The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned the “hype” raised by US officials in the case of American basketball star Britney Grainer, who is on trial in Russia for drug smuggling, in a case with strong political overtones that US President Joe Biden has given “priority.”
Russian media quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying that “the general noise that modern politicians like so much can interfere in this case”, adding that “this is not just a distraction, but a confusion in the matter.” He added that “what can help (…) ensure that the American side takes into account the signals it receives from Russia.” The White House announced yesterday that the release of Britney Grainer is a “priority” for the President of the United States, who read a touching message from a football player.
frightened
The Russian warning will be issued on the day of the second trial of the Greiner case, which faces up to 10 years in prison. The Phoenix Mercury player traveled to Russia in February to play during the NBA break, a common practice for basketball players who sometimes earn more abroad than they do at home.
Upon her arrival at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow last summer, the Olympic champion with the Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020 teams was arrested with what the indictment says was cannabis oil in e-cigarette packages in her bag. While Ryabkov stressed that trial should be awaited, some pointed to a possible exchange of prisoners between the United States and Russia.
“It is clear that the judicial procedures have not yet been completed. We cannot talk about what will happen next until the case is closed,” the Russian diplomat said. In light of Russian judicial practice, the 31-year-old athlete faces a harsh sentence.
She wrote a letter to President Joe Biden, which was symbolically left at the White House on Independence Day Monday, imploring him not to “forget” him. “I know you have a lot of things to take care of, but please don’t ever forget me and the other American prisoners,” Britney Grainer said from her cell, adding that she was “scared at the thought of staying here forever.”
exchange of prisoners
On Wednesday, Biden called the player’s partner Cheryl Grainer “to reassure her that he is working to get Britney released as soon as possible,” the White House said.
Americans and Russians accuse each other of detaining their citizens for political purposes. Many prisoners have been exchanged in the past. Last April, former US Marine Trevor Reid, who was sentenced in Russia to nine years in prison for violence, was exchanged for Russian pilot Konstantin Yarochenko, who has been imprisoned in the US since 2010 for drug smuggling.
Observers say that other exchanges of this kind will be the subject of possible negotiations between the two countries. The most frequently mentioned names include Paul Whelan, an American sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage, who pleads not guilty, and prominent Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and is serving a 25-year prison sentence. In the United States.
A similar case with Greiner resulted in a diplomatic agreement between Moscow and Israel. In January 2020, during a meeting in Moscow with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Putin pardoned Israeli-American Naama Issachar, who was imprisoned in Russia for “drug smuggling.” Issachar was arrested in April 2019 while passing through Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow on a flight from India to Israel. Nine grams of marijuana were found in her registered bags.
