# Report: Brittney Griner's Detention in Russia and Its Broader Implications

## Introduction

The case of Brittney Griner, a prominent American basketball player, represents a complex intersection of sports, gender, and international politics.

Her detention in Russia in 2022 and subsequent release through a high-profile prisoner exchange illuminates how governments can leverage public figures in geopolitical negotiations.

## The Arrest and Legal Proceedings

Brittney Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA star, was arrested on February 17, 2022, at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport.

Russian customs officials discovered vape cartridges containing hashish oil (0.

702 grams) in her luggage.

This led to charges under Article 228 and 229.

1 of the Russian Criminal Code, which addresses drug trafficking.

Griner pleaded guilty on July 7, 2022, stating she had no intention of

# Report: Brittney Griner's Detention in Russia and Its Broader Implications

## Introduction

The case of Brittney Griner, a prominent American basketball player, represents a complex intersection of sports, gender, and international politics.

Title:

Content: Democracy Dies in Darkness

Brittney Griner gets one-year deal from Phoenix Mercury to return to WNBA

Brittney Griner had intended to play for the Phoenix Mercury this season, and it became official Friday.

Per the WNBA’s transactions wire, the Phoenix Mercury signed the seven-time all-star, who had spent about 10 months held in Russia after being arrested at an airport in February. The State Department considered her “wrongfully detained,” and she was sentenced to 9½ years in prison after pleading guilty to bringing vape cartridges with cannabis oil into the country. Griner was released in December and returned to the United States in a prisoner exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout.

While pleading guilty, Griner said she made an “honest mistake” and didn’t realize the vape cartridges were in her bag. She has played for Russian squad UMMC Ekaterinburg during WNBA offseasons.

The Mercury signed Griner, 32, to a one-year contract worth $165,100, per HerHoopsStats.com, though the deal had not been announced as of Saturday night. She missed the 2022 season but had averaged 20.5 points and a career-high 9.5 rebounds in 2021 while helping the Mercury to the WNBA Finals, where it lost to the Chicago Sky in four games. She has spent her entire WNBA career with the Mercury, which made her the No. 1 draft pick in 2013 and claimed the WNBA title a year later.

Elena Delle Donne is fully recovered and back to being Elena Delle Donne

The signing further bolsters the Mercury roster — and guard Diana Taurasi signed Saturday to spend a 19th season with Phoenix. The 40-year-old is the league’s all-time leading scorer, but the end of her career is near. Still, the Mercury brings back a core of Taurasi, Griner, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Sophie Cunningham.

Griner’s return put the WNBA’s travel methods back in the spotlight; after her detainment in Russia, she is expected to need to take private flights for security reasons. WNBA rules do not allow teams to charter private flights, a point of contention for the players union. President Biden also came under fire for releasing Bout, who was arrested in 2008 and sentenced to 25 years in 2012 for supporting terrorism and conspiring to kill Americans.

“It’s through hardship that character is revealed, and over the last nine months, we have seen the best of so many,” Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, said in a statement after her release. “At the top of that list are BG and President Biden. Throughout this ordeal, BG has carried herself with courage, grace and grit; and President Biden made us a promise, and then kept his word and did what was necessary to bring her home. We are forever grateful for his follow-through on that commitment.”

From December: Griner ‘compassionate, humble’ after release from Russia

Griner became a household name during her detainment. WNBA players did what they could to keep her in the news, urging Biden to bring her home and counting the days she was detained. The basketball community celebrated her release two months ago, and now she’s in line to be back on the court this spring.

“I have been fortunate enough to be around BG in both basketball and social settings and have loved being around her,” Washington Mystics General Manager Mike Thibault said after she was released. “Her energy and zest for life has always stood out, and it’s so wonderful to know that she is free from this nightmare and will be reunited with her wife, family and friends.”

Title:

Content: CNN: basketball player Greiner was exchanged for Victor Bout
16: 10 08.12.2022
The basketball player from the United States was released from the Russian prison in the framework of the exchange of prisoners.
© Photo by ZUMAPRESS, Globallookpress
Read us on:
American basketball player Brittney Greiner, who was convicted of drug smuggling, was exchanged for the Russian Viktor Bout.
This is reported by CNN with reference to a source.
Brittney Greiner was released from Russian detention as part of an exchange of prisoners... for Victor Bout.
Earlier, lawyers visited the American Brittney Greiner in the Mordovian correctional colony No2.
The basketball player has already begun to serve his sentence.
Recall that in late October, the Moscow regional court approved the American athlete Brittney Greiner nine years in prison for drug smuggling.
In February, a basketball player who arrived on a flight from New York was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport.
When inspecting things in her hand luggage, they found vapes with a liquid with a specific odor weighing 0.702 grams.
Subsequently, the examination found that it was hashish oil.
Expert opinion and analytics
Read more
read below the following news

Title:

Content: ,, July 29, 2023, 04: 48 — IA Regnum.
The penalty of 10 years in prison threatens a citizen of Russia Natalia Semenova on charges of criminal conspiracy and complicity in the production of drugs, told reporters the lawyer of the woman Alexei Tarasov.
Ivan Shilov IA REGNUM
Jail
We are talking about five years in prison for each of the indictments.
“If we proceed from the text [of the charges], then she faces a maximum of 10 years, ” said the lawyer, whose words are quoted by TASS.
The lawyer clarified that his client did not plead guilty to any charges.
The hearing in the case of Semenova was scheduled for November 6.
She is currently incarcerated in Gregg County, Texas.
Tarasov also noted that the health of the defendant “leaves much to be desired ”, since she has been in custody for a long time and has chronic diseases.
The lawyer explained that Semenova suffers from dental problems and needs to be examined by a dentist, which is “difficult to do ” in prison conditions.
Police detained Semenova and her husband, U.S. citizen Russell Ross, at the end of February 2023 after a search of their home, where they found about 450 kg of marijuana.
Together with their spouses, several more people were detained - natives of Russia and Bolivia.
As reported by IA Regnum, in December 2022, the United States and Russia exchanged Russian citizen Viktor Bout for basketball player Brittney Greiner.
Booth was serving his sentence in prison in the United States on charges of arms trafficking.
He was sentenced in 2012 to 25 years.
Greiner, in turn, was in a Russian colony for smuggling drugs.
The athlete was detained in February 2022 at Sheremetyevo airport, having found drugs with her.
In August, she was sentenced to nine years in prison and a fine of 1 million rubles.

Title:

Content: As news of WNBA star Brittney Griner being detained in Russia spread this week amid the invasion of Ukraine, her story has shed light on other Americans jailed in Russia. Among them is Marine Corps veteran Trevor Reed, whose detainment started with a drunken night of vodka that he says he does not remember — one that resulted in a nine-year prison sentence.

Reed, who traveled from North Texas to Moscow to visit his girlfriend in the summer of 2019, was jailed after a night of drinking that ended with him allegedly attacking two police officers. Reed pleaded not guilty to a charge of using violence to endanger the life or health of a government official performing his duties. He was convicted in July 2020 and sentenced to prison by a Moscow court in a case that Reed told reporters was “clearly political.” The sentence was denounced by U.S. lawmakers and diplomats, including U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan, who described the evidence used to convict Reed as “ridiculous.”

Now, as the invasion of Ukraine enters its third week, Reed’s family and U.S. lawmakers are calling for his release at a time when his parents say his health is worsening.

“They feel like this is a fairly desperate situation for Trevor right now,” Jonathan Franks, a family spokesman, told The Washington Post.

Reed, who served as part of the presidential guard during the Obama administration, told his parents this week that he was “coughing up blood multiple times a day, running a fever, and still experiencing pain in his lung,” according to a Thursday statement from parents Paula and Joey Reed. Reed’s parents say they believe their 30-year-old son has tuberculosis and also suffered a broken rib after “something fell” on him, and are concerned that he will be sent to solitary confinement instead of getting the medical care he needs.

“Trevor called again, and it’s hard to explain how panicked we are after hearing his voice today,” his parents said in a Thursday statement.

The push for Reed’s release has received bipartisan support in the United States, including Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Rep. Colin Allred (D-Tex.), who have slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin for using the Marine veteran as a political bargaining chip.

“This injustice must end and the Texas delegation is united in working to get Trevor back to his family in North Texas,” Allred told The Post in a statement.

Paula and Joey Reed have urged President Biden to push for their son’s release. When Biden was unable to meet with them this week when the president was in Fort Worth, he called them to apologize for being unable to meet in person, telling them he “said a Rosary for Trevor” on his way to Texas.

“Meeting with the president can’t happen soon enough,” Franks said.

White House officials said earlier this week that they were working to schedule a meeting on a future date. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. The Russian Embassy also did not return requests for comment.

Reed’s family said they told their son that they had spoken to Biden and how they “anxiously await hearing from the White House as the president promised.”

“Trevor increasingly feels left behind, and it’s heartbreaking for us to hear that from our son, whose service we are so proud of,” the parents said in a statement.

Attention surrounding Reed’s case comes at a fraught moment between Washington and Moscow. Biden said Friday that the United States U.S. and its allies would strip Russia of trade benefits enjoyed by most nations, adding to financial pressure designed to punish Putin for invading Ukraine. The European Union and the other Group of Seven nations also plan to implement similar measures, which would have a more dramatic impact upon the Russian economy.

Reed is among several Americans to have been convicted in Russian courts in recent years. Griner, 31, is accused of having cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage at an airport outside Moscow.

Another notable case involves Paul Whelan, also a Marine veteran. Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges in June 2020, even though he insisted throughout the trial that he was framed. An appeal for Whelan, 52, is ongoing. Much like Reed’s case, Sullivan has described Whelan’s imprisonment as “a mockery of justice.”

After he was given an honorable discharge from the Marine Corps, Reed went back to school to study at the University of North Texas in 2017, according to a biography from his family posted to a website about his case. A year earlier, he met a Russian woman named Alina Tsybulnik, who would become his girlfriend. In the summer of 2019, he traveled to Moscow to spend time with her and study Russian, in hope of speaking to her and her family in Tsybulnik’s native language.

Then, on Aug. 15, 2019, he attended a party for his girlfriend’s colleagues in which he was encouraged to drink a lot of vodka, according to a statement from his family.

“He has no memory of the evening past drinking vodka and being asked to toast many times,” the family said.

As he shared a ride home with some people from the party in the early-morning hours of Aug. 16, 2019, Reed became nauseated from the drinking and asked the car to stop. When the vehicle stopped moving, his family said he “exited the vehicle and started running around near a busy boulevard late at night.” From there, Reed resisted arrest, hit two police officers and caused the car he was in to swerve and created a hazard on the road, Russian police say.

Reed was detained for nearly a year before he was given a trial in 2020. During that time, he told reporters he had lost about 44 pounds.

Around the time of his trial, Reed’s father set up a website outlining the flaws in the evidence used to charge his son. One of the most notable items, according to Paul Reed, is that traffic video footage allegedly did not show the vehicle swerving, nor did witnesses in the car following the police car to the station see it swerve. Sullivan emphasized at the time that the evidence against Reed was so “flimsy and preposterous” that the case would have been thrown out of court in the United States. Trevor Reed also argued that the evidence wasn’t there.

“Based on the evidence in my case, I think it’s clear what the outcome should be,” he said to reporters in July 2020.

But on July 30, 2020, he was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison — almost the maximum penalty for the charge. Franks told The Post that the family remains deeply upset that their son was convicted over what he described was a case of “no facts, none.”

“It was a sham conviction and a show trial because he was a U.S. Marine,” he said.

Since then, Reed’s family and attorneys have said their son has struggled. Reed declared last November that he was on a hunger strike to protest being repeatedly placed in a punishment cell “and other serious violations of his rights.”

American lawmakers have been following Reed’s case for years. In June, the House passed a bipartisan resolution from Texas representatives demanding Russia immediately release Reed. That same month, Biden said he had brought up the cases of Reed and Whelan to Putin after a summit in Geneva.

When asked about Griner’s case this week, Allred referenced Reed as being among the Americans jailed in Russia who were “detained and then held either without reason or without a sufficient kind of explanation.” Cornyn has been among the GOP voices to denounce Putin for using Reed, Griner and other Americans detained in Russia as “leverage for some other goal.” The Republican said in an interview with Fox News that he was urging Biden to do more to intervene with Reed’s case.

“It looks like Putin is targeting Americans, and including some Texans, and I don’t think we should step back, or we should refrain from making the point that these people are being unjustly held,” Cornyn said. “And the Biden administration needs to do more to try to raise these issues with Putin and the Russian government and get them released.”

Reed’s father tweeted Friday a question he’s asked many times: “How long will [the U.S. government] wait” to intervene in his son’s case? Franks, the family’s spokesman, said the family remains hopeful that even with the war in Ukraine that their son could be released and returned to Texas. But Franks acknowledged the current situation has made the parents even more exhausted and anxious for what may be ahead for their son.

“It was a difficult situation before the invasion,” Franks said. “And it’s even more difficult now.”

Title:

Content: Wall Street Journal reporter Ivan Gershkovich.
US ambassador visits jailed US journalist in Russia
The US ambassador to Russia on Monday visited jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Ivan Gershkovich for the third time and reported he was in good health.
The meeting between Ambassador Lynn Tracy and Gershkovich took place in Moscow ’ s Lefortovo prison, just over a month after her last visit.
A State Department spokesman said: "Ambassador Tracy has said that Ivan still looks healthy and remains strong, despite the circumstances he is going through.
"Once again, the United States calls on the Russian Federation to immediately release Ivan Gershkovich and to release the arbitrarily detained American citizen Paul Whelan."
Gershkovich, who previously worked for AFP, was arrested on March 29 during a press mission in the Urals.
He is the first Western journalist to be arrested by Moscow on espionage charges since the Soviet era, amid a sharp deterioration in relations over the Ukraine war.
The latest visit seems to signal a return to more normal consular services, after visits stopped between April and July.
Russia indicated at the time that the suspension of visits was in response to the US failure to issue visas to a Russian state media outlet seeking to visit New York during the departure of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the United Nations headquarters.
Whelan, who the United States says is being held arbitrarily by Moscow, is a former U.S. Marine who has been imprisoned in Russia for more than four years.
The United States has significantly reduced high-level contacts with Russia since the start of Russian military operations in Ukraine in February 2022, but has made contacts to arrange a prisoner exchange.
In December, Russia released basketball star Britney Grainer, who was convicted of drug possession, in exchange for the release of Victor Bout, who is jailed in the United States for weapons smuggling.
Most Read
No stories found.
Erm News
www.eremnews.com

Title:

Content: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris Meets Brittney Greiner During Women's NBA Game
Comments
Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris attended the match of the women ’ s NBA “Los Angeles Sparks ” –“ Phoenix Mercury ” and met with American basketball player Brittney Greiner.
Brittney Greiner and Kamala Harris
Photo by Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
Brittney Greiner returned to the United States from Russia in December 2022 as a result of an exchange of prisoners.
In the Russian Federation, she was serving a sentence for transporting prohibited substances.
The basketball player was exchanged for the Russian entrepreneur Viktor Bout.
In Russia, the court sentenced Greiner to nine years in prison.
She pleaded guilty.
Earlier, Harris booed at the basketball match of Howard University with the current NCAA student basketball champion Kansas University as part of the next “March Madness ”, which ended with a score of 68: 96.
Materials on the topic
Brittney Greiner: I felt the love of the fans when I was in Russia
Comments
Affiliate content

Title:

Content: HOMEPAGE

Brittney Griner's agent calls on Biden and Harris to 'do whatever it takes' to free the WNBA star from Russian captivity

  • Brittney Griner's agent called on Biden and Harris to "do whatever it takes" to get the WNBA player out of Russian jail.
  • Griner's imprisonment was just extended to July 2, Russian state media reported.
  • "Today's extension is just further reinforcement that Brittney Griner — an Olympian and an American citizen — is being used as a political pawn," her agent said.

Brittney Griner's agent called on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to "do whatever it takes" to free the WNBA star from Russian captivity.

"Today's extension is just further reinforcement that Brittney Griner — an Olympian and an American citizen — is being used as a political pawn. Her detention is inhumane and unacceptable," Lindsay Kagawa Colas tweeted Tuesday, referring to Russian state media TASS's reporting that Griner's imprisonment has been extended until July 2.

She continued: "We call on @POTUS and @VP to act with urgency and do whatever it takes to bring Brittney home immediately."

Colas added that Griner has not had a phone call in "117 days of wrongful detention."

Tuesday's extension is the second time Russian officials extended Griner's detention.

She was first arrested at a Moscow airport on February 17 when officials found vape cartridges in her luggage, and she has been held in a Russian prison since.

"We must fight for BG like family because as an American, she is all of ours," Colas said.

Sign up for notifications from Insider! Stay up to date with what you want to know.
Subscribe to push notifications

Keep reading

Title:

Content: Parliamentary Newspaper
848 followers
Biden called the topic that he wants to discuss with Putin
American President Joe Biden believes that now there is no point in negotiating with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but he would be ready to discuss the fate of convicted basketball player Britney Greiner.
Back to article
Picture of the day
top

Title:

Content: White House: Biden is ready for emergency measures for the return of convicted Americans to Russia
The administration of US President Joe Biden in recent weeks continued to cooperate with Russia “through all available channels ” to return to the homeland of the Americans convicted in Russia.
This is stated in the White House statement.
“In recent weeks, the Biden-Harris administration has continued to engage with Russia through all available channels and has made every effort to bring Britney [Griner] home and to support and protect other Americans detained in Russia, ” the White House said in a statement.
In addition, the statement stressed that the President of the United States “has demonstrated that he is ready to take extraordinary measures and make difficult decisions to bring Americans home. ”
It is also noted that the administration maintains constant contact with the families of convicted persons.
Earlier in the day, the Moscow regional court upheld the sentence of a US citizen, two-time Olympic champion Brittney Greiner, convicted in Russia on charges of smuggling drugs to 9 years in prison.
Share:
Downloading
Found a bug?
Close

Title:

Content: Russian Federation
Moscow
+ 9 °
Politics24 September 2022 8: 21
NYT: US State Department urges US athletes to leave Russia immediately
The Embassy of the country has limited opportunities to help them in Russia, noted in the US Department
NYT: US State Department urges US athletes to leave Russia immediately
Photo by GLOBAL LOOK PRESS
The US State Department has called on Russian athletes to leave the country as soon as possible.
"The Americans should leave Russia immediately.
The embassy has limited capacity to help them there, ” a source told The New York Times.
It is also indicated that in the United States they fear persecution of their citizens by Russian officials.
On February 18, American basketball player Brittney Greiner was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport.
In her luggage found vapes (cartridges for an electronic heating system) with cannabis oil.
On August 4, the Khimki court of the Moscow region sentenced the American to 9 years in prison for smuggling and possession of drugs.
Earlier, the State Department again urged Americans to leave Russia and Ukraine.
The head of the press service of the State Department, Ned Price, made a corresponding recommendation to the Americans.

Title:

Content: American forward of the club of the National basketball Association (NBA) "Los Angeles Lakers" LeBron James in an interview published on the YouTube channel UNINTERRUPTED, addressed the arrested in Russia basketball player Brittney Greiner.
He believes that the US authorities are not making enough efforts to release the basketball player.
Does she feel like America is covering her back?
If I were her, I would think if I wanted to go back to America at all, ” LeBron James said.
On February 18, the basketball player flew to Moscow from New York.
Customs officers seized vapers with an unknown liquid from her luggage.
The results of the examination showed that it was hashish oil.
On March 5, the basketball player was arrested.
Greiner was charged with drug smuggling.
Earlier, US officials expressed doubts that in the near future they will be able to return the basketball player.
On July 7, she pleaded guilty in the Khimki court.

Title:

Content: Alert
Wang Jianmin 's unyielding lawsuit against hot heroine is legendary as "Dr. Lai Qingde Royal Use Doctor"
Good market more than 1 food nearly frozen in the past 5 years, the key reason for exposure: it is lead the way chicken
Special regulations passed after the epidemic: he pointed out transportation subsidies but ignored "this"
WNBA / Green, imprisoned by Russia, re-signed to Phoenix Mercury after being released
The Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA announced today that Brittney Griner, who was jailed in Russia for nearly 10 months last year, has signed a one-year contract with the team.
Agence France-Presse and Reuters reported that Greiner once again joined Mercury, who had won the title under her leadership in 2014.
Greiner played more than nine seasons in the WNBA before she was imprisoned in Russia last year.
After being released from prison in December, Greiner said she plans to return to the WNBA and play for Mercury again.
“This is a great day for all of us, ” said Mercury General Manager Jim Pitman,“ to announce that Greiner has officially signed a contract to play for Mercury in 2023. ”
“We miss her every day when she ’ s not there. Basketball is not what we care about. Her presence on the court, in our locker room, around our organization and in our community is something we miss. ”
The 32-year-old has helped the U.S. women ’ s basketball team win gold medals at the Tokyo and Rio Olympics and was selected for the WNBA All-Star Game eight times.
She was arrested at an airport outside Moscow on February 17 last year for cannabis oil in an e-cigarette case in her luggage. She was convicted of drug smuggling and handed over to one of Russia ’ s most notorious detention centers.
"We will continue to use the resources of our organization to support her on and off the court, and we are excited to return to her beloved basketball career," Pittman said.
"This is a very special signing and today is a special day for all of us."
Greiner previously played for Mercury in 2021, when she helped the team reach the WNBA Finals and lost to the Chicago Sky.
Mercury ’ s 2023 season opener against the Los Angeles Sparks on May 19, followed by its first game at home on May 21, will pay tribute to Greene ’ s return before facing the Chicago Sky.
Extended reading
Far-right Congressman Green wants a "national divorce", split the red and blue, and rule it out.
NBA / Green asked the Bucks how to win the championship? Antetokounmpo: learn from the Warriors
NBA / Warriors star 5% win rate sit Green batch: defense is the biggest problem
NBA / "Wo God" first broke the news to return to the Cavaliers Green second back: not finished yet
Related News
WNBA / Green, imprisoned by Russia, re-signed to Phoenix Mercury after being released
The United States women's professional basketball team, Phoenix Mercury, announced today that the female basketball star Greiner, who was imprisoned in Russia for nearly 10 months last year, has been...
UBA and Foguang compete for the last four strong Taipei City Liao Weiqing hope to be able to attack the eggs in the last year
Last year, we began to receive one-on-one physical training, and Liao Wei-ching, a 180-centimeter senior in Taipei City, is about to enter the WSBL Taiwan Power Team, hoping that the end of his college career will be able to...
PLG / Siege Lions will meet Lin Shuhao head coach: the focus is on themselves
Hsinchu Street Gate Siege Lion today defeated the PLG 101: 131 to defend the title of Taipei Fubon Warriors, with 4 consecutive defeats against the Kaohsiung 17 live steel...
PLG / 10 days off to put on the blockbuster Johnson preview show 360 degree dunk
PLG defending champion Taipei Fubon Warriors won 131: 101 against the City Lions at Hsinchu Street, collecting a record 7 consecutive wins...
PHOTO / PLG Half-Game Scores Break League Record Fubon Defeated City Lions to Win 7 in a Series
PLG defending champion Taipei Fubon Warriors, today in the home game against the Hsinchu Street Siege Lions played a good opening, Fubon Warriors will Johnson in the first half of the game scored 24 points, the whole team in the first half of the attack...
PLG / Half-Game Highest Points Record: Warriors Bloodwash Siege Lions Win 7 in a Series
After 7 consecutive victories in the Chinese New Year, the PLG defending champion Taipei Fubon Warriors made a good start today. The first half of the game was scored 72 points under the 24 points of foreign aid Johnson, creating a league record.
udn Forum
Product recommendation

Title:

Content: Skip to main content

Brittney Griner Reveals What Happened At Russian Airport

With Brittney Griner pleading guilty to drug charges in Russia, new details on what happened leading to her arrest have been revealed.

Appearing in court this week, Griner pleaded guilty to bringing hashish oil into Russia. She asked the judge for mercy and said that she had done so inadvertently.

Griner explained that she accidentally packed vape cartridges into her luggage, leading to her detainment. She said she had no intention of breaking the law.

"I'd like to plead guilty, your honor. But there was no intent. I didn't want to break the law," Griner said.

Unfortunately for Brittney Griner, pleading guilty won't mean the end for her court proceedings in Russia. Far from it.

Russian courts can drag on the proceedings for months as the judge lists off charges and reads the full case record into.

Griner will give her full testimony on July 14 and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted for large-scale transportation of drugs.

But according to ESPN, this may be part of a diplomatic strategy to bring Griner home in a prisoner swap. Though it may also be an acknowledgement that an acquittal was impossible.

The bar for being acquitted in Russia is already extremely high given the nation's high conviction rate. And even if found acquitted, Russian courts can overturn the acquittal anyway.

Will this move get us any steps closer to bringing Brittney Griner back?

Title:

Content: Brittney Griner's teammates speak out about her "devastating" 9-year sentence in Russia: "It's a helpless feeling"

WNBA star Brittney Griner's nine-year prison sentence in Russia on Thursday has sent shockwaves back to her loved ones in the U.S. After she sentenced for having vape cartridges filled with cannabis oil at a Moscow airport this year – which she says was an accident – her Phoenix Mercury teammates spoke out about the "devastating" situation.

Following the Mercury's 77-64 loss to the Connecticut Sun on Thursday, guard Skylar Diggins-Smith told reporters "nobody wanted to even play today."

"It's our sister," Diggins-Smith said. "...I don't expect everybody to give a damn, but we really do. And we come out here and we're still supposed to play this f---ing game. ... How are you supposed to approach the game, approach the court with a clear mind and the whole group is crying before the game?"

She went on to say that the team wants to honor Griner and play hard on her behalf, but that doing so can be difficult given the circumstances.

Mercury guard Diamond DeShields shared the sentiment, saying she's proud to be a part of the team and how hard they played on Thursday.

"We approached the game tonight with a heavy heart as we have every game this season," she said. "But obviously, devastating is the overall sentiment. ... I mean, it's like you're just waiting for a bomb to drop, you know? Just watching it, seeing her behind bars."

