President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he’s “determined” to bring Brittney Griner back stateside and hopes Russian president Vladimir Putin will be ”willing to talk more seriously about a prisoner exchange” now that U.S. midterm elections are done.
His comments came hours after the WNBA star’s legal team revealed she had been transferred to a penal colony in Russia. Her lawyers do “not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination,” they said, per the Associated Press. Just last month, the appeal on Griner’s nine-year sentence for drug possession was rejected.
“I am determined to get her home and get her home safely, along with others,” Biden said at Wednesday’s press briefing.
The transfer began on Friday, a day after U.S. embassy officials visited Griner, but according to ESPN, her team and American officials were not aware of the transfer until Tuesday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated how the U.S. government is working on securing Griner’s release in a statement Wednesday.
“Following a sham trial and the unjust sentencing of Brittney Griner, Moscow is transferring her from a prison in Moscow to a remote penal colony,” Blinken said. “It is another injustice layered on her ongoing unjust and wrongful detention.
“As we work to secure Brittney Griner’s release, we expect Russian authorities to provide our Embassy officials with regular access to all U.S. citizens detained in Russia, including Brittney, as is their obligation. Ensuring the health and welfare of U.S. citizen detainees in Russia is a priority, and we will continue to press for fair and transparent treatment for them all.”
Griner was detained in an airport near Moscow in February and pleaded guilty to drug charges in July. She allegedly was carrying vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage, and she subsequently said the cartridges were in her bags due to fast packing, insisting that she had no intention of breaking the law, per ESPN’s T.J. Quinn.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted in a thread, “Every minute that Brittney Griner must endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too long. As the Administration continues to work tirelessly to secure her release, the President has directed the Administration to prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony. As we have said before, the U.S. Government made a significant offer to the Russians to resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful detentions of American citizens.”
Jean-Pierre went on to tweet, “In the subsequent weeks, despite a lack of good faith negotiation by the Russians, the U.S. Government has continued to follow up on that offer and propose alternative potential ways forward with the Russians through all available channels.”
The two sides had been discussing a prisoner swap that included Griner and Paul Whelan, an American who was sentenced to 16 years in prison for alleged espionage. Reports say Viktor Bout, a convicted arms dealer in American custody, would be exchanged.
“My intention is to get her home,” Biden said Wednesday. “We’ve had a number of discussions so far, and I am hopeful that now that our election is over that, there’s a willingness to negotiate more specifically with us.”
