Tag Archives: Brittney

Boston Celtics players delivered a message to the White House on Saturday during their NBA Finals practice. Bring Brittney Griner home. Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Grant Williams and other Celtics players wore T-shirts at practice reading “We are BG” and imprinted with a QR code on the back linking to a petition calling for Griner’s safe return. Griner — a seven-time All-Star for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury — has been detained in Russia on drug charges since Feb. 17 after she allegedly… Source link

For the first time since Brittney Griner’s arrest almost three months ago, Russia appears to have publicly signaled its asking price for her safe return, if multiple reports by Russian state media are to be believed. Russia is looking to exchange the WNBA star in a prisoner swap for notorious convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout, several state-owned Russian news outlets reported Friday, citing unnamed government sources. Bout, whose exploits earned him the nickname the “Merchant of… Source link

The U.S. has now classified WNBA star Brittney Griner as “wrongfully detained” by the Russian government, a State Department spokesperson confirmed to Yahoo Sports on Tuesday. The formal change in designation is a significant development because it opens a new path to secure Griner’s freedom. Instead of waiting for her drug smuggling case to play out in the Russian legal system, the U.S. government will now actively seek to negotiate her return. “Our expectation is that the White House do… Source link

The WNBA is planning to honor Brittney Griner across the league this season. Each team will have a special floor decal to honor the Phoenix Mercury star, who is still in jail in Russia, according to ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss. The decal will feature No. 42, Griner’s number, and the initials BG. The league announced the news on Tuesday morning. “As we begin the 2022 season, we are keeping Brittney at the forefront of what we do through the game of basketball and in the community,” WNBA… Source link

In April 2019, yoga instructor Naama Issachar was arrested as she tried to board a connecting flight in Moscow on her way home to Israel. Russian authorities said they searched Issachar’s luggage and found about 10 grams of marijuana. What elsewhere in the world might have drawn a slap on the wrist in Russia resulted in drug-trafficking charges and a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Russia then reportedly dangled Issachar as a bargaining chip, offering to make a prisoner swap or to… Source link

One day after Russia revealed that it had detained seven-time WNBA all-star Brittney Griner on drug charges, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked what the Biden Administration planned to do to help her. Blinken, speaking Sunday from Moldova, was reluctant to comment specifically on Griner, citing “privacy considerations.” Answering generally, Blinken told reporters, “Whenever an American is detained anywhere in the world, we of course stand ready to provide every possible… Source link

A former top Pentagon official said Saturday that she’s concerned Russia is detaining American basketball star Brittney Griner as “leverage over the United States.” Evelyn Farkas told Yahoo Sports that Russia may want Griner as a “high-profile hostage” who could serve as a valuable bargaining chip. “If we want her out of jail, Russia is going to have some terms,” said Farkas, who served as the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia and Ukraine from 2012-15. “It… Source link

Phoenix Mercury All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner has reportedly been detained in Russia on drug charges. The New York Times reported that the Russian Federal Customs Service detained an American basketball player at Sheremetyevo Airport near Moscow after finding hashish oil vape cartridges in her luggage. The Customs Service didn’t identify who was arrested, saying only that she’d won two Olympic gold medals. A Russian news service identified the player as the… Source link