Brittney Griner, a US basketball star, was arrested in Russia in 2022 for marijuana possession and later freed in a prisoner swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Brittney Griner was arrested at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport on February 17, 2022, on drug smuggling charges.

Brittney Griner was detained in Russia in 2022 for carrying e-cigarette cartridges containing cannabis oil.

Brittney Griner was released from Russian prison in December 2022 as part of a prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia.

The Biden administration determined that Brittney Griner was wrongfully detained in Russia.

Brittney Griner was arrested in Russia for possessing cannabis oil in an electronic cigarette case, which led to her detention and subsequent legal proceedings.

Brittney Griner played for UMMC Ekaterinburg in the Russian league since 2015.

Brittney Griner was detained in Russia after hashish oil was found in her luggage at a Moscow airport.

Brittney Griner plays for the Phoenix Mercury.

Viktor Bout was serving a 25-year sentence in the US for conspiring to kill US citizens and aiding a terrorist organisation before being released in exchange for Brittney Griner.

Brittney Griner was detained in Moscow, Russia, for allegedly possessing cannabis oil.

Brittney Griner is 32 years old.

Brittney Griner was detained in Russia for possessing e-cigarette cartridges containing cannabis oil.

Brittney Griner faced a maximum prison sentence of 10 years for smuggling drugs into Russia.

The WNBA and the Mercury have announced their support for Brittney Griner, prioritizing her safe return to the United States.

A Russian diplomat has expressed that there is always a possibility for a prisoner swap, which could potentially lead to the release of Brittney Griner.

Brittney Griner is advocating for the release of Paul Whelan and other wrongfully detained Americans after her own release from a Russian prison.

Trevor Reed, an American citizen, was released from Russia as part of a prisoner swap deal.

Brittney Griner, a US basketball star, was arrested in Russia in 2022 for marijuana possession and later freed in a prisoner swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout.

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Content: Brittney Griner freed from Russian prison in exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout

The US and Russia have exchanged jailed US basketball star Brittney Griner for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, once nicknamed “the Merchant of Death,” officials said.

The swap was confirmed by US officials with direct knowledge of the negotiations ahead of an expected White House announcement, the Associated Press reports.

Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist whose months-long imprisonment on drug charges brought unprecedented attention to the population of wrongful detainees.

She was arrested in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport after vape canisters containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage - but she maintained it was an honest mistake.

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris confirmed on Thursday morning they had already spoken by phone with Griner and she is said to have been in good spirits.

In a celebratory tweet, Mr Biden said Griner, a native of Houston, Texas, is on a plane home and is safe.

The Russian foreign ministry said it traded Griner for Russian citizen Viktor Bout, a former Soviet Army lieutenant colonel whom the US Justice Department once described as one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers.

Bout, whose exploits inspired a Hollywood movie, was serving a 25-year sentence on charges that he conspired to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons that US officials said were to be used against Americans.

The deal, the second such exchange in eight months with Russia, procured the release of the most prominent American detained abroad.

The dramatic high-level prisoner exchange, however, did not include the release of Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive jailed in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges.

Mr Whelan's family and the US government say the accusations against him are baseless. He was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison.

Griner pleaded guilty in July, though still faced trial because admitting guilt in Russia’s judicial system does not automatically end a case. She acknowledged in court she possessed the canisters, but said she had no criminal intent and said their presence in her luggage was due to hasty packing.

Her status as an openly gay Black woman, locked up in a country where authorities have been hostile to the LBGTQ community, infused racial and gender dynamics into the picture and made each development a matter of global importance.

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Brittney Griner was arrested at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport on February 17, 2022, on drug smuggling charges.

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A court in Moscow has extended the detention of WNBA player Brittney Griner, according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS

Griner, 31, was detained at a Moscow airport on Feb. 17 and arrested on drug smuggling charges. Despite being one of the WNBA’s most recognizable athletes, the basketball player’s detainment in Russia thus far has had some refer to her as a political hostage, due to it preceding Russia’s increased tensions with the United States over the invasion of Ukraine.

As MADAMENOIRE previously reported, Russian authorities claim the basketball star’s luggage contained vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis.

CNN noted the situation’s more recent development and that according to TASS “The court granted the request of the investigation and extended the period of detention of the U.S. citizen Griner until May 19.”

Tom Firestone, a former U.S. Justice Department legal resident advisor to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, shared with ESPN that delay for more investigation time in Griner’s case is standard in Russia and that the player could be held without trial anywhere from 12-18 months.

If found guilty, the Phoenix Mercury player faces up to 10 years in Russian prison.

While the situation may seem bleak, Griner has received tons of support from those anticipating her safe return.

A Change.org petition created by sports writer Tamryn Spruill now has 64,192 signatures.

On March 7, Griner’s wife Cherelle penned a message on social media to the basketball player that read,” We love you babe! People say ‘stay busy.’ Yet, there’s not a task in this world that could keep any of us from worrying about you. My heart, our hearts, are all skipping beats every day that goes by. I miss your voice. I miss your presence. You’re our person! There are no words to express this pain. I’m hurting, we’re hurting. We await the day to love on you as a family ♥.”

We’ll keep you updated as this story progresses.

RELATED CONTENT: “Freeing Brittney Griner From Russian Detainment Could Be A ‘Very Difficult’ Task”

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Brittney Griner was detained in Russia in 2022 for carrying e-cigarette cartridges containing cannabis oil.

