The prosecutor in the trial of WNBA player Britney Griner announced the charges against her during a hearing Friday in a court near Moscow, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
At the court in the city of Khimki, Griner was charged by a prosecutor with smuggling less than a gram of cannabis oil in her luggage. Prosecutors believe Griner then intended to import the drugs into Russian territory and put the banned substances in a backpack and a suitcase, according to TASS. The Phoenix Mercury star is playing in Russia during the WNBA offseason and was arrested at a Moscow airport a week before Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year. When Griner arrived on a flight from New York to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on February 17, “two cartridges of hash oil were found in her carry-on luggage during inspection,” according to TASS. Hemp oil is subject to control on the territory of the Russian Federation and is classified as a narcotic, according to TASS. The offense of smuggling significant quantities of a narcotic is punishable by up to 10 years in prison in Russia. US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Elizabeth Rudd said she was able to speak with Griner inside the courtroom and that the US government is working “very hard” to bring Griner and other “wrongfully detained citizens” safely home. “She is doing as well as can be expected in these difficult conditions and she asked me to convey that she is in good spirits and keeping her faith,” Rudd added. Griner’s lawyers, Alexander Boykov and Maria Blagovolina, said they were not aware of any plan to exchange Griner for a Russian prisoner held in the US in a makeshift press at the end of the first day of her trial. The court will continue to hear the case next week on July 7 at 14:30 local time. Later on Friday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said officials from the US Embassy in Russia “attended Brittney Griner’s trial today in Moscow”. “We — and I personally — have no higher priority than bringing her and other wrongfully detained Americans, including Paul Whelan, home,” he tweeted Friday, referring to another American woman held there illegally. “We will not stop working until they are reunited with their loved ones,” Blinken said. What Griner’s wife says: Cherelle Griner, wife of WNBA star Brittney Griner, told CNN Thursday that she wants U.S. officials to do whatever it takes to bring the basketball legend home — and she needs to see them to do more. “It’s really very difficult. This is not a situation where rhetoric matches action,” he said. “Unfortunately I have to push people to make sure the things they say to me also match their actions, and so that’s been the hardest thing to balance because I can’t let go. It’s been over 130 days and BG still hasn’t returned.” She also said she would “absolutely” want to meet with US President Joe Biden and humanize Britney so he can “see BG the way we see BG”. “While everyone wants to tell me they care, I’d like her to tell me she cares,” she added. Read more from her interview here. CNN’s Abby Phillip, Steve Almasy and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting to this post.