Brittney Griner, a professional American basketball player and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was detained in Russia in February 2022 after Russian authorities found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

The substance, legal in the U.S. but illegal in Russia, led to drug smuggling charges.

In August 2022, Griner was convicted and sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony, a harsh punishment amidst escalating tensions due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Her defense pointed to her medical prescription for cannabis oil and lack of criminal intent, but the court rejected these arguments.

The U.S. State Department declared her “wrongfully detained” and asserted that her detention was politically motivated, a position rejected by Kremlin spokespersons who claimed it was a legal matter [0ff6fb27-d79f-45d1-a9c1-4d503aaa675e_225436112; 72181213-8ee2-4322-b6bb-8a81cc548183_272313099; 4422e4b5-56a0-4873-b526-4cbc634b153a_541956905].

The political implications of Griner’s arrest were significant.

She became a high-profile “political pawn” in U.S.-Russia relations, with Russia reportedly seeking to exchange her for Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death” serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. Bout’s lawyer and Russian officials said securing his release was Russia’s top priority.

The U.S. government actively pursued negotiations, including proposals for prisoner exchanges involving Griner, Bout, and Paul Whelan, another American detainee in Russia convicted of espionage.

These negotiations were complicated by the broader geopolitical context of Russia’s war in Ukraine, sanctions, and deteriorating diplomacy between the U.S. and Russia

[4164b225-466d-4e02-a878-39a1b2e71b44_705754891; 32944d88-35fe-46a8-b240-1dcb8d143d62_766118841; 4ae82475-d396-4dcc-a8b3-3012c4a5c78e_946590426].

Griner’s experience in the Russian penal colony was described as harsh and isolating.

Brittney Griner, a professional American basketball player and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was detained in Russia in February 2022 after Russian authorities found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

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Content: News

February 14, 2023

U.S. tells citizens to leave Russia immediately

The United States authorities have advised their citizens still residing in Russia to leave immediately.

Those who planned to travel to the eastern Europe nation were also advised to postpone such itinerary.

The advice is coming amid growing concerns over irrational and arbitrary detentions and harassment of Americans abroad.

“U.S. citizens residing or travelling in Russia should depart immediately. Exercise increased caution due to the risk of wrongful detentions,” reads a top level travel alert issued by the State Department to citizens on Monday.

“Do not travel to Russia due to the unpredictable consequences of the unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces, the potential for harassment and the singling out of U.S. citizens for detention by Russian government security officials, the arbitrary enforcement of local law, limited flights into and out of Russia, the Embassy’s limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Russia, and the possibility of terrorism,” the alert stated.

The top level alert has renewed concerns about the safety of Americans still on Russian soil especially as its ongoing war with Ukraine which began February 24 2022, approaches its first anniversary.

There have been rumours that Moscow may convene its troops to launch a sinister attack to mark its first year anniversary of invading Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the warning, claiming it was “not a new thing,” Reuters quoted him to have said.

In August 2022, a Russian court sentenced U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison on drug charges after cartridges containing cannabis oil for vaping were found in her luggage.

She was later released in December 2022 in a prisoner swap between the United States and the Russian Federation. Ms Briner was exchanged for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer nicknamed the ‘Merchant of Death.’

The substance, legal in the U.S. but illegal in Russia, led to drug smuggling charges.

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Content: Basketball: Brittney Griner′s Russian detention highlights WNBA′s growing problem | Sports | German football and major international sports news | DW | 05.05.2022

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Basketball: Brittney Griner's Russian detention highlights WNBA's growing problem

The WNBA is seen as the world's best women's basketball league. However, the arrest of one of its biggest stars has highlighted problems involving time and money that are forcing players to go abroad in the off-season.

Brittney Griner is being held on drug charges in a Russian prison at present

The 2022 season of the US Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) starts this week with one of its biggest stars, Brittney Griner, still being held in a Russian jail.

The superstar center was arrested for being in possession of vape cartridges that contained cannabis oil during a flight out of Moscow in February. Though legal in the US, the substance is considered illegal in Russia.

The US State Department has spoken out against Griner's detention, a situation complicated by Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. In doing so they promised to "provide appropriate support" ahead of her next court date on May 19.

Griner, 31, has won the WNBA title and Most Valuable Player award with the Phoenix Mercury; two Olympic gold medals and two FIBA Basketball World Cups with USA Basketball Women's National Team.

Yet under the WNBA's salary cap, she earns a fraction of the eyewatering multi-million-dollar deals the likes of Stephen Curry and LeBron James command in the NBA. As a result Griner has spent time in Russia where she has racked up four EuroLeague titles with UMMC Ekaterinburg and a healthy pay cheque.

Uncapped salaries?

Since being founded in 1996, the WNBA has not had the audience to command premium rights deals from television networks. The result is that players, most of whom don't hold Griner's superstar status, are now being forced to move abroad in the off-season to financially set themselves up for the future.

The WNBA season runs from May to September/October with the off-season spent either resting, working in US media or going to play in countries like Australia, China, France and Russia.

