Brittney Griner’s Detainment Highlights Pay Inequity in the U.S.

Prior to her arrest at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on February 17, 2022, Brittney Griner was a professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury and a seven-time WNBA all-star. While playing professionally in the United States, Griner spent ten of those years playing overseas for Russia’s UMMC Ekaterinburg to increase her earnings. On July 7, 2022, Griner plead guilty to charges for transporting her vape cartridges containing less than one gram of hashish oil through a Russian airport, all without being offered an explanation of her rights nor access to lawyers. 

Before her detainment, there were a few Americans detained in Russia for similar reasons to Griner’s charge一Paul Whelan, former Marine, and Mark Vogel, former employee of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow , . In Russia’s purview, Griner is a convenient bargaining chip used to reclaim infamous war criminal Viktor Bout. Compared to other American detainees in Russia, Griner’s celebrity puts greater pressure on America to get her out of Russia, which Russia uses to their advantage. On August 4, 2022, Russia’s court sentenced Griner to serve nine and a half years in prison.