"It's a helpless feeling," Diggins-Smith added.

The two also questioned the press for persistently asking the team about Griner's situation.

"It's heavy. It's just heavy, y'all," Diggins-Smith said. "Y'all asking these questions don't really take away from our trauma. You just add to our trauma, so we can break down in front of y'all, so you can see how we feel. I don't know what else to really say about it."

During Thursday's game, both teams embraced each other at half-court for 42 seconds of silence – Griner's jersey number – to honor the basketball star. The silence was followed by chants of "BG" and "bring her home."

Griner, 31, is a two-time U.S. Olympic champion and eight-time all-star with the Mercury, and in her WNBA off-season, she plays for Russia's Yekaterinburg team. She was arrested in February at a Moscow airport when workers found vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her luggage, which her legal team argued she had accidentally stowed while packing in haste.

Griner was convicted on Thursday for drug possession and was sentenced to nine years in prison. She was also fined 1 million rubles, about $16,000.

President Biden immediately called for Griner's release on Thursday, calling the conviction and sentence "unacceptable." And on Friday, Russia said it is ready to discuss a prisoner swap. In recent days, the White House has offered a swap with the country, asking for both Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan to be released. The U.S. has not confirmed who they would release as part of the swap.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.

Title:

Content: Last Updated on July 4, 2022 by BVN

S. E. Williams |

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

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

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

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

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

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

Racism and Homophobia in Russia

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

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

Racism and homophobia in America

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A need to raise our collective voices

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

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

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

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

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

S.E. Williams

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

Title:

Content: Wall Street Journal reporter detained in Russia, denied espionage
Author: Hsu Yi-an
Published: Updated:
On March 30, Russia ’ s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on suspicion of spying for the United States.
Authorities said they arrested him in the eastern Russian city of Yekaterinburg.
The Russian news agency said on the 30th that he denied the charges in a Moscow court.
The same court ruled that he remained in custody until May 29.
In a statement, the FSB said that Gershkovych “acted on the instructions of the United States and collected information constituting state secrets about the activities of a Russian military industrial enterprise ”. The FSB said it had“ stopped ” his ongoing “illegal activities ” and prosecuted him.
The newspaper issued a statement on the 30th saying it was deeply concerned about the safety of journalists.
According to the FSB, Gorshković was identified by the Russian Foreign Ministry as a journalist working in Russia.
The newspaper confirmed in a report on the 30th that he worked for his Moscow bureau and was a US citizen.
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on March 30, 2023, it detained a U.S. citizen and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, alleging that he was engaged in espionage for the United States.
Before his arrest, he worked for the Moscow bureau of the Wall Street Journal.
Authorities said they arrested him in the eastern Russian city of Yekaterinburg.
Photo provided by the Wall Street Journal.
(Reuters)
A similar situation occurred in 2022, and the United States has been fighting for a prisoner swap agreement with Russia after the arrest of US women ’ s professional basketball WNBA star Brittney Griner in February 2022 in Russia for drug possession.
On December 8, 2022, US media quoted US officials as saying that the two sides reached a one-for-one prisoner exchange agreement, and the United States handed over to Russia Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who was serving a prison sentence in the United States, in exchange for the release of Glenna, who was originally sentenced to nine years in prison by Russia.

Title:

Content: • June 22, 2022, 00: 33
The White House admitted the guilt of its Embassy in the difficulties of communication with the detained in Russia basketball player
White house: detained basketball player Greiner did not get home due to the fault of the US Embassy
American basketball player Brittney Greiner, who was detained in Russia, was unable to reach her family due to the fault of the employees of the US Embassy in Moscow.
This information was confirmed by the press Secretary of the White House Karin Jean-Pierre.
“It was an unfortunate mistake.
The US State Department is working to eliminate it as soon as possible, ” Jean-Pierre said during a regular briefing for journalists.
Quote from Tass.
So the press Secretary of the White house commented on reports of Griner ’ s attempts to get home.
The basketball player on June 18 wanted to contact his wife Sherell in Phoenix.
She called 11 times on the number provided by American diplomats, but was unable to talk to his wife.
“I understand that [this] telephone conversation is scheduled.
I will not talk about when [it will take place], decide whether to disclose this information, it is necessary for the wife of Brittney Greiner, ” said Jean-Pierre.
She also said that she has nothing to say about the meeting of the US Joe Biden with the basketball player.
At the same time, she promised that the authorities will do everything to bring the detained Americans home.
Brittney Gainer was detained at Sheremetyevo when they found a prohibited substance in a vape capsule.
Against the athlete opened a criminal case and sent to the detention center.

Title:

Content: Kremlin says Griner swap must be discussed without publicity

MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says it’s open to talking about a possible prisoner exchange involving American basketball star Brittney Griner but strongly warned Washington against publicizing the issue. A judge convicted the 31-year-old Griner Thursday of drug possession and smuggling, and sentenced her to nine years in prison. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke last week to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about a trade to free Griner, and the two of them were both in Cambodia for an Asian summit on Friday. Lavrov said Moscow was “ready to discuss” a prisoner swap but that U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir only could talk about a deal via confidential channels.

Dodgers' Kershaw on IL with low back pain; Taylor activated

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed left-hander Clayton Kershaw on the 15-day injured list, one day after he left a start with lower back pain. This marks the 34-year-old Kershaw’s second trip to the injured list this season. He was previously sidelined with inflammation in a pelvic joint. Kershaw had an X-ray and an MRI on Friday, but Dave Roberts didn’t know the results of the MRI prior to Los Angeles’ game against San Diego. Roberts said Kershaw was sore on Friday. Roberts said he’s hesitant to give a timeline until they have results of the MRI.

Chun takes halfway lead at Women's British Open

MUIRFIELD, Scotland (AP) — In Gee Chun is making another strong run at a major. The South Korean golfer took the halfway lead at the Women’s British Open after a 5-under 66 in the second round. She's in position to challenge for a second major title of the year and fourth overall. Chun had an 8-under total of 134, putting her one shot ahead of South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai and Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom. They both shot 65. Seven-time major winner Inbee Park of South Korea is a shot further back after a 67.

Tom Kim going places in a hurry, among leaders at Wyndham

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Joohyung Kim began the Wyndham Championship with a quadruple bogey. Now the 20-year-old South Korean who goes by “Tom” is among the leaders. Kim has made 14 birdies at Sedgefield Country Club since that 8 on his first hole. His 64 put him at 9-under 131 along with Ryan Moore and Brandon Wu. It's been a whirlwind month for Kim. He finished third at the Scottish Open. That sent him on his way to being assured of a PGA Tour card for next season. Moore has a lingering back problem and needs a solo second to regain a full card.

Column: NFL lets bad boy owners get off with slap on wrist

After Donald Sterling’s racist ramblings were exposed to the world, the NBA moved quickly to banish him from the league. Sure, the forced sale of the Los Angeles Clippers made Sterling even richer, but it sent a clear signal that such behavior would not be tolerated, even from the guys with the biggest checkbooks. Then there’s the NFL, which seems content to let its bad boy owners slide with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Tampering with some of the game’s biggest names? Suggesting it would be a good idea to lose games intentionally? No problem.

Union files brief replying to NFL’s appeal in Watson case

CANTON, Ohio (AP) — The NFL Players Association has filed a brief replying to the league’s appeal in Deshaun Watson’s discipline case. Former New Jersey Attorney General Peter C. Harvey now has the necessary paperwork to issue a ruling. Harvey was selected by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to hear the league’s appeal of the six-game suspension given to Watson for violating the personal conduct policy. The players’ union announced the reply brief shortly before Friday’s deadline but didn’t release its contents because it’s confidential.

Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. to begin rehab assignment

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres will begin a rehab assignment with Double-A San Antonio this weekend. Tatis took batting practice with the Padres at Dodger Stadium before the beginning of a weekend series and then left for Texas. Tatis has been sidelined since having surgery in mid-March on his fractured left, reportedly suffered in an offseason motorcycle accident in his native Dominican Republic. Although there’s no timetable for his return, starting the rehab assignment is a big step for Tatis and the Padres.

Arsenal opens EPL with 2-0 win at Crystal Palace

LONDON (AP) — Arsenal’s newcomers have made an immediate impact by opening the English Premier League beating host Crystal Palace 2-0. Left back Oleksandr Zinchenko set up the opening goal in the first half while striker Gabriel Jesus created a number of chances and defender William Saliba put in a near-flawless performance in his first start for Arsenal. The Gunners still had to endure a nervy second half before Bukayo Saka’s attempted cross was deflected into his own net by Palace defender Marc Guehi in the 85th.

Astros manager Dusty Baker tests positive for COVID-19

CLEVELAND (AP) — Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker tested positive for COVID-19 prior to Friday night’s game against the Cleveland Guardians. Baker held his usual pregame availability with the media about two hours before the 7:10 p.m. game. The announcement of the positive test came after the game started. Baker, 73, is in his third season as Houston’s manager. Bench coach Joe Espada filled in for Baker against Cleveland. The Astros lead the AL West by 11 1/2 games over Seattle.

Pro Football Hall of Fame recognizes women's impact

CANTON, Ohio (AP) — A 15-year-old boy made his way through the The Pro Football Hall of Fame museum, checking out the memorabilia and bronze busts before stopping to take a picture of Jen Welter’s blue-and-pink jersey to send to his younger sister. Welter became the first woman to coach an NFL game in 2015 when she joined the Arizona Cardinals as an assistant coaching intern for training camp and the preseason. The shirt, pants and sneakers she wore on the sideline in all four exhibition games are on display at a new exhibit in the Pro Football Today area of the museum. The “Women’s Impact on Football” exhibit debuted ahead of this week’s enshrinement festivities.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Title:

Content: Chairman of the Board of Directors and Editors
I'm sorry.
Mohamad Elbaz
Editor-in-Chief
Wael Lotfy
Chairman of the Board of Directors and Editors
I'm sorry.
Mohamad Elbaz
Editor-in-Chief
Wael Lotfy
Released Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout expresses support for Ukraine invasion
Russian arms dealer Victor Bout, who was freed by the United States in exchange for Moscow's release of American basketball player Britney Grainer, expressed support Saturday for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In an interview with RT, Bout confirmed that he “always ” kept a picture of Putin in his cell when he was a prisoner in the United States, where he was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being arrested in Thailand in 2008.
"I am proud that I am Russian, and our president is Putin," he said.
The 55-year-old former Soviet army officer stressed that he "fully" supported the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
"If I have the opportunity and the necessary skills, I will volunteer" to fight in Ukraine, he said, adding that he "does not understand" that Moscow has not launched its offensive since 2014.
He repeated his self-identification as a businessman who was legally employed, saying he used an “example ” of other Russians in order to accept agreements with Washington, which he refused to do.
Victor Bout has denied selling weapons to the Taliban, which were reported in US newspapers.
"The Taliban have set a price for killing me.
How can I say that I cooperated with them?
That doesn't make sense. "
He accused Western countries of encouraging the "suicide of civilization".
With drugs and the LGBT community. "
Born in 1967 in Dushanbe, the capital of the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan, Bot attended the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow before joining the air force, according to a UN report.
Since 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union, he has been able to obtain at a low price a quantity of weapons at military bases in the former Soviet Union and resell them in several conflict zones.
His possible connection with Russian intelligence remains unclear.

Title:

Content: The punishment for American basketball player Brittney Grainer in the case of drug smuggling is not too harsh, sports commentator Dmitry Guberniev commented on the decision of the Khimki city court, Match TV reports.
On August 4, the court sentenced the athlete from the United States to nine years in a general regime colony and imposed a fine of 1 million rubles.
She violated the law of the Russian Federation, there is nothing to comment on. <... > If you now enter America with hashish - you will be given a prize and called to the White House?
No, you're going to jail.
And, I think, not even for nine years, but for 19, ” commented the verdict of the Governors.
The court found the American basketball player guilty of drug smuggling on August 4.
Judge Anna Sotnikova sentenced the girl to nine years in prison.
She was charged at the time.
1 of Art. 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal acquisition, storage, transportation of drugs without the purpose of sale), etc.
2 of Art. 229.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (smuggling of narcotic drugs in a significant amount).
The sports achievements of the two-time Olympic champion and the partial admission of guilt were taken into account by the court as mitigating circumstances.
Greiner has twice won the Olympic Games with the U.S. national team in 2016 and 2020.

Title:

Content: Charged with drug trafficking.
Former US soldier arrested in Russia
A Russian court has placed Travis Lake in pre-trial detention on charges of organizing the sale of drugs to young people.
Posted in: Last Updated:
Reading mode
100% font size
A Russian court has placed American Travis Lake in pre-trial detention on drug trafficking charges in the context of escalating tensions between Moscow and Washington over the conflict in Ukraine.
According to the Khamovnichiki court in Moscow, Travis Lake, a former U.S. paratrooper and musician, is accused of “organizing the sale of drugs to young people, ” a crime punishable by several years in prison.
Advertising material
The court said on Telegram that he would remain in detention until August 6 pending a possible trial, a period of detention that could be extended.
CNN reported that the arrested American is a musician and music producer who has been living in Russia for several years.
Arrests of US citizens in Russia have doubled in recent years as relations between Moscow and Washington have deteriorated, particularly since the start of the Russian offensive on Ukraine.
Washington has accused Moscow of arbitrarily detaining Americans to use as bargaining chips and taking back Russians held in the United States.
In March, Russian intelligence services arrested American journalist Ivan Gershkovich on charges of “espionage, ” which he denies, while former Marine Paul Whelan, 53, is serving a 16-year sentence for“ espionage ” in Russia.
A prisoner exchange between Moscow and Washington took place in December, during which American basketball star Britney Greiner, who had been held in Russia, was released in exchange for the release of Russian arms dealer Victor Bout, who had been held in the United States.
Most Read Common Topics

Title:

Content: in ,

Petition Calls on White House To Do More to Free Brittney Griner from Putin

WNBA star Brittney Griner was arrested in Moscow for possession of a hash oil back back in February. The WNBA, and President Biden, have done practically nothing other than slap logos on the court and start hashtags.

Now they’ve finally started a petition to return Griner to the states. Why aren’t American officials doing more? If they care about the WNBA and the league’s growth as much as they suggest, some type of action would be expected.

So far, the petition has 132,685 signatures of the 150,000 asked for. That’s a lot of signatures and by the time you read this, they’ll likely have met their goal. But will this petition change anything? Amongst the signature count on Change.org are other articles involving Brittney Griner that read: “Pay Inequality Led Brittney Griner To Russia. We Must Fix It.”

Picture LeBron James draped up in a Moscow prison cell on charges for hash oil. The NBA would throw a fit and perhaps cancels games to assure his safety, and that’s probably how leagues should treat their most prized assets. A better example, though, would be rapper A$AP Rocky who was arrested in 2019 in Sweden all for President Trump to demand his release. Trump took action to release a black rapper from prison but Joe Biden tweets nice things about minorities — he’ll leave the black WNBA star in Russia, though.

A$AP Rocky would eventually thank President Trump in 2020 for his help and then later retract his statement, likely over of backlash, suggesting President Trump made his pursuit to freedom “a little worse.” It’s so laughable how much celebrities care about what Trump said rather than what he actually did.

Everyone needs to do more

Whether or not we find the WNBA entertaining or not, Britney Griner should be able to rely on a president and league she supports to do more for her safety. The Phoenix Mercery center has openly criticized the United States over the years and it’s made the pursuit for her safety more complicated and polarizing. What should be simple, however, is for the people she perceived as her allies to rush to her defense. They haven’t done much so far and it remains to be seen how this petition impacts her case. It’s more probable everyone wants to share this petition so they can feel like a better person inside. Signing this petition is essentially 2022’s version of Instagram’s black square heroics.

Those people signing their signatures should demand for Joe Biden to step in. They’d quickly learn which party was founded on action and who’s more interested in optics.

Written by Gary Sheffield, Jr

Gary Sheffield Jr is the son of should-be MLB Hall of Famer, Gary Sheffield. He covers basketball and baseball for OutKick.com, chats with the Purple and Gold faithful on LakersNation, and shitposts on Twitter. You can follow him at GarySheffieldJr

Title:

Content: Russia: No agreement yet in prisoner exchange negotiations with Washington - Sunrise Gate
Thursday 28 July 2022 12: 52 PM Cairo Cairo 24 °
Most Read
You might like it, too.
Share your opinion
Who do you think is responsible for the failure of the Egyptians in the Egyptian Cup?
Russia says no deal yet in prisoner swap talks with Washington
Agencies:
Published on: Thursday 28 July 2022 - 12: 34 PM | Last updated on Thursday 28 July 2022 - 12: 34 PM
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today that "negotiations on prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States are ongoing and there are no concrete results so far, and the interests of both sides must be taken into account," according to the Russian news agency TASS.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Wednesday at a news conference that he would speak in the coming days with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, adding that he would "press" to respond to an offer by Washington to free U.S. citizens held by Moscow.
Blinken said the United States had made Moscow a "significant offer" for the return of basketball star Britney Greiner and former US Marine Paul Whelan, but declined to disclose the contents of the deal.
You might like it, too.
Share your comment

Title:

Content: Gazeta.ru
7,573 followers
The WNBA and NBA called the verdict of basketball player Greiner shameful
Commissioner of the Women ’ s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Katie Engelbert and Commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Adam Silver criticized the conviction of basketball player Brittney Greiner in Russia for drug trafficking and called for her immediate return to the United States.
Back to article
Picture of the day
top

Title:

Content: Moscow 24
Accidents
12: 55 PM
The defense of the convicted in Russia American basketball player Greiner appealed the verdict
Photo: Agency "Moscow" / Sofia Sandurskaya
The defense of American basketball player Brittney Greiner, who was sentenced in Russia to 9 years in prison in the case of drug smuggling, appealed the verdict.
This is reported by TASS.
“The defense team Brittney Greiner filed an appeal against the verdict of the Khimki court, ” said the lawyer of the American Maria Blagolina.
The Olympic champion was detained on February 17 at Sheremetyevo airport.
During the inspection of luggage, the American woman found vapes – electronic devices for smoking – with a liquid that had a specific smell.
According to the results of the examination, it turned out that it was hashish oil.
According to Russian law, it is considered a drug and is subject to control in the country.
The Khimki court of the Moscow region sentenced Greiner to 9 years in prison and a fine of one million rubles in the case of drug smuggling.
In turn, the press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that the American basketball player can use the pardon procedure.
“Moscow patrol ”: the court in Khimki sentenced the American Brittney Greiner
close
Contact Us
Feedback form
Attach file
Send
Follow the news:
No more showing

Title:

Content: On the fourth anniversary of her arrest...
Maria Butina sends an "orange" gift to the US embassy
World News
Copy Link https: / / www.rt.com / tfca
Four years ago, Russian citizen Maria Butina was arrested by US authorities on flimsy charges, and today Maria, now a member of the Russian parliament, decided to commemorate this anniversary in a surprising and cynical way.
On Friday, Butina posted a video via Telegram in which she recalled her suffering in US prisons and revealed the gift she sent to the US embassy in Moscow "so that she may benefit from it".
Butina said: “Exactly four years ago I was arrested.
So I have tasted, and I am innocent of anything, the so-called American democracy, 15 months in prison including torture, bullying, 10 months without a dose of fresh air, 4 months in a punishment cell, commuting between six prisons and much more.
She described "Western-style democracy" as "when punishment does not require a crime."
On the anniversary of her arrest, she decided to do "good work," she said, explaining that she sent a gift to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in an orange prisoner costume with a QR code to download her book "Notes from Prison" in English as a guide to help "survive in an American prison."
Now, while Democrats are in power in America, they are the ones who are imprisoning Republicans on their own, but in the fall the power will change and the jailing of those who followed the others will begin yesterday, and so on indefinitely.
In July 2018, the US Department of Justice announced the arrest of Russian citizen Maria Butina, who lives in the United States, and accused her of "working for Russia" as a foreign agent, without registering as such with the department.
Moscow denied the accusation, and Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed the same year that the Russian citizen "was not charged with carrying out any tasks of the Russian state abroad."
Source: RT
Agree.
This website uses cookies. You can read the terms of use to activate this feature by clicking here

Title:

Content: Russian Federation
Moscow
+ 24 °
Sport4 August 2022 14: 54
Russian court finds American basketball player Grainer guilty of drug smuggling
The athlete apologized to the UMMC team and relatives
Russian court finds American basketball player Grainer guilty of drug smuggling
Photo by GLOBAL LOOK PRESS
A Russian court found American basketball player Brittney Greiner guilty of drug smuggling.
“Brittney Yvette has smuggled drugs, possession of drugs, ” RIA Novosti quoted Judge Anna Sotnikova as saying.
During the debate, the prosecutor asked to appoint the athlete 9.5 years of a general regime colony and a fine of 1 million rubles.
According to him, there are no mitigating or aggravating circumstances in the case.
The sentence will be announced later.
Meanwhile, the defense said that the examination of the substance was carried out in violation, as evidenced by the review of the candidate of chemical sciences questioned in court.
Lawyer Maria Blagolina called on the court to acquit the basketball player.
“This was an honest mistake that I made, collecting things in a hurry and experiencing post-coid stress, ” the defendant said, and apologized to the UMMC team and relatives.
The basketball player was detained at Moscow ’ s Sheremetyevo airport in early March 2022.
Brittney Greiner was charged with drug smuggling.
The athlete has performed in Russia since 2015.
In addition, she twice won Olympic gold with the American team.

Title:

Content: The Russian Embassy accused the United States of “hunting ” Russians traveling abroad
The United States staged a “hunt ” for Russians traveling abroad, according to the Russian Embassy in the United States.
The corresponding statement was published in the Telegram channel of the diplomatic mission.
So the Russian representation in the United States reacted to Washington ’ s criticism of the verdict of the Russian court against the American basketball player Brittney Greiner.
On the eve of the athlete was found guilty of drug smuggling and gave her 9 years in prison, recalls Ura.ru.
The Embassy drew attention to the fact that today in prisons and detention centers in the United States are about 100 citizens of the Russian Federation, most of them are serving sentences for non-violent crimes, writes Gazeta.ru.
“Washington has launched a real“ hunt ” for Russians when they go abroad.
More than 50 such cases have been reported since 2008.
Citizens of Russia, once in the hands of the American femis, as a rule, are subjected to a biased attitude on the part of investigative bodies and courts, ” the diplomatic mission said.
The embassy noted that Greiner ’ s sentence “fully complies with the letter and spirit of Russian law ” and urged the United States“ to stop shifting problems from a sick head to a healthy one. ”
Subscribe to NSN: Ya.Novosti | Ya.Zen | Google News | Flipboard | Telegram
PHOTO: RIA Novosti
Receive fresh materials in the mail
We will regularly send you current exclusives and news!
Unsubscribe is available in the letter
Hot news
All news
partners

Title:

Content: games

Why Isn’t Brittney Griner the Biggest Sports Story in the Country?

Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

The second-best player in every sport is a superstar at a level that 99.999 percent of professional athletes — who are already the elite of the elite of the elite — will never come close to achieving. Joel Embiid finished second in NBA MVP voting last year; in baseball (a sport once actively played in this country), it was Vladimir Guerrero Jr.; and in football, it was Tom Brady.

In the WNBA, the Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner earned this distinction last year. She was second in scoring, sixth in rebounds, first in blocks (she’s on track to become the WNBA’s all-time leader in that category), and, according to most advanced metrics, the best offensive player in the league. Her résumé is glittering: She won an NCAA national championship for Baylor in 2012, the same year she captured college basketball’s Player of the Year Award. She then won a WNBA championship in 2014 and was selected as one of the best 25 players in league history in 2021. She has two Olympic gold medals to her name. In the gold-medal game against Japan in Tokyo last summer, she dominated, scoring 30 points to clinch an easy victory. She is the apex of her sport. She is the best of the best. She is a legend.

And for more than a month now, she has been in the custody of the Russian government. Yet until Russian officials released a statement over the weekend saying they had detained Griner after finding hashish oil in her airport bag, it seemed that nobody had noticed. And the reaction since the arrest has been stunningly quiet. One of the greatest athletes in American sports — a gold-medal winner, a superstar, a champion — was arrested in a dangerous and volatile country that has suddenly become a pariah on the world stage. Making equivalences between sports only takes you so far here, but seriously: Imagine if Tom Brady were being held by Russian officials right now.

It is unclear how directly Griner’s plight connects to the catastrophic Russian invasion of Ukraine, and her detention has been overshadowed by the death and destruction wrought by Putin. And part of the muted response is likely due to sensitivity of the negotiations between Russian and American officials. Griner’s wife asked for privacy on Instagram, and it’s clear the precariousness of the situation has led to a certain institutional resistance to even mentioning it: That WNBA.com doesn’t include a single story about one of the organization’s best players being detained speaks to this dynamic. It is also worth remembering, as ESPN’s T.J. Quinn did on Monday, that Griner, whatever the specifics, is likely in some danger; Quinn noted that “as a 6-9 Black gay American woman, she’s a powerful cultural symbol,” and “even in the best case, she’s in for a long legal slog in the Russian criminal justice system. And there’s little the US govt can do about it.”

Another motive the WNBA may have for staying quiet is its own culpability in the situation. The reason Griner was in Russia in the first place — to play off-season basketball, as she has done there for years — is that the league does not pay its superstars the way other sports leagues do. As Tom Ley from Defector pointed out:

The league’s low salaries and minimal efforts towards player support have for years forced even its biggest stars to treat their time in the WNBA as a part-time job. The maximum WNBA salary in 2022 was just over $228,000, and players can make far more than that playing in leagues overseas. In 2015, Diana Taurasi was paid $1.5 million to skip the WNBA season entirely and play for UMMC Ekaterinburg, and Liz Cambage recently revealed that she has made “five to eight times” as much money playing overseas than she has in the WNBA.

Before you say, “Well, the WNBA isn’t as popular in the NBA; of course Griner wouldn’t make as much as LeBron,” remember this: The WNBA has a salary cap, and one that’s particularly suppressive of superstar wages. Griner only made $221,450 for the 2021–2022 season, which is less than a third of the minimum salary in the NHL, but nevertheless classifies her as the fourth-highest-paid player in the WNBA. A new CBA signed two years ago was supposed to address these issues, yet there was Griner, making a mint playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia. The WNBA’s MVP last year, Connecticut Sun forward Jonquel Jones, plays for the same Russian team. She got out of the country just after the invasion of Ukraine began.