While the salary cap in the WNBA sees the highest earners command a salary of $228,094 (€215,067) per season, playing abroad is more lucrative because players can negotiate higher wages.

In Russia, many of the stars can earn upwards of three times the salary, with Griner reportedly earning up to a million dollars during her stints with UMMC Ekaterinburg.

This is all made possible by Russian oligarch owners, like Andrei Kozitsyn and Iskander Makhmudov, who enable teams to provide players with lavish lifestyles, cash gifts and travel accomodations. In contrast, the WNBA recently fined the New York Liberty for creating an unfair advantage after the club chartered private flights for its team.

Russian clubs have also proven willing to go the extra mile as far back as 2015 when Diana Taurasi, the 2009 WNBA MVP, was paid $1.5 million (€1.42 million) by Griner's Russian employers in Ekaterinburg to skip the WNBA season entirely. Taurasi admitted it was a deal that her agent advised "would be financially irresponsible" to pass up.

The inevitable overseas lure

When Evelyn Akhator was selected third overall pick in the WNBA Draft in 2017 by the Dallas Wings, she knew that it was just one step in what she hopes will be a long-lasting professional career.

Evelyn Akhator say that Russia is 'where the real money is' for women basketball players

"As soon as I signed with an agent, they started to look for jobs overseas for me. Unless I told them otherwise, I knew I was going to play overseas," Akhator told DW. "That is where the real money is."

Akhator spent one season with the Wings before leaving to join Dynamo Novosibirsk in Russia where she played against Griner. She told DW of a lonely experience without family, friends or people who looked like her in an environment where being targeted by racist remarks was common on the streets.

The silver lining was that she was able to earn more than double what her rookie contract offered in the WNBA and, since then, she has competed in Turkey, Spain and is currently playing in France with the Flammes Carolo.

By comparison, the season in France is longer than the WNBA's, meaning she can stay active and negotiate a better salary. For her and many others, opportunites like this offer the chance to save up for a future after basketball.

Plugging the overseas loophole

The WNBA's 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the WNBA Players Association wants to make it more difficult for players to go overseas during the off-season.

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert wants players to "prioritize" the league instead of playing abroad, The main reason being that leagues in Europe usually end in April, which affects players when they report back for pre-season training camps that same month. DW asked the WNBA and the Players' Association for comment on potential future changes to the season schedule, but received no response.

Free Brittney: Griner's detention could make other players rethink Russian money

From 2023, those who report late to camp will forfeit 1% of their base salary, while players who fail to arrive before the opening night will forfeit their season's pay. Those measures will get stronger in 2024, when players who fail to arrive before the first day of training will forgo being a part of the team.

Those harsher measures are offset by promises of higher salaries as the WNBA hopes to raise the salary cap for their top players to $500,000 (€471,445) thanks to increased marketing opportunities.

But with the war in Ukraine and the sanctions on Russia ongoing, the appetite for going overseas is expected to reduce. The WNBA announced that Griner's initials and jersey number (42) will be featured along the sideline of all 12 WNBA courts, but as her family and friends await her return from Russia, her arrest is forcing players to rethink. Is the money worth it?

In the future, safety overseas will be key when players ask their agents for work, but Akhator doesn't believe that Griner's arrest would deter WNBA players entirely. "I think it is better for players to have a longer season and get paid six, seven-figure [salaries], I think that would really help."

Edited by: James Thorogood

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In August 2022, Griner was convicted and sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony, a harsh punishment amidst escalating tensions due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Donald Trump Jr goes on vile rant attacking Brittney Griner after Russia release

Donald Trump Jr – son of the former President – has lashed out at WBNA star Brittney Griner, following her release from a Russian penal colony this week.

While many people shared their joy at her freedom, Trump Jr instead criticised the release and attacked her sporting skills.

He also made a string of jabs at President Joe Biden, who announced Griner’s release on Thursday (8 December), which was made in exchange for Russian criminal Viktor Bout, who was being held in the United States.

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Trump Jr referred to Griner as “an awful America hating WNBA player”, and in a series of tweets, attacked both President Biden’s negotiations for the queer WNBA star and Griner’s general allegiance to the nation.

Her release was celebrated by friends, teammates and celebrities.

Griner’s release drew much wider celebration on Thursday when Biden announced she was free and on her way back to the US, ending nearly 10 months of detainment in Russia on drug charges.

Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony in August for possession of a small amount of cannabis oil.

Where Trump Jr railed against Griner’s release, the voices of the LGBTQ+ community rang loudly.

“Britney Griner’s long awaited release is a relief for her wife, teammates, fans and all in the LGBTQ+ community who recognized the extreme danger she faced as an out gay Black woman detained in Putin’s Russia,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement.

“Britney’s wife Cherelle never gave up fighting for her safe return, and president Biden and the State Department never wavered in their commitment to the Griners and the LGBTQ+ community on Britney’s behalf. We can’t wait to welcome Britney home.”

Activists on Twitter were quick to point out the efforts of Black queer feminists toward Griner’s release, hoping voices from the grassroots are not drowned out by diplomacy.

Griner’s release was most poignantly celebrated by her wife Cherelle, who, speaking in the Oval Office, expressed gratitude and overwhelm for the reunion of her family.

