Disturbing theory emerges after US basketball star arrested in Russia
American authorities have levelled a stunning claim against Russia after the country's arrest of WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist, Brittney Griner.
The Phoenix Mercury All-Star player has been detained in Russia on drug charges after being arrested after flying into Moscow from the United States.
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The New York Times reported that the Russian Federal Customs Service detained an American basketball player at Sheremetyevo Airport near Moscow after finding hashish oil vape cartridges in her luggage.
A Russian news service identified the player as the 31-year-old Griner, and a security video viewed by the Times shows a player that appears to be her.
In the video, Griner is going through security wearing a sweatshirt and face mask, and then it shows someone, presumably a customs employee, remove something from her bag.
According to independent Russian news agency Interfax, the arrest happened in February, just after Griner had arrived at Sheremetyevo Airport from New York.
A drug-sniffing dog indicated narcotics in luggage, and when the bag was X-rayed, “so-called ‘vapes'” were discovered “with a specific odour,” according to Interfax, which cited the Russian Federal Customs Service.
However, a former top Pentagon official says she’s concerned Russia is using the arrest of the basketball star as "leverage over the United States".
Evelyn Farkas told Yahoo Sports that Russia may want Griner as a “high-profile hostage” who could serve as a valuable bargaining chip.
“If we want her out of jail, Russia is going to have some terms,” said Farkas, who served as the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia and Ukraine from 2012-15.
“It could be a prisoner swap. They also could use it as an implicit threat or blackmail to get us to do something or not do something. Either way, they find it useful.”
In a statement over the weekend, agent Lindsay Kagawa said: “We are aware of the situation with Brittney Griner in Russia and are in close contact with her, her legal representation in Russia, her family, her teams, and the WNBA and NBA."
Griner’s arrest potentially could entangle her fate in the confrontation between Russia and the West over Ukraine. Russia is facing severe economic sanctions from America and other nations, sanctions that Vladimir Putin likened to an act of war.
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William Partlett, an associate professor at Melbourne Law School and an expert on Russian politics, told Yahoo Sports that Griner is "in more danger now than she would have been pre-invasion."
These types of cases are often resolved through negotiations, but Partlett pointed out "there is far less of a US consular presence in Russia right now to help with Brittney's case."
With Russia's government cracking down on all independent-thinking institutions, Griner also can't count on a fair trial.
"It is likely," Partlett said, "that the judge and the investigators will be waiting for instructions from above on how to proceed and this might include an attempt to try to use her release as a bargaining chip."
If Russia does try to use Griner for such purposes, Partlett still doesn't expect a speedy resolution.
"Maybe the US has someone in custody who they could exchange?" But the sanctions and aid to Ukraine will not be lessened in order to get her out," Partlett said.
Griner is one of many American women’s basketball stars who supplement their modest WNBA salaries by playing overseas during the winter.
Some of the top teams in Russia or Turkey will pay the world’s best players annual salaries of more than $1 million, almost five times the WNBA’s maximum salary.
Longtime women's basketball agent Mike Cound told Yahoo Sports on Saturday that Griner’s Russian team “pays per month at a level no one matches.”
Since the invasion of Ukraine, Cound has has been advising any American players to leave Russia, with concerns the crippling sanctions being imposed on the country will render Russian teams unable to pay foreign players or provide flights to get them home safely.
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