US Chargé d’Affaires Elizabeth Rudd, who attended Friday’s hearing at the court in Khimki, outside Moscow, told reporters she was able to speak with the WNBA player, who was “as well as you could hope for.” The 31-year-old was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in February while traveling to play for a Russian team. Police said he was carrying vapor cans of cannabis oil. The Phoenix Mercury star and two-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of large-scale drug trafficking. Griner’s supporters have encouraged a prisoner swap like the one in April that sent veteran Marine Trevor Reed in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted of a drug-trafficking conspiracy. Russian media have repeatedly speculated that Griner could be traded with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death.” He is serving a 25-year sentence for conspiracy to kill US citizens and assisting a terrorist organization. However, the vast disparity between Griner’s alleged drug charges — and Booth’s global dealings in lethal weapons — could make such a swap unlikely. In addition, the athlete’s detention comes at an extremely low point in relations between the two countries amid the war in Ukraine. Image: Brittney Griner (R) was escorted to the hearing in handcuffs Russia’s invasion has led to sweeping sanctions imposed by Washington, while Moscow has denounced the US for sending weapons to Ukraine. Griner’s wife Sherrell urged US President Joe Biden to secure her release, calling her a “political pawn”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied on Friday that politics had anything to do with the athlete’s detention and prosecution. “The facts are that the famous athlete was detained in possession of prohibited drugs containing narcotic substances,” he told reporters. “Given what I said, he cannot be politically motivated,” he added.