“So over the last nine months, you all have been so privy to one of the darkest moments of my life, and so today I’m just standing here overwhelmed with emotions, but the most important emotion that I have right now is just sincere gratitude for president Biden and his entire administration,” she said.

Griner landed in the US on Friday (9 December) at a Texas airbase.

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Her defense pointed to her medical prescription for cannabis oil and lack of criminal intent, but the court rejected these arguments.

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A Russian court has sentenced Brittney Griner to 9 years in prison on drug charges

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Guilty was the verdict in Moscow today, and the sentence was severe. A Russian court gave American basketball star Brittney Griner nine years in prison. This was right after the judge convicted her of drug smuggling and possession over the small amount of hash oil she says she accidentally brought into the country. The sentence was just shy of the 9 1/2 years that the prosecution requested. All of this plays out against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and negotiations between the U.S. and Russia for a possible prisoner swap. NPR's Charles Maynes was at the courthouse and has our story.

CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: It's been six full months since Brittney Griner was first detained while rushing to catch a flight at a Moscow airport as she arrived for Russian League play. Yet it took just one afternoon at a Moscow courthouse for the judge to rush through closing arguments and issue her verdict.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).

MAYNES: As Griner sat in the cage listening through an interpreter, the judge said the basketball star had knowingly possessed and transported cannabis oil into Russia and should face nine years in prison as a result.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).

MAYNES: "Do you understand the ruling," said the judge to a stone-faced Griner, who responded...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BRITTNEY GRINER: Yes, I understand, Your Honor.

MAYNES: With the ruling, the judge rejected Griner's explanation that the substance, less than a gram of hash oil, was legally obtained in the U.S. through a doctor to treat chronic pain or that she had never intentionally violated Russian law, a point Griner emphasized in a final plea ahead of the ruling.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GRINER: I made an honest mistake. And I hope that, in your ruling, that it doesn't end my life here.

MAYNES: She also expressed remorse that her actions had embarrassed her fans and teammates at her Russian club, UMMC of Yekaterinburg, where she's played for years.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GRINER: Again, I want to apologize to my teammates and the organization, UMMC, for any damage that I may have done to them. I never intended on hurting them. This is my second home, and all I wanted to do is just win championships and make them proud.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).

MAYNES: Following the ruling, Griner's lawyers said they would appeal a decision that defied sentencing norms even for Russians, who would themselves receive lighter sentences or possibly even probation. The defense team also expressed frustration that the court completely ignored their arguments for leniency based on Griner's contribution to Russian women's basketball, as well as procedural violation of Griner's rights during her arrest. After the hearing, Griner's lawyer, Maria Blagovolina, acknowledged that while her client did not expected miracles, the shock of a nine-year sentence still lingered with all of them.

MARIA BLAGOVOLINA: We feel disappointment. You know, when we saw Brittney, I think it was Tuesday. And we told her, see you on Thursday. And she said, see you on doomsday. So looks like she was right.

MAYNES: It appears a legal case that has unfolded against the backdrop of plummeting U.S.-Russian relations over the conflict in Ukraine now moves entirely into the political arena. President Biden immediately issued a statement condemning the ruling. And outside the courthouse, the U.S. Embassy's deputy chief of mission, Elizabeth Rood, said the U.S. government would keep fighting to free Griner and other detained Americans in Russia.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ELIZABETH ROOD: This is a miscarriage of justice. The U.S. Department of State has determined that Ms. Griner was wrongfully detained. Nothing in today's decision changes that determination.

MAYNES: The White House has already acknowledged it made a substantial proposal to Russia to free Griner and another American, former Marine Paul Whelan. It's reported that the U.S. would be willing to exchange convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, currently in a prison in Illinois. The Kremlin has suggested closed-door negotiations might yield results once Griner's trial was over but said the talks shouldn't be public. But now that that's the case, and Grinder's nine-year sentence a reality, the price of what Moscow seeks in these negotiations may very well have gone up. Charles Maynes, NPR News, Moscow. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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The U.S. State Department declared her “wrongfully detained” and asserted that her detention was politically motivated, a position rejected by Kremlin spokespersons who claimed it was a legal matter [0ff6fb27-d79f-45d1-a9c1-4d503aaa675e_225436112; 72181213-8ee2-4322-b6bb-8a81cc548183_272313099; 4422e4b5-56a0-4873-b526-4cbc634b153a_541956905].

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Russian court sentences Brittney Griner to 9 years, raising pressure on Biden

A Russian court Thursday sentenced U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in a penal colony after convicting her on a drug charge, a harsh penalty that keeps her fate entwined with the geopolitical showdown over the war in Ukraine and ramps up already intense pressure on President Joe Biden to win her release.

The U.S. government contends that she is among several Americans who have been “wrongfully detained” by Russia, used as bargaining chips in the increasingly hostile relationship between Moscow and Washington. The Biden administration has offered a prisoner swap involving Griner, but Russian officials said it was premature to discuss a deal while her case was underway.

