The American basketball star was arrested in February in a Russian airport amid tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and attempts to win her release have repeatedly failed.
The Phoenix Mercury were encouraged to continue their public campaign for the W.N.B.A. star’s release from Russia, where the U.S. government has said she has been “wrongfully detained.”
Those close to Griner pursued a strategy of silence after her detention in Russia in February, hoping to avoid politicizing her case. Now they are amping up public pressure, with some of it aimed at President Biden.
The atrocities of the war in Ukraine and Griner’s detention in Russia on drug charges could cut off a lucrative pipeline for women’s basketball players.
The State Department went public with its push to negotiate Griner’s release from custody in Russia, where she has been held on drug charges since February.