Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner, who was formerly jailed in Russia on drug charges, released a social media post on Saturday calling for the release of Wall Street Journalist reporter Evan Gershkovich.
He was arrested last week on espionage charges.
In a statement posted on Instagram, Griner and her wife, Cherelle, asked their supporters to “encourage” the Biden administration to bring Gershkovich and other unlawfully detained Americans home.
“Every American who is taken is ours to fight for and every American returned is a win for us all,” the couple said in a statement posted on Instagram.
More than 30 news organizations and press freedom advocates have written the Russian ambassador in the United States to express concern Russia is sending the message that reporting inside the country is criminalized.
Interactions between the top U.S. and Russian diplomats have been rare since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, though they did have a brief conversation last month on the sidelines of the Group of 20 conference of foreign ministers in India. It was the highest-level in-person talks between the two countries since the war.
That interaction was their first contact since last summer, when Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked to Lavrov by phone about a U.S. proposal for Russia to release Whelan and Griner. Though Whelan was not included in the one-for-one swap that resulted in the release of Griner, U.S. officials said they remain committed to bringing him home.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by CHERELLE T. GRINER, J.D. (@cherelletgriner)
