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    Brittney Griner’s Sentence Renews Pressure on President Biden

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    The basketball star’s supporters are pressing for action. But critics of any possible deal are already fuming.WASHINGTON — Immediately after a Moscow judge handed down Brittney Griner’s nine-year prison sentence on Thursday, calls grew louder for President Biden to find a way to bring her home.“We call on President Biden and the United States government to redouble their efforts to do whatever is necessary and possible,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement.U.S. officials and analysts had been resigned to a guilty verdict for Ms. Griner, a basketball star who plays for a Russian team during the W.N.B.A. off-season. But the cold reality of her sentence on a drug charge was a shock and renewed calls for Mr. Biden to secure her release — even as critics fumed that offering to swap prisoners with Moscow rewards Russian hostage-taking.The result is a painful quandary for the Biden administration as it tries to maintain a hard line against President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia over his war in Ukraine.“There’s nothing good here,” said Andrea Schneider, an expert on international conflict resolution at Cardozo School of Law. “No matter what Biden does, he’s going to be criticized — either that we’re giving too much or we’re not working hard enough.”Kremlin officials had said that any potential deal could not proceed before her trial was complete, creating a glimmer of hope that the verdict might open the door for an exchange. But analysts called that unlikely anytime soon.“I don’t think this is going to get resolved quickly,” said Jared Genser, a human rights lawyer who represents Americans held by foreign governments. “I think the fact that Putin has not said yes right away means that he’s looked at the U.S. offer and said, ‘Well, that’s their first offer. I can get more than that.’”That U.S. offer, first presented to Russia in June, sought the release of Ms. Griner and Paul N. Whelan, a former Marine arrested in Moscow and convicted of espionage in 2020.The Biden administration proposed to trade the two Americans for the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is midway through a 25-year federal prison sentence for offering to sell arms to a Colombian rebel group that the United States then considered a terrorist organization.The proposal has already reshaped U.S. diplomacy toward Russia, which had been frozen at senior levels since Mr. Putin’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. A phone call about the matter on July 29 between Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, was their first conversation since the war began. But it appeared to leave the Kremlin unmoved. The White House says Russia has made an unspecified “bad faith” counteroffer that the United States is not taking seriously.What to Know About the Brittney Griner CaseCard 1 of 4What happened? More

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      Moscow Court Orders Brittney Griner Held in Jail for Another 18 Days

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      A Russian court on Tuesday extended the pretrial detention of the W.N.B.A. basketball star Brittney Griner on drug smuggling charges until July 2, pushing her jail stint past the four month mark, according to the official state news agency TASS.The Khimki Court of the Moscow region granted the 18-day extension at the request of investigators, the agency quoted the court’s press service as saying. It is typical of Russian courts to extend detention repeatedly until trial. Ms. Griner’s lawyer, Aleksandr Boikov, could not immediately be reached for comment.The American basketball star was arrested four months ago after Russian officials said they found vape cartridges bearing traces of hash oil in her luggage while she was passing through Sheremetyevo Airport, Moscow’s main international airport. The charge carries a jail sentence of up to 10 years.Ms. Griner was arrested on Feb. 17, one week before Russia invaded Ukraine, but officials did not reveal that she had been detained until days after the war began, raising fears that she might be used as a bargaining chip in the overall crisis. There has been some speculation that once convicted, Ms. Griner might be part of a prisoner exchange with the United States.A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Ms. Griner plays for the Phoenix Mercury, and U.S. officials met with the team on Monday to discuss efforts to secure her release. In May, the State Department said it determined that Ms. Griner had been “wrongfully detained.”When she was taken into custody, Ms. Griner was returning to Russia to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg, a professional women’s basketball team. Many W.N.B.A. players supplement their incomes in the league’s off-season by playing internationally. More

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      Russian Court Extends Brittney Griner’s Detention

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      A Russian court has extended the detention of the W.N.B.A. star Brittney Griner to May 19, the Russian news agency Tass reported on Thursday, adding tension to the most dangerous moment in U.S.-Russia relations since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.Ms. Griner, 31, a seven-time W.N.B.A. All-Star center for the Phoenix Mercury, is being held on drug charges that could carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.The Russian Federal Customs Service said earlier this month that its officials had detained the American basketball player after they found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage at the Sheremetyevo airport near Moscow in February. They did not immediately release the name of Ms. Griner, who was later identified by Tass.Ms. Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, is one of several W.N.B.A. players who compete on international women’s teams in the off-season to supplement paychecks that are a fraction of their counterparts’ salaries in the N.B.A. She has played for the Russian team, UMMC Ekaterinburg, since 2014.Representative Colin Allred, Democrat of Texas, told The New York Times last week that Ms. Griner, a Texas native, had been detained on Feb. 17 and that he was working with the State Department to have her released. Russian authorities have so far denied the State Department’s request for a meeting between consular officials and Ms. Griner, Mr. Allred said.American officials, including Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, have said that certain details surrounding Ms. Griner’s detention could not be disclosed due to privacy constraints.Since she was detained, family and friends of Ms. Griner have come forward to express their shared desire to get her home safely.Ms. Griner’s wife, Cherelle T. Griner, said in an Instagram post last week, “We love you babe!” and “There are no words to express this pain.”The State Department has advised all U.S. citizens in Russia to leave the country and has warned that the U.S. Embassy in Moscow has “severe limitations” on its ability to provide assistance to Americans there. The W.N.B.A. said on Mar. 5 that all of its other players in Ukraine and Russia had left those countries. More