Sadly, Florida’s recent law is just the tip of the iceberg. Anti LGBTQ+ toxicity is spreading quickly in America. Red states from Ohio to Texas to Indiana to Colorado to Wyoming to South Dakota, Iowa, Utah and beyond   have pushed to pass similar bills. In some instances state’s were only prevented from doing so by Democratic legislators who held the line against Republican, anti-gay governors seeking to work their will.

As we watch and point with deserved derision and criticism, the unfolding fate of Griner in Russia, Time magazine provided a chilling reminder in mid-May, of what is possible in America regarding the welfare of LGBTQ+ citizens. It recalled the successful work of  Florida’s Johns Committee—a state legislative committee that launched an LGBTQ+ purge in the late 1950s rooted in racism, homophobia, and anti-communism.

Beginning in 1957 and continuing through 1963 the Florida legislative committee persecuted and intimidated those suspected of being gay at state universities as part of the state’s resistance to federally sanctioned school desegregation in response to the 1954 Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court decision.

According to Time, the committee’s original goal was to uncover all communists believed to be behind desegregation. Not surprisingly since it was based on a false premise, that mission failed. This subsequently compelled the committee to find another group to scapegoat—gays and lesbians. This eventually led to a report popularly known as “The Purple Pamphlet”( because of its sensational and explicit content), that highlighted “the extent of infiltration into agencies supported by state funds by practicing homosexuals.”

By1965, hundreds of Floridians were prosecuted and charged because of their sexuality. Frighteningly, not unlike the experiences of Griner in Russia today, Florida interrogations were reportedly conducted in privacy and even worse, the accused were denied legal counsel.

A need to raise our collective voices

Today, as Griner languishes in a Russian prison—most assuredly because she is Black and a lesbian who may or may not have committed a minor drug infraction in a racist, homophobic country —,there are legitimate concerns about her safety.  As her detention days turn into weeks and weeks into months, there is little doubt it is up to all of us, Black women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, those who support and validate our right to exist and every American committed to human rights to pressure the federal government to bring her home. We must raise our collective voices to keep Griner’s freedom at the forefront of America’s political consciousness.

Audre Lorde lamented about the fate of Black lesbians in her seminal work the Black Unicorn where she noted “’The black unicorn was mistaken for a shadow or symbol and taken through a cold country…, ” She further spoke to the power of Black women/lesbian strength and determination to live their truth stating,  “the Black unicorn is unrelenting.” I pray this perceived power is enough to sustain Griner (her wife and loved ones) in the days ahead.

In concluding her poem Lorde also reminded all of us that although the metaphorical Black unicorn is empowered, as we are witnessing today decades after Lorde put pen to paper on this issue, as it relates to Griner, “the Black unicorn is not free.”

Raise your voice to advocate for Griner’s freedom by calling the U.S. Department of State at 1-202-647-4000 and the White House at 202-456-1111 to advocate for Griner’s release. Remember, “Silence is complicity.”

Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.

S.E. Williams

Stephanie Williams is executive editor of the IE Voice and Black Voice News. A longtime champion for civil rights and justice in all its forms, she is also an advocate for government transparency and committed to ferreting out and exposing government corruption. Stephanie has received awards for her investigative reporting and for her weekly column, Keeping it Real. Contact Stephanie with tips, comments. or concerns at myopinion@ievoice.com.

So I think she has that joy.

(reference to Griner’s joy upon release and return)
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(on the US government's effort)

These sentences cover the arc of Brittney Griner’s detention, the intersection of sports and politics, her experiences during incarceration, the political negotiations for her freedom, and her challenges adjusting back to public life post-release.