US basketball star and Olympian Brittney Griner spoke briefly with American diplomats on the sidelines of a court hearing in Russia, where she has been detained since February for allegedly possessing vape cartridges containing cannabis oil.
Griner, 31, is “doing as well as can be expected under what can only be described as exceedingly difficult circumstances,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on a call Friday morning. A consular official from the U.S. embassy in Moscow spoke with the Phoenix Mercury player on the margins of the hearing, Price said.
U.S. officials have said the WNBA player is being wrongly detained, a signal they believe Griner’s case is political, not criminal. Her hearing on Friday came against the backdrop of the standoff between Moscow and Washington over the war in Ukraine.
Griner’s lawyer told the Associated Press that the athlete’s detention was extended at the hearing for another month. She appeared at the court handcuffed, the AP reported.
Last month’s release of Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine who had been detained in Russia for three years, in exchange for a Russian national convicted in the US on drug trafficking conspiracy charges, has prompted calls for the Biden administration to negotiate a similar deal for Griner.