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WNBA Star Detained in Russia for 130 Days 7 / 1 Trial
Olympic gold medalist and WNBA Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February on suspicion of carrying e-cigarette cartridges containing cannabis oil, shortly after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and has been detained in Russia for months.
Griena appeared briefly through the courthouse during a closed preliminary court hearing on the 27th; her legal team revealed to the media that the judge had ordered Griena to be detained during the trial.
Her lawyer, Alexander Boikov, said the next hearing was scheduled for July 1, when the trial would officially begin.
Griena, handcuffed and escorted by four security guards and a police dog, did not answer reporters' questions during her brief appearance.
She has been held in Russian custody for 130 days, and her detention has been extended several times, and her request to return to her country of detention has been denied.
At the hearing on the 27th, no US embassy officials were seen, and the embassy representative said that the US was told that the hearing was a "closed executive meeting" and that embassy personnel were not allowed to attend.
The embassy stated that U.S. officials planned to attend the formal trial.
She was arrested on February 17 and faces criminal charges of smuggling drugs into Russia, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years if convicted.
Since few details of her detention have been made public, it has sparked speculation that the Russians are trying to use her as a bargaining chip.
There is news that Russia wants to exchange Gerina for Viktor Bout, an arms dealer known as the "merchant of death," who is currently in U.S. custody.
Russian state media TASS reported on the exchange between Gretina and Bout, noting that an official source had confirmed the discussions.
Like many WNBA players, she played in overseas leagues during the off-season in the United States to earn more money, and in recent years she played for the Russian league UMMC Ekaterinburg.
Gerina ’ s current dangerous situation has caused much concern and concern in the United States, with some worried that a public discussion of the case and a strong demand for her release could make her a more advantageous bargaining chip for Russia.
More than a dozen human rights groups recently wrote to President Biden urging him to urgently address the case.
In early May, the Biden administration announced that Gerina had been wrongly detained by the Russian government, signaling that the United States would actively seek her release and return home.
“The Presidential Envoy ’ s Office of Hostage Affairs will lead an interdepartmental team to secure Griena ’ s release, ” the State Department said.
The Russian Embassy, Biden.
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The average price of electric vehicles is 22% more expensive than last year.
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The United States intends to provide more medium and long-range missiles to Russia … NATO response force expanded by 7 times
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Brittney Griner was released from Russian prison in December 2022 as part of a prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia.

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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 Biden administration determined that Brittney Griner was wrongfully detained in Russia.

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US officials: Brittney Griner considered wrongfully detained

By ERIC TUCKER and MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has determined WNBA star Brittney Griner is being wrongfully detained in Russia, meaning the U.S. will more aggressively work to secure her release while the legal case against her plays out. That’s according to two U.S. officials who spoke Tuesday to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Griner was detained at an airport in February after Russian authorities said a search of her bag revealed vape cartridges containing traces of cannabis oil. U.S. officials previously stopped short of classifying the Phoenix Mercury player as wrongfully detained. The president of the WNBA players’ union says it’s time for Griner to “come home.”

The Associated Press

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Brittney Griner was arrested in Russia for possessing cannabis oil in an electronic cigarette case, which led to her detention and subsequent legal proceedings.

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Content: Greiner Appears in Court: No intention to smuggle drugs into Russia
U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner said she had no intention of smuggling drugs into Russia, adding that although the United States had warned her not to come, she was determined not to let her Russian team down.
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A two-time Olympic gold medalist who won the U.S. women ’ s professional basketball (WNBA) championship and had previously played in Russia, she was detained in February just days before Moscow launched its assault on Ukraine.
She was charged with drug smuggling in possession of an electronic cigarette case containing cannabis oil and appeared in court in Khimki, a suburb of Moscow.
She said in court today that she still did not understand how the cigarette case was placed in her bag.
"I didn't think or plan to bring banned substances into Russia," said Mr. Greiner, who was wearing a WNBA Phoenix Mercury T-shirt and black basketball pants.
She added, “I didn ’ t mean to violate Russian law, ” adding that she was“ very hasty in packing. ”
She added that she did not intend to use the banned substances in Russia: "I will not do anything to harm my team."

Brittney Griner played for UMMC Ekaterinburg in the Russian league since 2015.

Brittney Griner was detained in Russia after hashish oil was found in her luggage at a Moscow airport.

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Content: Brittney Griner: American women’s basketball superstar detained in Russia

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Brittney Griner, one of America’s most decorated women’s basketball players, has been detained by the Russian Federal Customs Service after it said it discovered vape cartridges that contained hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow.

The Customs Service confirmed in a statement issued on Saturday that the detainee in an incident last month at Sheremetyevo airport was a professional basketball player who played in the Women’s National Basketball Association and had also won two Olympic gold medals with the United States, but did not release the player’s name.

Related: Russia’s NHL hero Alex Ovechkin has a rare chance to hit Putin where it hurts

Russia’s state-run Tass news agency identified the player as Griner, a seven-time All-Star center with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury who helped lead Team USA to gold at the Rio and Tokyo Olympic Games, citing a law enforcement source.

According to the Customs Service statement, drug-sniffing dogs in the airport’s customs area indicated the possible presence of narcotic drugs in the player’s carry-on baggage following her arrival on a flight from New York. A subsequent search of the luggage led to the discovery of the cartridges, a criminal violation under Russian law that carries a sentence of five to 10 years.

The Customs Service also released a video on Saturday in which the airport security services are seen going through the luggage of a passenger identified as Griner.

In a statement to the Guardian, Griner’s agent Lindsay Colas said: “We are aware of the situation with Brittney Griner in Russia and are in close contact with her, her legal representation in Russia, her family, her teams, and the WNBA and NBA.

“As this is an ongoing legal matter, we are not able to comment further on the specifics of her case but can confirm that as we work to get her home, her mental and physical health remain our primary concern.”

The WNBA said in a release that Griner has the league’s “full support” and “our main priority is her swift and safe return to the United States”.

