December 14, 2024 02:48 (IST)

Make this your homepage

Foreign

Bengaluru techie suicide: Karnataka Police issues summons to wife Nikita, her family members | French President Macron appoints centrist leader Francois Bayrou as new Prime Minister | Congress always prioritised personal interest over Constitution: Rajnath Singh | Jaishankar calls attack on Hindus in Bangladesh 'a source of concern' | Allu Arjun arrested over woman's death in stampede during Pushpa 2 premiere show | RBI receives bomb threat in Russian language, case filed | UP teenager kills mother, lives with body for 5 days | At least six people including a child killed in Tamil Nadu hospital fire | Amid Atul Subhash row, SC says mere harassment is not enough to prove abetment to suicide | India's D Gukesh becomes youngest ever world champion in chess

Russia-Ukraine war | Brittney Griner

Image Credit: wikipedia.org

Russia arrests US Olympic Basketball Champion amid war with Ukraine

India Blooms News Service | @indiablooms | Mar 06, 2022, at 06:37 am

#Russia #Ukraine #India #RussiaAttacksUkraine #RussiaUkraineCrisis #RussiaUkraineWar #Brittney Griner #USABasketball

Russia has arrested America's two-time Olympic champion, Brittney Griner, on narcotics charges amid rising tensions between Moscow and the West over the latter's invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian Federal Customs Service said in a statement that on inspection of hand luggage carried by "a member of the US National Basketball Association, a two-time Olympic basketball champion in the US team" who arrived on a flight from New York in February "confirmed the presence of 'vapes' (and) a liquid with a specific smell", reported AFP.

The statement said the liquid was the narcotic cannabis oil (hash oil) as determined by an expert, adding that the detained woman faces a potential jail term of five to 10 years.

USA Basketball, the body governing body in the US, said: "Aware of and closely monitoring the legal situation facing Brittney Griner in Russia," adding, "Brittney has always handled herself with the utmost professionalism during her long tenure with USA Basketball and her safety and well-being are our primary concerns."

USA Basketball is aware of and closely monitoring the legal situation facing Brittney Griner in Russia. Brittney has always handled herself with the utmost professionalism during her long tenure with USA Basketball and her safety and wellbeing are our primary concerns.
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) March 5, 2022

Griner, who is 31, is a seven-time all-star center for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), said the AFP report.

Several WNBA athletes play in European leagues, including the Russian and Ukrainian leagues, during the American off-season.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.