Liz Cambage, a star for the Los Angeles Sparks, has noted that players can make “five to eight times more money” for Russian teams than they do in the WNBA, despite the league being by far the most high-profile women’s basketball league in the world. And restricted cash flow isn’t the only problem for players: Just last week, the league fined the New York Liberty $500,000 for chartering flights to games, claiming this gave the Liberty a “competitive advantage.” (For perspective, almost every team in the collegiate NCAA tournament next week will arrive at their destinations via chartered flight.) Griner didn’t choose to go play in Russia. The league left her no choice.

The precarity of Griner’s position in Russia may give the WNBA a good reason to stay quiet about her case. But perhaps the league would also prefer not to dwell on how she ended up in this situation in the first place.

In any case, it’s not just the WNBA downplaying this story. There was also no mention of Griner on the front pages of ESPN.com, CBS Sports, and SI.com just 48 hours after news of her arrest landed.

This strange reaction comes at a time when the WNBA has surged in popularity. Last year’s finals, featuring Griner’s Mercury, put up the highest ratings ever, a full 49 percent jump from 2020. This is partly because of the league’s activism, which has increased its visibility in a dramatic way. And Griner has been right in the middle of it all, wearing Breonna Taylor’s name on her jersey and speaking out in favor of LGBTQ+ issues since before she even entered the NBA. She was also the first openly gay athlete ever signed to an endorsement deal with Nike. Her teammate Diana Taurasi, perhaps the best player in WNBA history, called Griner “a pioneer.”

And still, relative silence.

As Griner sits in detention in Russia, as a result of a system that is set up to devalue her and other stars at every corner, it would be nice if her plight received attention commensurate with its seriousness.

Why Isn’t Brittney Griner the Biggest Sports Story?

Title:

Content: American basketball player appeals conviction for bringing drugs to Russia
08 / 15 / 2022 | 14: 07 - Source: Free
Maria Blagovolina, the lawyer for American basketball star Britney Greiner, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia, told Reuters on Monday that her defense team had appealed her conviction for drug possession and smuggling.
Note: The content entitled (American basketball player appeals her conviction for bringing drugs to Russia) was first published on Al-Hurra website and this day ’ s news encyclopedia does not bear its content in any way.
You can see the details of this title (an American basketball player appeals her conviction for bringing drugs to Russia) through its original source, Al-Hurra.
Continue reading Free.
Sponsored Links

Title:

Content: Democracy Dies in Darkness

LeBron James criticizes U.S. effort to bring home Brittney Griner

Comment

As WNBA star Brittney Griner approaches her fifth month in Russian custody, LeBron James criticized the U.S. response to her detainment and questioned whether she would even want to return to her home country.

“Now, how can she feel like America has her back?” James said in a trailer for the latest episode of his talk show, “The Shop: Uninterrupted.” “I would be feeling like, ‘Do I even want to go back to America?’ ”

The episode — which features a wide-ranging discussion between James, co-host Maverick Carter, show creator Paul Rivera, actor Daniel Kaluuya, British soccer star Marcus Rashford and artist Rashid Johnson — will air in its entirety Friday on YouTube.

Why was Brittney Griner in Russia, and why is she being detained?

It’s unclear when the episode was filmed, but the NBA superstar’s comments were released days after Phoenix Mercury Coach Vanessa Nygaard mentioned James while speaking about Griner’s situation.

“If it was LeBron, he’d be home, right?” Nygaard said during a news conference last week. “It’s a statement about the value of women. It’s a statement about the value of a Black person. It’s a statement about the value of a gay person. All of those. We know it.”

James is one of several high-profile athletes who have publicly advocated for further efforts to bring Griner home. In June, the Lakers star shared a tweet calling on President Biden and Vice President Harris to “bring Brittney home swiftly and safely by taking action today.”

Uninterrupted, a multimedia company founded in part by James, sold shirts stating “We Are BG” this week to benefit the advocacy fund set up by Griner’s family.

Griner was arrested Feb. 17 and charged with carrying vape cartridges allegedly containing cannabis oil in her baggage at Sheremetyevo International Airport outside Moscow. If convicted, she could face up to 10 years in prison. Griner pleaded guilty to the charge in a Russian court on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Griner wrote a letter to Biden. In it, she said she was “terrified” she might be in Russia “forever” and urged Biden to work for her release and that of other Americans detained abroad.

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

President Biden told Griner’s wife, Cherelle, in a call on Wednesday that he is working to secure the basketball player’s release “as soon as possible,” the White House said.

Title:

Content: Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner arrives in San Antonio after 10 months in Russian custody

Griner was transported to Brook Army Medical Center's reintegration center upon her arrival.

click to enlarge
Instagram / brittneyyevettegriner
WNBA star Brittney Griner spent 294 days in Russian custody after customs officials in Moscow allegedly discovered vape canisters containing cannabinoid oil in her luggage.
WNBA star Brittney Griner touched down at San Antonio’s former Kelly Air Force base early Friday morning after 10 months in Russian custody, according to media reports.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist was smiling as she stepped off the plane at 4:30 a.m., the Express-News reports. Following her arrival, she was transported to Brooke Army Medical Center’s reintegration facility, where she will receive any necessary medical treatment.

Medical experts from UT Health San Antonio told KSAT that Griner also may undergo extensive mental health evaluations.

In February, Griner was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport after customs officials allegedly found vape canisters continuing cannabinoid oil in her luggage. In August, she pled guilty to the charges and was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony. She spent 294 days in Russian custody, according to the daily.

The basketball star was released in a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia on Thursday, in which the Biden administration handed over notorious international arms dealer Viktor Bout.

In a statement, Griner's family offered “sincere gratitude” to President Joe Biden and his administration for their efforts in bringing her home, according to the Express-News. It is unclear how long Griner will be in San Antonio before returning home to her family.

Coming soon: SA Current Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting San Antonio stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.

Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
Scroll to read more San Antonio News articles

Newsletters

Join SA Current Newsletters

Subscribe now to get the latest news delivered right to your inbox.

Title:

Content: Editor-in-Chief
Full Essam
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements
Washington has refused to comment on the arrest of an American businessman in Russia.
US authorities declined to comment on the arrest of an American businessman in Russia.
Russian news agencies announced on Thursday that a Moscow court had decided to detain US citizen of Russian origin Jane Spector on espionage charges.
He's serving a 3.5 year sentence.
Spector, a businessman, is already serving a three-and-a-half year prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2022 for his role in bribing Arkady Dvorkovich, a former deputy prime minister.
Spector was born in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, then moved to the United States.
Advertisements
TASS said he was the chairman of the Medpolymerprom group, which specializes in cancer drugs, before his arrest in 2021.
Trial behind closed doors
However, the agencies did not give details of the new charges, noting that the court hearing was held behind closed doors after the material on the case was classified as confidential.
White House spokesman John Kirby, speaking on CNN, said the administration was still gathering information on the case and had no comment yet, and the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Arrest of an American journalist
In March, Russia arrested an American journalist working for the Wall Street Journal, accusing him of spying.
Ivan Gershkovich, an expert reporter on Russia, was working in Yekaterinburg at the time of his arrest.
The Wall Street Journal said it was "deeply concerned" for his safety and strongly denied the charges.
The Kremlin, in turn, claimed that the reporter was arrested “in the act. ”
"illegal activities"
Russia ’ s Federal Security Service said it had “stopped illegal activities ” and that the reporter was“ acting on U.S. directives ” and “collecting state secrets. ”
Hours later, the security service took him to the Levertovo District Court in Moscow for official arrest.
He was later seen driving outside the building before being taken away by car.
The court decided to detain him until 29 May.
The lawyer was prevented from attending.
According to his lawyer, he was not allowed into the courtroom.
TASS news agency reported that the journalist denied the charges against him.
The court had earlier evacuated staff and visitors due to a bomb threat, Russia's official RIA news agency reported.
20 years in prison.
In Russia, espionage is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison.
In recent years, the detention of American citizens in Russia has increased in light of relations between Moscow and Washington, especially after the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine, prompting Washington to accuse Moscow of arbitrarily arresting Americans for using them as bargaining chips and recovering Russians held in the United States.
Exchange of prisoners
In December, the two countries exchanged prisoners, during which American basketball star Britney Greiner, who had been imprisoned in Russia, was released in exchange for the release of Russian arms dealer Victor Bout, who had been imprisoned in the United States.
Through Vito, we provide 24-hour coverage and monitoring of gold prices, meat prices, dollar prices, euro prices, currency rates, sports news, Egypt news, economy news, governorate news, politics news, accident news. Our team follows exclusively all international leagues such as English League, Italian League, Egyptian League, UEFA Champions League, AFC Champions League, AFC Champions League, major events, foreign and domestic policy. Exclusive to art news and many cultural and literary activities.
Advertisements

Title:

Content: A Russian court has ruled against the American basketball star.
Biden called it "unacceptable".
08 / 04 / 2022 | 19: 10 - Source: Free
A Russian court has sentenced American basketball star Britney Grainer to nine years in prison after she was convicted of drug trafficking and possession.
Note: The content entitled (Russian Court issues judgment against the American basketball star..
Biden considers it "unacceptable") was first published on the site (Al-Hurra) and does not bear the content of this day's news encyclopedia in any way.
You can see the details of this title (Russian court pronounces judgment against the star of the American basketball..
Biden considers it "unacceptable") through its original source (i.e. free) website.
Continue reading Free.
Sponsored Links

Title:

Content: My channel
* Drag categories can be customized sorting
Recover Default OK
Setup
Alert
Philadelphia, 66 years ago, there was a breakthrough in the boy's box case, and the police relied on DNA to identify him.
Saudi Arabia Hosts Xi Jinping Ignoring US Warnings and Signing a Deal with Huawei
New York Times: The US and Russia prisoner exchange successfully let Putin talk and plan the Russian-Ukrainian war
Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to continue the war in Ukraine, and he calculated the same as the prisoner swap with the United States on Thursday: causing a lot of pain to Western governments, and they will eventually reach an agreement.
The Kremlin spent more than a decade rescuing arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was jailed in 2011 for plotting to kill Americans until he was released yesterday, after American basketball star Brittney Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport this year, allowing Putin to find a bargaining chip.
Pro-Russians celebrate Bout ’ s return to freedom, and they wish a successful prisoner swap as a victory, which shows that no matter how much Moscow wants to punish for the Russian-Ukrainian war, it will still be at the negotiating table when it comes to America ’ s vital interests.
Pro-Putin Russian congressman Maria Butina, who served time in a U.S. prison, said Russia negotiated with “superior forces. ”
After repeated Russian defeats, Putin's strategy in Ukraine drew closer and closer to the eventual return of Butt: he bombed the energy infrastructure in an attempt to destroy Ukrainian morale while holding the Ukrainian people hostage.
This strategy creates a new wave of refugees that threatens the EU, just as Putin cuts gas exports, using economic leverage.
The West, while showing an atmosphere of solidarity and support for Ukraine, will eventually tire of the fighting and its negative impact on the economy.
According to the New York Times, Putin ’ s calculations do not necessarily work.
Biden, while conceding to the prisoner swap, did not appear to reduce support for Ukraine.
America ’ s European allies are under political and economic pressure to compromise with Russia, but they haven ’ t let up.
Mr Putin himself did not comment on the prisoner swap on Thursday.
But cheers from Moscow showed that supporters thought Putin was still a “man who can get things done ” and that he was ready to negotiate on Ukraine, as long as the West didn ’ t stop him from bringing it under his control and taking part of its territory.
Tatiana Stanovaya, a political analyst who studies Putin, said Putin sent a signal that he was ready to bargain, but he let the West know that Ukraine is not allowed to get involved.
Putin ’ s spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, was asked on Thursday when the war would end, suggesting that Russia was still waiting for Ukrainian President Leonid Zelensky to accept some kind of deal: “Zelensky knows when it will end. ”
If you wish, it will be over tomorrow. "
Putin Ukraine Russia
The last one.
US and Russia exchange prisoners for 'dead businessman' only to return to WNBA star official to explain why
Super-popular
More >

Title:

Content: Mercury post first video of Brittney Griner in uniform after re-signing WNBA star

Griner last played for Phoenix during the 2021 season

Brittney Griner is back in a Phoenix Mercury uniform over two months after returning from incarceration in Russia.

Griner officially re-signed with the only WNBA team she’s ever known this week, reportedly on a one-year deal with Phoenix worth $165,100.

American professional basketball player Brittney Griner acknowledges fans as she watches on the 16th hole during the third round of the Phoenix Open golf tournament, Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, in Scottsdale, Ariz.  (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

On Friday, the franchise posted a video of Griner in a Mercury uniform for the first time since her signing.

FORMER WNBA MVP NNEKA OGWUMIKE RETURNING TO LOS ANGELES SPARKS ON ONE-YEAR DEAL: REPORT

Griner, who spent 10 months in Russian custody after authorities allegedly discovered that she had vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage, will return for her 10th WNBA season.

The WNBA champion was arrested in February 2022 at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport and was later classified as "wrongfully detained" by the U.S. State Department.

WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is escorted from a courtroom after a hearing, in Khimki just outside Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022.  (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko.)

After months of strained negotiations, Griner was released from a Russian penal colony in early December in a prisoner exchange for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

On Thursday, Griner participated in a workout at the team facility when Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton emerged to watch.

"It’s unreal," Ayton said, according to the Arizona Republic. "Just watching her and seeing the reactions on her face. Her just being back and trying to get back in shape and just loving the game she loves to do. You can tell her mind is free."

Phoenix Mercury's Brittney Griner (42) is congratulated on a play against the Seattle Storm in the first half of the second round of the WNBA basketball playoffs Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021, in Everett, Wash. Griner, who was a free agent, re-signed with the Mercury on a one-year contract according to a person familiar with the deal. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023, because no announcement has been made.  (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Griner was drafted by Phoenix with the top pick of the 2013 draft, helping the Mercury win the WNBA championship in 2014.

Phoenix opens the 2023 season on May 19th against the Los Angeles Sparks.

Fox News' Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.

Title:

Content: Top 5: A prisoner exchange between the US and Russia
Inflation in Egypt
2022 / 12 / 08 | 21: 18 - Source: CNN in Arabic
(Encyclopedia of this day news | Iraq News) - From Moscow's release of American Britney Greiner in a prisoner exchange deal involving a Russian arms dealer and high inflation during November in Egypt, to the implementation of the first execution linked to the protests in Iran, to the signing of Saudi Arabia and China a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement as well as Luis Enrique...
Here is a daily summary from CNN in Arabic with the titles of some of the most prominent stories from the Middle East and the world.
Top 5: Prisoner Exchange between America and Russia.
And the rise of inflation in Egypt) was first published on the site (CNN in Arabic) and does not bear the encyclopedia of this day news in any way.
You can see the details of this title (Top 5: Prisoner Exchange between America and Russia).
The rise of inflation in Egypt) through its original source (CNN in Arabic).
Continue reading on CNN in English

Title:

Content: Brittney Griner is coming home. The United States and Russia agreed to a one-for-one prisoner swap which will see Russia release Griner into U.S. custody while the “Merchant of Death” will be granted his return to Russia. Paul Whelan, the former U.S. Marine who is also being held in Russia, was not included in the prisoner swap deal. Via CNN’s Jennifer Hansler, who spoke to Whelan from the Russian penal colony where he’s currently located, revealed the 52-year-old had expressed disappointment and confusion as to why he wasn’t brought home.

“I am greatly disappointed more has not been done to secure my release, especially as the 4-year anniversary of my arrest is coming up. I was arrested for a crime that never occurred. I don’t understand why I’m still here,” Whelan told Hansler.

There had been much speculation that the U.S. could include Whelan in a potential 2-for-1 or even 2-for-2 prisoner swap exchange that would see him return home alongside Griner. According to reports, Russia was not interested in that exchange, willing only to release Griner in a swap for the Merchant of Death, Viktor Bout.

Paul Whelan is a former United States Marine who was arrested in Russia back in 2018 and handed a 16-year prison sentence after being accused of espionage. This isn’t the first time he was left out of a prisoner exchange between the two nations. In 2019, Trevor Reed, a fellow former marine, was returned to the United States in a prisoner swap with Russia. That incident again had Whelan wondering why he wasn’t included.

Now, the U.S. has secured the release of the WNBA player after her arrest at an airport near Moscow, where Griner was found to have marijuana vape cartridges in her baggage. Whelan, still in a Russian penal colony, expressed his disappointment that he won’t be heading home.

Title:

Content: The lawyer explained why the arrival of Rodman in Russia will not help Greiner
Lawyer, specialist in civil and international law Maria Jarmusch explained why the arrival of five-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman will not help basketball player Brittney Greiner, who was sentenced on August 4 to nine years in prison for smuggling and possession of drugs.
• RIA News
“It can only help Rodman, because for him it will be a colossal PR.
This motivation can be seen with the naked eye.
I'm sure a crowd of American journalists will come along with him to record all this.
Greiner's visit probably won't help.
She could play into the hands of a confession of guilt, which she did, ” the lawyer said in an interview with RT.
In her opinion, Rodman risks not even getting into the country.
“It is extremely difficult for Russians to obtain US visas now, so the reverse process is not excluded.
Finally, even if he finds an opportunity to enter, it is not a fact that he will get into the courthouse.
Let the process over the basketball player open, coronavirus restrictions on the number of people in the hall can act, ” added Yarmush.
Earlier it became known that Rodman will come to Russia to achieve the release of Greiner.
A mistake in the text?
Select it and press “Ctrl + Enter ”
Today in the media
• News feed
• Picture of the day
This site uses cookies
Confirm

Title:

Content: The open letter to President Biden, written by hand and released on the Fourth of July, tore at the heart. This is the unfortunate plight of Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner, wrongfully detained for 143 days and counting in a godforsaken gulag 6,000 miles from home.

“As I sit here in a Russian prison,” Griner wrote, “alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever.” She went on to beseech Biden: “I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don’t forget about me and the other American Detainees. Please do all you can to bring us home.”

We have been told by the White House press secretary that Biden has read the letter. We also have been told his Administration will “use every tool we possibly can” to bring Griner home. I hope so, because Russian news reports have said Griner, arrested on Feb. 17th, faces up to 10 years in prison for allegedly having .702 grams of hash oil in two vape cartridges in her luggage. She pleaded guilty to drug charges on July 7.

Biden and the U.S. State Department should use every tool in America’s toolbox to secure Griner’s release – exactly as he should on behalf of the more than 60 Americans currently held hostage in foreign countries.

Like Paul Whelan, a former Marine wrongfully detained in Russia since 2018. Like “the Citgo 6,” petroleum executives wrongfully held in Venezuela since 2017. And like Alina Lopez-Miyares, wrongfully locked up in a Cuban prison since January 2017.

In a more just world, we would care about all these Americans with the same vigor and at the same loud volume. The truth? As a culture, we have a limited attention span, a finite amount of compassion we spend in dollops – a sprinkling for the homeless here, a few spoonsful for the struggling poor there, and a drip or two for Brittney Griner.

Is that right? I don’t think so. I wish

we had an endless reserve of compassion, enough to go around in the right proportions.

Even so, I disagree wholeheartedly with Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard, who took dead aim at America in comments supporting Griner last week.

“If it was LeBron, he’d be home, right?” Nygaard declared. “It’s a statement about the value of women. It’s a statement about the value of a black person. It’s a statement about the value of a gay person. All of those. We know it.”

Actually, it’s a statement about how little we pay attention to wrongful detainees and their suffering. Virtually no one save the families of the imprisoned has made a peep about wrongfully imprisoned Americans anywhere, about Whelan, the Citgo 6, or Lopez-Miyares. This silence has nothing to do with race, gender, or who someone loves. It has everything to do with our culture’s capacity to empathize.

Nygaard seems to think if Griner was male, white and straight, America would be threatening nuclear war. Reality says otherwise. Nygaard is correct about one thing, though. If Lebron James was wrongfully imprisoned, Americans would be rioting in the streets.

That has everything to do with celebrity, which is the only reason you have heard about Brittney Griner’s case at all. If Griner couldn’t dribble, couldn’t dunk, wasn’t a six-time WBNA All-Star, her imprisonment would be occurring in silence.

Nygaard is dead wrong about for whom we care and why. We reserve the greatest compassion for the most famous among us – that is a perverted truth about the American way.

I hope Brittney Griner comes home soon. And I hope we bring every other wrongfully detained American home with her.

Sponsored Content

Title:

Content: Skip to content
PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:

Dennis Rodman, the ex-NBA star who says he knows Vladimir Putin well, revealed his plan to travel to Russia in support of incarcerated WNBA star Britney Griner.

Griner was sentenced this month to nine years at a Russian prison. She was detained at a Moscow airport in February after custom officials said vape canisters with cannabis oil were found inside her luggage.

“I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl,” Rodman told NBC News on Saturday. “I’m trying to go this week.”

The report doesn’t specify whom the New Jersey-born Rodman, 61, received permission from, though he only needs a visa to travel to Russia.

Rodman described the Russian President Putin as “cool” in 2014 after traveling to the country, according to NBC News.

He claimed to “know Putin too well” in NBC News’ report this weekend. Rodman also has a relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and reportedly believes he played a role in the country’s release of American prisoner Kenneth Bae in 2014.

The U.S. State Department urges Americans against traveling to Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February.

Rodman won two NBA titles with the Detroit Pistons and three more with the Chicago Bulls during his career, which spanned 1986 to 2000. He was voted the NBA’s defensive player of the year two times.

()

Title:

Content: Skip to main content

Look: Steph Curry's Brittney Griner Message Goes Viral

On Tuesday, Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors visited the White House to celebrate their 2022 NBA title.

As reigning Finals MVP and the face of the Warriors franchise, Curry took the podium during today's White House press briefing.

During his speech, the superstar point guard thanked the Biden Administration for their role in getting WNBA star Brittney Griner back to the United States after her wrongful imprisonment in Russia.

“A great opportunity for us, from the basketball community, to thank President Biden and his staff for all their hard work and diligence in getting Brittney Griner home," he said, per NBA TV.

Curry was an outspoken supporter of Griner's during her detention in Russia over the past year. Even after her return to the United States, he remains grateful for the work done to get her home.

Just last night, Curry dropped 41 points in a 127-118 win over the Washington Wizards. The Warriors are now 22-22 and seventh place in the Western Conference.

Title:

Content: "Change of Prisoner"
Blinken hopes to reach agreement with Russia on prisoner exchange
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Blinken announced Friday that he had "candid" discussions with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, urging Lavrov to accept a U.S. offer to release Americans detained in Russia.
Advertisement
The United States Secretary of State announced at a press conference that "we had a frank and direct discussion."
Blinken added: "I call on the Kremlin to accept the substantial offer we have made to them."
Blinken said he warned Lavrov that the world would "never" recognize Russia's annexation of Ukrainian territory.
The U.S. Secretary of State announced Wednesday that he plans to contact Russia ’ s foreign minister to discuss the release of U.S. basketball player Britney Greiner and former U.S. soldier Paul Whelan.
Paul Whelan was arrested in Russia on December 28, 2018 and charged with covert surveillance.
On June 15, 2020, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
This could be a negotiation to exchange Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer imprisoned in the United States.

Title:

Content: Today, 09: 45
Brittney Greiner was sent from jail to the colony.
Lawyers don ’ t know her location.
Correspondent
Read “SE ” in Telegram News
Lawyers of the two-time Olympic champion in basketball, ex-center of UMMC Brittney Greiner Maria Blagolina and Alexander Boykov told that the American left the pre-trial detention center in the Moscow region.
“Our client Brittney Greiner on November 4 was sent from the pre-trial detention center, in which she was from the moment of detention, to a general regime colony to serve her sentence, ” said Alexander Baikov. – At the moment, we have no information about her current location, nor where she is going.
We, as lawyers, as well as the U.S. Embassy, must be notified upon her arrival at her destination. ”
In August, the Khimki court of the Moscow region sentenced a 32-year-old American woman to 9 years in a general regime colony and a fine of 1 million rubles for smuggling hash oil.
NEWS

Title:

Content: CNN: Russia sentences American athlete to 9 years in prison
WNBA star Britney Greener was sentenced by a Russian court to 9 years in prison for carrying one gram of cannabis oil in her luggage.
She was also sentenced to a fine of 1 million rubles ($16,400), according to RBC-Ukraine.
This is reported by CNN.
Griner was found guilty of drug smuggling, which, according to the judge, she committed intentionally.
Griner was arrested with less than one gram of cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow ’ s Sheremetyevo International Airport on February 17.
She said it was an "honest mistake" because of the hasty build.
Her lawyers argued that if Griner ever used medical marijuana, it was only at home, in Arizona, where it is legal, very rarely, in the short periods between competitions and on vacation, only on prescription due to her severe pain from sports injuries.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist apologized in her final statement in court and asked him for leniency, explaining that she had no intention of violating Russian laws.
Defenders of the athletes noted that they will certainly appeal the decision.
The reaction of the US authorities
U.S. President Joe Biden called Greener ’ s sentence “unacceptable. ”
Today, Brittney Greener, an American citizen, received a prison sentence that is another reminder of what the world already knew: Russia is holding Brittney unlawfully.
"This is unacceptable and I call on Russia to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends and teammates," he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the decision “further reinforces the injustice of her unlawful detention ” and“ draws attention to our serious concern about the Russian legal system and the Russian government ’ s use of illegal detentions to advance its cause. ”
The director of strategic communications of the national security Council of the United States John Kirby pointed to the “serious offer ” of the States to exchange prisoners with the Russians and said that the United States will seek access to the consulate in Griner.
Authorities say they are still working to get Greiner back home.
NEWS
Popular Forum Topics

Title:

Content: Skip to main contentSkip to main content
You have permission to edit this article.
Edit

Letter to the editor: What has country come to?