The Mercury echoed those sentiments in a statement issued later Saturday, saying they were “in constant contact” with Griner’s family and their main concern was the player’s safe return.

The 31-year-old Griner, who led Phoenix to the franchise’s third ever title in 2014 and a surprise return to the WNBA finals in October, has also played for UMMC Ekaterinburg during the offseason since 2015, helping the Russian club to three domestic titles and EuroLeague Women championships in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2021.

Nearly 90 of the WNBA’s 144 rostered players have spent time playing overseas during this offseason, where the earnings from their foreign clubs often dwarf what they make in the United States. Griner’s annual salary with UMMC of more than $1m per year is roughly quadruple the WNBA’s league maximum of about $228,000.

It is unclear how long Griner has been detained as Saturday’s statement said only that her arrest took place some time in February. She last played for UMMC on 29 January before the league took a two-week international break for Fiba World Cup qualifying and has been inactive on social media since 5 Feburary.

News of Griner being detained comes as Russian forces continue to bomb civilian targets on the 10th day of its invasion of Ukraine and amid heightened tensions between Moscow and the rest of the world. The US president, Joe Biden, has condemned the invasion of Ukraine and pushed a raft of sanctions with other world leaders against Moscow, which he says have left Putin isolated.

On Saturday, the US state department urged US citizens to leave Russia immediately, re-issuing its travel advisory.

Earlier Saturday, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, held an hour-long video call with United States senators in which he called for more support to defend his country from Russia’s invasion.

Rick Scott, a Republican, called for stronger measures against both Russia and its ally Belarus, tweeting that the US should take “EVERY action to destroy their economies”.

Griner is not the first US citizen to have been held in custody by Russian authorities as tensions between the countries have soared, prompting accusations by American officials that Moscow is using the detentions as bargaining chips for a potential prisoner exchange.

In January, Russian officials announced that US teacher Marc Fogel was earlier arrested in a Moscow airport with marijuana and cannabis, accusing the teacher of smuggling drugs into Russia and distributing them among students on a “large scale”.

That revelation followed the detention of two US Marines in separate incidents: Trevor Reed, who was charged with attacking two Russian police officers in a drunken brawl, and Paul Whelan, who was jailed after being convicted on espionage charges.

John Sipher, a national security analyst and veteran of the CIA’s clandestine service, pointed to the “decimated” state of the US embassy in Russia as a complicating factor in Griner’s case.

“There’s been a number of tit-for-tat expulsions over spy cases and the ambassador has been kicked out, so the embassy is under quite a bit of pressure with this crisis,” Sipher said Saturday in an interview on MSNBC. “I think it’s important to publicize her case because that’s the best thing that keeps her safe in this situation, because Russians have a tendency of not treating people very well who are in their custody.”

Griner, a 6ft 9in post player whose nose for the basket is matched only by her shot-blocking prowess, has played her entire nine-year WNBA career with the Mercury after an extraordinary four-year stint at Baylor University, where she led the Bears to an undefeated season and a national championship in 2012. She remains the only NCAA basketball player in history, male or female, to record 2,000 points and 500 blocked shots.

She has also been a trailblazer off the court in her own self-effacing style. Griner matter-of-factly acknowledged that she was a lesbian only days after Phoenix made her the No 1 overall pick in the 2013 WNBA draft – becoming one of the few out athletes in American sports at the time and arguably the most prominent – and later revealed that she had been silenced about her sexuality by her college coach over fears that it would hurt recruiting. (The coach did not deny the claim, saying that she was unable to respond specifically due to privacy concerns.)

One of only 11 players to have won NCAA, WNBA, EuroLeague and Olympic titles, Griner is widely regarded as one of the most dominant players of her or any generation.

Brittney Griner plays for the Phoenix Mercury.

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Brittney Griner returns, Dallas Wings set to face off Phoenix Mercury

When the Dallas Wings face the Phoenix Mercury at 7 p.m. Wednesday, it will be the first time the Mercury’s Brittney Griner steps on College Park Center’s floor since May 29, 2021. Since her last game in Arlington over two years ago, Griner has had to persevere through adversity.

She was detained in Russia after Russian officials allegedly found drugs in her luggage, according to The New York Times. Griner, who had planned to play in Russia professionally during the WNBA’s offseason, pleaded guilty to drug charges in July 2022, almost five months after she was first detained.

After 294 days of detention, Griner came home last December following a “prisoner swap” President Joe Biden agreed to with Russia. Currently, Griner is averaging 22 points and 8.8 rebounds a game.

At a Monday press conference, Griner said her return to the league has gone better than she expected and that she’s not as tired as she was in the first two games. “It's actually been going really well. I'm really happy,” she said.

After missing the entire 2022 season, Griner has bounced back. Her 22.0 points per game average ranks fourth in the league and her 8.8 rebounds per game ranks eighth. Despite her personal success, the Mercury has only won one of its first four games.

Phoenix’s last game, a 99-93 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Sparks left Griner dissatisfied, but she said the team is noticing where it’s making mistakes. “I think that's what makes it more frustrating, when you look at it it's not some complicated problem. It's something simple,” she said. “I'm glad it's simple, but it's frustrating.”

As the Mercury come to Arlington for a two-game trip, they’ll face a Dallas Wings team coming off two close road losses. Dallas (3-3) has won both of its home games and will look to build momentum against a struggling Mercury team.

Griner has roots in the area. She grew up in Houston and went to college at Baylor University. With the Wings being the only Texas WNBA team, games at College Park are a chance for her family to see her play.

“I got all my family in Houston coming. I have all my family from Little Rock, Arkansas, driving down. So it's gonna be a good time. Sorry if you can't find tickets. I may have took them off,” she said, chuckling.

