State Department spokesperson Ned Price reported officials from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow met with Brittney Griner following her rejected appeal in a Russian court last week.
Price said the U.S. is continuing to negotiate the immediate release of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, according to a Nov. 3 post on Twitter.
“[U.S. Embassy Moscow] officials visited Brittney Griner today. They saw firsthand her tenacity and perseverance despite her present circumstances,” Price said in the Twitter post. “We continue to press for the immediate release of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan and fair treatment for every detained American.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One they were told Griner was doing “as well as can be expected under the circumstances,” according to CNN. Embassy officials previously spoke with Griner on the phone Oct. 18 and Oct. 31 with Paul Whelan.
This latest visit with Griner is their first since August, CNN reported. Whelan, who has been held in a remote prison camp hours from Moscow, has not had an in-person visitor since June 16. Jean-Pierre reiterated the U.S. has ‘made a significant offer to the Russians to resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful, wrongful detentions.”
As State Newswire reported last week, Griner’s appeal for her nine-year sentence was denied by a Russian court Oct. 25. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had called the rejection “another failure of justice” in a Twitter post.
Griner was initially arrested in February after Russian customs agents found vape cartridges containing THC oil in her luggage, according to State Newswire. Griner planned to join a Russian club basketball team she plays for during the WNBA off-season. She received her nine-year sentence Aug. 4.