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Now that the trial is concluded, Biden faces a difficult choice between standing firm on his proposal to trade for Griner and another American, Paul Whelan, or sweetening the offer somehow, with either position liable to draw domestic criticism.

Meanwhile the Kremlin can use them as leverage, with no incentive to resolve the cases quickly. Griner’s supporters, voicing horror at the verdict and sentence, are clamoring for the president to do something, while the administration is wary of giving in to Russian tactics it has all but labeled blackmail.

“My administration will continue to work tirelessly and pursue every possible avenue to bring Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as possible,” Biden said in a statement after the verdict.

Griner, 31, one of her sport’s biggest global stars, sat mostly expressionless, eyes downcast, leaning her long frame toward the bars of the defendant’s box in a cramped courtroom outside Moscow to hear as the words of the judge, Anna Sotnikova, were quietly translated for her. She had already pleaded guilty, and conviction is all but certain in Russian courts, so the verdict was a foregone conclusion; the real question was about sentencing.

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The answer was devastating. The sentence was near the 10-year maximum for her conviction for attempting to smuggle narcotics into the country, based on two vape cartridges containing hashish oil found in Griner’s luggage when she arrived in February, a week before President Vladimir Putin sent Russian forces to Ukraine.

She and her legal team had hoped for a more lenient penalty based on her guilty plea, her statement that she had not meant to take the cartridges to Russia, and testimony that she used the substance legally in the United States to manage pain.

“I made an honest mistake, and I hope that in your ruling that it doesn’t end my life here,” she said before the sentencing.

She told the court that while she took responsibility for her actions, “I had no intent to break Russian law.” She said that after recovering from a bout of COVID, she had packed hurriedly to rejoin the Russian team she plays for in the WNBA offseason, and had accidentally left the cartridges in her luggage.

Griner’s defense team called the ruling “absolutely unreasonable,” said the court had “completely ignored all the evidence of the defense, and most importantly, the guilty plea,” and vowed to appeal. Elizabeth Rood, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, attended the court session and called the result “a miscarriage of justice.”

Russian officials have insisted that Griner’s case is simply the justice system running its course, with no political overtones — a claim that their U.S. counterparts and many Western analysts dismissed as absurd.

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William Pomeranz, a Russia expert and acting director of the Kennan Institute, a research group in Washington, noted that Griner was sentenced not to a prison but to a penal colony, which tends to mean a more remote location — many are in Siberia — and harsher conditions.

“She’s probably going to go to a penal colony that’s in the middle of Russia where she won’t know anybody,” he added. “They won’t be able to come and visit. Penal colonies can sometimes be very severe. It will be a tremendous test of her mental state if she ends up going to a penal colony.”

The United States has few options, he said. “It will just depend on the Russians and how fast they want to make a deal.”

Fellow basketball players, male and female, and basketball executives took to social media to voice support for Griner and grief at the verdict. Griner’s team, the Phoenix Mercury, said in a statement: “We remain heartbroken for her, as we have every day for nearly six months. We remain grateful to and confident in the public servants working every day to return her to her family and us.”

With Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the indiscriminate destruction it has caused, relations between Washington and Moscow are more confrontational and bitter than they have been in decades. The United States has rallied the West to send arms and other aid to Ukraine, and to punish Moscow with economic sanctions, looking for opportunities to ratchet up the pressure.

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The two sides have made prisoner exchanges before, most recently in April, when Russia released Trevor Reed, an American held on what his family said was a bogus assault charge, in return for a Russian pilot convicted in the United States of cocaine trafficking charges. But rarely have proposed swaps come amid such tension, or involved anyone as prominent as Griner.

In a sign of how high the stakes are for Washington, Griner’s fate was among the topics discussed last Friday by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, in their first direct conversation since before the invasion.

The Biden administration has offered to trade Griner and Whelan for Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year sentence for a 2011 conviction on a federal charge of conspiring to sell weapons to people posing as terrorists intent on killing Americans. Whelan, detained in Russia since 2018, was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years.

Russia made an unspecified “bad faith” counteroffer, the White House said Monday, which U.S. officials said they did not consider serious.

John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, told reporters Thursday, “I don’t think it would be helpful to Brittney or to Paul for us to talk more publicly about where we are in the talks and what the president might or might not be willing to do.”

“Conversations are ongoing at various levels,” he added.

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If Biden sticks to his initial offer, he could face accusations of not doing enough.

Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, and other supporters have mounted an effective public campaign to pressure the president to win her release. Supporters worry about her treatment in a country where anti-American and anti-gay vitriol are deeply embedded in popular views and official propaganda. Images of a grim-faced Griner being led, handcuffed, in and out of court, towering over her armed guards, have become commonplace in U.S. and international media.

The administration could make a more attractive offer, but U.S. officials already worry that deals for prisoners could encourage hostile foreign governments to detain Americans on trumped-up charges in exchange for concessions like freeing their own wrongdoers. Some Republicans have already complained that Biden’s existing offer creates such an incentive.