  • 0

What has our country come to when we are trading prisoners with a terrorist country? The fact the former Soviet military officer was serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States on charges of conspiring to kill Americans, acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles, and provide material support to a terrorist organization is disturbing. We let this man go for a basketball player. This was by far the worst trade in American government and sports history. We make choices in life that have consequences. Regardless if you are a famous basketball player or not, you should have to pay for your choices. What disturbs me the most is that Griner plead guilty to the charges against her. She admitted to her illegal action and yet we let a terrorist go to free her. I wonder how many lives that is going to cost our country moving forward.

Christopher CalfLooking,

Missoula

0 Comments
You must be logged in to react.
Click any reaction to login.
0
0
0
0
0

Tags

* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.

Related to this story

Most Popular

Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS Feed | Omny Studio

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.

Topics

News Alert

Breaking News

Title:

Content: © 2022 WNIJ and WNIU
Northern Public Radio
801 N 1st St.
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-753-9000
Northern Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations

Brittney Griner is back after being released from Russia Thursday

WNBA star Brittney Griner was released from Russia this morning.

Here & Now‘s Deepa Fernandes speaks with Dave Zirin, sports editor at The Nation.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Title:

Content: Region
Notifications are disabled
Is the page not loading?
Possibly:
1.
Low Internet Speed – Check Your Internet Connection
2.
The browser version is outdated - try updating it
September 18, 19: 35
CNN: The White House could not explain the terms of their exchange to the family of Greiner and Whelan
Relatives of Americans serving in Russia, Brittney Greiner and Paul Whelan visited the White House, they were received by its head Joe Biden.
However, according to CNN, citing the wife of basketball player Cheryl, the administration has not been able to explain to these families the requirements of Russia for the exchange of prisoners.
"The Biden administration has failed to explain what Russia wants [to exchange prisoners]," Grainer said.
Cheryl said that she communicates with his wife through letters.
A senior U.S. administration official said there were "movements but not breakthroughs" in efforts to free Greiner and Whelan.
He noted that the Russian authorities were sent a “serious ” proposal for the exchange of prisoners, but there was no agreement.
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the Americans convicted in Russia Paul Whelan and Brittney Greiner figure in the negotiations between Moscow and Washington on a possible exchange of Russian Viktor Bout.
At the same time, the Russian side has repeatedly called on American partners not to resort to “megaphone ” diplomacy and not to make the details of consultations public.
This position was also voiced in the Kremlin.
Recall, Greiner received a real prison sentence in Russia for drug smuggling.
US President Joe Biden called the verdict of the basketball player unacceptable.
Whelan was detained in Moscow on December 28, 2018 during a espionage action.
He had documents containing a gossamer.
In June 2020, the Moscow City Court sentenced him to 16 years in prison.
Cover ©
Subscribe to LIFE
Commentary
0
Partners news

Title:

Content: Commentary

Press Secretary Touts Griner as 'Inspiration' to LGBT While Downplaying the Abandonment of Marine Veteran

Well, President Joe Biden has traded “the Merchant of Death” to Russia for a basketball player with a checkered past, all while leaving a former Marine to rot in prison.

But don’t worry, because White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has reassured us that it’s entirely worth it because the basketball player also is a hero to the LGBT community.

Yup, this is really where we’re at.

ICYMI, the now-former Russian prisoner is Brittney Griner, a 32-year-old WNBA star and Olympic gold medalist who was arrested in February in Russia on drug charges.

Griner arrived back in the United States — in San Antonio — early Friday after the Biden administration brokered a deal with the Russian government to trade her for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Trending:
Biden Gets Snubbed by Key Democrat Amid Speculation of a Party Switch

Meanwhile, Paul Whelan, a security executive from Michigan who was arrested in 2018 and convicted in 2020 on espionage charges that he and the U.S. say are baseless, remains in prison in Russia. He received a 16-year sentence.

So not only was Griner traded for an incredibly dangerous U.S. prisoner, but the Biden administration got her freed before Whelan despite supposedly trying for his release for much longer.

According to NBC News, the Biden admin was offered either Griner or no one in exchange for Bout. The outlet also said Whelan is being treated differently by the Russians because he was convicted of espionage, which is what Jean-Pierre told reporters when pressed about the trade.

“The choice was bring Brittney home or no one. The president will never stop working to secure Paul Whelan’s release,” she said during a press briefing.

“On a personal note,” she added, “Brittney is an important role model, an inspiration to millions of Americans, particularly the LGBTQI+ Americans and women of color.”

Jean-Pierre indeed is an authority on LGBT women of color, as she is the first openly gay and non-white White House press secretary, something one imagines she holds dear because she’s brought little else to the briefing room since taking over for Jen Psaki in May.

Griner, meanwhile, clearly is Jean-Pierre’s idea of American heroism — the press secretary also described the basketball player, who pleaded guilty to domestic violence charges in the United States in 2015 — as representing “the best of America.”

Related:
Watch: Biden Won't Even Look at Reporters While They Try to Ask Him Questions

Whelan’s family members, who NBC reported were warned ahead of time that he would not be released in the one-on-one trade, were clear they did not hold the government’s failure to release their loved one against Griner.

“It is so important to me that it is clear that we do not begrudge Ms. Griner her freedom,” Whelan’s brother, David Whelan, told NBC. “As I have often remarked, Brittney’s and Paul’s cases were never really intertwined. It has always been a strong possibility that one might be freed without the other.”

Whelan himself was incredibly gracious about Griner’s release, emphasizing that it was better that her trade happen than “waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen.”

He is a credit to the military he served in, a military that seems to be consistently disgraced by our current administration.

Whelan’s Russian lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, also made the  interesting and chivalrous comment that it was “more humane” to release Griner because she is a woman and Olympic champion, while his client has been in the military, so therefore it would be “easier for him to be in custody.”

(Indeed, it reportedly was difficult for the 6-foot-9 Griner in the Russian prison, although her attorneys said this was due to her height.)

Let’s be real — it’s no wonder that Russia offered Griner or no one.

This couldn’t have been more perfectly designed by Russia to make the United States look absurdly weak on the world stage, and you cannot ignore the pressing question as to whether Griner’s release  actually was worth the trade of Bout, the brutal arms dealer.

In the middle of his country’s war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin trades a dangerous arms dealer for a basketball player, and the best Jean-Pierre can say is that Griner is an inspiration to the LGBT community?

Don’t get me wrong — I think it’s likely that Griner was imprisoned on trumped-up political charges, as she foolishly broke Russian law, and I don’t take her imprisonment lightly. I think it is a fine man who will celebrate the release of a female civilian from prison over himself.

Did Biden win the Griner trade?

But I don’t take his imprisonment lightly, either, nor the significance of my nation’s posture as it contrasts with the Russian regime in such a volatile juncture of world history.

Just as Russia’s testosterone-soaked military recruitment ads make a humiliating mess of our own “woke” recruitment strategy, furnishing a seriously bad dude in exchange for a woman whose best contribution to our country is playing basketball professionally and being a lesbian tells you everything you need to know about how Biden is making our country look to the world.

I can’t imagine the disgrace felt by Whelan and thousands of other heroes like him who signed up to protect our country and liberty worldwide but are being left to rot in Russian prisons so the president can increase his woke points.

This is what our country’s leaders now value. Sexual identity trumps not only national pride, but international security.

What a disgrace.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , , , ,
Isa grew up in San Francisco, where she was briefly a far-left socialist before finding Jesus and her husband in Hawaii. She now homeschools their two boys and freelances in the Ozarks.
Isa grew up in San Francisco, where she was briefly a far-left socialist before finding Jesus and her husband in Hawaii. She now homeschools their two boys and freelances in the Ozarks.

Conversation

Title:

Content: Advertisement Remove ads

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.

Advertisement Remove ads

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.

How did this story make you feel?

Title:

Content: WNBA star jailed by Russia will miss two games for heart attack
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Glina, who was imprisoned in Russia last season and unable to play in the WNBA for the entire season, will miss two road games in order to "focus on her mental health."
Advertisement
Brittney Griner will not travel with the WNBA ’ s Phoenix Mercury for two games against the Chicago Sky on July 30 and the Indiana Fever on August 1.
After those two away games, Mercury will return to Phoenix on August 3 to face the visiting Atlanta Dream.
"The Mercury will fully support Greiner and we will continue to work together to study her return timeline," the Mercury said in the statement.
Back in the Mercury team, Greener averaged 18.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2 assists this season.
Greiner was arrested at a Moscow airport last year for importing cannabis oil into Russia, then jailed, and released at the end of the year on a prisoner swap.
Although the Mercury's record is still struggling, Greenner ranks first on the team in scoring, rebounding, and blocking, and was named to the Stars for the ninth time in June.
The Mercury, who are currently in 10th place with a 6-17 record, are trying to squeeze into the top eight and avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
The 32-year-old is in her 10th season in the WNBA, where she led Mercury to a championship in 2014 and helped the U.S. women's basketball team win Olympic gold twice.
Share:

Title:

Content: Brittney Griner Sends Message to Wife as Russian Trial Continues

by Bryan Fyalkowski

Brittney Griner held up a photo of her wife, Cherelle, and had a message for her that she wanted to share:

“Good luck on the bar exam.”

Griner was able to speak with ABC News in-between sessions at her Russian trial on Tuesday. The courtroom is in Khimki, which is a suburb of Moscow.

Per Cherelle’s Instagram account, she graduated from law school in May. She recently shared a photo on June 29 and said she would be taking a break from social media until July 28, after she took her exam.

Griner and Cherelle Watson met while in college at Baylor. They linked up again when they both landed on the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury in 2013. Griner was married to Glory Johnson from 2015-to-2016, but then got divorced. She proposed to Cherelle in 2018 and they got married in 2019.

In June 2020, Griner posted on Instagram a memory of the first time she and Cherelle met:

“I will never forget the day I met you at Baylor in the sub area!” Griner wrote. “You had no idea but I knew you were the one for me baby.”

Brittney Griner Mural in Washington D.C. Almost One Week Old

Last Monday in Washington D.C., an artist named Isaac Campbell put up a 15-foot tall mural of Brittney Griner and other “wrongfully detained” Americans.

Photos of the 18 people on the mural were provided by loved ones in the Bring Our Families Home campaign. The non-profit is dedicated to returning 64 known hostages from overseas back to the United States.

Once Campbell received all the photos, he enlarged and printed them onto paper. After that, he affixed the photos to the wall using flour, water and sugar. It created a non-toxic, biodegradable glue. He says it took eight hours to construct.

Outsider.com

Title:

Content: Russian Federation
Moscow
+ 31 °
Worldwide21 June 2022 10: 27
Wife arrested in Russia for drugs basketball player Greiner said that does not trust the US authorities
He criticized the American authorities.
Brittney Greiner, photo: FCS of Russia
The wife of the American basketball player Brittney Grainer, Sherell Grainer, who was arrested in Russia, criticized the US government and said that she no longer trusts him.
Last Saturday, Sherell Greiner tried to reach his wife, which was done for the first time after receiving the approval of the Russian government.
The call was scheduled for two weeks, but it did not take place, because on Saturday the desired phone at the Embassy was not an employee who could connect the basketball player with her wife.
On Monday, Sherell ’ s lawyers reported that Brittney also wanted to call 11 times in a matter of hours.
“I find this unacceptable, I currently have no confidence in our government, ” Sherell Greiner told The Associated Press.
Recall that in February 2022, Brittney Greiner, who arrived on a flight from New York, was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport for having “vapes ” with a liquid with a specific odor in her carry-on baggage.
A criminal case was opened on the smuggling of narcotic drugs, now the athlete faces up to 10 years in prison.
Earlier it was reported that in Moscow extended the term of arrest for basketball player UMMC Brittney Greiner.
The American athlete, who is accused of drug smuggling, will stay in the detention center until June 18.

Title:

Content: World News
New Developments in the Case of the Detained American Journalist
CAIRO (Reuters) - The United States called on Russia to allow a consular visit to detained Wall Street Journal reporter Ivan Gershkovich to check on his condition, while a senior Russian official said Moscow was considering allowing his visit, but would not bow to pressure.
According to Bloomberg, U.S. special presidential envoy Roger Carstens said in a series of television interviews that U.S. diplomats have yet to communicate with Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen.
Read also...
Biden calls on Russia to release detained American journalist
Carstens, the chief hostage coordinator, told ABC News: "What we know is that he is in good spirits and in good health."
Russian President Vladimir Putin personally agreed to the arrest of the American journalist.
Putin ’ s approval of the arrest of the American journalist, in an unprecedented move since the end of the Cold War, reveals the increasing influence of what she described as “hard-liners ” in the Kremlin, in a way that fuels the relationship with Washington.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia was considering allowing U.S. diplomats to visit Gershkovich, who has had little contact with his legal team since his arrest two weeks ago.
The United States says Gershkovich is "unjustly detained," something Ryabkov said was misplaced and would not be tolerated.
He is changing Moscow ’ s approach to his case.
Ryabkov said: "We will not tolerate any attempts to pressure us, and there is no importance to the situation in which they classify this person in Washington, we will act according to our needs, customs and internal laws that apply in this situation, and nothing more."
Gershkovich was arrested by Russia's Federal Security Service in late March on espionage charges that carry a maximum of 20 years in prison, and his detention drew condemnation from the Wall Street Journal, U.S. President Joe Biden, other media organizations and rights groups.
A Moscow court will hold a hearing next week to hear an appeal from Gershkovich ’ s legal team against his sentence to be held in Moscow ’ s Lefortovo prison until at least May 29 until his trial.
You may also read.

Title:

Content: Greiner: I didn ’ t think that the story with me would become so big
Comments
The famous American basketball player Brittney Greiner told about her feelings from returning home after imprisonment in Russia.
“I didn ’ t think that the story with me could become so big.
But that ’ s great, because now I can reach more people and bring them to the WNBA, and also tell them about other prisoners who are still in another country and who we ’ re trying to bring home.
So I ’ m just taking this great opportunity to continue to support those who need it and don ’ t have the attention or media coverage they should receive.
It ’ s a great feeling to wear a Phoenix jersey again.
Just being on the set, feeling it all.
I didn ’ t think it would happen so quickly, I was ready for a long journey, but it ’ s so nice to be here, to be in the media again, to wear this jersey. ”
Materials on the topic
“I didn ’ t deserve it! ”
Greiner had to shut up after returning to the United States
Comments
Affiliate content

Title:

Content: Show more All news
NBA champion Shaquille O ’ Neill reacted to the arrest of American Brittney Greiner in Russia
Comments
Legendary center, four-time NBA champion, and now expert Shaquille O ’ Neill posted a new post on his social networks, where he reacted to the arrest of compatriot, basketball player Brittney Greiner.
Recently, the Khimki court of the Moscow region sentenced her to nine years in prison and a fine of 1 million rubles for transporting hash oil.
Shaquille posted two photos: one shows Greiner, the other is another American, Audrey Elise Lorber, who was also detained in Russia in 2019 for transporting banned substances.
The captions to the photo indicated the terms that were imposed on US citizens for similar crimes in Russia.
Elise Lorber was detained at Pulkovo airport with 20 grams of dried narcotic substance of plant origin.
After about two months of arrest, she was released, imposing a fine of 15 thousand rubles.
Brittney Greiner leads to sentencing:
The US is in shock - Greiner was given 9 years in prison!
Biden called the verdict unacceptable
Comments
Affiliate content

Title:

Content: U.S. Women’s soccer team captain Megan Rapinoe took her shot as one of 17 Americans awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House to call attention to the detention of Brittney Griner. The Olympic gold medalist and equal pay activist wore her feelings on her lapel- demanding fellow Olympic athlete and WNBA star, Brittney Griner, be brought out of detention in Russia.

Rapinoe posted an Instagram story that she’d chosen a cream suit jacket with the basketball player’s initials and a flower sewn into the lapel.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/mrapinoe/2877209898883344067/

“The most important part of today,” Rapinoe captioned the photo, adding: “BG we love you.”

The Phoenix Mercury center was playing in Russia for UMMC Yekaterinburg in the Russian Women’s Basketball Premier League during the WNBA’s off-season when she was arrested Feb. 17, and has been detained since. Griner pleaded guilty earlier Thursday in a Russian court to drug charges, and could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Griner was arrested at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow when vape canisters containing cannabis oil were allegedly found in her luggage.

Both the State Department and the White House have decried the arrest and insist that Griner is wrongfully detained.

Title:

Content: Source: RIA Novosti
“In the middle of the night, they just picked up, they said, ‘ Get ready. ’
There was no special preliminary information, ” Bout told the Rossiya 24 TV channel.
He added that he did not have time to say goodbye to anyone in prison because it was night.
Victor Bout returned to Russia on December 8.
The special board with him landed at the Moscow airport Vnukovo-2.
At the gangway, Booth was met by his wife Alla and his mother Raisa.
On the same day, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the successful exchange of Bout for American basketball player Brittney Greiner.
The procedure took place at Abu Dhabi Airport.
The ministry said that the Russian side has been negotiating with the United States for a long time, as Washington “categorically refused ” to include Bout in the exchange scheme.
At the same time, footage was published, which recorded the exchange of Booth for Greiner.
The full video shows how the basketball player leaves the colony in Mordovia, where she served time.
Waiting for a meeting with the released, Buta ’ s wife told Izvestia that after many years of separation she would meet her husband with cutlets and pilaf.
Also during the conversation with journalists, she added that she will bring him warm clothes to the airport.
According to Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov, while serving time in an American prison, Viktor Bout was subjected to powerful mental and physical pressure.
Commissioner for human rights in the Russian Federation Tatiana Moskalkova said that Bout and Greiner were pardoned by the heads of state.
This gives them freedom of movement when they return home.
Bout ’ s lawyer Alexei Tarasov said that initially the United States asked to exchange convicted of espionage Paul Whelan and Greiner for Bout.
Businessman Victor Bout has served half a 25-year sentence in a U.S. prison on charges of plotting to murder U.S. citizens and providing material support for terrorism.
He was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and handed over to the United States.
His mother this year appealed to the presidents of the United States and Russia with a request to negotiate the return of her son to Russia.
Two-time Olympic basketball champion in the U.S. national team Brittney Greiner was detained by customs officers at Sheremetyevo airport in February.
The girl was found vape with cannabis oil.
In relation to the athletes opened a criminal case.
2 Art. 229.1 (“Smuggling of narcotic drugs in a significant amount ”), and part 2.
1 of Art. 228 of the Criminal Code.
The basketball player on July 7 fully admitted her guilt, saying that she had no intention to commit a crime.
At the end of the summer, she was sentenced to nine years in prison.
An error occurred during loading.
Subscribe to us

Title:

Content: Brittney Griner Urges Biden, 'Don't Forget About Me', in Handwritten Letter.

Brittney Griner Urges Biden, 'Don't Forget About Me', in Handwritten Letter.

The handwritten letter penned by the Phoenix Mercury star was received at the White House in July 4.

I realize you are dealing with so much, Brittney Griner, Letter to President Biden, via CNN.

But please don't forget about me and the other American detainees.

Please do all you can to bring us home, Brittney Griner, Letter to President Biden, via CNN.

Griner has been detained in Russia since February after cannabis oil was allegedly discovered in her luggage.

Her trial for the offense began last week.

Griner also described the fear and pain she is experiencing by being detained in Russia.

I'm terrified I might be here forever, Brittney Griner, Letter to President Biden, via CNN.

On the 4th of July, our family normally honors the service of those who fought for our freedom, including my father who is a Vietnam War Veteran.

, Brittney Griner, Letter to President Biden, via CNN.

It hurts thinking about how I usually celebrate this day because freedom means something completely different to me this year, Brittney Griner, Letter to President Biden, via CNN.

I believe in you.

I still have so much good to do with my freedom that you can help restore, Brittney Griner, Letter to President Biden, via CNN.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council stated July 4 the U.S. position that "the Russian Federation is wrongfully detaining Brittney Griner.".

President Biden has been clear about the need to see all U.S. nationals who are held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad released, including Brittney Griner.

, Adrienne Watson, National Security Council Spokesperson, via CNN.

The U.S. government continues to work aggressively – using every available means — to bring her home, Adrienne Watson, National Security Council Spokesperson, via CNN.

The President's team is in regular contact with Brittney's family and we will continue to work to support her family, Adrienne Watson, National Security Council Spokesperson, via CNN

Title:

Content: International
International news.
The camps are worse than the prisons.
A Russian court on Thursday sentenced U.S. basketball star Britney Galina to prison in a penal colony that U.S. media say treats inmates worse than prisons, where guards intimidate inmates, who are sometimes forced to work as long as 16 hours a day.
The camps evolved from Soviet-era labor camps and are now scattered in different parts of Siberia, many of them in barracks. Although the treatment of prisoners has improved, they are still accused of brutality, overcrowding and poor conditions.
A member of the Russian anti-government band Pussy Riot said in 2012 that she had served a prison term without hot water, warm clothes or medicine, and that people who were sick could die.
Last year, Navalny, the leader of Russia ’ s largest opposition party, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for violating the conditions of a suspended sentence for corruption in 2014.
In an interview with the New York Times last year, he said that the prison schedule included five hours of daily television viewing, and prisoners were forced to watch national television and propaganda films.
Former prisoners said they were being abused and forced to watch propaganda films.
Konstantin Kotov, a Russian activist who served 18 months in a detention facility, told the Associated Press last year that prison guards at the facility intimidated prisoners for trivial matters, such as failing to greet police officers.
Prisoners are required to stand for seven to eight hours, sit upright, with their feet folded, and their arms resting on their knees without any movement. Even scratching their noses requires permission from the inmates who are responsible for reporting the behavior of the prisoners to the prison guards.
William Pomeranz, a Russian research expert at the Kennan Institute at the Washington think tank Wilson Center, said many of the places were isolated in Siberia, where she did not know anyone, was difficult for outsiders to visit, and the environment could be harsh, and if she was sent there, it would be a great test for her mental state.
(New York Times / Newsweek)
Related words: Brittney Griner in Russia
Previous / Next News

Title:

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

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

Two ways to read the story

  • Quick Read
  • Deep Read ( 5 Min. )

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

What a difference a war makes.

Why We Wrote This

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

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

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

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

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

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

What a difference a war makes.

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

Why We Wrote This

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

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

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

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

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

“Not enough qualified players”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some see an opportunity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.

