The American basketball player Brittney Griner has been sent by the Russian authorities to a penal colony, where prisoners perform forced labor.
The athlete, convicted of possession of a small amount of cannabis oil, was released from her prison on November 4, according to her lawyers on Wednesday, who indicated that they do not know her current location and the final destination of she.
Her lawyers indicated that Russia normally sends these prisoner transfer notifications by mail, which can be delayed up to two weeks.
Griner's arrest sparked widespread outrage in the United States.
Her Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, proposed to Russia an agreement to free her from her.
The White House press secretary,
Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated that they had presented "a substantial offer" to resolve the case.
"Every minute that Brittney Griner must endure arbitrary detention in Russia is one minute too many," she said in a statement.
Before the conviction, the US State Department declared that the athlete had been "wrongly detained", a charge that Russia rejected outright.
The US administration says it is working tirelessly to secure his release and that President Joe Biden has urged his Russian captors to improve his treatment and the conditions he may have to endure in the penal colony.
Griner, 32, is a two-time Olympic gold medalist with the United States and was in the Russian league, where he played for Yekaterinburg.
On October 25, the Russian Justice rejected the appeal of the American basketball player and kept in force the sentence of nine years in prison for drug possession and smuggling.
Griner's attorneys argued after the conviction that the punishment was excessive.
They noted that in similar cases defendants have received an average sentence of about five years and that a third of them have been granted parole.
Her arrest in February came at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, just before the invasion of Ukraine.
Some information suggests that the solution for the basketball player and for Paul Whelan, another American detained in Russia on charges of espionage, would be an exchange of prisoners.
The United States is contemplating freeing its compatriots by handing over to Russia Viktor Bout, a notorious arms dealer sentenced to 25 years in prison in the United States.
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