State Department officials met Monday with Brittney Griner’s WNBA team, the Phoenix Mercury, to discuss the status of Griner’s months-long detention in Russia and efforts to secure her release. Greiner, one of the most recognizable stars of the WNBA, has been detained in Russia since February 17, after customs accused her of carrying hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow. In May, the State Department said it had found Greener “illegally detained.” “It’s something we’ve all talked about closely as a team, and now that we know the State Department at the highest level, from US President Joe Biden to the team working to bring back all the illegally detained Americans, it gives us a lot “They’m sure they’m working on it,” Mercury star Diana Taurasi said in a statement. “Anything we can do on our part to strengthen and put BG first will be our No. 1 priority.” The meeting was attended by representatives from the State Department, including the Office of the Special Envoy of the President for Hostage Affairs, according to a ministry spokesman. Mercury members then spoke with Delegates Greg Stanton, Arizona Democrat, and Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas Democrat. In May, Stanton, Jackson Lee and Texas Rep. Colin Allred introduced a resolution calling for Griner’s release. The Mercury are in Washington to play the Mystics on Tuesday. Mercury forward Brianna Turner said officials encouraged the team to continue talking publicly about Griner. “We were encouraged to keep saying her name, to keep them accountable for bringing BG back home as soon as possible,” Turner said in a statement. Griner was returning to Russia to play for UMMC Yekaterinburg, a professional women’s basketball team, when she was detained. Many WNBA players supplement their off-season earnings by playing internationally, where top athletes can raise around $ 1 million. Drug charges carry up to 10 years in prison if Greener is convicted in Russia. Mercury coach Vanessa Nygaard. Those close to Greiner initially had a strategy of silence to avoid politicizing her case, but it has since shifted to a more public campaign. Credit … Darryl Webb / Associated Press Initially, Griner’s supporters spoke little publicly about the detention, fearing that her situation would become part of a wider global conflict involving Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the United States’ strained relations with Russia. That strategy changed after the State Department said Greener had been “wronged” a few days after Russia exchanged Trevor Reed, a former US Marine who had been sentenced to nine years in prison for assault, for a prisoner exchange. Reed’s release raised hopes for the release of Griner and Paul N. Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was sentenced in Russia to 16 years in prison on espionage charges. In May, Brittney Griner’s wife Cherelle Griner appeared on “Good Morning America” and called on President Biden to intervene. “I keep hearing it has the power,” said Cherelle Griner. “It’s a political pawn. “If they hold her because they want you to do something, then I want you to do it.” Supporters of Brittney Griner followed her support for her release. Many WNBA players have worn T-shirts and hoods to support Greiner and her initials appear on the pitch for all 12 WNBA teams. Penny Taylor, Taurasi’s wife and one of Griner’s former teammates, used her introduction to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame last week to demand Griner’s release. “BG is our family,” Taylor said. “It’s yours too. “The whole world sports community must unite to insist that it is a priority.”
