WNBA star detained in Russia

photo via Wikimedia under the creative commons license

Britney Griner playing for the UMMC Ekaterinburg.

WNBA star, Brittney Griner, was reportedly detained in Russia.

The date is unknown but it was sometime late February, and her location at the moment is also currently unknown.

Griner plays for the Phoenix Mercury, and she spends her off-seasons playing for a team in Russia called the UMMC Ekaterinburg. She was detained after the Russian Federal Customs Service told reporters an American was detained at a Moscow airport because they found hash oil in her luggage. 

The US relationship with Russia is extremely tense right now, so the odds of getting Griner out of Russia at this moment might be quite low. The crime she was detained for is a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Griner has been playing on this Russian team since 2016 during every offseason for the WNBA. Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner has publicly called for the release of her wife.