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☆ 'I want to talk': WNBA star Brittney Griner opened up during her long trip home
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

American basketball star Brittney Griner gets out of a plane after landing at the JBSA-Kelly Field Annex runway on December 9, 2022 in San Antonio, after she was released from a Russian prison in exchange for a notorious arms dealer. WNBA star Brittney Griner didn't want any alone time as soon as she boarded a U.S. government plane that would bring her home. She then asked Carstens, referring to others on the plane: "But, first of all, who are these guys?" Ultimately, Griner spent about 12 hours of an 18-hour flight talking with others on the plane, Carstens said. "I was left with the impression this is an intelligent, passionate, compassionate, humble, interesting person, a patriotic person," Carstens said.

☆ ‘I want to talk’: Brittney Griner opened up during her long trip home
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON (AP) — WNBA star Brittney Griner didn’t want any alone time as soon as she boarded a U.S. government plane that would bring her home. I want to talk,” Griner said, according to Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, who helped secure the basketball star’s release and bring her back to the U.S. last week. “It was really amazing.”Ultimately, Griner spent about 12 hours of an 18-hour flight talking with others on the plane, Carstens said. The U.S. State Department declared Griner to be “wrongfully detained” — a charge that Russia has sharply rejected. But the U.S. was unable to secure the freedom of Paul Whelan, who has been held in Russia for nearly four years.

WNBA star Brittney Griner arrived back in the United States early Friday after being freed from Russian custody, bringing a nearly yearlong ordeal to an end. Eric Gay / APIn earlier video, Russian media had showed Griner crossing paths with Bout after walking off a Russian plane in Abu Dhabi, where she was met by a U.S. official during the exchange. President Joe Biden, who said he approved the deal that saw Griner freed, said Thursday that she had been "held under intolerable circumstances." In a written statement Thursday night, the Griner family thanked Biden, his administration and others for their efforts. Whelan’s family said they had been told by the Biden administration in advance that he would not be part of the prisoner swap Thursday that freed Griner.

☆ Griner lands in U.S. as Russia's Bout greets family in Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Basketball star Brittney Griner landed in the United States on Friday after 10 months in Russian detention that ended with a prisoner swap with arms dealer Viktor Bout who flew home hours earlier to embrace his family on the airport tarmac in Moscow. The two countries had swapped prisoners in April when Russia released former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed and the United States released Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko. Griner, 32, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and star of the Women's National Basketball Association's Phoenix Mercury, flew in to San Antonio, Texas. She had been arrested on Feb. 17 at a Moscow airport after vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is banned in Russia, were found in her luggage. As Griner flew back home, Bout arrived in Moscow and hugged his mother and wife after stepping onto the tarmac, television images showed.

☆ Brittney Griner arrives in the U.S. after prisoner exchange with Russia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 9 (Reuters) - A plane carrying basketball star Brittney Griner landed in the United States early on Friday, nearly 10 months after she was detained in Russia. Griner was released in a prisoner swap with Russia in exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout and was heading home on Thursday, ending what President Joe Biden called months of "hell" for her and her wife. [1/3] The plane carrying U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner arrives, following her release from prison in Russia, in San Antonio, Texas, U.S., December 9, 2022. The swap was a rare instance of cooperation between the United States and Russia since the invasion of Ukraine. The two countries also swapped prisoners in April when Russia released former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed and the United States released Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko.

"Grateful for the long-overdue release of Brittney Griner today from Russian custody. "Thank you to every single person that kept Brittney Griner’s name alive #WEAREBG," tweeted one of her Phoenix Mercury teammates, Brianna Turner. The Biden administration wasn't able to secure Whelan's release because the Russian government is treating his case differently than Griner's, Biden said. “While we celebrate Brittney’s release, Paul Whelan and his family continue to suffer needlessly,” Blinken said. Share this -Link copiedWho is Viktor Bout, Russian arms dealer that the U.S. exchanged for Brittney Griner?

