The Biden administration now believes WNBA star Brittney Griner is being “wrongfully detained” in Russia after allegedly being caught with hashish oil at the airport.
The new designation, reported by ESPN Tuesday, is expected to change the conversation around Griner’s imprisonment, moving the White House to fight more aggressively for her release outside of legal channels. It also frees her teammates and supporters to be vocal after her legal team and wife asked fans to not cause a stir that could make her situation worse.
“Brittney has been detained for 75 days and our expectation is that the White House do whatever is necessary to bring her home,” Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, told ESPN.
A spokesperson for the State Department confirmed the new designation to the New York Daily News.
“With this determination, the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs will lead the interagency team for securing Brittney Griner’s release,” the spokesperson said.
Griner, 31, was arrested in February at Sheremetyevo International Airport near Moscow after Russian authorities allegedly found the vape cartridges in her luggage. She has not been formally charged but is scheduled for a hearing on May 19.
It’s unclear what changed for the White House to change Griner’s designation, but the move comes days after the release of U.S. Marines veteran Trevor Reed, who was freed from a Russian jail in a prisoner swap for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year federal prison sentence in Connecticut for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. Reed, who was convicted of assaulting a Russian cop, was two years into his nine-year sentence.
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson, who was considered crucial in securing Reed’s release and has been working for the same for another American held in Russia, Paul Whelan, is now taking up Griner’s case, according to ESPN.
