A Russian court docket has prolonged the detention of the W.N.B.A. star Brittney Griner to Might 19, the Russian information company Tass reported on Thursday, including pressure to essentially the most harmful second in U.S.-Russia relations for the reason that 1962 Cuban missile disaster.
Ms. Griner, 31, a seven-time W.N.B.A. All-Star heart for the Phoenix Mercury, is being held on drug costs that might carry a sentence of as much as 10 years in jail.
The Russian Federal Customs Service stated earlier this month that its officers had detained the American basketball participant after they discovered vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her baggage on the Sheremetyevo airport close to Moscow in February. They didn’t instantly launch the title of Ms. Griner, who was later recognized by Tass.
Ms. Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, is one in every of a number of W.N.B.A. gamers who compete on worldwide ladies’s groups within the low season to complement paychecks which can be a fraction of their counterparts’ salaries within the N.B.A. She has performed for the Russian group, UMMC Ekaterinburg, since 2014.
Consultant Colin Allred, Democrat of Texas, informed the Instances final week that Ms. Griner, a Texas native, had been detained on Feb. 17 and that he was working with the State Division to have her launched. Russian authorities have to this point denied the State Division’s request for a gathering between consular officers and Ms. Griner, Mr. Allred stated.
American officers, together with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, have stated that sure particulars surrounding Ms. Griner’s detention couldn’t be disclosed on account of privateness constraints.
Since she was detained, household and mates of Ms. Griner have come ahead to specific their shared need to get her house safely.
Ms. Griner’s spouse, Cherelle T. Griner, stated in an Instagram put up final week, “We love you babe!” and “There are not any phrases to specific this ache.”
The State Division has suggested all U.S. residents in Russia to go away the nation and has warned that the U.S. Embassy in Moscow has “extreme limitations” on its capacity to supply help to Individuals there. The W.N.B.A. stated on Mar. 5 that each one of its different gamers in Ukraine and Russia had left these nations.