Throughout her return to the league, Griner has seen support from all over the world. Earlier this season, she met a fan from Alaska in an autograph line in Los Angeles, and her wife said there were people from other countries in the stands cheering her on. Another fan started crying when they got to see Griner.

“It just goes to show how much they really care,” Griner said. “[They] invest in you as a person besides just the basketball player, how they really care about you. It just lets me know that I'm in the right organization and lets me know that I'm in the right place.”

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Isaac Appelt is a journalism senior. He started working at The Shorthorn in spring 2022.

Viktor Bout was serving a 25-year sentence in the US for conspiring to kill US citizens and aiding a terrorist organisation before being released in exchange for Brittney Griner.

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Inside Joe Biden’s Faustian pact with Russia to secure Brittney

Three weeks ago, the American basketball star Brittney Griner arrived at a Russian penal colony known for torture, beatings and slave labour to begin a nine-year sentence following her arrest at a Moscow airport in February for possession of vaping cartridges containing hashish oil.

But in a stunning twist on Thursday, Griner’s plight as an unwitting pawn in a high-stakes geopolitical struggle came to an abrupt end, as she arrived in Abu Dhabi from Moscow and boarded a plane home to reunite with her family. She landed in San Antonio, Texas, early Friday morning.

In exchange for Griner’s release, the US released Viktor Bout, a notorious arms trafficker who was serving a 25-year sentence for conspiring to kill US citizens and aiding a terrorist organisation.

The deal was met with jubilation from Griner’s family and supporters. But the controversial swap for Bout — as well as the exclusion of Paul Whelan, another US citizen imprisoned in Russia — also drew criticism and raised questions about how America’s adversaries might leverage arrests of its citizens in the future.

US officials began working toward Griner’s release as soon as she was apprehended in Russia in February, but the effort became more concentrated on prisoner swap negotiations once the State Department declared in May that she had been wrongfully detained.

In July, US secretary of state Antony Blinken and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov spoke on the phone for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. During the call, Blinken pressed Lavrov to accept a “substantial proposal” from Washington to release Griner and the former marine Whelan, who has been detained in Russia since 2018 on what the US and his family say are trumped-up espionage charges.

Americans had offered to free Bout, people familiar with the discussions said, but the Russians said they also wanted the release of Vadim Krasikov, a former colonel from Russia’s domestic spy agency who was convicted of murder in Germany last year.

In the ensuing months, officials said, Washington made a number of offers to Russia in an attempt to secure the release of Griner and Whelan.

However, Biden administration officials said that in recent weeks it became clear that Moscow would only accept a one-for-one swap. According to one senior administration official, “the choice was bringing Brittney Griner home right now or bringing no Americans home from Russia right now”.

Despite the Biden administration’s insistence that they had no choice but to exclude Whelan from the deal, Republican lawmakers and others denounced the decision, as well as facilitating the release of Bout, who is also known as “the merchant of death”.

“The Biden administration has allowed Viktor Bout, a dangerous arms dealer who was convicted of conspiring to kill American law enforcement, to walk free,” said Mike Rogers, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.

“This move to appease Vladimir Putin will only encourage further hostage taking by Russian security forces,” he added.

US officials described Biden’s choice as a painful one, adding that they would continue to work for Whelan’s release. Washington previously secured the release of Trevor Reed, another former marine, via a prisoner swap in April.

People familiar with Thursday’s prisoner exchange likened the episode to “a scene from the Cold War”, with Russian and American planes meeting on the tarmac at an airport in Abu Dhabi.

The Russian plane carrying Griner arrived first, one of the people said. American officials and people familiar with the events said the basketball star was upbeat on the tarmac, saying she was looking forward to returning home.

The Griner-Bout swap marks a rare instance in which the US and Russia have been able to find common ground since Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sending the west’s relationship with Moscow to its lowest ebb since the Cuban missile crisis.

According to people familiar with the matter, the Americans and Russians directly negotiated the details of the swaps, with UAE officials including president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan helping to facilitate the mechanics of the transfer.

It is not unusual for third countries to aid in brokering international diplomatic agreements such as prisoner swaps between hostile countries.

Sheikh Mohammed and Putin discussed the matter when they met in Russia in October, and they spoke on the phone on Wednesday, people familiar with the meetings said. Yousef al-Otaiba, UAE ambassador to the US, was present for the exchange on Thursday and had helped to co-ordinate details on the American side.

On Thursday, some pro-Kremlin commentators hailed the swap as a return to diplomacy. “Everyone sees through this exchange that Moscow and Washington are holding secret negotiations and can make a deal,” Sergei Markov, a political scientist and former member of Russia’s parliament, wrote on Telegram. “And everyone hopes that means Moscow and Washington can make a deal to end the war in Ukraine.”

However, analysts and US officials said that while the breakthrough was a sign that the two sides could get things done when their interests align, it was not evidence of any larger thaw in relations. Biden administration officials added that the recent conversations with Russia about Griner and other prisoners were limited to the release of wrongfully detained Americans.

“The exchange doesn’t do anything to change the situation for bilateral relations. There are lots of issues where they are in open confrontation,” said Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

He said the otherwise dire state of relations between Russia and the west was thrown into sharp relief last week, when Moscow abruptly pulled out of talks on renewing the New Start treaty, the only remaining agreement governing the countries’ nuclear arsenals.

“This is a global stability issue: the last remainders of arms control are falling apart, which could lead to an arms race and a higher risk of dangerous incidents,” he said. “The trajectory we’re on is making that all the more likely.”

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Brittney Griner was detained in Moscow, Russia, for allegedly possessing cannabis oil.