A 6-foot-9 center, Griner won a college national championship with Baylor in 2012, a WNBA championship with the Mercury in 2014, Olympic gold medals with the U.S. team at the 2016 and 2020 games, and four EuroLeague championships with the Russian team UMMC Yekaterinburg. Like many players in the WNBA, where salaries are much lower than in the NBA, Griner — who also played one season for a professional team in China — has played overseas to supplement her income.

The political implications of Griner’s arrest were significant.

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Content: Britney Grenier ’ s trial could end in conviction, experts say
More than four months after her first arrest, WNBA star Britney Greiner is expected to appear in the Russian courtroom on Friday to begin a drug trial that legal experts say will almost certainly end with a conviction despite the hype in the United States for her release.
“It ’ s mostly biased because the Russian judicial system says they can ’ t be tried until the defendant is found guilty, ” said William Pomerantz, acting director of the Kennan Institute and an expert on Russian law.
There is no real idea or expectation that the accused is innocent.
There is no presumption of innocence. ”
Russian customs officials said they found e-cigarette cartridges with traces of cannabis oil in Griner ’ s luggage as it passed through a checkpoint at an airport near Moscow on February 17.
Colony.
Grenier ’ s lawyer Alexander Boykov said Monday that he expects the trial to begin on Friday and last up to two months.
“At this point, we don ’ t know what evidence they have, ” Pomerance said.
“We don ’ t know how many volumes of evidence they want to read in the registry, but usually in such cases they are huge and significant. ”
Greiner ’ s arrest was an important geopolitical moment during Russia ’ s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and amid Russia ’ s strained diplomatic relations with the United States and some European countries.
From the very beginning of Greiner ’ s arrest, his supporters feared that Russia would use him during a global conflict.
In May, the U.S. State Department confirmed these concerns by declaring Greiner “unjustly detained. ”
As a result, responsibility for this case was transferred to the Government Office, which directs and coordinates U.S. diplomatic and strategic efforts on hostage taking abroad.
Britney has been classified as unjustly detained since April 29, meaning that the US government has established that she is being used as a political tool and, as a result, is negotiating her release regardless of the trial.
This was reported by Agent Greener Lindsay Kagawa Kolas in an email on Wednesday.
“So our expectations, including Britney ’ s family, remain that President Biden will make a deal to bring her home. ”
Qatar-2022: World Cup leaders responded to Norway at the incendiary FIFA conference | football news
The Griner family and their supporters are increasingly turning to President Biden and the U.S. government to seek Griner ’ s release.
Kagawa Kolas recently agreed a letter to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, signed by groups such as the National Women's Organization, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Urban League and the National Action Network.
The letter calls on the government to make a deal to release Greiner.
In April, by agreeing to a prisoner exchange, Russia released Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine who was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of endangering Russian police during an altercation.
Kimberly St. Julian-Farnon, Ph.D., said Reed ’ s deteriorating health in Russia was likely a factor in Moscow ’ s willingness to release him.
She is a student of history at the University of Pennsylvania, whose field of study is the experience of African Americans in the Soviet Union, Ukraine and Russia.
“The problem is that politically, Britney is worth a lot more in terms of prisoner trafficking than Trevor Reed, because of her profile, ” said St. Julian-Farnon, who advised the WNBA Players Association on Grenier ’ s detention.
Butt, an international arms dealer, was convicted by an American court and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Russia is also interested in the release of Roman Seleznev, a hacker who was convicted in the United States for conducting a large-scale operation to steal credit cards and personal data and sentenced to 27 years in prison.
In addition to Greiner, Russia has also detained Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage.
“This is a classic dilemma in hostage-taking cases, ” said Thomas Firestone, a former Justice Department official who worked as a lawyer in Moscow.
“If you negotiate a release, you can encourage hostage-taking in the future.
If you don ’ t, a person may never be released. ”
Polarizing “chess player ” Medvedev harbors a dark side
Jake Sullivan, Biden ’ s national security adviser, told reporters on Tuesday that he and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had spoken in recent days with Greiner ’ s wife Cheryl Greiner.
"The United States government is actively trying to solve this problem and bring Britney home," Sullivan said.
“He enjoys the full attention of the president and all senior members of his diplomatic and national security team, ” he added.
"We are actively working to find a solution to this problem and will continue to do so without rest until Britney returns home safely."
Russia announced on Tuesday that it had barred Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and others from entering the country in response to wide-ranging sanctions.
The list includes four senators: Republican Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, Susan Collins from Maine, Ben Sass from Nebraska and Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand from New York.
"Release Britney Grenier," Sassi said in a statement.
“It doesn ’ t matter when Putin throws a tantrum and blocks Americans from entering Russia, but we have a problem when he captures an American. ”
Griner is one of the most titled basketball players in the world – a seven-time participant of the WNBA All-Star Game, a two-time Olympic champion and the first openly gay athlete to sign an advertising contract with Nike.
I went to Russia after a two-week break to play for UMMC-Yekaterinburg, the women ’ s professional basketball team.
Since then, news about Griner has been rare and has mostly been spread by Russian state media, according to the Associated Press.
But Cheryl Greiner told AP that the long-planned telephone conversation between the two had not taken place due to a logistical error at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
“I find this unacceptable and I don ’ t have confidence in our government right now, ” Cheryl Greiner told The Associated Press in late June.
“If I can ’ t trust you to call on a Saturday outside of office hours, how can I trust you to negotiate on behalf of my wife to come home? ”
How Russia and Ukraine became the heroines of the smear campaign.
In a radio interview Wednesday with Reverend Al Sharpton, who is also the founder of the National Action Network, Cheryl Greiner said she had not spoken to her wife since February but had received messages.
“She told me she was okay, ” Cheryl Grainer said of her wife ’ s letters.
She's like, "I'm fine, baby.
I'm tough.
I'm not me now.
When I get home, it'll take me a minute to recover, but I'm holding on.
I'm not gonna break until I get home.
I won't let them break me.
I know they ’ re trying, but I ’ ll do my best to keep going until I can get home. ”
Paris Hatcher was horrified to learn of the extension of Britney Grenier ’ s detention on Monday and to see a photo of Grenier circulated in Russian state media.
“She looks scared, ” said Hatcher, whose organization Black Feminist Future created the online campaign # BringBrittneyHome.
It's about dignity.
It is about human humanity.
She deserves to be in touch with her family. ”
St. Julian-Varnon said the rights of defendants in Russia are dramatically different from those of a person accused of committing a crime in the United States.
"You have no right to a jury trial," said St. Julian-Varnon.
Your lawyer has no right to call any witnesses they want.
The whole case against you and the case in your support is based on the evidence gathered by the state. ”
However, St. Julian-Varnon said she remained cautiously optimistic that Greiner could eventually be released either as a result of an exchange of prisoners or as a result of a conviction on a less serious charge and agreeing to a large fine.
“There are a lot of moving figures here, ” St. Julian-Varnon said.
“I want to be optimistic because it ’ s still her life.
It's Britney's life.
It's Cheryl's life. "

