Brittney Yevette Griner is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women’s National Basketball Association. She played college basketball for the Baylor Lady Bears in Waco, Texas. She is the only NCAA basketball player to both score 2,000 points and block 500 shots.
Brittney Griner: Did have illegal drugs in russia| Drugs trial| Deal| Court| Pleads guilty
Did have illegal drugs in russia:
After months of internal debate, the Biden administration has offered to exchange Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms trafficker serving a 25-year US prison sentence, as part of a potential deal to secure the release of two Americans held by Russia, Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, according to people briefed on the matter.
These sources told CNN that the plan to trade Bout for Whelan and Griner received the backing of President Joe Biden after being under discussion since earlier this year.
Drugs trial:
Biden’s support for the swap overrides opposition from the Department of Justice, which is generally against prisoner trades.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that “so far, there is no agreement on this issue.”
Deal:
The United States government on Wednesday made public what everybody had suspected for months: it was negotiating a deal with Russia to free WNBA star Brittney Griner.
Reactions from experts in hostage negotiation were split. Publicizing deals to free Americans sets bad precedent and endangers Americans, some say.
Others believe previous examples of such exchanges demonstrate it’s the only way to safely return wrongly detained prisoners.
Court:
Officially, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. made a “substantial proposal” to the Kremlin “weeks ago” but offered no specifics.
It was the first public acknowledgement that the highest levels of diplomatic relations were working to bring the WNBA star home.
Pleads guilty:
Any agreement would involve a prisoner swap with Russia or concessions on recent economic sanctions, and CNN reported shortly before Blinken’s announcement that the U.S. had offered notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
