The US government \u201chas determined that Brittney Griner is wrongfully detained and being used as a political pawn,\u201d her agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, said in a statement. \u201cThe negotiation for every immediate release regardless of the legal proceedings should remain a top priority and we expect [President Biden and administration officials] to do everything in their power, right now, to get a deal done to bring her home.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Candace Buckner: Brittney Griner is still locked upm and out tweets and T-shirts can’t free her<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
On Tuesday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters the administration is \u201cactively engaged\u201d in trying to resolve the case and secure Griner’s release.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Experts on Russia have long viewed Griner’s detainment and slog through the courts as ploys to gain leverage for an eventual prisoner swap, and it is widely believed Russia’s target in return for Griner is arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year sentence for conspiracy to kill US citizens and providing aid to a terrorist organization. In April, despite the strained relations, the United States and Russia agreed to a prisoner swap that freed former US Marine Trevor Reed after nearly three years in Russian custody.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cThey’re looking for leverage,\u201d Fried said of Russia’s handling of Griner. \u201cIn any case in which there is official [Russian] interest, the system tends to bend toward that official interest. Her fate will be determined politically. \u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Little is known publicly of Griner’s condition or treatment at the hands of Russian authorities. In an interview Wednesday on the SiriusXM Radio show \u201cKeepin’ It Real with Al Sharpton,\u201d Griner’s wife, Cherelle, said the couple still had not spoken since the Feb. 17 arrest but that she had received letters from Griner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cShe’s telling me she’s okay,\u201d Cherelle Griner said. \u201cShe She’s like: ‘I’m okay, babe. I’m hardened. She I’m not me right now. When I come home, it’s going to take me a minute to get back to myself. But I’m holding on. I won’t break until I come home. I won’t let them break me.’\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Placeholder while article actions load On the 135th day of Brittney Griner’s detainment in Russia on drug charges, the WNBA star’s trial is expected to begin Friday in a courtroom outside of Moscow. However, rather than the promise of a fair trial and a chance at acquittal, US officials and experts on Russia’s legal system …<\/p>\n
Brittney Griner set to stand trial in Russia. Here’s what to expect.<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1247,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/trial-for-wnba-star-brittney-griner-opens-in-russian-court\/","url_meta":{"origin":584,"position":0},"title":"Trial for WNBA star Brittney Griner opens in Russian court","date":"July 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"MOSCOW (AP) \u2014 American basketball star Brittney Griner went on trial Friday, 4 1\/2 months after her arrest on charges of possessing cannabis oil while returning to play for a Russian team, in a case that unfolded amide tense relations between Moscow and Washington .The Phoenix Mercury center and two-time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-apps\/imrs.php?src=https:\/\/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/C54EIGHWEAI6ZAO3VQD2HFFINM.jpg&w=1440","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}