Brittney Griner is currently facing a very difficult situation in Russia. The WNBA star was allegedly caught with hash oil while trying to leave Russia, and as a result, she was detained and is still currently there. Throughout this time, many throughout the basketball world have been trying to raise awareness about Griner’s predicament, especially since it could lead to jail time in a foreign country.
For the most part, the United States had been treating this as a typical case in which Griner would have to go through the Russian legal system. According to ESPN, however, U.S. officials have decided to change their handling of the case as they now believe Griner was “wrongfully detained.”
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With this in mind, the United States will now attempt to negotiate terms and conditions of a release as opposed to just playing the waiting game. Griner’s agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas is very optimistic about this change in philosophy, saying “Brittney has been detained for 75 days and our expectation is that the White House do whatever is necessary to bring her home.” While there is optimism, there is also this sense that anything can happen, and no one is trying to celebrate too soon.
“We feel really good about it,” a source close to Griner said explained, via ESPN. “But we also know it can drag out, so we don’t want to get our hopes too high.”
This remains a high-profile developing story, so stay tuned to HNHH for more news and updates.
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