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2023-06-26 12: 59: 18
A former Russian female basketball player will play in the WNBA Star Game.
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Brittney Griner, an American basketball player who has been imprisoned in Russia for 10 months, will play next month ’ s WNBA All-Star Game.
The 32-year-old basketball player was released from Russia to the United States six months ago.
In February last year, before Russia invaded Ukraine, he was detained in Moscow for allegedly possessing cannabis oil.
He was released earlier this year by a “prisoner exchange ” between Russia and the United States.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist, after returning to the United States, once again played for the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA club, this year has played nine games for the Mercury since May, and is confirmed to be selected for the WNBA Star Game to be held in Las Vegas next month.
Greiner currently leads the WNBA in blocking, averaging 2.4 blocks per game.
This will be the ninth time Greiner has been selected to the star team eight times in the past. She was also selected as an honorary player last year, but she was still imprisoned in Russia and could not play.
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Brittney Griner is 32 years old.

Brittney Griner was detained in Russia for possessing e-cigarette cartridges containing cannabis oil.

Brittney Griner faced a maximum prison sentence of 10 years for smuggling drugs into Russia.

The WNBA and the Mercury have announced their support for Brittney Griner, prioritizing her safe return to the United States.

A Russian diplomat has expressed that there is always a possibility for a prisoner swap, which could potentially lead to the release of Brittney Griner.

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Content: Diplomat Sparks Renewed Hope For Brittney Griner Prisoner Exchange

The situation surrounding Brittney Griner's case is looking a little less bleak, thanks to the recent developments brought about by negotiations between the U.S. and Russia.

In early November, the WNBA star had been transferred to a penal colony in the Russian republic of Mordovia. There, she began fulfilling her nine-year sentence for drug possession. As reported by Reuters, authorities initially arrested Griner in February 2022 after vape cartridges containing cannabis oil were discovered in her luggage at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. While she attempted to appeal the ruling, it was ultimately upheld by a Russian court.

"This has been [a] very traumatic experience, waiting for this day, waiting for the first court, and getting nine years for a crime that I was barely over the significant amount," she said at the hearing (via CBS News). "I don't understand the first court's decision to give one year less than the max when I've been here almost 8 months, and people with more severe crimes have gotten less than what I was given... I really hope that the court will adjust this sentence, because it's been very, very stressful and very traumatic to my mental and psyche, being away from my family and not being able to communicate." However, there is now renewed hope that Griner could be released, with a Russian diplomat claiming that a swap could happen sometime in the future.

Russian diplomat says there's 'always a chance' for a swap

Not all hope is lost, after all. According to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Russia is not turning its back on the possibility of a prisoner exchange with the U.S. As reported by the New York Post, Ryabkov told reporters that there is "always a chance" when asked about the likelihood of a swap taking place before the end of the year. However, he noted that in the past, there had been multiple instances when it seemed as if Russia would agree to a swap, only for the plan to fall apart. If the prisoner swap does take place, Ryabkov said it would "send a positive signal that not everything is hopeless in Russian-American relations."

In the meantime, it looks like Brittney Griner has her work cut out for her. Maria Alyokhina, a former member of the band Pussy Riot, didn't mince words when she spoke to NPR about her own experience at a Russian penal colony. "It has a bit better conditions than [the] original gulag system from the 1950s," she said, but added that it's still "a labor camp." She described the grim reality she endured while serving out her own sentence, calling it inhumane. "For 100 women, there are like three toilets and no hot water," she recalled, adding that the penal colony is merely a "legal slavery system."

According to a statement released by her lawyers (via BBC), she is trying her best to survive and is "doing as well as could be expected and trying to stay strong as she adapts to a new environment."

Brittney Griner is advocating for the release of Paul Whelan and other wrongfully detained Americans after her own release from a Russian prison.

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Content: Brittney Griner Asks Fans, Advocates to Write Letters to Paul Whelan: 'It's Our Turn to Support'

The WNBA star shared Whelan's mailing address and said, "I hope you'll join me in writing to Paul Whelan and continuing to advocate for other Americans to be rescued and returned to their families"

Brittney Griner has a request for her supporters this holiday season.

The WNBA star, who was released from Russian custody on Dec. 8, penned a handwritten letter to her Instagram followers on Wednesday morning, asking those who helped advocate for her safe return to do the same for Paul Whelan and other families of wrongfully detained loved ones.

"Thanks to the efforts of many, including you, I am home after nearly 10 months," Griner wrote. "You took time to show me you cared, and I want to personally take the time to write to you and say that your effort mattered."

Griner said the letters she received from fans and friends, through the #WeAreBG campaign, helped her "to not lose hope during a time" filled with "regret."

She described her feeling "vulnerable in ways I could have never imagined," in the letter.

The Phoenix Mercury center thanked those who wrote to her "from the bottom of my heart" and said that it was because of those communications of support that she "never lost hope" over the course of her detainment.

The letters were "bigger than uplifting" for the WNBA star, though. Griner explained that the thousands of messages she received showed her "the power of collective hands" and now, she hopes to help Whelan, the former U.S. marine who has been imprisoned in Russia for four years on espionage charges, and other detained Americans, come home.

"Together, we can do hard things," Griner wrote. "I'm living proof of that."

"My family is whole and now, thanks to you, we are fortunate to get to spend the holidays together," she wrote. "However, there remain too many families with loved ones wrongfully detained."

Griner explained, "Those families stood alongside you and all who supported the #WeAreBG campaign to bring me home, and it's our turn to support them. I hope you'll join me in writing to Paul Whelan and continuing to advocate for other Americans to be rescued and returned to their families."

Griner ended her letter by thanking fans once more, adding, "I hope your holiday season is full of joy and love."

She included Whelan's mailing address at the bottom of her note. He is currently receiving mail through the American Citizen Services Unit Consular, per the address.

