Brittney Griner Arrest: Houston native, WNBA star in Russia could be 'bargaining chip' political analyst says.
native, Olympic gold medalist and WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner, 31, was arrested in Russia on a drug charge in early February.
"There is the potential even if the original intention of the Russian government wasn’t to use her as a bargaining chip, she may now have become one," said Mark Jones, Professor of Political Science at Rice University. "The Ukrainian resistance has surprised Putin and put him in a position where he really doesn’t know what to do next, and that becomes dangerous for any American detained because they become pawns in any attempt to negotiate with the United States," Jones said. Jones also notes that Russia has detained U.S. citizens in the past to use as bargaining chips later on.
"The importance of WNBA players to the Russian women’s basketball league, the last thing they would want is U.S. women to decide they never want to play in Russia again because that’s one of their top sources of basketball players" Jones explained. On Saturday Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee spoke out on Griner’s behalf saying cannabis should be the least of Russia's worries.