US Olympic basketball champion Brittney Griner has been arrested in Russia on narcotics-related charges, according to Russian authorities and US sports bodies, amid a crisis between the West and Moscow over Ukraine.
“USA Basketball is aware of and closely monitoring the legal situation facing Brittney Griner in Russia,” the US national team tweeted, saying its “concern” for the player’s “safety and well-being”.
Her Phoenix Mercury club and the union of American professional players, the WNBPA, also said they were "informed" of Brittney Griner's situation.
It was in February that the inspection of his hand luggage on arrival in Russia on a flight from New York would have made it possible to "confirm the presence of vapers (and) of a liquid with a particular smell" of cannabis oil (hashish oil), Russia's Federal Customs Service said in a statement on Saturday.
Statement from the WNBPA regarding Brittney Griner.
pic.twitter.com/Bw9sVCJAlX
— WNBPA (@TheWNBPA) March 5, 2022
The customs, which do not specify the identity of the young woman, nevertheless indicate that it is "a member of the American National Basketball Association and two-time Olympic basketball champion with the American team", a track record which corresponds to that of Brittney Griner, crowned at the Olympic Games for the second time in Tokyo in 2021. Griner has been playing for several years, during the American off-season, in the Yekaterinburg club in Russia.
She faces 5 to 10 years in prison, according to the same source.
Many players from the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) compete in European leagues during the off-season in the United States, including the Russian and Ukrainian leagues.