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Griner's intention to help Whelan and other Americans was first confirmed by her agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, in an ESPN interview after her release. Colas said both Griner and her wife, Cherelle, plan to "raise attention" for other families with loved ones detained abroad.

When Cherelle spoke from the White House following the announcement of Brittney's return, she said, "Today my family is whole, but as you are all aware, there are so many families who are not whole."

She added that she will continue advocating for "getting every American home, including Paul, whose family is in our hearts today."

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Trevor Reed, an American citizen, was released from Russia as part of a prisoner swap deal.

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Where does wrongful detention of Brittney Griner go from here?

She will inevitably be labeled a hostage

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Brittney Griner

It seems like years rather than weeks ago that American political prisoner, Trevor Reed, was released from Russia in a prisoner swap. It also seems like years since an American citizen, basketball superstar Brittney Griner, was taken into custody in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport for allegedly having hashish oil in her possession.

We now know what many of us believed all along – that Brittney Griner was, in the far too late proclamation by the U.S. government, “wrongfully detained.” In diplomacy-speak, wrongfully detained is synonymous with politically detained, which is super close to what will soon enough inevitably happen – calling Brittney Griner a hostage.

Since the beginning of Griner’s detention, I have done dozens of print, radio, TV, and related interviews, and I have a pretty clear view of how and why we got here.

As I wrote around six weeks ago, if we read between the lines of what’s being said in traditional and social media, we can extract three key reasons why the Griner situation isn’t getting the attention that it should be and would be if it was a different athlete.

The first reason is that Brittney Griner is not a terribly high-profile athlete.

This is patently untrue. As I have been commenting from the minute we learned that she was taken into custody by the Russians, Griner was absolutely the highest-profile American athlete that Russia could have taken into custody as they were preparing for their brutal invasion of Ukraine.

The only other high-profile athletes playing in Russia or transiting through at that time were the very few American players in Russia’s top hockey league, the KHL. None are superstars in their sport, as Griner is.

The second argument for why Griner isn’t getting the attention she should be is that she is LGBTQ.

I have argued that this is a reasonably good hypothesis. It just seems that a straight athlete would be getting a lot more attention and public sympathy than Griner has, in part, yet not in full, because of her sexual orientation. That’s a remarkably harsh position to have to take in 2022, yet it’s clear that Griner doesn’t fit the mold of what many Americans see as that all-American athlete. That one’s sexual or gender orientation should drive the American public’s level of sympathy for one of their own top athletes is a shame, but here we are.

The third and most commonly cited reason for Brittany Griner getting less attention than another athlete in a similar situation is that she’s Black.

This argument holds little weight with me. Yes, it makes sense that in comparison to a high-profile white athlete, some people are simply going to care less about a Black athlete. Again, that’s a harsh analysis, yet not unaligned with many things going on in the nation today.

But I think this is a reductive argument that crumbles under the weight of the analogy that I usually use during TV and radio broadcasts about the Griner case – and that is, what if this was Kyrie Irving?

I like to use Kyrie Irving as an analogy because he is a highly controversial Black athlete. Obviously, NBA players don’t have to have second jobs in places like Russia, Turkey, and China, to make ends meet, as the WNBA women do. But just imagine that Kyrie Irving was traveling alone through Moscow airport. If Irving had been taken into custody by the Russians, I can guarantee that this would be front-page news not just in the sports section but on the front page of all significant papers practically every day. That simply hasn’t been the case with Brittney Griner.

Every day, I am asked where this goes from here. With Griner’s May 19 hearing delayed “one month” (though at the time of writing, no date has been set), I remained convinced of two things: that this goes to a worse place than we are now and that it progresses painfully slowly.

As to the first point, to maximize leverage over the United States, it’s likely that Griner will end up somewhere like a Russian labor camp before she ever steps back into the United States. While Russia does not follow the Rule of Law, it would be neither legally nor politically expedient to just hold Griner in a Moscow jail or prison indefinitely. They need to make her situation worse to turn up the urgency of the case for the American government.

But this indeed won’t happen overnight. As I’ve also been saying all along, the next hearing date will also be delayed, OR we will learn through a TASS Russian media release that Griner was tried, found guilty of all charges, and sentenced (see labor camp, above).

As to what each of us can do, my advice remains the same: Keep talking about it. Make this Brittney as viral as Britney Spears was a year ago. Just as Britney Spears’ freedom from her conservatorship was turbo-charged by the #FreeBritney hashtag, let’s #FreeBrittney now.

This is significantly less trite than it sounds. There is no indication that the American government doesn’t want you to forget about Brittney Griner. As former hostage Jason Rezaian discussed on an excellent recent Washington Post podcast, he always “calls BS” on those parties, saying we should keep detentions such as Griner’s out of the public spotlight. He advocates being as loud as we can be on this, which is why I keep doing interviews on this issue as much as possible.

Ultimately, Brittney Griner will be a political prisoner until the United States and Russia can decide, in crass basketball terms, on a fair player trade. On Friday, we learned that the two sides might actually be in discussions now for a trade involving Griner for notorious convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout, aka the “Merchant of Death.”

Unless this can re-enter and remain in the public spotlight, along with any pressure on the government, Britney Griner will not get the treatment she deserves as one of the greatest basketball players of her generation. That the massive disparity between how NBA and WNBA players are compensated laid the foundation for her to be in this position is the harsh reality these leagues face today. Yet it pales compared to the uncertain reality Griner faces today in a Moscow jail.

A Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, Aron Solomon, JD, is the chief legal analyst for Today’s Esquire. He has taught entrepreneurship at McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania, and was elected to Fastcase 50, recognizing the top 50 legal innovators in the world.