☆ WNBA star Brittney Griner released from Russian custody in a high-profile prisoner swap between the U.S. and Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | Andrea Mitchell | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

WASHINGTON — WNBA star Brittney Griner is free Thursday after the Biden administration negotiated her release from a Russian penal colony in exchange for an arms dealer, according to a senior administration official. People familiar with the negotiations for his release say the Russians refused to release Whelan without getting a Russian spy in return. The entrance to the Russian penal colony IK-2 on Nov. 19, 2022, where Griner began serving her sentence. The Biden administration has faced tremendous pressure to help bring home the 6-foot-9 Houston native. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP fileGriner’s release is the second publicly known U.S. prisoner swap with Russia since the war in Ukraine started.

☆ Brittney Griner live updates: WNBA star released from Russia in a prisoner swap for Viktor Bout
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Tom_Winter_Nbc_News.Jpg | Zoë Richards | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Biden criticized Russia for “treating Paul’s case differently” than Griner’s and said that negotiations are ongoing. Biden’s administration had sought the release of both Griner and Paul Whelan. Griner’s release also marks a stunning turn of events from last month, when she began serving a nine-year sentence at a Russian penal colony more than 200 miles east of Moscow. The Whalen family has publicly criticized the Biden administration for not doing more to secure his release. People familiar with the negotiations for his release say the Russians refused to release Whelan without getting a Russian spy in return.

WASHINGTON—Women’s basketball star Brittney Griner has been released from a Russian penal colony and is being returned to the U.S. through a prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, which culminated on Thursday with a Cold War-style handover on an airport runway in Abu Dhabi. The swap capped a drama that began in February, when Ms. Griner—a 32-year-old two-time Olympian and center for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury—was on her way to a high-paying professional basketball job in Russia during the U.S. offseason. She was detained after landing in Moscow with less than a gram of hashish oil in her luggage, days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ms. Griner was later convicted of drug smuggling and possession and sentenced to nine years in a penal colony.

REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool//File PhotoWASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner has been released in a prisoner swap with Russia and is on her way back to the United States, President Joe Biden said on Thursday, ending what he called months of "hell." The Russian foreign ministry said it traded Griner for Russian citizen Viktor Bout, a former arms dealer. The swap took place at the Abu Dhabi airport in the United Arab Emirates, Russian news agencies said. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone with Griner from the Oval Office, along with Griner's wife, Cherelle. For experts on the Russian security services, Moscow's lasting interest in Bout hint strongly at Russian intelligence ties.

☆ She’s one of the WNBA’s biggest stars. This is Brittney Griner’s stellar career so far
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Matias Grez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Brittney Griner’s release from detention in Russia ends a nine-month ordeal and allows her the chance to restart her stellar basketball career. In total, Griner is an seven-time WNBA All-Star – only seven players in WNBA history have made more All-Star appearances. For many years, WNBA players have regularly gone overseas during the WNBA’s offseason to make the most of the higher salaries they can earn in international leagues. According to the New York Times, nearly half of the WNBA’s 144 players traveled to play abroad during the last offseason. “But negatively, there is a factor that you will be tired for the new WNBA season and this can cause injuries and, maybe, you’ll be out of the season.

☆ Factbox: Brittney Griner, U.S. basketball star caught up in Russia crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, stands inside a defendants' cage before a court hearing in Khimki outside Moscow, Russia August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool/File PhotoDec 8 (Reuters) - A U.S. official said on Thursday that U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who had been jailed in Russia in charges of possessing and smuggling illegal drugs, was now in U.S. custody. Russia said she had been traded for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer jailed in the United States. Brittney Griner, 32, is a double Olympic champion and seven-times All-Star player in the U.S. Women's National Basketball Association (WBNA). Known as "BG" to basketball fans, she has played for UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia during the WNBA winter off-season since 2014.

