One can only hope that the Russians know if anything harmful happened to Brittney Griner while she is being detained by them would only cause a more forceful response from America.
With that being said, the Russians and Putin don’t seem to care much these days about what America thinks.
It is possible they are making an example out of Griner, and that is what has this US Congressman very concermed.
A U.S. congressman who played football at Baylor is among those concerned about the welfare of Brittney Griner, who is being held in Russia on drug charges.
Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) spoke Wednesday about Griner, who played for Baylor’s women’s basketball team from 2009 to 2013 and has been with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury for nine seasons.
Allred said Griner, who also played for UMMC Ekaterinburg, was detained in Russia on Feb. 17.
“My office has been in touch with the State Department, and we’re working with them to see what is the best way forward,” said Allred, who a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “I know the administration is working hard to try and get access to her and try to be helpful here. But obviously, it’s also happening in the context of really strained relations. I do think that it’s really unusual that we’ve not been granted access to her from our embassy and our consular services.
“The Russian criminal justice system is very different than ours, very opaque. We don’t have a lot of insight into where she is in that process right now. But she’s been held for three weeks now, and that’s extremely concerning.”
We are going on a month now, and there is no conclusion in sight.
You don’t know what is going on behind the scenes, but the Americans will likely have to give something up to get Griner back. If not, she will be stuck over there for a long time.
Flip the page for a video of her arrest.