She became a high-profile “political pawn” in U.S.-Russia relations, with Russia reportedly seeking to exchange her for Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death” serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. Bout’s lawyer and Russian officials said securing his release was Russia’s top priority.

The U.S. government actively pursued negotiations, including proposals for prisoner exchanges involving Griner, Bout, and Paul Whelan, another American detainee in Russia convicted of espionage.

Title:

Content: Evan Gershkovich Has Been Jailed In Russia For A Full Year. What Will It Take To Free Him?

The Wall Street Journal reporter is among several Americans who have been detained in Russia over questionable charges.

Nearly a year ago, Russian authorities detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges while he was on a reporting assignment in the city of Yekaterinburg.

Gershkovich, whom the U.S. State Department has designated as wrongfully detained, was accredited by Russian authorities to work as a journalist in the country.

His detention came as chilling news to onlookers around the world, given that Gershkovich was the first American to be arrested in Russia on spying charges since the Cold War.

The Journal and the U.S. have forcefully pushed back against the accusations, urging Moscow to immediately release him. But this hasn’t happened — at least so far.

In February, a Russian court denied Gershkovich’s appeal, ruling that he must stay behind bars until at least the end of March.

“It has been extraordinarily difficult to watch these proceedings play out, each one an indefensible attempt to portray Evan as something other than what he is — a journalist,” Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour and WSJ Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker said in a statement following the decision.

But Gershkovich is not the only American journalist apparently targeted by Russia.

A Russian court in February extended the pretrial detention of Alsu Kurmasheva, an American-Russian journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is funded by the U.S. Congress.

Kurmasheva, who lives in Prague, was arrested at a Russian airport on Oct. 18, 2023, while she was preparing to return home from a visit to her sick mother. She was charged with failing to register as a foreign agent, and accused of disseminating “false information” about the Russian military.

Human rights groups have denounced Kurmasheva’s arrest, and RFE/RL President Stephen Capus said she has been unfairly targeted because she is a U.S. journalist.

Paul Beckett, an assistant editor at The Wall Street Journal, described the incarcerations of Gershkovich and Kurmasheva as “frontal attacks on press freedom.”

Beckett said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s practice of detaining Americans is a “transactional exercise” to gain leverage over the U.S. When it comes to specifically putting reporters behind bars, Beckett said, Putin gets an additional advantage “because it has such a chilling effect on the flow of information and trustworthy information out of Russia.”

Following Gershkovich’s arrest on March 29, 2023, many American news organizations and outlets that employed Americans withdrew from Moscow to protect their staff. Many independent Russian media workers also fled the country.

Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times, is now based in Berlin, following the paper’s decision in 2022 to temporarily remove its journalists from Russia due to the risks. He told The Guardian’s Margaret Sullivan that Gershkovich’s detention shocked him both personally and professionally.

“We took it as a message that the risks were very serious for on-the-ground reporting there,” Troianovski said.

The arrests of Gershkovich and Kurmasheva have occurred during a period of heightened tensions between Russia and the U.S., amid the war in Ukraine and against the backdrop of an upcoming U.S. presidential election in which President Joe Biden is expected to face off with former President Donald Trump.

“If Putin thinks he can gain a better PR coup by waiting for a more favorable opportunity to negotiate under a Trump presidency, then he will be perfectly content to do this.”

