Brittney Griner, a former WNBA superstar, was a magnificent fighter on the basketball court who has recently got arrested for possessing illicit items which eventually ended up with detention.
The US WNBA star was convicted of narcotics smuggling and possession by a Russian court almost six months after she was stopped at the Moscow airport for having a vape cartridge with cannabis oil in her baggage. Griner has been fined 1 million rubles, or around $16,700, and given a nine-year jail term (presumably in a forced labor camp).
The Russian government doesn’t seem to view the release of Griner with the same level of urgency as the United States administration. Yury Ushakov, a Kremlin aide, said on October 16 that striking an agreement is not a priority for Russia at the moment on a state-owned Russian television program.
Griner, on the other hand, is still incarcerated, spending 23 of her 24 waking hours behind bars as her loved ones wait for news from afar. Her predicament has deteriorated to the point that she no longer believes she will be rescued from her nightmare.
However, Diplomacy is the only option to get Brittney out, but U.S.-Russian discussions have been retarded by the continuing conflict in Ukraine. It seems this is a difficult position for Griner, and she may choose to just complete her sentence.