Give us your feedback

We want to hear, did we miss an angle we should have covered? Should we come back to this topic? Or just give us a rating for this story. We want to hear from you.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2022/0825/Foreign-sports-stars-flee-Russia-as-world-shuns-their-teams
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe

Title:

Content: American diplomat fainted in court in the case of Brittney Greiner
Earlier it was reported that the athlete, accused of smuggling drugs, arrived in the Khimki court for the next meeting.
© Video: TRK VS RF "Zvezda" © Photo: TRK VS RF "ZVEZDA"
Read us on:
A representative of the American Embassy fainted at a meeting in the Khimki court.
The incident occurred during the trial of basketball player Brittney Greiner.
The judge was adjourned until 14.30 Wednesday, July 27.
Earlier it was reported that the athlete came to court.
There was supposed to be another meeting there today.
Grainer is charged with drug smuggling.
The basketball game is scheduled for tomorrow.
At the last meeting, on July 15, the defense presented in court a permit issued in the United States by the Arizona Department of Health for the use of medical cannabis.
It was alleged that the athlete complained of severe pain.
The tests were also presented, which were taken as part of the anti-doping inspection, they showed the absence of prohibited substances.
Brittney Greiner was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport on February 17 after a banned substance was found in her luggage.
Now she faces up to ten years in prison.
IN OTHER CMI
Loading...
You will be interested
Expert opinion and analytics
Read more
read below the following news

Title:

Content: Russian news agency 18 +
Subscribe to channels
NewDayNews.ru
Thursday, August 4, 2022, 19: 09 GMT
News, Short, Popular
American basketball player sentenced to 9 years in prison for drug smuggling
The Khimki court of the Moscow region on Thursday, August 4, sentenced American basketball player Brittney Greiner to nine years in a general regime colony with a fine of one million rubles for smuggling hash oil, RIA Novosti reports.
According to RIA Novosti, at the beginning of the sentence, Judge Anna Sotnikova said: “Gryner Brittney Yvette smuggled drugs, possession of drugs. ”
Greiner was found guilty.
228 (illegal acquisition, storage, transportation of drugs without the purpose of sale), etc.
2 of Art. 229.1 (smuggling of narcotic drugs in a significant amount) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
It should be noted that the court took into account the partial admission of guilt and the sporting achievements of Grainer as mitigating circumstances.
In the debate of the parties, the prosecutor asked to appoint the athlete nine and a half years of a general regime colony, since, in his opinion, there were no mitigating or aggravating circumstances in the case.
In turn, the defense in its speech indicated that the examination of the substance was conducted with a violation, as evidenced by the review of the candidate of chemical sciences interrogated in court.
In this regard, lawyer Grainer Maria Blagolina asked the court to acquit the basketball player, and in the case of a conviction to impose a sentence below the lower limit and conditionally.
During the consideration of the case, it became known that she was prescribed marijuana by a doctor from Arizona instead of traditional painkillers due to the side effects of the latter.
She said in her final statement: “It was an honest mistake that I made, picking things up in a hurry and experiencing post-coid stress. ”
During the last word, Brittney Greiner also apologized to the UMMC team and relatives.
The White House called the decision unacceptable, demanded the release of the athlete.
U.S. President Joe Biden has called Greiner ’ s sentence “unacceptable. ”
He said his administration would use "all possible means" to bring Brittney Greiner and Paul Whelan back to the United States as soon as possible.
Moscow, Ivan Baburin
© 2022, RIA "New Day"
Subscribe to channels
Yandex NewsYandex Zen YouTube
In rubrics

Title:

Content: The main goal is Victor Bout.
Who is the Russian “merchant of death ” that Washington offered to exchange for prisoners?
Victor Bout.
Who is the Russian “merchant of death ” that Washington offered to exchange for American prisoners?
- Advertisement -
The US magazine “Newsweek ” revealed that the administration of US President Joe Biden offered Russia the release of the Russian arms dealer Victor Bout nicknamed“ Dealer of Death ” in exchange for the release of the star of the US National Women ’ s Basketball Association Britney Greiner and former Marine Paul Whelan who are currently detained in Russia.
Victor Bout, a 55-year-old arms dealer, is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence in Illinois.
Bot was convicted of conspiring to murder U.S. citizens and officials and selling millions of dollars in arms to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2011.
Russian pressure to release him
The Kremlin has since pressed for Bot ’ s release, calling his detention in the United States “illegal ” and accusing it of unfairly targeting him for political reasons.
The former Soviet army translator has been an international figure since the collapse of the Soviet Union and has been nicknamed the Dealer of Death because of the breadth of his operations and clients.
Victor Bout arrested in Thailand
In 2008, he was arrested on terrorism-related charges in a sensitive operation in Thailand after years on the run from international arrest warrants and asset freezes. He was extradited by order of then-United States Ambassador to Thailand Eric John, and his extradition was granted by the Thai Supreme Court in 2010.
Butt ’ s trial in Manhattan focused on his role in supplying the FARC with weapons for use against U.S. forces in Colombia, which Butt denied and insisted he was just an “air transport ” man.
Victor Medvedchuck.
Arrest of Putin's close friend who promised to succeed Zelensky (witness)
Smuggling weapons into conflict zones in the 1990s
His relationship with the arms trade dates back to the 1990s, when he was accused of smuggling military weapons into conflict zones from Liberia to Sierra Leone and Afghanistan.
The plan to release Bot would allow the United States to bring back Greiner, who was arrested on drug-related charges at a Moscow airport in February, and Whelan, who was sentenced to 16 years in Russia for espionage in 2020.
The United States has long resisted the prisoner exchange for fear it might encourage hostage-taking, but Biden ’ s support for the deal goes beyond any opposition from the Justice Department.
Who is Britney Greiner?
Greiner, born in 1990 in Houston, Texas, is one of the best female basketball players in the world, and along with her Phoenix Mercury team won the Women ’ s National Basketball Association Championship in 2014.
With the women's national team, she won gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and at the 2020 Games in Tokyo in 2021.
Greiner traveled to Moscow earlier this year to participate in a basketball tournament, and on her return on February 17, Sheremetyevo International Airport staff asked her to open her bags and found cannabis oil in packages for electronic cigarettes.
Her arrest took place just a week before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Her case has received considerable attention in Washington, where the State Department protested her arrest as “illegal. ”
Paul Whelan.
Security Officer Accused of ‘ Espionage ’
Paul Whelan, an American, British and Canadian national from Michigan, was a security official at an American auto parts company when he was stopped at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 for possessing sensitive materials.
He was convicted of espionage in June 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison in a trial that U.S. officials described as “unfair. ”
Last year, he said in an interview from prison that he was a victim of “hostage diplomacy, ” and said that“ the kidnapping of an American citizen is unacceptable anywhere in the world. ”
"This is not a case against me, it is a case of Russia against the United States, and the United States should respond to this hostage diplomacy situation and resolve it as soon as possible."
The wife of Viktor Medvedchuk, a friend of Putin, wears a hijab and prays for Mohammed bin Salman (Video)
Salem Hanafi
- Salem Mohammed Hanafi, a Palestinian journalist and member of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.
He is interested in political and Arab affairs and supervises the editing of political issues in the Hadhod section of the site "WATAN" has been tweeting out of the flock since 2018. "
He holds a Bachelor of Political Science from the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at Al-Najah University in Nablus, Palestine.
- Master of Political Science from the Faculty of Law and Economic and Political Sciences at the University of Tunis El Manar in the specialization "Political Systems".
Currently, he is enrolled in the doctoral program at the same university to present a thesis entitled: "The Salafist Current and its Impact on the Democratic Decline in the Arab Spring Countries".
Read also.
- Advertising -
LATEST

Title:

Content: Did Tekashi 6IX9INE Say This About Brittney Griner, Russian Travel?

The rapper also flouted a U.S. government warning against traveling in Russia.

  • Published

Claim

U.S. Rapper Tekashi 6IX9INE said “f-ck Brittney Griner” while visiting Russia in 2022.

Rating

Correct Attribution
About this rating

Fact Check

Rapper Tekashi 6IX9INE received backlash for traveling to Russia to perform and saying “f-ck Brittney Griner” in a video posted to social media. WNBA player Griner has been incarcerated in Russia since March 2022 amid efforts by the U.S. government to free her.

Griner was convicted on drug charges in Russia in what has been criticized as a politically motivated case.

The rapper, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, can be heard saying he was in Moscow, before saying “f-ck Brittney Griner” and giggling. The video was posted on Instagram, without the expletive being censored, by DJ Akademiks on Sept. 25, 2022, who criticized Hernandez: “Despite warning to Americans to not visit #Russia, #6ix9ine arrives to perform & disses Brittney Griner,” he wrote.

In a longer video, posted to YouTube, 6IX9INE said he was in Russia to perform at Banger Fest.

According to Spanish news outlet EuroWeekly, Hernandez and another American musician, O.T. Genasis, agreed to perform in Russia despite U.S. sanctions on that country in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine.

The pair was also flouting a U.S. government warning against Americans traveling in Russia.

Sources:

Manning, Joshua. “Tekashi 6IX9INE and O.T. Genasis to Perform at Russia’s Banger Fest despite Sanctions.” Euro Weekly News, 20 Sept. 2022, https://euroweeklynews.com/2022/09/20/tekashi-6ix9ine-and-o-t-genasis-to-perform-at-russias-banger-fest-despite-sanctions/.

Jackson, Wilton. “Russia Hasn’t Responded to Griner, Whelan Swap Offer.” Sports Illustrated, https://www.si.com/wnba/2022/09/17/russia-hasnt-responded-to-griner-whelan-swap-offer. Accessed 26 Sept. 2022.

Title:

Content: Billionaire Elon Musk breaks the silence about the arrest of WNBA star Britney Grenier in Russia, and Mimi interrogates the US government
Phoenix star Mercury Britney Grenier made headlines around the world for sad reasons.
A few months ago, she was arrested in Russia for transporting banned substances.
After that, her arrest began with a lengthy judicial procedure.
Recently, Grainer pleaded guilty on all counts, you can put her in custody for a long time.
This has been a major topic of discussion in the world of basketball and beyond for some time now.
Announcements
The article continues under this announcement
Stars like LeBron James have expressed their opinion, and the last celebrity to respond to the situation was billionaire Elon Musk.
Musk went to Twitter to publish a memorandum analyzing the actions of the government.
Elon Musk broke the silence about WNBA star Britney Grenier.
After the Russian court ruled against Britney Greiner, her status became a major topic of discussion around the world.
The U.S. government recently announced plans to try to bring Greener home.
Victor Bout, an arms dealer who could be used in prisoner exchanges to bring Grenier back to the United States.
However, this caused a negative reaction from all sides.
Elon Musk addressed the situation, and also questioned the government ’ s decision to exchange Greener. He wrote, “Maybe here because of weeds someone was released from prison? Together with the meme, he posted on Twitter.
Musk is not the only celebrity who expressed his opinion about the scandalous basketball player.
But unlike Musk, LeBron James spoke of his support for Griner a few weeks ago.
During the episode of The Shop LeBron, tell us about the situation.
He said he was not sure if he would return to the United States if he were Grainer.
His words drew a lot of criticism from all sides.
The love of Russians for winter sports is developing in Beijing
This forced the star of the Los Angeles Lakers to clarify his words on Twitter.
“I was just talking about how she probably felt emotionally along with many other feelings, thoughts, etc. in this cage that she was in for more than 100 days. ”
Announcements
The article continues under this announcement
Although he released the clarification, LeBron's words "Shop" are still used by fans around the world to criticize the four-time NBA champion.
Announcements
The article continues under this announcement
Watch this story: How many 40-point toys does Michael Jordan have?
What do you think of Britney Grenier?
Let us know in the comments below.

Title:

Content: Direct updates, the best moments of the third game of the WNBA Finals
The White House announced on Friday that President Joe Biden plans to meet at the White House on Friday with family members of WNBA star Britney Greiner and Michigan corporate security chief Paul Whelan, who remain incarcerated in Russia.
This was stated by the press Secretary of the White house Karen Jean-Pierre at a press conference on Thursday at the White house.
Individual meetings should be the first face-to-face meeting between Biden and the families, and will take place against the backdrop of the administration ’ s ongoing but unsuccessful efforts to secure the release of Americans.
In July, the administration said it had made a "substantial offer" to bring them home, but despite plans to hold meetings at the White House, there is no sign that a breakthrough is imminent.
Greiner has been in custody in Russia since February on drug charges.
Last month, she was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty and appealing the sentence.
Whelan is serving a 16-year prison sentence on espionage charges that he and his family believe are false.
The US government considers both unlawfully detained, and their case has been transferred to the office of the chief hostage negotiator.
Friday ’ s meetings, long sought by both families, are intended to underscore the administration ’ s commitment to repatriating Greiner, Whelan, and other Americans imprisoned abroad, and to “establish humanitarian contact with them when they experience the plight of the Russian government. ”
“Said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Anonymity, as meetings were not publicly announced. ”
The talks were complicated by strained relations between Washington and Moscow over Russia ’ s invasion of Ukraine.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken took the unusual step of announcing two months ago that the administration had made a substantial offer to Russia.
Since then, the administration has used various means to insist on its proposal and begin serious negotiations, an administration official said on Thursday.
Bombing of Crimea confirms weakness of Russian troops | News, sports, vacancies
The official, who declined to go into details, said the Russians, who said they were open to talks but had instructed the Americans to conduct them privately, had returned with proposals the administration was unable to make.
But the official said the United States was following the same channels that carried out the April prisoner exchange that repatriated Marine veteran Trevor Reed from Russia.
The administration did not give details of its proposal, but a person familiar with the matter had previously confirmed that it had offered to release Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms dealer who is now in U.S. custody.
He can insist on the release of two of his citizens from prison.
In July, Biden spoke on the phone with Grainer ’ s wife Cheryl and Whelan ’ s sister Elizabeth, but both families also asked for face-to-face meetings.
Biden is scheduled to play at the White House on Friday with Cheryl Grainer and the player ’ s agent in one meeting and Elizabeth Whelan in another.
Meetings are held separately so that each family has a special time with the boss.
But the fact that they happened on the same day shows how intertwined the two cases are, because the only deal that is supposedly acceptable to the United States is the one that involves the Americans — a famous WNBA player and a Michigan man who was even little known in public lately — at home together at the same time.
In the past few months, representatives of both families have expressed frustration over what they see as the lack of aggressive action and coordination on the part of the leadership.
Cheryl Grainer, for example, told the Associated Press in an interview in June that she was alarmed after a phone call from his wife, which was supposed to be corrected by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, failed, leaving the couple unable to contact.
Fourth anniversary.
Medvedev celebrates his 16th anniversary with the 16th victory in a row, Sports News
Whelan ’ s family sought to draw attention to his case, fearing he might outshine him in the public eye by focusing on the more famous Grainer — a two-time Olympic champion and seven-time WNBA star.
They also expressed disappointment when Whelan, despite being in Russia since December 2018, was not included in a prisoner exchange last April, during which another detained American, Navy SEAL veteran Trevor Reed, was repatriated.
Friday ’ s meeting was scheduled ahead of this week ’ s news of a failed trip to Russia by Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the UN who was a veteran envoy on hostage and detainee issues.
Administration officials reacted coolly to the trip, with State Department spokesman Ned Price saying on Wednesday that dialogue with Russia outside the “existing channel ” threatened to derail efforts to repatriate Greiner and Whelan.
Administration officials say that work on the cases of hostages and detainees continues regardless of whether the family meets with the president, although there is no doubt that such a meeting can help establish contact.
In March, Biden met Reed ’ s parents in the Oval Office after a Texas couple stood with a large banner outside the White House calling for their son ’ s release.

Title:

Content: News

‘Unfortunate mistake’ kept Brittney Griner from calling wife, White House says

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that an “unfortunate mistake” prevented WNBA star Brittney Griner from calling her wife from a Russian jail over the weekend.

Cherelle Griner said the Phoenix Mercury center attempted to call 11 times on Saturday — the couple’s fourth wedding anniversary — but the US embassy in Moscow, which said it would connect the couple, instead let the phone ring without answering.

“This was an unfortunate mistake. And the Department of State is working to rectify this as quickly as possible,” Jean-Pierre said at her regular briefing.

“I understand there is a phone interview [that] has been scheduled. I’m not going to speak to when. That is up to Brittney Griner’s partner to decide — her wife to decide if they want to make that public.”

Cherelle Griner told The Associated Press that she hasn’t been able to speak with her wife in four months and that she wants to talk directly with President Biden about the case.

“I find it unacceptable and I have zero trust in our government right now. If I can’t trust you to catch a Saturday call outside of business hours, how can I trust you to actually be negotiating on my wife’s behalf to come home? Because that’s a much bigger ask than to catch a Saturday call,” Cherelle Griner said.

Jean-Pierre said that she had no information regarding a potential call between Biden and Cherelle Griner, but insisted that “any American that is held abroad is a priority for this president. We’ve spoken to that and we will do everything that we can to bring them home.”

Griner, 31, was arrested in February at Moscow’s international airport days before Russia invaded Ukraine. She allegedly was traveling with a weed vaporizer.

A Kremlin spokesman denied Monday that Griner is being used as a “hostage.” saying, “She violated Russian law, and now she’s being prosecuted.”

Griner is one of two Americans known to be held in Russia. The other, former Marine Paul Whelan, was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison on a charge of espionage.

Biden is an opponent of marijuana legalization and as a senator authored legislation that sent some pot dealers to prison for life without parole. Last year, the White House fired at least five staffers who admitted to past pot use.

Outgoing President Donald Trump last year commuted the sentences of seven people serving life terms for marijuana — including two men who were given life without parole under the three-strikes provision of the Biden-authored 1994 crime law.

Marijuana is legal for medical or recreational use under state law in most parts of the US, but American authorities still arrested more than 350,000 people in 2020 for pot offenses, according to FBI data.

Title:

Content: Ex-teammate Greiner: maybe Brittney will return stronger
Comments
The captain of the Yekaterinburg UMMC Evgenia Belyakova suggested how the sentence will affect the career of her former teammate, American basketball player Brittney Greiner.
“This is a difficult question – given that no one knows how long the excommunication from basketball will last.
Often, basketball players return from maternity leave and play even better.
A lot depends on how Brittney perceives her situation.
Perhaps she will return even stronger, and perhaps she will decide to devote herself to other matters, having gone free, ” Belyakova said.
American basketball player Brittney Greiner was sentenced to nine years in prison in a general regime penal colony for drug smuggling.
Also, the athlete was fined 1 million rubles.
News on the topic
Captain UMMC: Greiner did not seek to violate the law
Comments
Affiliate content

Title:

Content: Advertisement
Arabic-International
"Dealer of Death" enters the door of Russian politics from the door of prison in the United States!
11-09-2023 | 03: 13
A-
A +
photos 0
A +
A-
About nine months ago, Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout was released from prison in the United States as part of a prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington, starting a new political path by running in local elections in Russia ’ s western region of Ulyanovsk.
Advertisement
A report by the New York Times described how "a weapons smuggler who worked in the most dangerous areas of the world and one of the most wanted men internationally, who bore the title of merchant of death," turned to run in local elections to enter the world of politics.
Bot is running in the Ulyanovsk region of 1.3 million people, 450 miles east of Moscow, in elections that the New York Times described as “aimed at legitimizing President Vladimir Putin ’ s authoritarian rule. ”
Russia ’ s ruling party is likely to win a decisive victory in regional elections on Sunday, which will serve as a litmus test for President Vladimir Putin ’ s re-election next year and an attempt to consolidate the country ’ s grip on four occupied regions of Ukraine.
"Extremist Party"
The man, who has spent nearly 15 years in US prisons, is running for the Russian Liberal Democratic Party, which he joined just four months after returning to Russia.
Butt was released from prison last December as part of a prisoner swap deal under which American basketball star Britney Grainer was released after spending 10 months behind bars in Russia after being arrested in February 2022 and later convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Washington released the famous Russian arms dealer Victor Bout in a prisoner swap with Moscow that freed American basketball player Britney Greiner.
The Russian Liberal Democratic Party describes itself as an opponent, but in fact serves the interests of the Kremlin.
It includes politicians who are more scandalous than they are working on legislation. ”
Since its founding in 1991, the LDP has “promoted a far-right, xenophobic nationalist ideology and urged Russia to invade the former Soviet Union. ”
The party also served as a springboard for a group of controversial figures in Russian politics, including Andrei Lugovi, a former intelligence agent accused by Britain of murdering Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko.
Butt, 56, was serving a 25-year sentence in the United States after he was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and convicted in 2011 on charges including conspiring to kill Americans and supporting a terrorist organization.
A plane carrying basketball star Britney Grainer landed at San Antonio Airport in Texas early Friday.
Bot is accused of "taking advantage of the chaos after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, to buy quantities of weapons at low prices from uncontrolled military bases, before forming his own fleet of cargo planes to deliver his cargo around the world."
According to a previous report by the Washington Post, “The reason Moscow insists on retrieving Bot is the important information he has about the fate of the Soviet Union ’ s weapons caches, as well as information about the weapons depots in Ukraine, where he worked for more than a decade in the transfer of weapons between countries in the region. ”
On the other hand, some in Russia believe that "Washington exaggerates what it ascribes to him, to make him a scarecrow and to distort the image of Moscow," according to AFP.
Douglas Farah, an American journalist who, along with Stephen Brown, published The Dealer of Death in 2008, described Bot as "a Soviet officer who took advantage of the opportunity created by three factors that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union: planes left on the runways between Moscow and Kiev.
"Huge stockpiles of weapons guarded by soldiers who were not paid, and the demand for weapons surged."
Go ahead.
Advertisement
Our news via your email
SIGN UP

Her detention in Russia in 2022 and subsequent release through a high-profile prisoner exchange illuminates how governments can leverage public figures in geopolitical negotiations.

Title:

Content: CNN: basketball player Greiner was exchanged for Victor Bout
16: 10 08.12.2022
The basketball player from the United States was released from the Russian prison in the framework of the exchange of prisoners.
© Photo by ZUMAPRESS, Globallookpress
Read us on:
American basketball player Brittney Greiner, who was convicted of drug smuggling, was exchanged for the Russian Viktor Bout.
This is reported by CNN with reference to a source.
Brittney Greiner was released from Russian detention as part of an exchange of prisoners... for Victor Bout.
Earlier, lawyers visited the American Brittney Greiner in the Mordovian correctional colony No2.
The basketball player has already begun to serve his sentence.
Recall that in late October, the Moscow regional court approved the American athlete Brittney Greiner nine years in prison for drug smuggling.
In February, a basketball player who arrived on a flight from New York was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport.
When inspecting things in her hand luggage, they found vapes with a liquid with a specific odor weighing 0.702 grams.
Subsequently, the examination found that it was hashish oil.
Expert opinion and analytics
Read more
read below the following news

Title:

Content: During the Ukrainian crisis...
Exchange of detainees between the United States and Russia
The world.
Publish
Minute Reading
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) - The Russian Foreign Ministry announced the release of US citizen Trevor Reid, in exchange for Washington's release of Russian detainee Konstantin Yaroshenko, on Wednesday.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “As a result of a long negotiation process, US citizen Trevor Rudy Reid, sentenced by a court in the Russian Federation, will be released on April 27, 2022. ”
Zakharova said an exchange would take place with Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a US court in 2010.
The official Russian news agency TASS also published the news on its official website.

Title:

Content: The US State Department is preparing a new offer to exchange its prisoners in Russia Gershkovich and Whelan
World News
Copy Link https: / / www.rt.com / xan9
The US State Department announced that Washington is preparing to make a new offer to Moscow to exchange Ivan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, convicted of espionage in Russia.
U.S. Presidential Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, who works at the State Department, said during a meeting with Washington ’ s Defense Writers Group: “We are trying to gather what the United States can offer.
"We hope we can find something that interests the Russians, to the extent that they want to bring Paul Whelan and Ivan Gershkovich back to us."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the end of last month that Moscow was ready to continue dialogue with Washington on the exchange of prisoners as part of agreements between the presidents of the two countries, but that the United States was using "unfair methods".
In March last year, the FSB announced that journalist Ivan Gershkovich had been detained in Yekaterinburg from the Moscow office of the Wall Street Journal on suspicion of spying for the US government.
American Paul Whelan is also serving a prison sentence after being sentenced to 16 years in Russia in 2020 for espionage.
Source: TASS
Agree.
This website uses cookies. You can read the terms of use to activate this feature by clicking here

Title:

Content: Victor Bout, released from American prison, is congratulated by the citizens of Russia and other countries.
This was announced on December 8 by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova in her telegram channel.
Osce.usmission.gov
Victor Bout
“Incredible!
We receive messages – people from Russia and abroad write, they congratulate and rejoice in connection with the release of Viktor Bout, ” the diplomat wrote.
She explained that these people had never met Booth personally or seen him.
They are grateful for him and are grateful to Russia.
“They don ’ t know him personally, they ’ ve never even seen him.
But they are worried about their loved ones!
They thank the country, ” Zakharova said.
See also: The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the exchange of Bout for basketball player Greiner
About it: Biden spoke on the phone with the released in the framework of the exchange with Russia Greiner

Title:

Content: Archive / World News
Despite the tension in relationships...
An exchange of prisoners between the United States and Russia
• 1 / 2
• 2 / 2
Asma Lemnour wrote on Thursday 28th April 2022 04: 09 pm - 1 hour ago
Note Russia and America
A spokesman for former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed said on Thursday he had returned to the United States after Russia released him in an exchange with a Russian prisoner.
The exchange was conducted by Russia and the United States as bilateral relations have been strained for decades over the war in Ukraine.
Reid was released on Wednesday on an airport runway in Ankara, Turkey, in exchange for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko.
U.S. officials said the exchange was not part of broader diplomatic talks and did not represent a change in the U.S. approach to Ukraine.
Russian-American relations are at their worst since the Cold War era, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and subsequent Western sanctions against Moscow.
Reed's spokesman, who is from Texas, said he had returned to the United States, without elaborating.
Reid's parents had earlier said he would be taken to a military hospital for observation.
Senior U.S. officials said the 30-year-old was "in good spirits" despite some health problems.
Reid was arrested in Russia in 2019 on charges of endangering the lives of two police officers while drunk during a visit to Moscow.
The United States called his trial “absurd. ”
U.S. special forces arrested Russian pilot Yaroshenko, who was exchanged for mail, in Liberia in 2010 and convicted of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States.
Russia proposed to exchange Yaroshenko in July 2019 for any American.
Russian news agencies reported that Yaroshenko returned to Moscow on Wednesday, where he was reunited with his wife and daughter.
You may also read.

Title:

Content: Putin may be arrested when he leaves Russia.
CNN reporter comments on International Criminal Court decision
The world.
Publish
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova Belova over an alleged plot to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.
The court said in its statement that Putin "is allegedly responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of population (children) and illegal transfer of population (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation."
CNN reporter Kylie Atwood reports.

Title:

Content: Who is 'Merchant of Death' Viktor Bout? All you need to know about the Russian arms dealer swapped for American basketball star Brittney Griner

The deal - the second in eight months amid tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine - secured the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and achieved a top goal for President Joe Biden. Yet it carried what US officials conceded was a heavy price.

Updated Dec 9, 2022 | 04:24 PM IST

Russian citizen Viktor Bout sits in a Russian plane after a swap, in the airport of Abu Dhabi.

Photo : AP
Washington: The United States on Thursday released notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout as part of a high-profile prisoner exchange. The deal - the second in eight months amid tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine - secured the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and achieved a top goal for President Joe Biden. Yet it carried what US officials conceded was a heavy price.

Who is the 'Merchant of Death' ?

The Russian felon once nicknamed "the Merchant of Death" had been 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. Biden issued an executive grant of clemency to free the arms dealer from a federal prison in Illinois to effect the prisoner swap.
Bout was detained in Thailand in 2008 in a US sting for allegedly trying to sell arms to Colombia's FARC rebels. According to Judge Shira A Scheindlin, who sentenced him in a federal court in New York, Bout was a businessman arms dealer rather than 'a terrorist' and had been been "roped in".
Accused of arming rebels in some of the world's bloodiest conflicts, he has been the subject of several books and television shows. The 2005 film "Lord of War" starring Nicolas Cage was based in part on Bout's arms trafficking exploits
The former Soviet air force officer gained fame supposedly by supplying weapons for civil wars in South America, the Middle East and Africa. His clients were said to include Liberia's Charles Taylor, longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and both sides in Angola's civil war. Russia has pressed for Bout's release for years.
Closer to home however, he is seen as a swashbuckling businessman who was unjustly imprisoned after being convicted on terrorism charges in what his supporters called an overly aggressive US sting operation.
Are authorities worried about the release?
The Russian foreign ministry said it had been negotiating with Washington to secure Bout's release "for a long time" and that initially the United States had "refused dialogue" on including him in any swap. Senior US defense officials have also voiced concern about the possibility of Bout "returning to doing the same kind of work that he's done in the past."
The swap was arranged after talks spanning months during a time of high tensions between the two countries in the wake of Russia's February invasion of Ukraine. Even as Griner was on a flight bound for Texas, Bout arrived in Moscow and hugged his mother and wife after stepping onto the tarmac.
End of Article

© 2022 Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited

Title:

Content: Russia: No agreement yet in prisoner exchange negotiations with Washington - Sunrise Gate
Thursday 28 July 2022 12: 52 PM Cairo Cairo 24 °
Most Read
You might like it, too.
Share your opinion
Who do you think is responsible for the failure of the Egyptians in the Egyptian Cup?
Russia says no deal yet in prisoner swap talks with Washington
Agencies:
Published on: Thursday 28 July 2022 - 12: 34 PM | Last updated on Thursday 28 July 2022 - 12: 34 PM
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today that "negotiations on prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States are ongoing and there are no concrete results so far, and the interests of both sides must be taken into account," according to the Russian news agency TASS.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Wednesday at a news conference that he would speak in the coming days with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, adding that he would "press" to respond to an offer by Washington to free U.S. citizens held by Moscow.
Blinken said the United States had made Moscow a "significant offer" for the return of basketball star Britney Greiner and former US Marine Paul Whelan, but declined to disclose the contents of the deal.
You might like it, too.
Share your comment

Title:

Content: Russia, US discuss exchange of prisoners, including arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter in Russia
July 05, 2023 14: 04
Eastern Network Television
More News Clips
Russia and the United States are discussing prisoner exchanges, possibly including Gorshković (left) and Donayev (right).
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Russia and the United States are discussing a possible new prisoner exchange program that could include Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter detained in Moscow on espionage charges, and Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian detained in the United States on cybercrime charges.
Peskov said that Russia and the United States have some contacts on the exchange of prisoners, the two sides do not want to discuss openly, must be carried out in a low tone and continue, stressing that the two sides must ensure the legal right of consular contact.
Dounayev was arrested in 2021. On Monday, the United States allowed Dounayev to receive his first consular visit since his arrest, and US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy visited Gorshković for the second time.
The 31-year-old was arrested on suspicion of espionage during an interview in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in March. He, The Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government have all denied Russian espionage allegations.
There is no indication that there will be an immediate exchange of prisoners between Russia and the United States, and a Russian court ruled last week that Gorshkovych will be held until August 30. Russia has said that any exchange can only take place after the verdict, and the Gorshkovych trial date has not been set.