- Precious Chatterje-Doody, senior lecturer in politics and international studies at the Open University

Precious Chatterje-Doody, a senior lecturer in politics and international studies at the Open University, said Putin will only have an incentive to release jailed Americans like Gershkovich if he “can trade them for someone worthwhile and then portray this as a victory at home.”

“If, however, the Kremlin cannot strike a deal to its liking then there will be no urgency,” Chatterje-Doody told HuffPost in an email. “Even Russian citizens imprisoned abroad are seen primarily as bargaining chips rather than as people, and if Putin thinks he can gain a better PR coup by waiting for a more favorable opportunity to negotiate under a Trump presidency, then he will be perfectly content to do this.”

The U.S. was reportedly in the process of negotiating a prisoner swap agreement that would have secured the release of Gershkovich; fellow wrongfully designated American Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine; and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in exchange for Vadim Krasikov, a former member of Russia’s state intelligence service held in Germany.

Navalny’s allies have argued that the prospect of the deal prompted Putin to have Navalny killed in prison in February, because he couldn’t bear the thought of seeing one his biggest foes walk free.

The opposition leader, who was being held in a Russian penal colony in Kharp, a city in northern Russia, collapsed after he felt unwell during a walk on Feb. 16. Emergency services did not manage to revive him, and he was pronounced dead later that day, the country’s Federal Prison System said.

Navalny’s death could also indirectly affect Americans detained in Russia.

“Navalny’s death complicates arrangements for a prisoner swap, because if it were to go ahead on anything similar to the lines that [were] reportedly discussed before his death, then it would send a clear message to Russia that the U.S. is willing to tolerate oppositionists’ deaths in custody,” Chatterje-Doody said.

The Financial Times reported that after Navalny’s death, the German government became less interested in taking part in a swap that would involve the release of Krasikov, who is serving a life sentence in the country for killing a Georgian citizen of Chechen descent in Berlin in broad daylight in 2019.

“They don’t have a poster child they’re looking to get out,” a U.S. official told the FT.

Despite this, Alex Brideau, who leads the Eurasia Group’s coverage of Ukraine, Russia’s foreign policy, and the broader Eurasia region, told HuffPost that Navalny’s death doesn’t necessarily make a deal less likely.

Brideau explained that in the past, Russia would deny it was prepared to engage in discussions with foreign governments, including the U.S., about prisoner swaps, and would characterize arrests as straightforward law enforcement operations.

The Russian leader’s approach in the past year, being more open about his willingness to enter into negotiations with the U.S. about prisoners, “does suggest that Putin is still thinking about how he can get a deal that gets him the people that he wants returned back to Russia,” Brideau said.

Whelan told CNN he found the news of Navalny’s death “extremely troubling.”

“If they are willing to face the repercussions from the world for doing in somebody like Navalny, they’re not going to think twice about doing in someone like me, and then blaming the United States for not bothering to get me back in five years,” Whelan said.

Brideau said that while U.S. officials will certainly be worried about the treatment of American prisoners like Whelan, the immediate concern following Navalny’s death “has been that there’s a risk to the Russian opposition activists and politicians who are facing these conditions.”

Whelan was arrested in 2018 on espionage charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020. He has denied wrongdoing.

Russia in December 2022 agreed to free WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for international arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was being held in the U.S. While U.S. officials pressed for Whelan to be included in that swap, the Kremlin insisted the agreement could only involve two people, according to an unnamed source cited by NBC News.

Whelan was also left out of an earlier prisoner swap that saw former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed released in exchange for Kostantin Yaroshenko, a Russian man who was serving a 20-year sentence in the U.S. after he was convicted of drug smuggling.

In an interview with Tucker Carlson shared on X, formerly Twitter, last month prior to Navalny’s death, Putin hinted that he may be prepared to free Gershkovich if he were to reach a deal with U.S. authorities.

“I do not rule out that the person you refer to, Mr. Gershkovich, may return to his motherland,” Putin said. “We are ready to talk ... But we have to come to an agreement.”

Putin also appeared to suggest he would want Krasikov to be involved in a potential swap.

Carlson did not mention Whelan, and also failed to bring up Navalny during the nearly two-hour interview in Moscow.

“We will also work around the clock to bring home Evan and Paul, Americans being unjustly detained all around the world.”

- President Joe Biden

Lawmakers across the political spectrum have called on Russia to free jailed U.S. citizens in the country.

“We will also work around the clock to bring home Evan and Paul, Americans being unjustly detained all around the world,” Biden said during his State of the Union address earlier this month.

Gershkovich’s parents attended Biden’s speech as guests of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

“By hosting Evan’s parents, Congress will shine a spotlight on the unjust detention of their son,” Johnson said in a statement at the time. “The United States must always stand for freedom of the press around the world, especially in places like Russia, where it is under assault. The Administration must bring Evan home.”

Beckett told HuffPost it is heartening to see that Gershkovich’s case has remained a “bipartisan concern,” noting the unanimous approval of a House resolution last year calling for the release of the reporter and other jailed Americans in Russia.