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Leave no one behind: Building an LGBTQ+ movement for all

A just society is only achievable by investing in dignity of the marginalized

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Despite the expansion of LGBTQ+ civil rights and liberties in D.C., some of which we proudly attribute to GLAA’s stalwart activism for the past 51 years, the most vulnerable members of our community continue to suffer from poverty, homelessness, criminalization, discrimination, social isolation, and preventable death. A jaw-dropping 40% of homeless youth in the U.S. identify as LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+ people experience hunger at twice the rate of straight people, and right here in D.C., the Office of Human Rights reports that employers are more likely to interview a less-qualified cisgender job applicant than a more-qualified transgender applicant.

So for our 2022 candidate ratings, GLAA decided to emphasize that racial and economic justice are LGBTQ+ justice issues. While we recognize the importance of openly LGBTQ+ candidates, we know one’s identity does not indicate where they stand on critical issues. Something many of us have learned the hard way, and something GLAA leadership recognizes not championing sooner as a mistake. What matters most is a candidate’s demonstrated record and vision to support the LGBTQ+ community in its entirety.

It is not enough for candidates to respond only to the needs of those who historically have held the most power in the LGBTQ+ community, particularly white cisgender gay men, in order to tout support of the entire community. The LGBTQ+ community is so many different people, and it is time we push candidates to consider and address us in our entirety. For too long, many LGBTQ+ people have felt rejected and betrayed by our community’s movement priorities, narratives about what our community stands for, and decisions on who is valued and who is selected to represent or lead us. And, while GLAA understands no one politician or organization can erase these community divides, we aim to be intentional in our approach to dismantle that which stands in our entire community’s way toward liberation. That is why, in 2022 we decided to rate candidates on their responses and records of support on issues that impact the most marginalized members of the LGBTQ+ community. None of us is free until all of us are free.

Throughout GLAA’s history we have focused on securing LGBTQ+ rights, which have mostly strengthened the legal protections of people privileged enough to take advantage of them. GLAA decided to focus the Leave No One Behind: 2022 Election Guide and questionnaire on racial and economic justice with an LGBTQ+ lens. We did this to build on our victories, such as successfully advocating for the defunding of the Metropolitan Police Department’s vice squad in the 1970s, and to learn from our mistakes.

It is our belief that a just, peaceful, and vibrant society is only achievable by actively investing in the security and dignity of the poor and marginalized members of all our communities. Our questionnaire intentionally acts in solidarity with D.C. anti-poverty, anti-stigma, and anti-overdose campaigns, which are largely led by trans and queer people of color.

Ratings are on a scale of +/-10 points: yes/no responses on questionnaire (+/-2); substance of response (+/-4); and candidate’s public record (+/-4). Candidates earned partial credit for the yes/no category if they partially agreed with the question. Four issues received more than 91% agreement: increasing the affordable housing stock for the poorest residents, housing people using government funded vouchers, fully funding the Office of Human Rights, and better oversight to improve conditions in the DC Jail.

Three issues received 70-79% candidates’ support, and over 90% when including candidates who issued partial support: Repealing the sub-minimum wage, decriminalization of drug use, and reducing the population of D.C. jail by 30%.

Finally, the least supported policies were decriminalization of consensual sex work and divesting from the Metropolitan Police Department and investing in violence prevention and recidivism prevention programs. Even still, there was remarkable consensus: over 2/3 or 66% of candidates who issued total or partial support.

We are encouraged by the remarkable level of consensus on all of our issues, signaling that D.C. is ready for transformative change that at its core addresses the District’s current poverty, unaffordable housing, community and police-based violence, and overdose crises.

GLAA is excited to see more LGBTQ+ people on ballots. More exciting, however, is the number of politicians with fully realized and integrated LGBTQ+ policies in their platforms. Policies that extend across race and class lines. GLAA firmly believes all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, can be stewards of LGBTQ+ liberation. It is our hope that readers find these ratings not as endorsements, but as a starting point to imagine what is possible if local officials are guided by D.C. residents to use their elected power to create new possibilities that leave no one behind.

This opinion piece was signed by the 2022 Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance board of directors.

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GLAA has lost its way and should close

Their ratings no longer make an iota of difference in an election

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(Blade file photo by Pete Exis)

The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA), once a respected organization, has now lost its way. It once represented all the members of the LGBTQ+ community, clearly no longer the case, as one can tell based on their questionnaire and ratings. They now represent only the far left in the community and are seeking to represent more than LGBTQ+ people as the statement from their current president suggests. That is not the role of GLAA.

One of the questions in this year’s questionnaire that candidates were asked to respond to is: “Do you support divesting from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to further invest in vital programs, including anti-poverty, violence prevention, crisis intervention, and reentry?” If you didn’t say yes, you lost points. This shows how out of touch they are as the DC Council just voted unanimously, on a first vote, to raise the budget of the MPD. The approved budget also includes increased funding for other vital programs. There’s no indication GLAA ever spoke to Council members on this issue.

Its website lists five officers, all men, with a blurb on each. The one for the president, in addition to listing past and current employment, says, “When he is not organizing, he loves asking people about their Myers Briggs Type (he is ENFP, for the record), doing gay crimes (the basics like drugs and public sex), having Spicy Vanilla sex, dancing to hot beats on the dance floor, practicing vulnerability, plotting revolution against capitalism and other forms of oppression.” He is entitled to his views. But I question how his leading the GLAA represents the broader LGBTQ+ community.

Over the years I’ve had issues with some of what GLAA has done and some of the issues they focused on. But the organization always represented the entire spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community in their questionnaire. Candidates getting a rating from the organization could feel it represented a wide range of opinion in the community. I would hope no candidate tries to pawn the current ratings off as any kind of support from the broader LGBTQ + community.