US WNBA basketball superstar Brittney Griner arrives to a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow on June 27, 2022. Kirill Kudryavtsev | AFP | Getty ImagesWNBA star Brittney Griner is free Thursday after the Biden administration negotiated her release from a Russian penal colony in exchange for an arms dealer, according to a senior administration official. Maxim Shemetov | ReutersGriner will be flown to a medical facility in San Antonio where she will receive care, a senior administration official said. Cherelle Griner, will meet her there, according to a senior administration official. People familiar with the negotiations for his release say the Russians refused to release Whelan without getting a Russian spy in return.

☆ Biden administration brings WNBA star Brittany Griner home for the holidays after 10 months in Russian custody
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The Biden administration is bringing WNBA star Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia for 10 months, home for the holidays after months of negotiation. "She is safe, she is on a plane, she is on her way home," U.S. President Joe Biden announced Thursday. Cherelle Griner was present and able to speak with Brittney when Biden made the call from the Oval Office. Notably absent from the swap was another American detained in Russia, Paul Whelan, who has been in Russian custody since 2018. "We've not forgotten about Paul Whelan," Biden said.

Griner arrived in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi by private plane from Moscow as Bout was flown in on a private plane from Washington. Bout, nicknamed the "merchant of death," embraced a Russian official who greeted him and smiled broadly as he was led away. A joint UAE-Saudi statement said the UAE president and Saudi crown prince led mediation efforts that secured Griner's release. Griner was exchanged for Bout, a onetime Russian weapons dealer who had been convicted in the United States and imprisoned for 10 years. During the prisoner swap, Griner was met on the tarmac in UAE by chief U.S. hostage negotiator Roger Carstens.

☆ Saudi Arabia did not mediate in Griner release, White House says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] U.S. President Joe Biden and Cherelle Griner speak on the phone with WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner after her release by Russia, in this White House handout photo taken in the Oval Office, as Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken look on, at the White House in Washington, U.S. December 8, 2022. The White House/Handout via REUTERSWASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The release of basketball star player Brittney Griner was negotiated between the United States and Russia only, the White House said on Thursday, denying a Saudi Arabia statement that it was involved. "The only countries that negotiated this deal were the United States and Russia," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, when asked about Saudi Arabia's role. Griner was exchanged for Viktor Bout, a onetime Russian weapons dealer who had been convicted in the United States and imprisoned for 10 years. “We are also grateful to other countries including Saudi Arabia” that raised the issue of detained Americans with the Russian government, she said.

☆ 'She is coming home': WNBA players cheer Griner's release
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 8 (Reuters) - Brittney Griner's Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team mates and fellow athletes cheered her release from Russian custody on Thursday, months after she was first detained in a Moscow airport. Emma Cannon, who plays for the Indiana Fever and was previously on Griner's Phoenix Mercury, wrote on Twitter. "Thank you to every single person that kept Brittney Griner’s name alive," her Phoenix Mercury team mate Brianna Turner tweeted. The WNBA and its men's counterpart, the National Basketball Association (NBA), had advocated for the release of the eight-times All-Star. tweeted twice WNBA champion and finals MVP Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm, who was among the league's vocal advocates for her release.

☆ Biden hopes Putin will be more open to negotiating Brittney Griner's release now midterms are over
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Biden said he hopes Putin will be willing to talk about freeing Brittney Griner with midterms over. He said he hopes Putin will "be willing to talk more seriously about a prisoner exchange." Griner's appeal to her nine-year sentence was rejected, and she has been sent to a penal colony. Biden has publicly spoken about trying to release Griner multiple times. Earlier this week Griner's wife, Cherelle Griner, said she was worried about the basketball star's mental health.

