WNBA star Brittney Griner celebrated her 32nd birthsay today in a Moscow detention facility awaiting her appeal Oct. 25 on her Aug. 4 conviction for cannabis possession while entering Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport Feb. 17, only days before the Feb. 24 Ukraine War began. Griner’s been kept in Russian jail for 243 since her arrest for possessing cannabis in vape-cartridges. Griner told the judge, hoping for leniency, that she accidentally packed the cannabis-laced vape-cartridges before boarding a flight to Moscow to play in UMMC Ekaterinburg women’s basketball team. President Joe Biden, 79, and 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinker said Griner was “wrongfully detained,” infuriating Kremlin officials because Griner violated Russia’s strict drug laws, prompting the court to throw the book at her. Griner has a slim-to-none chance of winning her appeal Oct. 25.
Speaking on her birthday, Griner, who’s mood has bordered on somber-to-despair, thanked her supporters for thinking about her. “Thank you everyone for fighting to so hard to get me home. All the support and love are definitely helping me,” Griner told her Moscow-based attorney Alexadr D. Bovkov. Griner’s wife, Cherelle, who met with Biden Sept. 18, said Brittney feared being “left and forgotten in Russia,” Cherelle told CBS News. Griner told her attorney recently it was “absolutely the weakest moment in life” last week, though she “smiled” on her birthday. Cherelle was told by Biden that he’s doing everything possible to get her out of Russian jail with a prisoner swap. What Biden didn’t tell Cherelle, or anyone else, is that the U.S. is in a life-or-death proxy war with the Russian Federation to get Putin out of office. Biden told the world March 26 that he wanted Putin out of office.
Golden State Warriors NBC start and finals MVP Stephan Curry interrupted the ring ceremony to remember Griner. “We want to continue to let her name be known, and we pray—its been 243 days since she’s been wrongfully incarcerated in Russia—we hope that she comes home soon and that everybody’s doing their part to bring her home,” Curry said in front of 18,000 screaming fans in San Francisco. Biden and Blinken haven’t leveled with Griner’s family, giving the impression that the ordinary prisoner swap process goes on unabated to get Brittney out of jail. But Biden currently funds a proxy war against the Russian Federation, letting the Ukrainians do the fighting with U.S. weapons to remove Putin from power. Kremlin officials said recently that the Griner prisoner swap is not a high priority at this point. As long as Biden remains at war, why should Putin cut a deal?
Curry and all of Griner’s backers in the U.S. and around the world want Brittney to come home at the earliest possible time. But as long as Biden fights a brutal proxy war with the Russian Federation, it’s doubtful that Putin or any other Kremlin official wants to cut a deal to get Brittney or former Marine Paul Whelan out of jail. Next week’s Oct. 25 appeals hearing holds very little hope for Brittney’s release When the hearing’s over, Brittney will go to one of many former gulags known today as penal colonies where prisoners spend their days in hard labor. Griner has nine years left on her term, attesting to why she sees her situation as hopeless. “We hope the term of the sentence will be reduced,” said Maria Blagovolina, a partner in the law firm defending Griner. Whether Brittney gets any relief in her sentence is doubtful, knowing she’ll soon serve out her sentence in a work camp.
If the White House were really interested in getting Griner out, Biden would start negotiating for a ceasefire deal with Putin. Only by ending the Ukraine War can Biden expect to make any headway with Griner’s release. Blinken said his original prisoner swap proposal involved Russia’s arms trafficker Viktor Bout, currently serving 15 years in U.S. prison, for Griner and Whelan has been largely dismissed. Even with a two-for-two prisoner swap, Russia would be reluctant to cut a deal for Griner’s release. Whether admitted to or not, Putin has little incentive to cut any deal with the White House. If Biden really wants to get Griner out, he needs to stop talking trash about the Russian Federation and find a deal that works. Waiting for the appeals judge to show Griner clemency is unrealistic at this point. Only by a sincere effort to end the Ukraine War will Griner have chance of getting out.
Listening to Blinken tell Putin that the U.S. put a substantive prisoner swap deal on the table only hurts Brittney’s chances of getting out. When Kremlin officials keep hearing Biden and Blinken call Griner’s detention “unlawful,” it adds days, weeks and months to her release. Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharovaa said to the White House that Brittney was not “wrongfully detained,” she violated Russia’s strict drug laws and pays the price. Griner won’t get out early because Biden and Blinken continue to insult Kremlin, but, more importantly, Russia’s drug laws. Brittney’s family and friends need to let the White House know that the time to end the Ukraine War is long overdue. If the White House wants to make any progress on Griner’s release, Biden needs to end the Ukraine War, telling Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky it’s time for peace.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
