Russian Official Arrest Brittney Griner

On February 17, 2022 Russian authorities detained WNBA star and two time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner at an airport near Moscow for carrying hashish oil. Hashish oil is a cannabis oil which is illegal in Russia. After five months in a detention center, Griner finally went on trial at the Khimki city courthouse on July 19. Griner testified that she had brought the marijuana with no intention of using it in Russia as she claims she used it therapeutically to treat a knee injury. Following the hearing, the court sentenced Griner to nine years in a Russian jail. Despite the fact that Griner outwardly broke Russian law, people in the United States did agree with the court’s decision. The United States and Russia spent months discussing how the U.S could get Griner out of Russia, and on December 8, 2022 Russia and the U.S made a prisoner trade deal. The two countries agreed to trade Britney Griner for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer. Bout served 15 years of his 25 year prison sentence on charges of conspiring to kill Americans, attain and export aircraft missiles and provide support to terrorist groups. On December 16 Griner made her first public comment since returning to the U.S, “…I also want to make one thing very clear: I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season, and in doing so, I look forward to being able to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who advocated,wrote, and posted for me in person soon”.