American basketball player Brittney Griner, jailed in Russia in what the United States calls a wrongful detention, is being moved to a penal colony, her attorneys said Wednesday. “Every minute that Brittney Griner must endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too long,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement Wednesday. Griner pleaded guilty in July, but said that she'd packed hurriedly for a flight and brought the canisters to Russia unintentionally. Griner treated injuries with medical cannabis, her attorneys argued at the trial. She had been in Russia to play with a Russian Premier League women’s team, UMMC Ekaterinburg, which she has done since 2014.

The wife of detained basketball star Brittney Griner said Tuesday that she fears for her wife's mental health and that the decorated player's "mind is fading" in Russian custody. Cherelle Griner said she last spoke with her wife in mid-October as she described her struggles to overcome the mental hardships of Russian imprisonment. Cherelle Griner said Tuesday on ABC's "The View." But this is just absurd," Cherelle Griner told the panel of "The View." Cherelle Griner said her only hope now is for the White House and the Kremlin to agree to a prisoner swap.

A Russian appeals court is due on Tuesday to hear the case of WNBA star Brittney Griner, sentenced to nine years in prison in what the United States has called a wrongful detention. Griner, 32, “is quite pessimistic about the outcome” of the appeal, one of her attorneys, Maria Blagovolina, said Monday on MSNBC. Medical cannabis is illegal in Russia, but it is legal in most of the U.S.United States officials say Griner is being wrongfully detained. “It is our goal to see them home as soon as we can.”Griner's wife, Cherelle Griner, has said that Brittney Griner is being held hostage. When she was detained, Griner had been in Russia to play for a Russian Premier League women’s team, UMMC Ekaterinburg, which she had since 2014.

CNN —Brittney Griner is appealing her verdict in Russian court Tuesday, nearly three months after the US basketball star was convicted of smuggling drugs into the country and sentenced to nine years in prison. Griner’s appeal will be considered in the Moscow Regional Court in a hearing at which her attorneys are expected to argue the verdict was unfair and unjustified under Russian law, they told CNN. The court hearing the appeal can choose to leave Griner’s verdict in place, overrule it and send it back to the lower court, or reduce Griner’s prison term, they said. “Brittney is very strong person and has a champion’s character,” Blagovolina and Boykov told CNN in a written statement ahead of Griner’s appeal. “However, she of course has her highs and lows as she is severely stressed being separated from her loved ones for over eight months.”“She is very nervous waiting for the appeal hearing,” they added.

☆ Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka suspended for 2022-23 season
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics have suspended coach Ime Udoka for the 2022-23 season, effective immediately, and with no guarantee he will be back with the franchise in the future. The Celtics said Thursday night that Udoka was suspended for “violations of team policies.”“A decision about his future with the Celtics beyond this season will be made at a later date,” the Celtics said. Udoka, in a statement published by ESPN, apologized but did not offer detail. “I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization, and my family for letting them down. I am sorry for putting the team in this difficult situation, and I accept the team’s decision.

☆ Suns owner Sarver announces plans to sell team
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 16, 2022; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver takes images during a game against the Houston Rockets at Footprint Center. An independent investigation found that Sarver, who bought the Suns and the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury in 2004, engaged in inequitable conduct toward female employees, including "sex-related comments" and inappropriate remarks on female employees' appearances. "For those reasons, I am beginning the process of seeking buyers for the Suns and Mercury." Sarver purchased the Suns in 2004 for $401 million. The team was valued at $1.8 billion at the beginning of last season, according to Forbes.

☆ WNBA players skipping Russia, choosing other places to play
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Brittney Griner's highly publicized legal woes in Russia and the country's invasion of Ukraine has the top WNBA players opting to take their talents elsewhere this offseason. For the past few decades, Russia has been the preferred offseason destination for WNBA players to compete because of the high salaries that can exceed $1 million and the resources and amenities teams offered them. Nearly a dozen WNBA players competed in Russia last winter and none of them are heading back this year. Like Stewart, Vandersloot also isn't headed back to Russia, choosing to play in Hungary where she obtained citizenship in 2016. The Griner situation also is weighing heavily on the minds of young WNBA players.

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