Biden öppnar för att träffa Putin på G20 om Griner
Inga nya framsteg har skett gällande amerikanska basketstjärnan Brittney Griners situation, som dömts till nio års fängelse i Ryssland. Det säger USA:s president Joe Biden till Reuters.
Uttalandet kom efter att han sagt att han kan tänka sig att träffa Vladimir Putin på G20-mötet nästa månad om den ryske ledaren vill diskutera frågan.
I helgen sa den tidigare ambassadören och guvernören Bill Richardson till CNN att Griner och den tidigare marinsoldaten Paul Whelan, som också sitter fängslad i Ryssland, skulle kunna släppas runt årsskiftet.
Griner greps på en flygplats i Moskva i februari efter att ha åkt fast i tullen med cannabisolja.
bakgrund
Brittney Griner
Wikipedia (en)
Brittney Yevette Griner (born October 18, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) currently imprisoned in Russia. She played college basketball for the Baylor Lady Bears in Waco, Texas. She is the only NCAA basketball player to both score 2,000 points and block 500 shots. In 2012, the three-time All-American was named the AP Player of the Year and the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. Griner is one of 11 women to receive an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA championship, a FIBA World Cup gold medal and a WNBA championship.
In 2009, Griner was named the nation's No. 1 high school women's basketball player by Rivals.com. She was selected to the 2009 Phoenix Mercury All-American basketball team. In 2012, she received the Best Female Athlete ESPY Award. In 2013, Griner signed an endorsement deal with Nike. Standing 6 ft 9 in (206 cm) tall, Griner wears a men's U.S. size 17 shoe and has an arm span of 87.5 in (222 cm).Griner was on the United States women's Olympic team in 2016, and led them to victory at the Rio Olympics. In 2020, Griner protested the Star Spangled Banner and stated she would not be on the court while the national anthem was played during game openers. In 2021, Griner was named to the United States women's national team for the 2020 Olympics, where she won her second gold medal.
In February 2022, Griner was detained by Russian customs after cartridges containing less than a gram of hashish oil were found in her luggage, and later arrested on drug charges. She had been entering Russia to play with the Russian Premier League during the WNBA offseason. Her trial began on July 1, and she pled guilty to the charges. On August 4, she was sentenced to nine years in prison. US officials have stated that she's "wrongfully detained".
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