Brittney Griner sent to Mordovia, Russia – source

• Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony on drug charges.
• She was arrested at a Moscow airport in February with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil.
• Source says she was taken to Female Penal Colony IK-2 in Yavas, 300 miles southeast of Moscow.

Brittney Griner was taken to a penal colony in Mordovia, a source told Reuters Thursday.

In August, Griner was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony on drug charges after being arrested at a Moscow airport in February with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. She was taken from a detention centre near Moscow to an unknown prison on Nov. 4.

The source said she was taken to Female Penal Colony IK-2 in Yavas, 500 km (300 miles) southeast of Moscow.

Another American, Paul Whelan, is serving a 16-year sentence in Mordovia for espionage charges he denies.

An U.S. “We’re aware of her location and in contact with her legal team,” a State Department spokesperson said.

“However, the Russian Federation has still failed to provide any official notification for such a move of a U.S. citizen, which we strongly protest. The Embassy has continued to press for more information about her transfer and current location.”

Russian prison inmates must sew for long hours for meagre remuneration. Human rights groups and former detainees describe harsh, unsanitary circumstances with limited medical treatment.

Griner and Whelan, a former U.S. No deal has materialized amid heightened tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Griner, who played in the U.S. off-season for a Russian team, said she used cannabis for sports injuries but didn’t mean to break the law by packing the cartridges in her luggage.

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