US officials met jailed American basketball star Brittney Griner for the first time on Thursday since a Russian court rejected her appeal on drug possession charges and the White House said she is doing “as well as can be expected.”
Griner has been unwittingly trapped in a geopolitical battle between Russia and the West, and is grappling with a decision by a Russian appeals court to uphold a nine-year sentence in a penal colony for possession of drug. Ms Griner, who recently turned 32 in custody in Russia, pleaded guilty to drug smuggling and apologized for what she called an unintentional offense.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “We say she is doing as well as can be expected under these circumstances. told reporters on Air Force One when she accompanied President Biden to New Mexico.
Ned Price, a State Department spokesman, also noted that the meeting had taken place, posting on Twitter that officials from the US Embassy in Russia had seen Ms. her persistence and persistence despite her current situation.”
In October, one of Ms Griner’s attorneys said she was increasingly worried about her chances of being free in the prisoner swap and struggling mentally. Lawyer Alexandr D. Boykov said in a recent interview she was allowed out once a day in a penal colony outside Moscow. He said she walked for an hour in a small courtyard, and spent the rest of the time in a small cell with two cellmates, sitting and sleeping on a special long bed to fit the frame. her 6 foot-9 height.
Ekaterina Kalugina, a journalist who visited Griner in her cell in the spring, said in a phone interview in October that Griner’s two cellmates at the time were women English and is also in prison for drug-related offenses. She said that Ms. Griner had read a translation of Dostoyevsky’s novel “Demons”, a political tragedy.
The Biden administration has attempted to negotiate a prisoner swap with Russia to bring in Ms Griner and Paul Whelan, an American detained on espionage charges, but no breakthrough has been reported – and unusual tension between the two About the War in Ukraine – A campaign of public pressure from athletes, led by her wife, Cherelle Griner, has intensified.
US officials say the US has offered to free Russian arms dealer in custody Victor Bout as part of the agreement. He is serving a 25-year prison sentence for plotting to kill an American.
A week before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Ms. Griner, an All-Star with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was detained at an airport near Moscow after Customs officials found two vape boxes containing hashish oil in her luggage. She was on her way to Yekaterinburg, a city near the Ural Mountains, where she played for a women’s basketball team.
Jean-Pierre said, in comments broadcast live by the White House, that embassy officials in Moscow could visit Brittney Griner on Thursday.
“As we have said before, the US government has made an important offer to the Russians to address the current wrongful and unacceptable detentions of American citizen Brittney Griner. and Paul Whelan,” she said.
She added, “I can also tell you that in the weeks that followed, despite the Russians’ unwillingness to negotiate, the US government continued to monitor that offer and suggest ways potential alternative to the Russians through all existing channels.
“This continues to be a top priority,” said Jean-Pierre.
