U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the nine-year sentence given to WNBA star Brittney Griner «compounds the injustice» she has gone through in Russia since her arrest earlier this year. «It puts a spotlight on our very significant turn with Russia's legal system and the Russian government's use of wrongful detentions to advance its own agenda using individuals as political pawns,» Blinken said Friday at a meeting with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia.
Griner was convicted Thursday and sentenced to nine years in prison and fined 1 million rubles (about $16,700). She had been arrested Feb.
17 at a Moscow airport after vape cartridges containing hashish oil were found in her luggage. The verdict and sentencing were expected steps toward a swap to bring Griner back to the United States, as Russia was not going to move forward with a trade until her trial was completed.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appeared to confirm that Friday when he said Russia was ready to discuss a prisoner swap in private.