Title:

Content: "These people are inhuman" Ukrainian women cry about the cruel situation in Russia
(Agence France-Presse, KIEV, 26) Ukrainian medical worker Tetyana Vasylchenko (Tetyana Vasylchenko) was released by Russia, when she got on the bus to return to freedom, the moment she got the Ukrainian flag, the original strong emotions finally broke down, tears could not help but burst into her eyes.
Advertisement
"I never cried, even when I lost my partner, but when I took the Ukrainian flag on the bus, I couldn't help crying," she told reporters.
Vasinchenko and 107 other women were released from Russian prisons last week as part of a long-discussed exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine.
At a press conference in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev today, four of the women recalled their lives in prison: starving, physically abused and humiliated in crowded cells.
Viktoria Obidina, a guard captured at Ukraine ’ s Azovstal steel plant, said that “the prison environment is very poor ”, with prisoners“ crammed in like sardines ” and food disgusting enough to occasionally go out for air.
Obiedina told AFP earlier this week that she had been held in the notorious prison in the Russian-occupied town of Olenivka, and her captors had told her that her daughter, who had been evacuated from the Aso steel plant by Ukrainian citizens, had been placed in a nursery.
Vasinchenko recalled that the women prisoners were "under a lot of psychological pressure" and constantly humiliated, "the favorite thing they said was, 'Ukraine doesn't want you, no one wants to exchange you, because everyone forgot about you, who needs you, bitch?'"
Guseynova, a volunteer in the eastern Donetsk region, was detained by pro-Russian separatists in 2019 for three years, leaving her traumatized and unable to tell what she has been through these years.
“I haven ’ t been released for a long time, it ’ s hard. ”
Inga Chikinda, a soldier who suffered from severe pain, began to stutter after she was imprisoned and lost 8kg during this period: “I ’ m not ready to talk about the physical abuse I suffered. ”
"These people have no humanity."

Title:

Content: General Supervision
Elham Aboul Fath
Editor-in-Chief
Thank you for your patience.
General Supervision
Elham Aboul Fath
Editor-in-Chief
Thank you for your patience.
Moscow's ambassador to Washington: Stop chasing Russians
Moscow's ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, said the United States should end its long-standing practice of pursuing Russian citizens in third countries, adding that Russia has always done its utmost to secure the release of its citizens held by the United States.
In a statement on Telegram, Antonov responded to a Wall Street Journal report alleging that Russia had shown little interest in negotiating a prisoner exchange with the United States for the release of dozens of its detained citizens.
"We support the speedy return of all Russian citizens detained in US prisons," Antonov said, calling this goal an absolute priority and calling speculation in this regard unacceptable.
“Russia has always stood against Washington ’ s pursuit of Russians in third countries and strongly demands an end to this practice.
However, the US administration continues to live in its own world, built on its own rules, ignoring the interests of other countries, "he said, adding that" Moscow will never agree to such a policy. "
The fate of every Russian held in U.S. prisons is at the heart of our work, the ambassador noted, adding that the embassy is doing its utmost to monitor their health and conditions of detention as well as to secure their release.
However, Antonov stated that the issue of prisoner exchange was being dealt with by approved bodies, which showed that they were up to the task by negotiating freedom for Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko.
Bout, a Russian businessman who was arrested by the United States in Thailand in 2008 and convicted by a U.S. court on weapons smuggling charges, was replaced last December by basketball star Britney Greiner, who was arrested in Moscow on charges of transporting cannabis oil.
Yaroshenko, accused of drug trafficking, was traded for U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, who was convicted of assaulting police officers in Russia last year.

Title:

Content: "Change of Prisoner"
Blinken hopes to reach agreement with Russia on prisoner exchange
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Blinken announced Friday that he had "candid" discussions with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, urging Lavrov to accept a U.S. offer to release Americans detained in Russia.
Advertisement
The United States Secretary of State announced at a press conference that "we had a frank and direct discussion."
Blinken added: "I call on the Kremlin to accept the substantial offer we have made to them."
Blinken said he warned Lavrov that the world would "never" recognize Russia's annexation of Ukrainian territory.
The U.S. Secretary of State announced Wednesday that he plans to contact Russia ’ s foreign minister to discuss the release of U.S. basketball player Britney Greiner and former U.S. soldier Paul Whelan.
Paul Whelan was arrested in Russia on December 28, 2018 and charged with covert surveillance.
On June 15, 2020, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
This could be a negotiation to exchange Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer imprisoned in the United States.

Title:

Content: International
International news.
US and Russian secret traders exchange prisoners WSJ reporter is expected to be released
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov revealed on Thursday (11) that the United States and Russia are discussing prisoner exchange through "secret channels".
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that this may include the release of its journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained by Russia for more than a year on espionage charges. 10 to 20 years.
The Office of the U.S. Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs declined to comment on Ryabkov's remarks.
U.S. presidential envoy for hostage affairs Carstens said last week that the Biden administration is studying new conditions for the release of Gulshković and former U.S. Marine Corps member Whelan.
(Wall Street Journal)
Related words: Prison for Wall Street Journal espionage crimes Putin Russia United States
Previous / Next News

Title:

Content: REN TV
195,209 followers
Viktor Bout expressed hope to return to Russia on exchange
The discussion of a possible prisoner exchange, which was held in April by Russian and American presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, allows us to hope for a speedy return to our homeland.
Back to article
Picture of the day
top

Title:

Content: WASHINGTON — Over the past eight months, Paul Whelan has watched helplessly as two other Americans detained in Russia, both imprisoned after him, were released in prisoner exchanges while he was left stranded behind the barbed wire of IK-17, a penal colony nearly eight hours from Moscow.

Russia insists that Whelan, 52, is a spy who was caught red-handed, one whose 16-year sentence for espionage is richly deserved. In the Kremlin’s harsh game of human bartering, that makes the asking price for his release higher than it was for basketball star Brittney Griner, who was convicted on drug smuggling charges but freed last week, and for Trevor Reed, who was sentenced for assaulting two Moscow police officers but released in April.

As a result, supporters of Whelan and analysts say, there is no clear path for his release. Two men held by the United States and whose freedom Russian officials have sought for years, arms dealer Viktor Bout and drug-smuggling pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, were released in the deals for Griner and Reed. Russia refused repeated U.S. efforts to include Whelan — who rejects his charges, saying he was set up — in the swap for Bout.

“Unfortunately, Russia has continued to see Paul’s case through the lens of sham espionage charges,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently said, “and they are treating him differently than they treated Brittney Griner.”

On Monday, Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, said U.S. officials would have “an engagement” with Russia about Whelan’s case this week.

Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth, said in an interview that a new approach is necessary. “I’ve had some wild and crazy ideas that I’ve been sharing with the government,” she said. She spoke to Biden last week and to White House officials Monday.

Advertising

Some analysts believe that the price for Whelan’s freedom might include relaxing an aspect of U.S. sanctions on Russia, or even the serendipitous capture of a Russian agent somewhere in the world who could then be traded.

Elizabeth Whelan conceded that confusion persisted about whether her brother might be guilty of the espionage that Russian prosecutors say he was committing when he visited Russia in December 2018. While at Moscow’s upscale Metropol hotel, he greeted a Russian acquaintance who handed him a USB stick. Minutes later, he was arrested by Russian agents, who said the device contained a classified list of Russian Federal Security Service agents.

“You have a lot of people out there talking very ignorantly, thinking he’s James Bond or something,” she said.

The suggestion, at least, has been made in some prominent places. “Was he a spy?” Fox News host Tucker Carlson asked on his nightly show last week, even as he angrily denounced Biden’s failure to win Whelan’s release. “We can’t know for sure.” Some members of Congress expressed similar doubts after his arrest, people familiar with his case say.

Whelan is a former Marine, one who took a keen interest in Russia, traveling there often and making friends with people who have police and military backgrounds. He also happens to hold passports from Canada, Ireland and Britain as well as the United States.

But Whelan, his relatives and current and former U.S. officials firmly reject the idea that he maintained a secret identity.

Advertising

“He’s definitely not a spy. But he looks like one,” said John Sipher, a former official in the CIA’s clandestine service who ran the agency’s covert operations in Russia.

American intelligence agencies have a strict policy of never confirming, or denying, that any individual worked for the U.S. government as a spy or informant. But Biden administration officials insist that the charges against him are fabricated and have classified him, as they did Griner, as “wrongfully detained,” tantamount to a political prisoner.

And in private, U.S. officials flatly state that Whelan was not an intelligence informant. He is, they said, what he appears to be: a slightly eccentric Russophile who was entrapped by an ambitious intelligence agent he had befriended years before, apparently not realizing the man’s full background.

Whelan was an avid traveler, his family says, who first visited Russia while on leave from an administrative military posting in Iraq. In keeping with his longtime habit of making friends in foreign countries, he got to know several Russians and even had an account on the Russian social media network VK. A police officer in Michigan for more than a decade before he joined the Marines, Whelan was working as head of global security for the Michigan-based auto parts maker BorgWarner at the time of his arrest.

“When he goes to a new country to visit, he stops in at the local police station or whatever,” his sister said, adding that he enjoyed exchanging law enforcement patches with other officers. “So when the Russians say he was asking about the police — of course! That’s Paul.”

As for those passports: Whelan was born in Ottawa, Ontario, to British parents and moved to the United States. The government of Ireland often issues passports to people with Irish heritage.

Advertising

Whelan’s family says he was in Moscow to attend the wedding of a fellow Marine to a Russian woman; the family has declined to name the couple on privacy grounds.

Whelan summarized his defense in memorable fashion at one court appearance in Moscow in 2019.

“Russia says it caught James Bond on a spy mission,” Whelan declared in a courtroom statement. “In reality, they abducted Mr. Bean on holiday,” he said, referring to a hapless 1990s British sitcom character.

Russia says it caught James Bond on a spy mission. In reality, they abducted Mr. Bean on holiday.”
— Paul Whelan, in a courtroom statement, referring to a hapless 1990s British sitcom character

Russia’s Kommersant newspaper has reported that Whelan’s phones had been under surveillance for many years and that he was recorded telling friends in the country he was interested in classified information. An actual spy, former officials said, would not have left such an electronic trail, sought out the kinds of friendships with ordinary Russians he valued or engaged in a meeting as risky as the one that led to his arrest.

Experts say Russia is known for planting evidence of espionage. Former journalist Nicholas Daniloff has recounted how, while serving as a Moscow bureau chief in the mid-1980s, a Russian friend handed him maps of Soviet military deployments that he had not requested. Daniloff was promptly arrested and eventually traded for a spy previously imprisoned by the United States.

Sponsored

And Russia today is far too dangerous for U.S. intelligence operatives to work without the kind of diplomatic cover that ensures that the worst that happens to them is that they are expelled, rather than imprisoned, Sipher said.

Whelan also received a “bad conduct discharge” from the Marines in 2008 for reasons the military said included “attempted larceny” and the use of another person’s Social Security number — which people familiar with intelligence said would have marked him as too unreliable for a sensitive espionage mission. He is unmarried; family members say he is deeply attached to his dog, Flora.

Sipher added that it was conceivable that Whelan had tried to freelance as an undercover agent, perhaps by contacting someone he had served with in the Marines and offering to help, but he assigned “the tiniest of chances” to that scenario.

It continues to puzzle U.S. officials why Russia values Whelan so highly. One White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, said that it was unclear whether the Russians sincerely believed Whelan was a spy, but that the question was immaterial because they are treating him as one.

Whelan was apprehended five months after the arrest in Washington, D.C., of Maria Butina, who was charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent of Russia and accused of having been part of the Kremlin’s 2016 election interference efforts. Some U.S. officials thought Whelan might have been arrested to facilitate an exchange for Butina, or that he might be released when she finished her sentence. Neither happened. Butina was released from prison and deported to Russia in 2019.

A recent Russian demand that the United States secure the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian assassin serving a life sentence for murder in Germany, was deemed a non-starter.

Advertising

To some of Whelan’s supporters, it feels as though the cards most likely to win his freedom have been played.

“I’m pretty up to speed with Russians in U.S. jails, and I don’t think there are any accused of any espionage-type of crime” that the Kremlin would consider equivalent to trade for Whelan, said his lawyer, Ryan Fayhee, a former national security official with the Justice Department.

“We need to arrest a Russian that matters to” President Vladimir Putin, Sipher said.

As it happens, the Justice Department announced the indictment of five Russian nationals Tuesday on charges of money laundering and procuring electronics and ammunition for Moscow’s war machine despite sanctions. The Justice Department said in a statement that one of them, Vadim Konoshchenok, is a suspected member of the Federal Security Service, or FSB. He was arrested in Estonia, a close U.S. ally, and will be extradited to the United States, the department said. The other four remain at large.

Suspected Russian FSB officer charged in U.S. sanctions case

Neither name has publicly surfaced in connection with Whelan’s case.

Advertising

It may be that Whelan could be freed by means other than a prisoner exchange. U.S. officials have ruled out relaxing sanctions imposed on Russia for invading Ukraine. But the United States also enacted many other Russian sanctions in the years before the invasion, and the White House official would not say whether those were off the table.

While Whelan’s family and supporters do not begrudge the freedom of Griner or Reed — whose release became an urgent priority for the White House amid concerns about his health — they find the difficulty in freeing Whelan to be maddening.

“Out of the group, he was the first one arrested,” said Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., who represents Whelan’s district. “And he’s been the longest detained.”

Title:

Content: Advertisement
Breaking news.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister: Moscow hopes for positive results of prisoner exchange with Washington
18-11-2022 | 02: 28
A-
A +
photos 0
A +
A-
Advertisement
Related Topics
Go ahead.
Advertisement
Our news via your email
SIGN UP

Title:

Content: Russian Spring
115,078 followers
Intelligence games around Victor Bout
After the exchange of American drunkard and drunkard Trevor Reed for Russian pilot Yaroshenko in April this year, it seemed quite logical that the next famous prisoner that the United States would offer Russia to exchange would be Viktor Bout.
Back to article
Picture of the day
top

Title:

Content: Chairman of the Board of Directors and Editors
I'm sorry.
Mohamad Elbaz
Chairman of the Board of Directors and Editors
I'm sorry.
Mohamad Elbaz
An American was imprisoned by Russia and wounded in Ukraine.
A former US Marine named Trevor Reid, who spent nearly three years in prison in Russia, was released on April 27, 2022, during a prisoner exchange, injured in Ukraine days ago while fighting Russian forces and transferred to Germany for treatment, according to Vedant Patel, a US State Department spokesman, who claimed Reid had traveled to Ukraine to take part in the fighting personally.
White House spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre also said Trevor Reid was in Ukraine in his personal capacity and did not represent the interests of the U.S. government, which had warned citizens “quite frankly and clearly ” not to“ travel to Ukraine, let alone take part in the fighting. ”
It said it did not have an estimate of how many Americans might be involved in fighting alongside Ukrainian forces.
The Washington Post reported on May 29 that a number of American mercenaries had died in Ukraine, and also reported or claimed that they had gone “individually, ignoring repeated official warnings from President Biden and other members of his administration of the grave danger that awaits anyone who arrives on the battlefield. ”
Russian authorities arrested Trevor Reid in August 2019 for assaulting two policemen, and on July 30, 2020 he was sentenced to nine years in prison.
After “arduous and intense ” negotiations, he was exchanged for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot who was arrested in Liberia and extradited to the United States in 2010, and then sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking.
Curiously, Anthony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said he had no information about Reid ’ s condition or situation, and merely warned the Americans, once again, not to go to Ukraine or fight in it.
Speaking at a news conference during his visit to the Kingdom of Tonga, he said he did not expect the case to have an impact on U.S. efforts to repatriate two Americans held in Russia, Ivan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, and Paul Whelan, a former Marine.
Whelan holds British, Irish and Canadian citizenship and has been imprisoned in Russia for nearly five years on espionage charges.
Gershkovich was arrested on March 29 in the act of “gathering information on the activities of a subsidiary of the military-industrial complex, ” and Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that he was conducting espionage“ under the cover of the press. ”
The White House condemned the arrest "in the strongest terms."
Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate, did the same in a joint statement calling for the “immediate release of this freelance journalist. ”
However, the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that "the hype about this case in order to put pressure on the Russian authorities and the court, which will decide the fate of the accused, is useless and meaningless."
"...
Finally, Trevor Reed may be one of the American mercenaries, white extremists, or neo-Nazis who have joined foreign fighters in Ukraine, and there is growing concern within the United States about their return after training and acquiring new combat tactics and strong ties to international networks of extremists, according to the American journalist Alexander Rubinstein, who pointed out in an article published by the Grayzone in late May 2022. Every federal law enforcement agency has no statistics on their numbers, and they don ’ t know anything about what they ’ re doing there.

Title:

Content: NewsWorld

War in Ukraine: Suspected Prisoner Abuse – 04/18/2022 – World

This is the War in Ukraine newsletter. Do you want to receive it in your email? Sign up below.

During the conflict with Russia in 2014, Ukrainian businessman and deputy Viktor Medvedchuk, 67, participated in peace talks. Close to Russian Vladimir Putin, who is even his daughter’s godfather, he was on the Ukraine team that mediated the prisoner exchange at the time.

Now Medvedchuk is the main trophy of Volodymyr Zelensky’s government. He was arrested last Tuesday (12) by the country’s security service, which released a photo of him in handcuffs. Medvedchuk escaped a house arrest order last year on charges of treason and was targeted by Western sanctions.

Who is Medvedchuk? Ukraine’s 12th richest man made his fortune in the media and energy sectors. In 2020, he famously claimed to have a fragment of the Gutenberg Bible.

Zelensky proposed trading the freedom of the businessman for that of Ukrainians imprisoned in Russia, which the Kremlin refused. This Monday (18), Kiev released a video in which Putin’s ally appears asking to be exchanged for the fighters of Mariupol, a city besieged by Russia.

Instruments of pressure, prisoner exchanges are common in conflicts – just last Thursday (14), the government of Ukraine says it has managed to free 30 people by offering enemies in its custody.

But the holding of prisoners of war complies with international rules, such as the Geneva Conventions, which prevent the murder, torture and degrading treatment of captured adversaries.

While accusing Russia of war crimes and genocide, exposing the shocking images of civilians killed in Butcha, Ukraine has been confronted by suspected abuses against prisoners of war.

  • On 7.mar, Amnesty International criticized the exposition of prisoners by the Zelensky government in press conferences and in videos posted on social networks;

  • On April 7, Human Rights Watch charged the investigation into images that allegedly showed Ukrainian soldiers shooting in the legs of Russian soldiers surrendering in Kharkiv;

  • On Wednesday (13), European observers said they had found evidence of violations by Kiev towards its prisoners, but considered that they were crimes “much smallerin nature and in scale” compared to those committed by the Russians.

One of the most repercussions is that of a video verified by the newspaper The New York Times and released on the 4th. In it, Ukrainian soldiers appear shooting at a wounded man. Near the victim, at least three other people in camouflage uniforms — one of them with his hands tied — appear to be dead.

Killing or injuring combatants who have surrendered or who have no means of defense are also practices understood as war crimes, according to the rule that governs the International Criminal Court.

What does Ukraine say: in a Telegram post on March 27, Olexiy Arestovych, Zelensky’s adviser, warned the troops that any violations against prisoners would be investigated and punished. Ukraine’s Armed Forces also accuse the Kremlin of producing fake videos to demoralize the country’s troops.

Meanwhile: at least 11 mayors and other Ukrainian officials were being held captive by Russia as of the beginning of this month, according to the Zelensky government.

Do not get lost

The treatment of prisoners during conflict is regulated by the third Geneva Convention of 1949. Here are three examples of violations that are covered by the international norm:

Violence

Any act that causes death or endangers the health of the prisoner is considered a serious violation. Physical or mental torture for information is also condemned.

Exhibition

Prisoners must be protected from acts of violence, insults and public curiosity. “Any appearance could endanger prisoners of war when they are returned to their country of origin or to their families,” warns Amnesty International.

Risk

Prisoners cannot be used as human shields and must be protected from attack in the same way as the civilian population. Prison camps must be marked with the letters PW (“prisoner of war”) or PG

What happened this Monday (18)

picture of the day

What to see and hear to stay informed

The effects of the attacks on the scenery of two Ukrainian cities, in these videos:

Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button

## The Arrest and Legal Proceedings

Brittney Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA star, was arrested on February 17, 2022, at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport.

Title:

Content: CNN: basketball player Greiner was exchanged for Victor Bout
16: 10 08.12.2022
The basketball player from the United States was released from the Russian prison in the framework of the exchange of prisoners.
© Photo by ZUMAPRESS, Globallookpress
Read us on:
American basketball player Brittney Greiner, who was convicted of drug smuggling, was exchanged for the Russian Viktor Bout.
This is reported by CNN with reference to a source.
Brittney Greiner was released from Russian detention as part of an exchange of prisoners... for Victor Bout.
Earlier, lawyers visited the American Brittney Greiner in the Mordovian correctional colony No2.
The basketball player has already begun to serve his sentence.
Recall that in late October, the Moscow regional court approved the American athlete Brittney Greiner nine years in prison for drug smuggling.
In February, a basketball player who arrived on a flight from New York was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport.
When inspecting things in her hand luggage, they found vapes with a liquid with a specific odor weighing 0.702 grams.
Subsequently, the examination found that it was hashish oil.
Expert opinion and analytics
Read more
read below the following news

Title:

Content: Russian Federation
Moscow
+ 9 °
Politics24 September 2022 8: 21
NYT: US State Department urges US athletes to leave Russia immediately
The Embassy of the country has limited opportunities to help them in Russia, noted in the US Department
NYT: US State Department urges US athletes to leave Russia immediately
Photo by GLOBAL LOOK PRESS
The US State Department has called on Russian athletes to leave the country as soon as possible.
"The Americans should leave Russia immediately.
The embassy has limited capacity to help them there, ” a source told The New York Times.
It is also indicated that in the United States they fear persecution of their citizens by Russian officials.
On February 18, American basketball player Brittney Greiner was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport.
In her luggage found vapes (cartridges for an electronic heating system) with cannabis oil.
On August 4, the Khimki court of the Moscow region sentenced the American to 9 years in prison for smuggling and possession of drugs.
Earlier, the State Department again urged Americans to leave Russia and Ukraine.
The head of the press service of the State Department, Ned Price, made a corresponding recommendation to the Americans.

Title:

Content: American forward of the club of the National basketball Association (NBA) "Los Angeles Lakers" LeBron James in an interview published on the YouTube channel UNINTERRUPTED, addressed the arrested in Russia basketball player Brittney Greiner.
He believes that the US authorities are not making enough efforts to release the basketball player.
Does she feel like America is covering her back?
If I were her, I would think if I wanted to go back to America at all, ” LeBron James said.
On February 18, the basketball player flew to Moscow from New York.
Customs officers seized vapers with an unknown liquid from her luggage.
The results of the examination showed that it was hashish oil.
On March 5, the basketball player was arrested.
Greiner was charged with drug smuggling.
Earlier, US officials expressed doubts that in the near future they will be able to return the basketball player.
On July 7, she pleaded guilty in the Khimki court.

Title:

Content: Skip to main content

Brittney Griner Reveals What Happened At Russian Airport

With Brittney Griner pleading guilty to drug charges in Russia, new details on what happened leading to her arrest have been revealed.

Appearing in court this week, Griner pleaded guilty to bringing hashish oil into Russia. She asked the judge for mercy and said that she had done so inadvertently.

Griner explained that she accidentally packed vape cartridges into her luggage, leading to her detainment. She said she had no intention of breaking the law.

"I'd like to plead guilty, your honor. But there was no intent. I didn't want to break the law," Griner said.

Unfortunately for Brittney Griner, pleading guilty won't mean the end for her court proceedings in Russia. Far from it.

Russian courts can drag on the proceedings for months as the judge lists off charges and reads the full case record into.

Griner will give her full testimony on July 14 and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted for large-scale transportation of drugs.

But according to ESPN, this may be part of a diplomatic strategy to bring Griner home in a prisoner swap. Though it may also be an acknowledgement that an acquittal was impossible.

The bar for being acquitted in Russia is already extremely high given the nation's high conviction rate. And even if found acquitted, Russian courts can overturn the acquittal anyway.

Will this move get us any steps closer to bringing Brittney Griner back?