In the past you always knew their officers, including Rick Rosendall, Bob Summersgill and Jeff Coudriet among others, were involved with D.C. government and knew the issues in-depth. They knew the candidates. Responding to their questionnaire over the years was always interesting. Rick often was the one who spent hours drafting the questions. I always wondered why it was never enough to say yes you agree with their premise. Instead, you had to say it in hundreds, even thousands, of words to earn points. I know as I have filled out questionnaires for many candidates.

Today their website lists nine project areas, none with anything accomplished since 2016. The blog has nothing on any recent budget issues or legislation pertaining to the LGBTQ+ community, only information about the questionnaire. They claim to lobby the Council and monitor government agencies, but there is no indication of any meetings or testimony since 2017.

We can thank GLAA for the fact that today no politician can win office in D.C. without being supportive of the LGBTQ community. However, today their ratings no longer make an iota of difference in an election. Since this is now the only thing they do it’s time to close up shop. We have moved past the time in D.C. when a small number of people can sit in a room rating candidates they don’t know, on issues that don’t represent the community they are supposed to be representing.

So personally, I say thank you to all the people who worked hard over many years for GLAA to help move the LGBTQ community forward. I recognize there is much work still to be done but GLAA is not the organization to do it. We must work to ensure economic and civil justice for all members of our community; health equity for transgender persons; senior housing for our community; and employment opportunities for all, among other issues. But there are other LGBTQ organizations, and community organizations, doing these things better and the few members GLAA might still have should be directed to those other organizations.

If as their website claims they are planning an anniversary celebration, it should be one to honor all the people who in the past 50 years of the organization, worked hard and were successful in making my life and the lives of so many LGBTQ people in the District of Columbia and around the nation better. That would be an exciting way to say goodbye and celebrate the organization whose time it is to close.

Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.

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An unlikely revolution is happening at Christian universities

More than half have enacted LGBTQ non-discrimination policies

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Recent headlines have been filled with messages of doom and gloom for LGBTQ people. From bans on transgender women competing in sports to “don’t say gay” laws, it seems evident that conservative Republicans are freshly committed to rolling back the rights of LGBTQ people across the United States.

Yet, despite such recent setbacks, a student-led movement for LGBTQ inclusion is gaining ground in what would seem to be one of the unlikeliest settings — Christian colleges and universities.

Over the past few years, I’ve collected extensive data on U.S. Christian colleges and universities’ policies toward LGBTQ students. In one study, I found that 55% of all Christian colleges and universities in the United States have nondiscrimination policies inclusive of sexual orientation. In another recent study, I found that nearly half of all Christian colleges and universities are home to officially recognized LGBTQ student groups.

Even some of the most conservative Christian colleges and universities have changed their approach to LGBTQ students. When analyzing data collected in 2013, I found that nearly one-third of all Christian colleges and universities had adopted bans on so-called “homosexual acts” or “homosexual behavior” in their student handbooks. Yet, when reviewing Christian colleges and universities’ handbooks again over the past year, I found that under one-fourth of Christian colleges and universities had such discriminatory bans.

Why are some Christian colleges and universities becoming more accommodating—and even welcoming—to LGBTQ students?

There are several major reasons, but one of the most important is that several Christian denominations already embrace their LGBTQ members. Denominations such as the Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Disciples of Christ, and Presbyterian Church USA, for example, allow ministers to officiate same-sex weddings. An increasing number of nondenominational churches also affirm LGBTQ people. Those Christian colleges and universities that are already associated with affirming denominations are certainly among the most likely to affirm their LGBTQ students.

Another reason that many Christian colleges and universities are becoming welcoming toward LGBTQ students is that they do not necessarily believe their primary mission is to hold all students to the specific religious tenets of their associated denomination. Rather, they see their primary mission as providing an important service (education) to the broader society. Just as Christian hospitals do not refuse to provide medical treatment to people who are not members of their associated denominations, many Christian colleges and universities have chosen not to deny people an education simply because certain people are not members of their associated denominations.

A rising number of Christian colleges and universities also recognize the harms that occur when people are discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. A recent survey by Religious Exemption Accountability Project shows that 12% of all Christian college and university students self-identify as LGBTQ. Because studies show that LGBTQ people in non-affirming Christian colleges and universities report greater rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, many Christian schools understand they would be harming a significant number of their students if they continued to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

And still other schools are simply concerned with their bottom lines. The United States is projected to go over a “demographic cliff” in 2025, at which time the number of 18-year-olds nationwide will drop dramatically. Some reports say that one-third of all private colleges and universities nationwide will face major financial crises over the next decade, causing them to close or pursue mergers. Many Christian colleges and universities recognize that adopting discriminatory policies toward LGBTQ students would alienate significant portions of their potential student body.

Certainly, despite these encouraging trends, those who are committed to LGBTQ rights should not be complacent. Many schools have still been slow to extend nondiscrimination protections and housing accommodations to trans students. And the Religious Exemption Accountability Project estimates that as many as 100,000 LGBTQ students are currently enrolled at Christian colleges and universities that still refuse to affirm the dignity and rights of LGBTQ people. That organization recently filed a class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education, challenging the federal government’s policy of providing loans even to Christian colleges and universities that otherwise violate Title IX protections for LGBTQ students.

It is likely the case that some Christian colleges and universities will not change their policies toward LGBTQ rights unless they are legally required to do so. Still, at Christian colleges and universities across the United States, LGBTQ students are not waiting around. LGBTQ students are actively mobilizing to bring about inclusive policies at their schools, and at a surprising number of schools, they are succeeding.

Jonathan S. Coley is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Oklahoma State University and a Public Fellow at the Public Religion Research Institute.

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