Griner and Other Detained Americans Seem to Be Russia’s Bargaining Chips

Russia has held Women’s National Basketball Association star Brittney Griner in jail since February 2022. The charges: transportation of drugs, after Russian authorities allegedly found an illegal substance in her luggage at the Moscow airport. Such a charge carries a penalty of as long as 10 years in prison, possibly in one of Russia’s harsh penal colonies.

Griner’s detention has sparked an outcry of public support. While at first discreet out of concern for Griner’s safety, her wife and family have become more vocal about her case, working desperately to get news of her and to secure her release. The WNBA, the Phoenix Mercury, and tens of thousands of her fans have offered both symbolic and practical support, focusing on keeping Griner in the public eye.

The Biden administration takes charge

The United States government, while slow to move on Griner’s case amid tensions with Russia over its February 24 invasion of Ukraine, has since issued public statements of support. In May, the State Department reclassified her case as wrongful detention and assigned the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs to oversee it. 

Justice delayed

As Griner’s detention dragged on, Russia eventually announced it would be extended into late May, then when that date passed, it was extended again. On July 1, she was finally given a court hearing. Initial reports from the first session said that a Russian customs official testified, as did an as-yet-unnamed witness in a closed session. 

Concern for Griner’s physical and emotional well-being continues to mount. For one thing, her wife told the media that her jailers are forcing the 6-foot-9-inch Griner into a “very tiny cage” for the five-hour ride every time they transport her to and from court. Further, although she’s played basketball for years in Russia as a freelancer during the WNBA off-season, she does not understand Russian. Regardless, the July 1 hearing was conducted entirely in Russian, and Griner struggled to explain herself. Three officials from the American embassy and a handful of journalists were present. Her Russian attorney has said the trial could last as long as two months.

And as an openly gay Black American woman, Griner is facing an even more complex and perilous road. Russia has adopted harsh anti-gay legislation, and she is now surrounded by a culture that is probably as difficult for her to understand as the language. Only allowed to communicate with her wife through letters, Griner has no one to even hold a conversation with.

Justice denied

Many who know the Russian legal system well have said Griner can expect no more than a show trial whose outcome has been predetermined. A USA Today report noted that fewer than 1 percent of all defendants in Russian courts receive acquittals. 

The fact that she’s a two-time Olympic gold medalist, a seven-time WNBA All-Star, and the first openly LGBTQ celebrity-athlete signed for a Nike endorsement deal seems not to make any difference to the Russian court. While foreigners accused of drug possession often receive short sentences, fines, and deportation, President Vladimir Putin appears to find Griner a more valuable asset in detention. 

Bargaining chips or human beings?

Griner isn’t the only high-profile American Russia has trapped in what amounts to a hostage situation. In April 2022, the country released US citizen Trevor Reed in a prisoner swap with the Americans. Reed’s health had deteriorated from being held in Russian prisons since 2019. In 2020 he received a nine-year sentence.  

Reed’s alleged crime was getting into an altercation with local police and putting their “life and health” in danger. He has disputed these allegations. His family has said that once he returned to the US, he showed symptoms consistent with tuberculosis and a broken rib but had not received adequate treatment in Russia.  

After Reed regained his freedom, his family continued to advocate for the release of Paul Whelan, another US citizen (with additional British, Canadian, and Irish citizenship) detained in Russia.  

Whelan is an ex-Marine detained in 2018 on allegations of espionage, which he has vociferously denied. In 2020 he received a 16-year sentence in a typically unfair Russian trial. As of late June 2022, he remains in Russian hands and has publicly called out the US for leaving him behind when they conducted the swap that freed Reed. 

The Biden administration has emphasized the “months and months” of painstaking negotiations it took to get Reed released, trading him for a Russian nearing the end of his sentence in the US on charges related to drug smuggling. The government continues to work toward the release of Whelan and Griner, officials have said. Although Whelan’s family members have noted that the Biden administration has taken a far more caring and proactive attitude toward his case than had the Trump administration, they continue to insist on intensified efforts to bring him home. 

Presumably, both Griner and Whelan can be used as bargaining chips between the US and Russia as Russia continues its war against Ukraine. State-supporting media in Russia have claimed Griner’s freedom could be traded for that of an imprisoned Russian arms merchant in an American jail.

Griner’s loved ones have described her as shaken and traumatized, but they have also emphasized her strength. On the first day of her trial, she entered the courtroom wearing a T-shirt with an image of Jimi Hendrix. 

As that great musician once said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”