Brittney Griner is easily the most prominent American locked up by a foreign country. But the WNBA star's case is tangled up with that of a lesser-known American also imprisoned in Russia.
that brought home yet another detainee, Marine veteran Trevor Reed. That has escalated pressure on the Biden administration to avoid another one-for-one swap that does not include Whelan — even as it presses for the release of Griner, an Olympic gold medalist whose case has drawn global attention.For Griner and Whelan, the other's case injects something of a wild card into their own, for better or worse.
“It's still very raw,” Whelan's sister, Elizabeth Whelan, said of her brother being excluded from the Reed deal. “And to think we might have to go through that again if Brittney is brought home first is just terrible.”But “what's really bad” about feeling that way, she hastened to add, is that she and her family absolutely want Griner released, too. “It's not like we don't want her home. We want everyone out of there, out of Russia and away from that situation.
U.S. officials have not said whether swaps are being discussed that could get Griner, Whelan or both home, or whether they’d accept a deal that yields the release of one without the other. A spokesman for the State Department office that advocates for wrongfully detained Americans, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, or SPEHA, declined to say how the cases might affect each other but said in a statement that the office remains committed to securing the release of both.
Griner’s fame cuts both ways, said St. Julian-Varnon. If ever Russia wants to reestablish itself as a country hospitable to foreign athletes like Griner, the country would have significant incentive to release her. But given Griner's “political value” to Russia, it may also make a huge demand for her release.Tamryn Spruill, a freelance journalist and author who launched a Change.
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