The Biden administration has reportedly determined that WNBA basketball player Brittney Griner has been wrongfully detained on drug charges in Russia.
The determination may signal that the administration will begin to work more aggressively to secure her release, The Hill reported on Tuesday.
As evidence of more serious consideration of the case, Griner’s predicament has been shifted to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs to focus on her release.
“Brittney has been detained for 75 days and our expectation is that the White House do whatever is necessary to bring her home,” said Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, the paper reported.
Griner was detained in February in Moscow, supposedly on drug charges, for having vaping cartridges that Russian authorities said contained cannabis oils in her luggage. Officials refused to say precisely when Griner was arrested, but she has been out of touch with her family and friends for three weeks.
Griner was in Russia to play with the Russian women’s basketball team UMMC Ekaterinburg and was reportedly one of the last US. athletes to leave Russia in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
WNBA star Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia since February (Screenshot)
Russian authorities finally released a photo of Griner on March 8, more than three weeks after she was arrested, showing her against a blank backdrop and holding a booking card.
If convicted on drug charges, Griner could be sentenced to a ten-year term in a Russian prison.
The U.S. Department of State had issued a “do not travel” warning to Americans headed to Russia, and the WNBA has since noted that all U.S. basketball players, except for Griner, had fled the country.
To urge Russia to release the player and show support, the WNBA recently voted to honor Griner with a floor decal on all WNBA team courts.
The WNBA players’ union president, Nneka Ogwumike, recently put out a statement saying, “it has been 75 days that our friend, teammate, sister, Brittney Griner, has been wrongfully detained in Russia.”
“It is time for her to come home,” Ogwumike concluded. “Having learned that the U.S. government has now determined that BG is being wrongfully detained we are hopeful that their efforts will be significant, swift and successful.”
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