The Khimki city court on Thursday, August 4, sentenced American basketball player Brittney Griner to nine years in prison on drug possession and smuggling charges. During the debate, the state prosecutor asked for the sentence of American basketball player Brittney Griner to 9.5 years in prison and a fine of one million rubles.

The basketball player was arrested in February 2022 in Sheremetyevo. The investigation claims that during the search, Greiner’s luggage was found to contain hash oil vape cartridges. The athlete admitted this, but stated that she would not intentionally bring the banned substance to Russia. She claims that she packed things in a state of stress and didn’t remember putting the cartridges in her bag. Greiner also highlighted that she uses drugs exclusively for personal use.

The prosecutor, speaking in court, said the investigation found no aggravating or extenuating circumstances for Griner. The state attorney asked to deduct the time spent by the basketball player in the pre-trial detention center in the sentence.

Greiner was offered to be traded for Viktor Bout

On July 5, the athlete asked US President Joe Biden to do “everything possible” to get her back home. The White House said it considered Greiner’s detention illegal. Her case was taken up by the special envoy of the President of the United States for hostage matters.

On July 27, CNN reported that Washington had offered Moscow to exchange Brittney Griner, as well as Paul Whelan, BorgWarner’s security director convicted of espionage, for Russian citizen Viktor Bout, who is in an American prison. He was sentenced in 2012 to 25 years in prison for trying to smuggle weapons, support terrorism and plot to kill Americans and US officials. On July 29, according to the same CNN, Moscow offered to add another Russian to the exchange deal – Vadim Krasikov, who was found guilty of the murder of former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin.

On August 1, the US government announced that it had received a “perfidious” response from Moscow – a counterproposal that Washington “does not consider serious”. The White House spokeswoman declined to provide details. However, she stressed that Washington “takes very seriously” the fate of Greiner and Whelan.

One of the best basketball players in the world

Brittney Greiner, 31, is considered by experts as one of the best basketball players in the world. She twice (in 2016 and 2020) won the Olympic Games with the USA team. In addition, Greiner is a women’s NBA champion, two-time world champion, and the owner of many other sports awards.