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Baylor women's basketball player Brittney Griner

With Griner in jail, WNBA players skip Russia in offseason

Brittney Griner’s highly publicized legal woes in Russia and the country’s invasion of Ukraine has the top WNBA players opting to take their talents elsewhere this offseason.

For the past few decades, Russia has been the preferred offseason destination for WNBA players to compete because of the high salaries that can exceed $1 million – nearly quadruple the base salary of top WNBA players -- and the resources and amenities teams offered them.

That all has come to an abrupt end.
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Nearly a dozen WNBA players competed in Russia last winter and none of them are heading back this year.

Entire article: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-sports-middle-east-13cf8e874e82930218b7cbc0898c9b5b

No surprise there. I'd be surprised if any American did return to Russia to play.
 
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Russia can use Brittney Griner to hurt Joe Biden – and Putin knows it

Opinion: Vladimir Putin has taken a hostage whose captivity can inflict maximum pain on Joe Biden and the U.S.


Russia claims the U.S. is dragging its feet

Some Americans have blamed Griner for her predicament, that she ignored warnings during the Russian mobilization to stay out of that country and for possessing marijuana.

They’re missing the larger point.

Griner is the hostage of a brutal regime that cares little about human life, and certainly nothing about hers. This week it has grown more clear that the Russians are now using Griner, the reluctant celebrity, to yank the chain of the United States and embarrass its president, Joe Biden, who is leading the world opposition to Russia’s invasion.

On Monday, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry accused the Biden White House of dragging its feet on negotiations for the return of Griner and a second American hostage, Paul Whelan.

“We have said so many times that we're ready to negotiate,” said Maria Zakharova. “If the US embassy in Moscow has a minute of free time, they’ll tell president Joe Biden and he, in turn, will tell the families of Whelan and Griner.”

She accused the United States of provoking “media madness” rather than “fulfilling their direct official duties of maintaining contact with the diplomats of the host country,” as reported in Spain’s national daily sport newspaper Marca.

Get the picture? The Americans are dragging their feet. They’re not particularly concerned about getting Griner back.

This is a Russian lie.

White House has made Griner a high priority

In May, the U.S. government designated Griner as “wrongfully detained” and assigned a special envoy to work with the American embassy in Russia to get her back. Joe Biden has been in contact with both Griner and Whelan’s family members for months and as recently as last Friday.

The Americans have apparently put a deal on the table: Griner and Whelan in exchange for convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout. If the Russians are ready to make an exchange, they know they have an eager partner.

Knowing there is enormous pressure on Biden to bring Griner home, the Russians appear to want to inflict maximum pain on the Biden White House.

With the best intentions of raising Griner’s profile, civil rights advocates made the mistake of using American race politics to try to shame the Biden White House to bring Griner home.

In Russia, they noticed.

“(The Russians) have already won,” Dani Gilbert, a Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy and International Security at Dartmouth, told the New Yorker. “They have embarrassed the U.S. government. They have put the White House in a particularly difficult position because of a political prisoner, and they’re tapping into cultural conflict.

“The fallout here in America – Russia loves it.”

Entire article: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opi...-russia-get-what-wants-pain-biden/8071911001/

Griner is the hostage of a brutal regime that cares little about human life, and certainly nothing about hers. This week it has grown more clear that the Russians are now using Griner, the reluctant celebrity, to yank the chain of the United States and embarrass its president, Joe Biden, who is leading the world opposition to Russia’s invasion.

Yeah, this is an "opinion" but it's probably not far from the truth.
 
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Brittney Griner Is Increasingly Anxious She May Not Be Freed, Lawyer Says
Oct. 12, 2022
On Wednesday, President Biden said that there had been no movement with the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, over Ms. Griner’s case. A day earlier, Mr. Biden told CNN that he would only talk to Mr. Putin at a Group of 20 meeting to be held in Bali, Indonesia, next month if it was to discuss her situation.
Entire article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/world/europe/brittney-griner-lawyer-russia.html

Russia Rages After Son of Putin Official Is Nabbed on U.S. Charges
Oct. 22, 2022
The Kremlin is threatening retaliatory action after authorities arrested Artyom Uss, the son of a top Russian official, at the United States’ request, for allegedly participating in a sanctions evasion and money laundering scheme.

Uss, who was detained in Milan, was charged in relation to a scheme to unlawfully obtain U.S. military technology and sanctioned Venezuelan oil in order to support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, according to charges unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice this week.

“We are categorically against this and we condemn the practice of these kinds of arrests of Russian citizens,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Entire article: https://www.thedailybeast.com/kreml...nder-uss-is-arrested-in-italy-over-us-charges

Well, he could very well be an additional "bargaining chip" for a future swap of prisoners?

Russian court rejects Brittney Griner's appeal of 9-year sentence
25 Oct 2022
A Russian court has upheld the nine-year prison sentence handed to American basketball star Brittney Griner for drug possession, rejecting her appeal.

Entire article: https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/i...ejects-brittney-griner-appeal-9-year-sentence

Absolutely no surprise there.
 
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Brittney Griner has been transferred to a penal colony in western Russia, her lawyers say

American basketball star Brittney Griner has been transferred to a penal colony in Yavas, in the western Russian region of Mordovia, her lawyers said Thursday, ending days of speculation over her whereabouts.

Entire article: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/17/europe/brittney-griner-russia-prison-colony/index.html

U.S. tamps down Russia's update on Brittney Griner talks

A potentially promising Russian statement about negotiations to bring Brittney Griner home was met with quick dismissal from the U.S. Department of State on Friday.

Sergei Ryabkov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, was quoted by Russian media early in the day saying there was new "activity" in talks that could see convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is currently serving 25 years in a U.S. prison, returned to Russia.

"We haven't found common ground yet, but, undoubtedly, Viktor Bout is among those being discussed and obviously we are hoping for a positive result," Ryabkov reportedly said. "The Americans are showing certain activity and we are working on this through appropriate channels."

But a State Department spokesperson fired back that Russia still has not seriously engaged in negotiations, no matter what Ryabkov said.

"We are not going to comment on the specifics of any proposals other than to say that we have made a substantial offer that the Russian Federation has consistently failed to negotiate in good faith," the statement said. "The U.S. Government has continued to follow up on that offer and propose alternative potential ways forward with the Russian government. The Russian government's failure to seriously negotiate on these issues in the established channel, or any other channel for that matter runs counter to its public statements."

Entire article: https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/35054176/us-tamps-russia-update-brittney-griner-talks
 
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Brittney Griner 'wanted to take my life' while in Russia jail​

WNBA star Brittney Griner said she thought about killing herself during her first few weeks in a Russian jail after her 2022 arrest on drug-related charges.

Griner spoke for the first time about her monthslong detention in Russia during an hourlong interview that aired Wednesday night on ABC's "20/20."

Griner's memoir, "Coming Home," is set to be released May 7.

Griner was detained in February 2022 after arriving at a Moscow airport when Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges allegedly containing oil derived from cannabis.

"I wanted to take my life more than once in the first weeks," Griner told ABC's Robin Roberts. "I felt like leaving here so badly."

She decided against it in part because she was afraid the Russian authorities wouldn't release her body to her family.
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