Double gold Olympian Brittney Griner appeared at a brief hearing on Monday more than four months after her arrest at a Moscow airport where she was allegedly carrying multiple cannabis oil cartridges
Image:Griner, like other WNBA players, has spent several off seasons playing professionally in Russia because of the higher salaries.
Amid tensions, Griner's supporters had taken a low profile in hopes of a quiet resolution, until May, when the US state department reclassified her as wrongfully detained and shifted oversight of her case to its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs - effectively the US government's chief negotiator.
That move has drawn additional attention to Griner's case, with supporters encouraging a prisoner swap like the one in April that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted of drug trafficking conspiracy. Last month, US President Joe Biden's press secretary said the tension with the Kremlin presents challenges in any attempt to negotiate Griner's release.
US secretary of state Anthony Blinken said he has"no higher priority than making sure that Americans who are being illegally detained in one way or another around the world come home".
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