Title:

Content: The punishment for American basketball player Brittney Grainer in the case of drug smuggling is not too harsh, sports commentator Dmitry Guberniev commented on the decision of the Khimki city court, Match TV reports.
On August 4, the court sentenced the athlete from the United States to nine years in a general regime colony and imposed a fine of 1 million rubles.
She violated the law of the Russian Federation, there is nothing to comment on. <... > If you now enter America with hashish - you will be given a prize and called to the White House?
No, you're going to jail.
And, I think, not even for nine years, but for 19, ” commented the verdict of the Governors.
The court found the American basketball player guilty of drug smuggling on August 4.
Judge Anna Sotnikova sentenced the girl to nine years in prison.
She was charged at the time.
1 of Art. 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal acquisition, storage, transportation of drugs without the purpose of sale), etc.
2 of Art. 229.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (smuggling of narcotic drugs in a significant amount).
The sports achievements of the two-time Olympic champion and the partial admission of guilt were taken into account by the court as mitigating circumstances.
Greiner has twice won the Olympic Games with the U.S. national team in 2016 and 2020.

Title:

Content: Charged with drug trafficking.
Former US soldier arrested in Russia
A Russian court has placed Travis Lake in pre-trial detention on charges of organizing the sale of drugs to young people.
Posted in: Last Updated:
Reading mode
100% font size
A Russian court has placed American Travis Lake in pre-trial detention on drug trafficking charges in the context of escalating tensions between Moscow and Washington over the conflict in Ukraine.
According to the Khamovnichiki court in Moscow, Travis Lake, a former U.S. paratrooper and musician, is accused of “organizing the sale of drugs to young people, ” a crime punishable by several years in prison.
Advertising material
The court said on Telegram that he would remain in detention until August 6 pending a possible trial, a period of detention that could be extended.
CNN reported that the arrested American is a musician and music producer who has been living in Russia for several years.
Arrests of US citizens in Russia have doubled in recent years as relations between Moscow and Washington have deteriorated, particularly since the start of the Russian offensive on Ukraine.
Washington has accused Moscow of arbitrarily detaining Americans to use as bargaining chips and taking back Russians held in the United States.
In March, Russian intelligence services arrested American journalist Ivan Gershkovich on charges of “espionage, ” which he denies, while former Marine Paul Whelan, 53, is serving a 16-year sentence for“ espionage ” in Russia.
A prisoner exchange between Moscow and Washington took place in December, during which American basketball star Britney Greiner, who had been held in Russia, was released in exchange for the release of Russian arms dealer Victor Bout, who had been held in the United States.
Most Read Common Topics

Title:

Content: Moscow 24
Accidents
12: 55 PM
The defense of the convicted in Russia American basketball player Greiner appealed the verdict
Photo: Agency "Moscow" / Sofia Sandurskaya
The defense of American basketball player Brittney Greiner, who was sentenced in Russia to 9 years in prison in the case of drug smuggling, appealed the verdict.
This is reported by TASS.
“The defense team Brittney Greiner filed an appeal against the verdict of the Khimki court, ” said the lawyer of the American Maria Blagolina.
The Olympic champion was detained on February 17 at Sheremetyevo airport.
During the inspection of luggage, the American woman found vapes – electronic devices for smoking – with a liquid that had a specific smell.
According to the results of the examination, it turned out that it was hashish oil.
According to Russian law, it is considered a drug and is subject to control in the country.
The Khimki court of the Moscow region sentenced Greiner to 9 years in prison and a fine of one million rubles in the case of drug smuggling.
In turn, the press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that the American basketball player can use the pardon procedure.
“Moscow patrol ”: the court in Khimki sentenced the American Brittney Greiner
close
Contact Us
Feedback form
Attach file
Send
Follow the news:
No more showing

Title:

Content: Russian Federation
Moscow
+ 24 °
Sport4 August 2022 14: 54
Russian court finds American basketball player Grainer guilty of drug smuggling
The athlete apologized to the UMMC team and relatives
Russian court finds American basketball player Grainer guilty of drug smuggling
Photo by GLOBAL LOOK PRESS
A Russian court found American basketball player Brittney Greiner guilty of drug smuggling.
“Brittney Yvette has smuggled drugs, possession of drugs, ” RIA Novosti quoted Judge Anna Sotnikova as saying.
During the debate, the prosecutor asked to appoint the athlete 9.5 years of a general regime colony and a fine of 1 million rubles.
According to him, there are no mitigating or aggravating circumstances in the case.
The sentence will be announced later.
Meanwhile, the defense said that the examination of the substance was carried out in violation, as evidenced by the review of the candidate of chemical sciences questioned in court.
Lawyer Maria Blagolina called on the court to acquit the basketball player.
“This was an honest mistake that I made, collecting things in a hurry and experiencing post-coid stress, ” the defendant said, and apologized to the UMMC team and relatives.
The basketball player was detained at Moscow ’ s Sheremetyevo airport in early March 2022.
Brittney Greiner was charged with drug smuggling.
The athlete has performed in Russia since 2015.
In addition, she twice won Olympic gold with the American team.

Title:

Content: WNBA star jailed by Russia will miss two games for heart attack
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Glina, who was imprisoned in Russia last season and unable to play in the WNBA for the entire season, will miss two road games in order to "focus on her mental health."
Advertisement
Brittney Griner will not travel with the WNBA ’ s Phoenix Mercury for two games against the Chicago Sky on July 30 and the Indiana Fever on August 1.
After those two away games, Mercury will return to Phoenix on August 3 to face the visiting Atlanta Dream.
"The Mercury will fully support Greiner and we will continue to work together to study her return timeline," the Mercury said in the statement.
Back in the Mercury team, Greener averaged 18.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2 assists this season.
Greiner was arrested at a Moscow airport last year for importing cannabis oil into Russia, then jailed, and released at the end of the year on a prisoner swap.
Although the Mercury's record is still struggling, Greenner ranks first on the team in scoring, rebounding, and blocking, and was named to the Stars for the ninth time in June.
The Mercury, who are currently in 10th place with a 6-17 record, are trying to squeeze into the top eight and avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
The 32-year-old is in her 10th season in the WNBA, where she led Mercury to a championship in 2014 and helped the U.S. women's basketball team win Olympic gold twice.
Share:

Title:

Content: Russian Federation
Moscow
+ 31 °
Worldwide21 June 2022 10: 27
Wife arrested in Russia for drugs basketball player Greiner said that does not trust the US authorities
He criticized the American authorities.
Brittney Greiner, photo: FCS of Russia
The wife of the American basketball player Brittney Grainer, Sherell Grainer, who was arrested in Russia, criticized the US government and said that she no longer trusts him.
Last Saturday, Sherell Greiner tried to reach his wife, which was done for the first time after receiving the approval of the Russian government.
The call was scheduled for two weeks, but it did not take place, because on Saturday the desired phone at the Embassy was not an employee who could connect the basketball player with her wife.
On Monday, Sherell ’ s lawyers reported that Brittney also wanted to call 11 times in a matter of hours.
“I find this unacceptable, I currently have no confidence in our government, ” Sherell Greiner told The Associated Press.
Recall that in February 2022, Brittney Greiner, who arrived on a flight from New York, was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport for having “vapes ” with a liquid with a specific odor in her carry-on baggage.
A criminal case was opened on the smuggling of narcotic drugs, now the athlete faces up to 10 years in prison.
Earlier it was reported that in Moscow extended the term of arrest for basketball player UMMC Brittney Greiner.
The American athlete, who is accused of drug smuggling, will stay in the detention center until June 18.

Title:

Content: Show more All news
NBA champion Shaquille O ’ Neill reacted to the arrest of American Brittney Greiner in Russia
Comments
Legendary center, four-time NBA champion, and now expert Shaquille O ’ Neill posted a new post on his social networks, where he reacted to the arrest of compatriot, basketball player Brittney Greiner.
Recently, the Khimki court of the Moscow region sentenced her to nine years in prison and a fine of 1 million rubles for transporting hash oil.
Shaquille posted two photos: one shows Greiner, the other is another American, Audrey Elise Lorber, who was also detained in Russia in 2019 for transporting banned substances.
The captions to the photo indicated the terms that were imposed on US citizens for similar crimes in Russia.
Elise Lorber was detained at Pulkovo airport with 20 grams of dried narcotic substance of plant origin.
After about two months of arrest, she was released, imposing a fine of 15 thousand rubles.
Brittney Greiner leads to sentencing:
The US is in shock - Greiner was given 9 years in prison!
Biden called the verdict unacceptable
Comments
Affiliate content

Title:

Content: U.S. Women’s soccer team captain Megan Rapinoe took her shot as one of 17 Americans awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House to call attention to the detention of Brittney Griner. The Olympic gold medalist and equal pay activist wore her feelings on her lapel- demanding fellow Olympic athlete and WNBA star, Brittney Griner, be brought out of detention in Russia.

Rapinoe posted an Instagram story that she’d chosen a cream suit jacket with the basketball player’s initials and a flower sewn into the lapel.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/mrapinoe/2877209898883344067/

“The most important part of today,” Rapinoe captioned the photo, adding: “BG we love you.”

The Phoenix Mercury center was playing in Russia for UMMC Yekaterinburg in the Russian Women’s Basketball Premier League during the WNBA’s off-season when she was arrested Feb. 17, and has been detained since. Griner pleaded guilty earlier Thursday in a Russian court to drug charges, and could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Griner was arrested at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow when vape canisters containing cannabis oil were allegedly found in her luggage.

Both the State Department and the White House have decried the arrest and insist that Griner is wrongfully detained.

Title:

Content: American diplomat fainted in court in the case of Brittney Greiner
Earlier it was reported that the athlete, accused of smuggling drugs, arrived in the Khimki court for the next meeting.
© Video: TRK VS RF "Zvezda" © Photo: TRK VS RF "ZVEZDA"
Read us on:
A representative of the American Embassy fainted at a meeting in the Khimki court.
The incident occurred during the trial of basketball player Brittney Greiner.
The judge was adjourned until 14.30 Wednesday, July 27.
Earlier it was reported that the athlete came to court.
There was supposed to be another meeting there today.
Grainer is charged with drug smuggling.
The basketball game is scheduled for tomorrow.
At the last meeting, on July 15, the defense presented in court a permit issued in the United States by the Arizona Department of Health for the use of medical cannabis.
It was alleged that the athlete complained of severe pain.
The tests were also presented, which were taken as part of the anti-doping inspection, they showed the absence of prohibited substances.
Brittney Greiner was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport on February 17 after a banned substance was found in her luggage.
Now she faces up to ten years in prison.
IN OTHER CMI
Loading...
You will be interested
Expert opinion and analytics
Read more
read below the following news

Russian customs officials discovered vape cartridges containing hashish oil (0.

Title:

Content: American forward of the club of the National basketball Association (NBA) "Los Angeles Lakers" LeBron James in an interview published on the YouTube channel UNINTERRUPTED, addressed the arrested in Russia basketball player Brittney Greiner.
He believes that the US authorities are not making enough efforts to release the basketball player.
Does she feel like America is covering her back?
If I were her, I would think if I wanted to go back to America at all, ” LeBron James said.
On February 18, the basketball player flew to Moscow from New York.
Customs officers seized vapers with an unknown liquid from her luggage.
The results of the examination showed that it was hashish oil.
On March 5, the basketball player was arrested.
Greiner was charged with drug smuggling.
Earlier, US officials expressed doubts that in the near future they will be able to return the basketball player.
On July 7, she pleaded guilty in the Khimki court.

Title:

Content: News section
Results of the day: the return of Bout, the “schematosis ” of the Kazan City Hall, the Tatarstan Declaration of the Common Good of UNESCO
Realnoe Vremya summarizes the day and publishes a selection of the most important and interesting news for Thursday, December 8:
• Russian businessman Victor Bout, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2012 by the US court for his intention to illegally carry out the arms trade and support of terror, was exchanged for the basketball player of the US national team Brittney Greiner.
The businessman has returned home.
Booth and Greiner were pardoned before the exchange to Abu Dhabi and should not serve the remainder of their sentences in their respective countries.
• Deputy head of the anti-corruption department under the President of Tatarstan Rustam Gayazov said that contractors of the Kazan municipality illegally traded access cards to schools and kindergartens.
He also noted that in 2022, more than 40 million rubles were allocated for the equipment of educational institutions in Kazan with access control systems for the purpose of ensuring security.
• The Prosecutor General ’ s Office of Russia will demand the extradition of the co-founder of the financial pyramid Finiko Edward Sabirov.
In order to notify the Emirati side, the NCB of Interpol of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia sent confirmation of its intention to demand his extradition to Russia and a request for his detention within 60 days from the moment of detention.
• Defenders of the director of the gymnasium No. 175 of Kazan Amina Valeyeva, who has finished familiarizing herself with all the volumes and material evidence of her case, and two other defendants in the tragedy of May 11, 2021, filed petitions to terminate the criminal prosecution on charges of criminal negligence with grave consequences.
According to the defense, the case against all three should be dismissed for lack of corpus delicti.
Investigators think otherwise.
• In the St. George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace, the Golden Star medals were awarded to the Heroes of Russia.
The solemn event was attended by more than 200 military and civilians who showed special courage and heroism, including Heroes of the Soviet Union, Heroes of the Russian Federation and knights of the Order of St. George.
• The Ministry of Health said that the reports of UNAIDS and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) that Russia is among the top 5 countries with the highest rate of HIV infection spread is another provocation.
According to the Ministry, from 2018 to 2021, the incidence in the country decreased by 31.4% - from 58.6 to 40.2 per 100 thousand population.
• Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that Reuters misinterpreted the information that Uzbekistan allegedly did not accept the initiative of the “triple gas union ”.
He noted that there is no talk of gas in exchange for political conditions, and stressed that each country sells its energy resources to its counterparties, relying on commercial terms.
• The Department of Food and Social Nutrition of Kazan is looking for a candidate for the post of head of the organizational department.
He is ready to pay 69.3 thousand rubles before taxes — the mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin earns only 43 620 rubles.
• Ak Bars beat Avangard.
The meeting ended with the score 2: 3 (2: 0, 0: 2, 0: 0, 0: 1) in favor of Kazan.
Now Ak Bars are in 7th place in the Eastern Conference table with 43 points.
The regular championship went on a break related to the holding of the First Channel Cup.
• The State Duma adopted a law banning surrogacy for foreigners.
Its speaker Vyacheslav Volodin explained that the innovation is designed to prevent the sale of children from Russia.
Medical organizations hiring young specialists will be allocated additional funds - a total of 6 billion rubles.
The Russian government has already supported the initiative, which should help to increase the number of employees of medical institutions.
• After the meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with members of the HRC, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia banned the wearing of “shackles ” or a means of restricting mobility“ Azhur ” on citizens of certain categories.
We are talking about those involved in economic affairs, women and children.
• The former chief accountant of the Rosselkhoznadzor Directorate for Tatarstan was put on trial for the third time.
The first sentence - 4 years in prison, was canceled, when re-examined, the court returned the case for further investigation.
The Prosecutor ’ s Office of Tatarstan announced the approval of a new charge – in a particularly large fraud committed using his official position.
The man pleaded not guilty.
The damage from his actions to the budget of Tatarstan exceeds 4.8 million rubles.
• The authorities of Kazan established compensation payments to families with children attending kindergartens of the city.
The support measure will be effective from January 1, 2023.
Compensation is assigned and paid to the legal representative or his authorized person who has concluded a contract with the kindergarten and paid for the supervision and care of the child.
• The International Forum dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, which brought together UNESCO specialists from 56 countries of the world in the capital of Tatarstan, ended in Kazan.
As a result, they adopted the Kazan Declaration of the Common Good.
The document collected the conclusions and results of the past conferences and will be repeatedly supplemented with new theses in the future.
• The Kazan Executive Committee set the dates for 2023 when paid municipal parking will operate without charge.
You can use them for free from January 2 to 6, February 23 and 24, March 8, 1, 8 and 9, May, June 12, August 30, November 6, as well as in the days of Uraza Bayram and Eid al-Adha.
• The media report that Rubin CEO Rustem Saimanov is highly likely to leave the club.
The reason for the possible resignation may be the unsatisfactory results of the team.
The post of the new head of the club is predicted by the head of the Federal Tax Service for Tatarstan Marat Safiullin.
• PJSC TATNEFT will increase oil production in Tatarstan in 2022 by 4.3%, to 28.7 million tons.
Last year, the company produced 27.529 million tons of oil.
The main production volume of the company is provided by deposits in the republic
• The accused Colonel Alexei Ershov made a sensational confession during the interrogation in the Privolzhsky District Court of Kazan.
The former head of the police departments “Yamashevsky ” and“ Safiullina ” (formerly “Dalny ”) said that for years he combined the service with commercial activities and invested income in the repair of the same departments.
The details are in the "Real Time" report.
• After abnormally cold weather, which was established in early December, warming is expected in Tatarstan.
Temperatures will rise over the weekend.
At the beginning of next week in the afternoon is predicted to -2 degrees and wet snow with rain.
• Tatarstan has become one of the leading regions of the Green Rating in terms of efficiency of work in the field of waste management.
The Republic was noted at the ceremony of awarding the winners of the Green Prize contest organized by the SPC Russian Environmental Operator.
In the first 17 days of the World Cup, Qatar welcomed more than 765,000 people.
According to the organizers ’ report, it says 1.33 million ticket holders and 3.09 million tickets sold for World Cup matches.
The total attendance for the 52 games of the tournament amounted to 2.65 million people.
• National Credit Ratings downgraded the rating of the Kazan plant KrialEnergoStroy from BB-.ru (undetermined) to B + .ru (negative).
The company did not agree with this decision.
They believe that the rating was compiled under public pressure and “in no way is an objective assessment of the company. ”
The owner of the plant Rasim Kiyamov said that the new credit rating does not reflect the real state of affairs, including in finances and in the current business of the company.
Key events of the 288th day of the special military operation in Ukraine:
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said that its armed forces are striking Ukraine ’ s energy infrastructure, but the first strikes were carried out by those who hit the Crimean Bridge.
The head of state stressed that in the course of a special military operation, everything is done primarily to protect people.
“When we move, we do something: noise, noise, crackling all over the universe.
This will not prevent us from carrying out combat missions, ” Vladimir Putin said, adding that no “nonsense and fakes ” should prevent the Russian army from fulfilling its duty to the people, the head of state said.
• The Ministry of Defense reported that as a result of strikes with high-precision weapons of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the Zaporozhye region, five MLRS and MARS-II launchers of the German MLRS and MARS-II were destroyed.
Two HIMARS launchers were eliminated in the DPR.
In the Kharkiv region, more than 90 Polish mercenaries were killed by high-precision weapons.
• In the Kharkiv region, the launcher of the tactical missile complex “Tochka-U ” was destroyed.
Air defense in the DPR shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter.
Five drones were destroyed.
• Fourteen rockets of HIMARS, Alder, Uragan multiple launch systems and HARM anti-radar missile were intercepted during the day.
Since the beginning of the special operation, 341 aircraft, 181 helicopters, 2,643 unmanned aerial vehicles, 392 anti-aircraft missile systems, 7,030 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 920 combat vehicles of multiple launch rocket systems, 3,668 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 7,507 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed.
Subscribe to the telegram channel and the group “Vkontakte ”“ Realnoe Vremya ”.
Ilina Khakimova
SocietyGovernmentInfrastructureMedicineBusinessEconomyFinance
Partners news
comments 0
comments
Nobody has left a comment, be the first
Sign in via social networks
Collapse comments

Title:

Content: Skip to content
PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:

Dennis Rodman, the ex-NBA star who says he knows Vladimir Putin well, revealed his plan to travel to Russia in support of incarcerated WNBA star Britney Griner.

Griner was sentenced this month to nine years at a Russian prison. She was detained at a Moscow airport in February after custom officials said vape canisters with cannabis oil were found inside her luggage.

“I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl,” Rodman told NBC News on Saturday. “I’m trying to go this week.”

The report doesn’t specify whom the New Jersey-born Rodman, 61, received permission from, though he only needs a visa to travel to Russia.

Rodman described the Russian President Putin as “cool” in 2014 after traveling to the country, according to NBC News.

He claimed to “know Putin too well” in NBC News’ report this weekend. Rodman also has a relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and reportedly believes he played a role in the country’s release of American prisoner Kenneth Bae in 2014.

The U.S. State Department urges Americans against traveling to Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February.

Rodman won two NBA titles with the Detroit Pistons and three more with the Chicago Bulls during his career, which spanned 1986 to 2000. He was voted the NBA’s defensive player of the year two times.

()

702 grams) in her luggage.

This led to charges under Article 228 and 229.

Title:

Content: She walked into the cafe with a mask on her face that said, "I'm not afraid, neither are you."
A man in a leather jacket followed her in, watched her sit down beside me, and then disappeared.
Another man in a vest and grey hat was waiting outside.
He followed us as we walked out.
I was interviewing Violetta Grudina, an activist in the Russian Arctic city of Murmansk, with Aleksei A. Navalny, the jailed opposition leader.
She had just ended a hunger strike and was recovering.
Under constant surveillance, she admitted that she was in a vague, numbing despair.
"We are all trapped in a trap - a trap set by a tyrant," said Gretina. "The numbness is that you give yourself everything, but nothing changes - it's sad."
Advertisement
Russia is a country where either nothing has changed or everything has changed.
On the eve of this weekend ’ s national parliamentary elections, President Vladimir V. Putin ’ s authoritarian rule, wrapped in a comfortable layer of stability, reached a new peak.
For many, Putin remains a hero, not least because of his diplomatic assertiveness, while his opponents have retreated to an oasis of self-deception or a parallel world.
From August 24 to September 7, photographer Sergey Ponomarev and I traveled about 4,800 kilometers from north to south across Russia — from the Arctic to the Chechen Republic in the Caucasus — to find out why Putin, who has been in power for 20 years, still controls the vast country.
A five-day train sleeper journey takes us on a campaign trail unique to Russia that stretches across its vast territory.
In Murmansk, the measures taken to keep Grudina from running included forcibly placing her in the new crown ward.
In Chechnya, those who challenge the region ’ s strongman rulers seem to be seeking as few votes as possible.
“You can ’ t say, ‘ Let someone else take over, ’ ” Artyom Kiryanov, a candidate for Putin ’ s United Russia party, told me on Lake Valdai in central Russia.“ There is no such alternative. ”
The United Russia party looks set to win this week, but there may be a significant portion of the protest vote, even though the election is fundamentally a scheduled event.
We feel that people ’ s emotions are primarily fear — fear of being punished for dissent, or of losing what they already have, or of poverty and the shadow of war.
Many of the people we meet are intolerant of official corruption, stagnant wage growth, low pensions and rising prices, but few are willing to face the uncertainty of a post-Putin era.
"I fear that once things change," said Vitaly Tokarenko, an engineer who lives in the southern city of Voronezh, "there will be bloodshed."
Advertisement
This trip gives us firsthand insight into the ever-expanding Russian government surveillance.
In Murmansk, men in vests and gray hats followed us through the streets and came to the door of our hotel.
An hour and a half later, after taking the photograph of Gretina left, he did not follow.
"He may be waiting for you," she texted me.
Solovetsky: Creating an Oasis
Night trains and ferries heading south take us through the Arctic Circle to the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea. Nestled among the glacial hills, it is one of the most revered and expensive monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church, a central pillar of Putin.
So it ’ s rare to see Oleg Kodola, a 52-year-old travel agent who works outside the monastery, insisting that “any support for this government is extremely bad, ” he said, adding that his vote for the Communist Party was his best hope of weakening the United Russia party.
Instead of waiting for the government to fix the road in front of his restaurant and remove the wreckage from the wharf he used, he intended to do it himself.
This is a vivid case of a national phenomenon in Russia – dissidents are retreating into their own world.
"We plan to create an oasis here," he said, "to show that where there is no country, everything is fine."
At a hilltop church in what was once the camp ’ s most notorious prison, tour guide Olga Rusina said nothing about the bizarre peepholes that prison guards had cut through the church ’ s doors and the circle of stones on the grass that was said to have been used by firing squads to target.
"I don't want these tragedies to place too much of a psychological burden on you," she told the party.
Advertisement
Her attitude surprised me because she had said that her great-grandfather, great-grandmother and another relative had all died in the Solovetsky labour camp.
Later I learned that she blamed the family ’ s tragedy on the individual, not the state.
It was not the Kremlin that sent them here, but the villagers who were jealous of them and accused them of being kulaks.
The implication is that democracy is deadly.
Valdai: The Power of the Privileged
Further south, the trees grew taller and the population became denser.
But in the middle of St. Petersburg and Moscow, on the lush green shores of the pristine Valdai Lake, it is still possible to encounter utter silence.
This silence is occasionally broken by a roaring helicopter.
Putin likes to come here, as do more and more people close to him.
Tatyana Makarova is able to see this because her village of Yasherovo and its surrounding area have built huge buildings that almost cut off the villagers ’ access to the lake.
At the entrance of the complex are sculptures of eagles and roaring bears, inside are their own churches, and the imposing walls are covered with barbed wire.
Makarova, 48, who runs a small cleaning company, took the lead against new construction and fought with her neighbors against some of Russia ’ s most powerful men.
Her story shows that the Russians are not trying to overthrow Putin, but are trying to change the system he controls in a subtle way.
"Our job is to keep creating problems," she said. "Then they'll hear us."
She and her neighbors took YouTube videos, filed formal complaints, and showed the media how the new homes had encroached on the lake shore — apparently destroying the national park ’ s environment.
Walking through the prickly bushes she said had been planted to keep villagers away from the lake, she took us to a small patch of lakeside where she said her organization had successfully put it back to public use.
Makarova insisted that she was not a revolutionary, but simply wanted everyone to obey the law.
The bigger problem, she said, is that because of the country ’ s bloody history, most Russians are afraid to get involved in politics.
Therefore, those without power are easily exploited by those in power.
Advertisement
"Because of the great calamities that have befallen their families, people find themselves deciding nothing, little people decide nothing," Makarova said. "You can survive if you don't interfere."
When we left Makarova ’ s home, I had noticed the day before that a gray station wagon was parked just a few dozen meters away.
It followed us out of the village of Makarova, stopped on the main road as we made a detour through another village, and then continued following us to the hotel parking lot.
Voronezh: Ecological Fashion Aesthetics
Another reason Putin has been able to retain power is that the lives of many Russians have indeed improved.
We walked through the bright lights of Moscow and woke up in Voronezh, a city of a million people that in Russian pop culture often conjures up the tedium of regions outside the capital.
“I always thought, ‘ steal, but also do something for us, ’ ” said Yulia Lisina, a 45-year-old teacher I met in Voronezh.
“Because in the ’ 90s, it felt like they were just stealing. ”
In the Soviet square, now adorned with swings, sleek benches, sloping paths and carefully maintained vegetation, I approached a man walking alone in the rain with an umbrella.
The man, Yuri Matveyev, 66, said he had just been released from prison after serving 15 years for assault.
Advertisement
He does not intend to vote in the election.
He said that as an ultra-nationalist, he felt that his views were not represented by the votes.
But he acknowledged that parts of the city have been renewed.
"Our highways are no worse than those in Germany," he said.
The soon-to-reopen Oryonoli Park has a wood-panelled building that winds through the trees, with a walkway at the top, a food court inside, and a space for outdoor movies at the back.
Political analysts believe that the superficial eco-chic aesthetics of these renovations are intended to appease the young middle class who yearn for the West, otherwise they may be prepared to protest.
Voronezh officials say they want to replicate the feel of Western European cities in urban planning – but politics is another matter.
“Democracy is something to learn, ” said Andrei Markov, a member of the United Russia party who is running for re-election here.
“We ’ ve only been learning for 30 years. ”
Rostov: "Putin is everything"
But Russia still has some ostensible democracy, and the Kremlin needs votes.
In order to meet the most promising new voters of the United Russia Party, I got off the train about 480 kilometers south of Voronezh and took a taxi to the Russian-Ukrainian border.
At an air hockey table on the second floor of a shopping center in the coal mining town of Novosakhkinsk, I found a small group of people waiting for the government office to open.
At least five of them were residents of the Kremlin-backed separatist region on the Ukrainian border, Russian citizens who had just taken the oath of naturalization.
They came here primarily to open an online government service account, which would allow them to vote remotely in elections.
"I support the United Russia party," said one of the 45-year-old women, who spoke only by her name Natalia. "Putin is everything to me."
Last year, Putin simplified the procedure for residents of separatist regions of Ukraine to obtain Russian citizenship and actually issued hundreds of thousands of passports to strengthen Russian control.
The best-known candidate of the United Russia Party in the region is Aleksandr Borodai — the first “prime minister ” of the so-called Donetsk People ’ s Republic after the outbreak of war in 2014 — whose job appears to be to enrich the party ’ s nationalist forces.
"We must expect war to break out and be prepared," Boroday said last week, warning that a conflict with the United States was imminent.
Putin ’ s annexation of Crimea in 2014 sent his approval ratings soaring.
Putin's approval rating has dropped to about 60 percent in recent days amid concerns over issues such as raising the retirement age.
But some prominent Russian figures say they want to see Putin take a tougher line at home and abroad.
One of Boroday ’ s aides, Timur Okkert, agreed to meet with me, even though he said I represented a “hostile publication. ”
He introduced me to another naturalized Russian citizen: Aleksandr Gaydey, a notorious former Ukrainian rebel commander who complained that Russia was not tough enough on the domestic opposition.
As soon as the anti-Kremlin uprising began, Gedi drank a can of Coke and vowed, “I ’ ll be the first to crush it. ”
I'll crush it hard. '
Chechnya: The Power of Money
The last train journey took me to the perfectly trimmed hedges on Putin Avenue in Grozny, Chechnya's capital.
Some of the shops here have bare brick walls and fake American license plates, cafes with names like “Soren, ” and signs like“ We Have Drip Filters. ”
With huge portraits of Putin hanging on government buildings and police at every major intersection, people are generally afraid to criticize the government.
Is this the future of Russia?
Ramzan Kadyrov ’ s most famous opponent in the election was the former mayor of Grozny, Isa Khadzhimuradov.
The latter refused to meet me.
I checked the address of his party ’ s Grozny branch — one of the “institutional opposition ” groups that defends the illusion of democracy — and I stopped by.
In my office, I met the 75-year-old regional party secretary, Malika Balayeva, a daily employee of the union of educators.
She described her candidate, Kazimuradov, as "very positive and very humble."
Who would she vote for?
"Of course I will vote for Kadyrov," she said. "One must be honest, one must know what is best for the people."
Still, I heard voices of discontent and exhaustion circulating in private, and there was even speculation that Khazimuradov would be able to garner a sizeable chunk of support despite not campaigning.
I met Minkail Ezhiyev, one of the few human rights observers still active in Chechnya.
He said, “Given certain aspects of reality, ” there were a lot of things he couldn ’ t say.
However, he pointed out that Russia is definitely unpredictable.
He boldly said that the consequences of a sudden protest by millions of people in Moscow could be felt across the country.
It reminds me that in recent weeks I have heard repeatedly the prediction made by Lenin in January 1917 that a decisive uprising could occur in a few decades — a month after the prediction was made — and I have heard that, until the 1980s, the Soviet Union thought it could exist forever.
"We have our own historical path to follow, and you will never understand us," Echiyev told me. "You will never understand Russia because it does not yet understand itself."

