A former top Pentagon official Evelyn Farkas said at the weekend that she’s concerned Russia is detaining American basketball star Brittney Griner as “leverage over the United States.”
Farkas told reporters 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 U.S. 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.”
Griner was arrested at an airport near Moscow last month after Russian authorities searched her luggage and allegedly found vape cartridges containing hashish oil. The Russian Federal Customs Service issued a statement on Saturday that it has opened a criminal investigation into the large-scale transportation of drugs, which in Russia can carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
While the Russian Federal Customs Service did not name Griner, it referred to the detainee as a two-time Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. women’s national team. The organization also released a 51-second video showing airport security sifting through the luggage of a person who appears to be the 6-foot-9 Griner.
Neither the WNBA nor Griner’s agent denied Russian media reports that it was Griner who had been arrested. In a statement released at the weekend, agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas 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 the U.S. and other nations, sanctions that Vladimir Putin on Saturday declared akin to an act of war.
Griner is not the first U.S. citizen that Russia has held in custody as tensions between the two nations have escalated.
Last August, a U.S. teacher was arrested with marijuana and cannabis at a Moscow airport and accused of smuggling drugs into the country on a large scale. That followed the detainment of two former U.S. Marines in separate incidents: Trevor Reed, who allegedly got into an altercation with Russian police officers; and Paul Whelan, who was accused of espionage.
American officials have said they believe Russia is using those prisoners as bargaining chips. Farkas sees the Griner situation as potentially more of the same and warns Griner could be imprisoned “for years” just like Reed and Whelan.
“It’s a reminder to people doing business in Russia, living in Russia, traveling to Russia that there is no rule of law,” Farkas said. “In Russia, you are not protected.”
