MOSCOW REGION, RUSSIA - AUGUST 4, 2022: US Olympic basketball champion Brittney Griner who is on trial on drug smuggling charges, appears for a hearing at the Khimki Municipal Court in the town of Khimki, northeast of Moscow. Griner was placed into custody till December 20 over an alleged attempt to smuggle cannabis oil into Russia through Sheremetyevo Airport. Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS/Sipa USA
Russia: US basketball player Brittney Griner in court on drug smuggling charges
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says he hopes Russian President Vladimir Putin will be more willing to negotiate the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner now that the U.S. midterm elections are over. He spoke Wednesday afternoon, hours after Griner’s lawyers revealed that she had been sent to a penal colony to serve her sentence for drug possession. U.S. officials have for months tried to negotiate the release of Griner and another American jailed in Russia, Paul Whelan. But there have been no overt signs of progress.
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