1 of the Russian Criminal Code, which addresses drug trafficking.

Griner pleaded guilty on July 7, 2022, stating she had no intention of

Title:

Content: ,, July 29, 2023, 04: 48 — IA Regnum.
The penalty of 10 years in prison threatens a citizen of Russia Natalia Semenova on charges of criminal conspiracy and complicity in the production of drugs, told reporters the lawyer of the woman Alexei Tarasov.
Ivan Shilov IA REGNUM
Jail
We are talking about five years in prison for each of the indictments.
“If we proceed from the text [of the charges], then she faces a maximum of 10 years, ” said the lawyer, whose words are quoted by TASS.
The lawyer clarified that his client did not plead guilty to any charges.
The hearing in the case of Semenova was scheduled for November 6.
She is currently incarcerated in Gregg County, Texas.
Tarasov also noted that the health of the defendant “leaves much to be desired ”, since she has been in custody for a long time and has chronic diseases.
The lawyer explained that Semenova suffers from dental problems and needs to be examined by a dentist, which is “difficult to do ” in prison conditions.
Police detained Semenova and her husband, U.S. citizen Russell Ross, at the end of February 2023 after a search of their home, where they found about 450 kg of marijuana.
Together with their spouses, several more people were detained - natives of Russia and Bolivia.
As reported by IA Regnum, in December 2022, the United States and Russia exchanged Russian citizen Viktor Bout for basketball player Brittney Greiner.
Booth was serving his sentence in prison in the United States on charges of arms trafficking.
He was sentenced in 2012 to 25 years.
Greiner, in turn, was in a Russian colony for smuggling drugs.
The athlete was detained in February 2022 at Sheremetyevo airport, having found drugs with her.
In August, she was sentenced to nine years in prison and a fine of 1 million rubles.

Title:

Content: Go to main content
Advertisement
Live broadcast
Mir
In the Serbian Parliament allowed a complication of the situation because of the Prime Minister of
Mir
Turkey called TANAP an alternative to the supply of Russian gas to the EU
Mir
NATO expresses readiness to intervene in case of threat to stability in Kosovo
Politics
Russia accuses the West of freezing the dialogue on anti-terror under far-fetched pretexts
Mir
Home Vucic made an appeal on the situation on the border of Serbia and Kosovo
Mir
Kosovo delays ban on Serbian documents until September 1
Economy
The number of crimes using IT fell for the first time in five years
Economy
The Central Bank told about the shortlisted symbols for the updated 1 thousand and 5 thousand rubles
Society
Forecasters promised up to 28 degrees of heat in the Moscow region on August 1
Mir
Experts called insufficient potential of Spain to become a gas hub of the EU
Mir
Algeria ready to join BRICS
Mir
Serbian PM calls Kurti cause of escalation in Kosovo and Metohija
Trump called the exchange of prisoners of the United States and Russia “not the best deal ”
0
Photo: Izvestia / Mikhail Tereshchenko
Voice-over text
Highlight the main
INCLUDING
off
Former US President Donald Trump suggested that the proposed exchange of prisoners with Russia is “not a very good deal. ”
His words about the possible exchange of Russian businessman Viktor Bout for American basketball player Brittney Greiner on July 30 leads Fox News.
“She knew she didn ’ t have to go there drugged, and she admitted it.
I guess she admitted it without much pressure, as it was obvious, so it certainly doesn ’ t look like a very good deal, does it? ” he said.
Trump noted that Russia is very vigilant about narcotic substances and “do not like drugs ”, and Greiner, as if on purpose, went there with banned substances.
"And she was caught.
And now we have to get her out -- and she's, you know, making a lot of money, I think.
We must bring it to clean water, ” the politician added.
On July 27, CNN reported that US President Joe Biden approved a deal to exchange Russian citizens held in American prisons for American citizens convicted in Russia.
According to the channel, businessman Victor Bout should be exchanged for basketball player Brittney Greiner and convicted of espionage Paul Whelan.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier this week that while the Kremlin and U.S. officials are negotiating, "there is no concrete outcome yet."
She clarified that the parties proceed from the fact that the interests of both parties should be taken into account during the negotiations.
American basketball player Brittney Greiner was detained by customs officers at Sheremetyevo airport in February 2022.
In her hand luggage found vapes with cannabis oil.
In relation to Greiner, a criminal case was opened under the article on smuggling of narcotic drugs in a significant amount.
On July 7, the prosecutor ’ s office presented evidence in the case of the athlete, who fully admitted her guilt.
Paul Whelan was detained in Moscow in late December 2018.
A criminal case was opened against him under the article on espionage (Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
In mid-June 2020, the Moscow City Court sentenced Whelan to 16 years in a strict regime colony.
Read also
Advertisement
Live broadcast

Title:

Content: American forward of the club of the National basketball Association (NBA) "Los Angeles Lakers" LeBron James in an interview published on the YouTube channel UNINTERRUPTED, addressed the arrested in Russia basketball player Brittney Greiner.
He believes that the US authorities are not making enough efforts to release the basketball player.
Does she feel like America is covering her back?
If I were her, I would think if I wanted to go back to America at all, ” LeBron James said.
On February 18, the basketball player flew to Moscow from New York.
Customs officers seized vapers with an unknown liquid from her luggage.
The results of the examination showed that it was hashish oil.
On March 5, the basketball player was arrested.
Greiner was charged with drug smuggling.
Earlier, US officials expressed doubts that in the near future they will be able to return the basketball player.
On July 7, she pleaded guilty in the Khimki court.

Title:

Content: Skip to main content

Brittney Griner Reveals What Happened At Russian Airport

With Brittney Griner pleading guilty to drug charges in Russia, new details on what happened leading to her arrest have been revealed.

Appearing in court this week, Griner pleaded guilty to bringing hashish oil into Russia. She asked the judge for mercy and said that she had done so inadvertently.

Griner explained that she accidentally packed vape cartridges into her luggage, leading to her detainment. She said she had no intention of breaking the law.

"I'd like to plead guilty, your honor. But there was no intent. I didn't want to break the law," Griner said.

Unfortunately for Brittney Griner, pleading guilty won't mean the end for her court proceedings in Russia. Far from it.

Russian courts can drag on the proceedings for months as the judge lists off charges and reads the full case record into.

Griner will give her full testimony on July 14 and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted for large-scale transportation of drugs.

But according to ESPN, this may be part of a diplomatic strategy to bring Griner home in a prisoner swap. Though it may also be an acknowledgement that an acquittal was impossible.

The bar for being acquitted in Russia is already extremely high given the nation's high conviction rate. And even if found acquitted, Russian courts can overturn the acquittal anyway.

Will this move get us any steps closer to bringing Brittney Griner back?

Title:

Content: • June 22, 2022, 00: 33
The White House admitted the guilt of its Embassy in the difficulties of communication with the detained in Russia basketball player
White house: detained basketball player Greiner did not get home due to the fault of the US Embassy
American basketball player Brittney Greiner, who was detained in Russia, was unable to reach her family due to the fault of the employees of the US Embassy in Moscow.
This information was confirmed by the press Secretary of the White House Karin Jean-Pierre.
“It was an unfortunate mistake.
The US State Department is working to eliminate it as soon as possible, ” Jean-Pierre said during a regular briefing for journalists.
Quote from Tass.
So the press Secretary of the White house commented on reports of Griner ’ s attempts to get home.
The basketball player on June 18 wanted to contact his wife Sherell in Phoenix.
She called 11 times on the number provided by American diplomats, but was unable to talk to his wife.
“I understand that [this] telephone conversation is scheduled.
I will not talk about when [it will take place], decide whether to disclose this information, it is necessary for the wife of Brittney Greiner, ” said Jean-Pierre.
She also said that she has nothing to say about the meeting of the US Joe Biden with the basketball player.
At the same time, she promised that the authorities will do everything to bring the detained Americans home.
Brittney Gainer was detained at Sheremetyevo when they found a prohibited substance in a vape capsule.
Against the athlete opened a criminal case and sent to the detention center.

Title:

Content: The punishment for American basketball player Brittney Grainer in the case of drug smuggling is not too harsh, sports commentator Dmitry Guberniev commented on the decision of the Khimki city court, Match TV reports.
On August 4, the court sentenced the athlete from the United States to nine years in a general regime colony and imposed a fine of 1 million rubles.
She violated the law of the Russian Federation, there is nothing to comment on. <... > If you now enter America with hashish - you will be given a prize and called to the White House?
No, you're going to jail.
And, I think, not even for nine years, but for 19, ” commented the verdict of the Governors.
The court found the American basketball player guilty of drug smuggling on August 4.
Judge Anna Sotnikova sentenced the girl to nine years in prison.
She was charged at the time.
1 of Art. 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal acquisition, storage, transportation of drugs without the purpose of sale), etc.
2 of Art. 229.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (smuggling of narcotic drugs in a significant amount).
The sports achievements of the two-time Olympic champion and the partial admission of guilt were taken into account by the court as mitigating circumstances.
Greiner has twice won the Olympic Games with the U.S. national team in 2016 and 2020.

Title:

Content: Russian Federation
Moscow
+ 24 °
Sport4 August 2022 14: 54
Russian court finds American basketball player Grainer guilty of drug smuggling
The athlete apologized to the UMMC team and relatives
Russian court finds American basketball player Grainer guilty of drug smuggling
Photo by GLOBAL LOOK PRESS
A Russian court found American basketball player Brittney Greiner guilty of drug smuggling.
“Brittney Yvette has smuggled drugs, possession of drugs, ” RIA Novosti quoted Judge Anna Sotnikova as saying.
During the debate, the prosecutor asked to appoint the athlete 9.5 years of a general regime colony and a fine of 1 million rubles.
According to him, there are no mitigating or aggravating circumstances in the case.
The sentence will be announced later.
Meanwhile, the defense said that the examination of the substance was carried out in violation, as evidenced by the review of the candidate of chemical sciences questioned in court.
Lawyer Maria Blagolina called on the court to acquit the basketball player.
“This was an honest mistake that I made, collecting things in a hurry and experiencing post-coid stress, ” the defendant said, and apologized to the UMMC team and relatives.
The basketball player was detained at Moscow ’ s Sheremetyevo airport in early March 2022.
Brittney Greiner was charged with drug smuggling.
The athlete has performed in Russia since 2015.
In addition, she twice won Olympic gold with the American team.

Title:

Content: American basketball player appeals conviction for bringing drugs to Russia
08 / 15 / 2022 | 14: 07 - Source: Free
Maria Blagovolina, the lawyer for American basketball star Britney Greiner, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia, told Reuters on Monday that her defense team had appealed her conviction for drug possession and smuggling.
Note: The content entitled (American basketball player appeals her conviction for bringing drugs to Russia) was first published on Al-Hurra website and this day ’ s news encyclopedia does not bear its content in any way.
You can see the details of this title (an American basketball player appeals her conviction for bringing drugs to Russia) through its original source, Al-Hurra.
Continue reading Free.
Sponsored Links

Title:

Content: A Russian court has ruled against the American basketball star.
Biden called it "unacceptable".
08 / 04 / 2022 | 19: 10 - Source: Free
A Russian court has sentenced American basketball star Britney Grainer to nine years in prison after she was convicted of drug trafficking and possession.
Note: The content entitled (Russian Court issues judgment against the American basketball star..
Biden considers it "unacceptable") was first published on the site (Al-Hurra) and does not bear the content of this day's news encyclopedia in any way.
You can see the details of this title (Russian court pronounces judgment against the star of the American basketball..
Biden considers it "unacceptable") through its original source (i.e. free) website.
Continue reading Free.
Sponsored Links

Title:

Content: Today, 09: 45
Brittney Greiner was sent from jail to the colony.
Lawyers don ’ t know her location.
Correspondent
Read “SE ” in Telegram News
Lawyers of the two-time Olympic champion in basketball, ex-center of UMMC Brittney Greiner Maria Blagolina and Alexander Boykov told that the American left the pre-trial detention center in the Moscow region.
“Our client Brittney Greiner on November 4 was sent from the pre-trial detention center, in which she was from the moment of detention, to a general regime colony to serve her sentence, ” said Alexander Baikov. – At the moment, we have no information about her current location, nor where she is going.
We, as lawyers, as well as the U.S. Embassy, must be notified upon her arrival at her destination. ”
In August, the Khimki court of the Moscow region sentenced a 32-year-old American woman to 9 years in a general regime colony and a fine of 1 million rubles for smuggling hash oil.
NEWS

Title:

Content: Skip to main contentSkip to main content
You have permission to edit this article.
Edit

Letter to the editor: What has country come to?

  • 0

What has our country come to when we are trading prisoners with a terrorist country? The fact the former Soviet military officer was serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States on charges of conspiring to kill Americans, acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles, and provide material support to a terrorist organization is disturbing. We let this man go for a basketball player. This was by far the worst trade in American government and sports history. We make choices in life that have consequences. Regardless if you are a famous basketball player or not, you should have to pay for your choices. What disturbs me the most is that Griner plead guilty to the charges against her. She admitted to her illegal action and yet we let a terrorist go to free her. I wonder how many lives that is going to cost our country moving forward.

Christopher CalfLooking,

Missoula

0 Comments
You must be logged in to react.
Click any reaction to login.
0
0
0
0
0

Tags

* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.

Related to this story

Most Popular

Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS Feed | Omny Studio

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.

Topics

News Alert

Breaking News

Title:

Content: Russian Federation
Moscow
+ 31 °
Worldwide21 June 2022 10: 27
Wife arrested in Russia for drugs basketball player Greiner said that does not trust the US authorities
He criticized the American authorities.
Brittney Greiner, photo: FCS of Russia
The wife of the American basketball player Brittney Grainer, Sherell Grainer, who was arrested in Russia, criticized the US government and said that she no longer trusts him.
Last Saturday, Sherell Greiner tried to reach his wife, which was done for the first time after receiving the approval of the Russian government.
The call was scheduled for two weeks, but it did not take place, because on Saturday the desired phone at the Embassy was not an employee who could connect the basketball player with her wife.
On Monday, Sherell ’ s lawyers reported that Brittney also wanted to call 11 times in a matter of hours.
“I find this unacceptable, I currently have no confidence in our government, ” Sherell Greiner told The Associated Press.
Recall that in February 2022, Brittney Greiner, who arrived on a flight from New York, was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport for having “vapes ” with a liquid with a specific odor in her carry-on baggage.
A criminal case was opened on the smuggling of narcotic drugs, now the athlete faces up to 10 years in prison.
Earlier it was reported that in Moscow extended the term of arrest for basketball player UMMC Brittney Greiner.
The American athlete, who is accused of drug smuggling, will stay in the detention center until June 18.

Title:

Content: Russia releases former U.S. Marines in exchange for U.S. release of Russian citizens
【 KTSF Report 】
Russia released a former U.S. Marine in exchange for the release of a Russian citizen.
Former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed was released as a prisoner of exchange between Russia and the United States.
Reed ’ s parents said it was God ’ s answer to their prayers.
“It ’ s been almost a thousand days, ” said Reed ’ s mother, Paula Reed.“ I ’ m so happy to see him. I ’ ve waited so long to be able to hug my baby and hold him in my arms. ”
Reed, from Texas, has been jailed for three years for fighting with Russian police.
Paula Reed said: “In our eyes he looks terrible, and as his parents we know he doesn ’ t look good.
It was strange that he was walking.
It seems that he needs help to get on the plane. "
Russia released Trevor Reed in exchange for the release of a Russian pilot convicted of drug trafficking.
Two Americans are still being detained by Russia: basketball star Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said: "Our work is not finished and we will of course continue."
(Copyright 2022 KTSF.
All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Copyright. No reprint.

Title:

Content: Greiner: I didn ’ t think that the story with me would become so big
Comments
The famous American basketball player Brittney Greiner told about her feelings from returning home after imprisonment in Russia.
“I didn ’ t think that the story with me could become so big.
But that ’ s great, because now I can reach more people and bring them to the WNBA, and also tell them about other prisoners who are still in another country and who we ’ re trying to bring home.
So I ’ m just taking this great opportunity to continue to support those who need it and don ’ t have the attention or media coverage they should receive.
It ’ s a great feeling to wear a Phoenix jersey again.
Just being on the set, feeling it all.
I didn ’ t think it would happen so quickly, I was ready for a long journey, but it ’ s so nice to be here, to be in the media again, to wear this jersey. ”
Materials on the topic
“I didn ’ t deserve it! ”
Greiner had to shut up after returning to the United States
Comments
Affiliate content

Title:

Content: U.S. Women’s soccer team captain Megan Rapinoe took her shot as one of 17 Americans awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House to call attention to the detention of Brittney Griner. The Olympic gold medalist and equal pay activist wore her feelings on her lapel- demanding fellow Olympic athlete and WNBA star, Brittney Griner, be brought out of detention in Russia.

Rapinoe posted an Instagram story that she’d chosen a cream suit jacket with the basketball player’s initials and a flower sewn into the lapel.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/mrapinoe/2877209898883344067/

“The most important part of today,” Rapinoe captioned the photo, adding: “BG we love you.”

The Phoenix Mercury center was playing in Russia for UMMC Yekaterinburg in the Russian Women’s Basketball Premier League during the WNBA’s off-season when she was arrested Feb. 17, and has been detained since. Griner pleaded guilty earlier Thursday in a Russian court to drug charges, and could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Griner was arrested at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow when vape canisters containing cannabis oil were allegedly found in her luggage.

Both the State Department and the White House have decried the arrest and insist that Griner is wrongfully detained.

Title:

Content: Brittney Griner Urges Biden, 'Don't Forget About Me', in Handwritten Letter.

Brittney Griner Urges Biden, 'Don't Forget About Me', in Handwritten Letter.

The handwritten letter penned by the Phoenix Mercury star was received at the White House in July 4.

I realize you are dealing with so much, Brittney Griner, Letter to President Biden, via CNN.

But please don't forget about me and the other American detainees.

Please do all you can to bring us home, Brittney Griner, Letter to President Biden, via CNN.

Griner has been detained in Russia since February after cannabis oil was allegedly discovered in her luggage.

Her trial for the offense began last week.

Griner also described the fear and pain she is experiencing by being detained in Russia.

I'm terrified I might be here forever, Brittney Griner, Letter to President Biden, via CNN.

On the 4th of July, our family normally honors the service of those who fought for our freedom, including my father who is a Vietnam War Veteran.

, Brittney Griner, Letter to President Biden, via CNN.

It hurts thinking about how I usually celebrate this day because freedom means something completely different to me this year, Brittney Griner, Letter to President Biden, via CNN.

I believe in you.

I still have so much good to do with my freedom that you can help restore, Brittney Griner, Letter to President Biden, via CNN.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council stated July 4 the U.S. position that "the Russian Federation is wrongfully detaining Brittney Griner.".

President Biden has been clear about the need to see all U.S. nationals who are held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad released, including Brittney Griner.

, Adrienne Watson, National Security Council Spokesperson, via CNN.

The U.S. government continues to work aggressively – using every available means — to bring her home, Adrienne Watson, National Security Council Spokesperson, via CNN.

The President's team is in regular contact with Brittney's family and we will continue to work to support her family, Adrienne Watson, National Security Council Spokesperson, via CNN

Title:

Content: American diplomat fainted in court in the case of Brittney Greiner
Earlier it was reported that the athlete, accused of smuggling drugs, arrived in the Khimki court for the next meeting.
© Video: TRK VS RF "Zvezda" © Photo: TRK VS RF "ZVEZDA"
Read us on:
A representative of the American Embassy fainted at a meeting in the Khimki court.
The incident occurred during the trial of basketball player Brittney Greiner.
The judge was adjourned until 14.30 Wednesday, July 27.
Earlier it was reported that the athlete came to court.
There was supposed to be another meeting there today.
Grainer is charged with drug smuggling.
The basketball game is scheduled for tomorrow.
At the last meeting, on July 15, the defense presented in court a permit issued in the United States by the Arizona Department of Health for the use of medical cannabis.
It was alleged that the athlete complained of severe pain.
The tests were also presented, which were taken as part of the anti-doping inspection, they showed the absence of prohibited substances.
Brittney Greiner was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport on February 17 after a banned substance was found in her luggage.
Now she faces up to ten years in prison.
IN OTHER CMI
Loading...
You will be interested
Expert opinion and analytics
Read more
read below the following news

Title:

Content: Ex-teammate Greiner: maybe Brittney will return stronger
Comments
The captain of the Yekaterinburg UMMC Evgenia Belyakova suggested how the sentence will affect the career of her former teammate, American basketball player Brittney Greiner.
“This is a difficult question – given that no one knows how long the excommunication from basketball will last.
Often, basketball players return from maternity leave and play even better.
A lot depends on how Brittney perceives her situation.
Perhaps she will return even stronger, and perhaps she will decide to devote herself to other matters, having gone free, ” Belyakova said.
American basketball player Brittney Greiner was sentenced to nine years in prison in a general regime penal colony for drug smuggling.
Also, the athlete was fined 1 million rubles.
News on the topic
Captain UMMC: Greiner did not seek to violate the law
Comments
Affiliate content