His colleagues are trying to keep Gershkovich’s name in the spotlight in hopes that it will aid his case in potential government-to-government talks between the Kremlin and the White House.

A series of events have been planned to mark the year since Gershkovich’s detention, including swims at Brighton Beaches around the world on March 23, given his family’s ties to Brighton Beach in New York, which is home to a large Russian immigrant community.

The Journal is planning a 24-hour read-a-thon at its New York headquarters next week, where Gershkovich’s friends, family and colleagues will take part in a public reading of his reporting.

While the anniversary is “a painful moment in many ways,” Beckett said, “it’s also meant for everybody to dig back in and do what they can to help.”

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These negotiations were complicated by the broader geopolitical context of Russia’s war in Ukraine, sanctions, and deteriorating diplomacy between the U.S. and Russia

Title:

Content: "In recent weeks, we have made a new and important proposal to secure the release of Paul and Evan.
This proposal was rejected by Russia.
We should not have made such proposals.
They should not have been arrested at all.
They should both be released immediately, ” Miller told reporters.
"This will not prevent us from continuing to do everything we can to try to bring them both home," a State Department official said.
According to Miller, this proposal did not apply to other Americans detained in Russia.
Details of what the United States offered Russia, Miller refused to disclose, citing the secrecy of the negotiations.
Paul Whelan, a businessman and former Marine who also holds Irish, British and Canadian citizenship, was detained in a Moscow hotel in December 2018 on charges of espionage, which Whelan consistently and strongly rejects.
Whelan was sentenced by a Russian court to 16 years in prison in June 2020.
Whelan pleads not guilty.
On November 29, he was attacked by another prisoner in a Russian colony where he is serving his sentence.
32-year-old American journalist Evan Gershkovich was detained by the FSB of Russia on charges of espionage on March 29, 2023 in Yekaterinburg, and the next day a court in Moscow sent him under arrest.
Gershkovic categorically denies his guilt and is still awaiting trial in the jail cell.
Last week, a Russian court decided for the third time to extend the pre-trial detention of an American journalist until January 30.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said it was "deeply concerned" by the court's decision.
WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said Monday in a letter to readers that the persecution of Gershkovich in Russia shows how "Vladimir Putin's repression of independent media is spreading to the foreign press."
The Biden administration said Whelan and Gershkovic were "unjustly detained" and that the charges against them were unfounded.
The Biden administration has repeatedly stated that it is doing everything possible to bring him home.
The Biden administration conducted two prisoner exchanges with Russia amid the cooling of bilateral relations due to Russia ’ s invasion of Ukraine.
Washington secured the release of American basketball player Brittney Greiner in December 2022 in exchange for Russian arms dealer Victor Bout.
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Russian 'Death Dealer' who supported invasion of Ukraine, used nuclear weapons is released and returned to join extremist party
Bout, a "dead businessman" who returned to Russia last week, announced on the 12th that he had joined the right-wing party known for its extreme nationalism, the Russian Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR). (Reuters)
2022 / 12 / 14 12: 43
The United States and Russia reached a prisoner swap agreement on the 8th to exchange Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer nicknamed "The Merchant of Death," for WNBA star Brittney Griner.
After his return, Boute not only expressed support for Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine, but also announced on the 12th that he had joined a right-wing party known for extreme nationalism, and his founder had repeatedly demanded that the Moscow government use nuclear weapons.
U.S. women's professional basketball (WNBA) star Graina was arrested at the Moscow airport in February this year after being found to be carrying an electronic cigarette containing 1 gram of cannabis oil and sent to exile last month after being sentenced to nine years in prison by a local court, the BBC reported.
After many negotiations, the United States and Russia successfully exchanged prisoners with Russia on the 8th of this month under the leadership of the Arab League, and returned to Grenada with the 55-year-old Russian arms dealer Bout.
Bout, a notorious arms dealer who was sentenced to 25 years in a US court in 2011, was released from prison last week, but less than a week after he was photographed on Monday, standing on stage with Leonid Slutsky, leader of the Russian Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), and other key members of the party, to join the group. Party.
Slutsky thanked Bout for his willingness to be a member of “the best political party in Russia today ” and mentioned his long years in prison.“ Today he stands with us, and we will send back all those who are in distress outside our homeland. ”
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported that although Bout joined the ultra-nationalist right-wing party, he said he did not intend to run in any elections for the time being.
The report also mentions that the LDPR was founded in the early 1990s by the late far-right politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who gained notoriety for repeatedly demanding that the Moscow government use nuclear weapons and engaging in incomprehensible outlandish behavior.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, the LDPR emerged as a powerful power contender and is now extremely close to the Kremlin on many key issues, such as supporting an all-out invasion of Ukraine.
Moreover, this is not the first time that the LDPR has recruited major international figures to join the party, such as Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB agent wanted in the UK for an assassination attempt, who joined the LDPR immediately after fleeing to Russia in 2007 and is now a member of the State Duma of the Russian lower house of parliament.
Bout was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a US court in 2011 and released this year due to a US-Russia prisoner swap agreement. (Reuters)
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Griner’s experience in the Russian penal colony was described as harsh and isolating.