Brittney Griner's ordeal: the 0.70 grams of cannabis oil for vaping that led to nine years in prison in Russia

• Brittney Griner Conviction of Drug Possession and Smuggling

Brittney Griner

, one of the great stars of women's basketball, has been

.

The American was arrested on February 17 at Sheremetyevo airport when police found

containing 0.252 and 0.45 grams of cannabis oil in her luggage.

It is a substance used by more and more athletes in their country to treat pain, but illegal in Russia.

In an official statement,

called the sentence "unacceptable."

The US president reiterated that Brittney Griner is "illegally detained" and urged Russia to "release her immediately."

However, his administration has been preparing for this scenario for a long time.

Russian justice favors the prosecution and, despite Griner's collaboration, it was taken for granted that the sentence would be onerous.

The sentence does not mark the end of the case, but the beginning of a new phase: negotiating a prisoner exchange.

The sentence does not mark the end of the case, but the beginning of a new phase.

Russian justice favors the prosecution and, despite Griner's collaboration, it was taken for granted that the sentence would be onerous.

For weeks, the United States has been negotiating a

, but the public message from Kremlin officials has been invariable: let the "formalities" of the trial finish before sitting down to talk.

A few days ago, the Secretary of State,

, assured that his country had made "a substantial offer" to release her and

, a former Marine convicted of espionage.

The details of the offer were not disclosed, but the press noted the name of

, an arms dealer known as 'the merchant of death'.

According to CNN, Russia countered by demanding a second prisoner, Chechen

.

Brittner Griner has become one more piece in the immense puzzle of relationships between two giants.

Two parallel races

Griner was one of many WNBA stars to have two parallel careers.

Many take advantage of the rest months to play in Europe, where salaries are higher.

In 2015

, one of the greatest in history, gave up playing the season with the Phoenix Mercury because her European team, UMMC Yekaterinburg, paid her to rest.

In Russia she was paid almost 15 times more.

Griner was his partner at both clubs and on the United States team.

.

On one side of the pond, she won the

with the Mercury.

On the other hand, she played four

with UMMC Yekaterinburg, all with

and the last three with the Spanish coach,

.

That was where she was headed when she was arrested at Sheremetyevo airport.

The American assured that it was a mistake when packing and presented the medical prescription of cannabis for her chronic pain.

She hasn't mattered, nor has the meager amount (0.702 grams total) or the support of UMMC Yekaterinburg, a Russian basketball giant.

In recent days, she denounced that at the time of her arrest she was not given access to a lawyer, her rights were not properly explained to her, and they made her sign documents without knowing what they said.

For three weeks there were no certainties about the whereabouts of Brittney Griner, until in early March the Federal Customs Service issued images of the inspection at the airport.

A few hours later, the state news agency TASS confirmed her identity.

.

It was not known where or when she had been taken.

It took an investigation by the 'New York Times' to conclude that Brittney Griner was being held in the IK-1 penal colony, some 70 kilometers from Moscow.

The player had to wait three months to see someone other than her legal team in person and more than four for the trial to begin.

A week after her arrest, two weeks before those first images of her arrest saw the light, Russia began the invasion of Ukraine.

NBA support

In the world of basketball there have been gestures of support for Brittney Griner during these months.

This season, her initials (BG) and her bib number (42) are on the side of every WNBA court.

In the third hearing of the trial, she showed between the bars a photo of this year's All-Star, where all the players wore her name and her number on their jersey.

In the last NBA Finals, the Celtics and the Warriors went out to warm up with jerseys that read 'We are BG'.

In the United States, it has been criticized that, if it had been

and not Brittney Griner, his government would not have allowed this.

However, that would imply that he has some sort of power in a situation that is so far out of his

.

Griner is just one more piece on the huge chessboard of tensions between Russia and the United States.

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