When Was Brittney Griner Detained? Timeline From Arrest to Prisoner Swap

WNBA star Brittney Griner has been freed from a Russian prison, President Joe Biden announced Thursday morning.

Griner was detained by Russian authorities nine-plus months ago, just before the Kremlin invaded Ukraine.

Here is a timeline of Griner's ordeal, from arrest to release:

February 17

Griner is detained at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Khimki while returning to Russia to play basketball during the WNBA's off-season, just a week before Russia invades Ukraine on February 24.

She is accused of having vape cartridges containing hashish oil, which is illegal in Russia. Griner faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

March 5

The Russian Federal Customs Service announces that Griner is in custody on drug charges.

March 6

Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the United States will provide "every possible assistance" to citizens being held in foreign countries.

"We have an embassy team that's working on the cases of other Americans who are detained in Russia," he says. "We're doing everything we can to see to it that their rights are upheld and respected."

March 17

Griner's detention is extended until May 9. The prosecutor requests to continue Griner's detention to continue the investigation.

March 18

The State Department issues a statement demanding access to Griner.

"We are closely engaged on this case and in frequent contact with Brittney Griner's legal team," the statement says. "We insist the Russian government provide consular access to all U.S. citizen detainees in Russia, including those in pre-trial detention, as Brittney Griner is."

March 23

Griner meets with U.S. officials for the first time since her pre-trial detention began. The U.S. says Russian officials are denying them access to Griner and two other Americans being held, a violation of international law.

State Department spokesman Ned Price tells reporters that the consular officer who visited with Griner was able to verify that she is "doing as well as can be expected under these very difficult circumstances."

April 11

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert says the league is doing everything it can to bring Griner home before the league's draft.

"This is an unimaginable situation for BG to be in," Engelbert says. "She continues to have our full support. Certainly, we're trying everything we can, every angle, working with her legal representation, her agent, elected leaders, the administration. Just everybody in our ecosystem to try and find ways to get her home safely and as quickly as we can."

April 27

Calls for Griner's release grow after U.S. Marine veteran Trevor Reed is freed from a Russian prison in a prisoner exchange.

May 3

The U.S. declares that Griner is being wrongfully detained by the Russian government.

"The U.S. government will continue to undertake efforts to provide appropriate support to Ms. Griner," the State Department says.

Griner's agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, releases a statement saying that Griner has been detained for 75 days and that "our expectation is that the White House do whatever is necessary to bring her home."

May 13

Russia extends Griner's pre-trial detention until June 18.

June 14

Russia extends Griner's pre-trial detention again until July 2.

June 27

A preliminary hearing is held as Griner's detention is extended for a fourth time. The first day of her trial is set for July 1.

July 1

Griner's trial begins.

July 4

Griner reaches out to President Joe Biden, urging him to free her.

In the handwritten letter, Griner says she fears she will be held in Russia "forever."

"As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I'm terrified I might be here forever," Griner writes to the president. "It hurts thinking about how I usually celebrate [the Fourth of July] because freedom means something completely different to me this year."

July 7

Griner pleads guilty to drug charges.

She says she unintentionally put the vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. Griner tells the Russian court that she had "no intention" of breaking Russian law, as the cartridges were accidently placed in her bag.

July 14

Character witnesses take the stand.

July 27

Griner testifies that she did not intend to leave the vape cartridges in her bag. She said she was in a hurry when packing for the trip and was stressed after recovering from COVID-19. Griner says she had permission to use medical cannabis and used a certificate to buy it in the United States.

Blinken says he will call his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, "in the coming days" to discuss securing the release of Griner and Paul Whelan. Whelan is a former Marine who was arrested in Moscow in December of 2018 after traveling to Russia for a wedding. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges in 2020.

"We put a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate their release," Blinken said.

July 29

Blinken tells reporters he had a "frank and direct" conversation with Lavrov about the U.S. proposal to exchange convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout in return for Griner and Whelan.

"I pressed the Kremlin to accept the substantial proposal that we put forth on the release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner," Blinken says. "I'm not going to characterize his responses and I can't give you an assessment of whether I think things are more or less likely, but it was important that [he] hear directly from me on that."

August 4

Griner is found guilty on drug charges and sentenced to nine years in prison.

In a statement, Blinken says the outcome "further compounds the injustice of [Griner's] wrongful detention" and "puts a spotlight on our significant concerns with Russia's legal system and the Russian government's use of wrongful detentions to advance its own agenda."

He says "nothing about today's decision changes our determination that Brittney Griner is wrongfully detained" and promised to continue to work to bring Griner, Whelan and other American detainees home.

"This is an absolute priority of mine and the Department's," Blinken says.

Biden calls on Russia to release Griner immediately and says his administration "will continue to work tirelessly and pursue every possible avenue to bring Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as possible."

August 14

A senior Russia diplomat confirms that U.S.-Russia talks are underway.

"This quite sensitive issue of the swap of convicted Russian and US citizens is being discussed through the channels defined by our presidents. These individuals are, indeed, being discussed," Alexander Darchiev, head of the foreign ministry's North America Department, tells Russian state news agency TASS. "The Russian side has long been seeking the release of Viktor Bout. The details should be left to professionals, proceeding from the 'do not harm' principle."

August 15

Griner's attorneys file an appeal of her sentence.

October 12

Biden says he will not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit unless Putin is willing to talk about Griner's release.

October 16

A Russian official says Griner's release is not a priority for the Kremlin.

Yury Ushakov, a Putin aide, tells reporters that Biden's talks about attempted negotiations are a ploy for the upcoming midterm elections.

"In this tense situation, I think that he is thinking first and foremost about the upcoming midterm elections so he keeps emphasizing the need to bring back home the basketball player who was detained for drug smuggling," Ushakov says in an interview with Rossiya-1, Russian news agency TASS reported. "However, it's not the main issue that we are concerned about."

October 18

Griner releases a message, through her lawyers, on her 32nd birthday.

"Thank you everyone for fighting so hard to get me home. All the support and love are definitely helping me," Griner says in her message, according to the statement.

October 25

A Russian court denies Griner's appeal.

Before the denial, Griner addresses the court via video.

"I beg that the court takes in all of the stakes that was overlooked in the first court and reassess my sentence here," she says.

She apologizes for this "mistake," saying she "did not intend to do this" but understands the charges against her.

"It's been very stressful and traumatic [being away from my family]," she adds.

Price says the denial of her appeal is another "repudiation of justice, which only compounds the original injustice of her detention."

"Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney Griner and fellow U.S. citizen Paul Whelan," he tells reporters during a press briefing. "Nothing about Brittney's conviction or the denial of this appeal today changes that."

Price says the U.S. government is in touch with Griner's legal team and her wife, Cherelle. He also notes that Russia might not tell the U.S. before they transfer Griner to prison.

November 9

Griner is moved to a Russian penal colony. Her lawyers say they did not know where she is being taken.

In a statement, the State Department says Griner's transfer is another injustice layered in the ongoing "sham trial."

"As we work to secure Brittney Griner's release, we expect Russian authorities to provide our Embassy officials with regular access to all U.S. citizens detained in Russia, including Brittney, as is their obligation," Blinken says. "Ensuring the health and welfare of U.S. citizen detainees in Russia is a priority, and we will continue to press for fair and transparent treatment for them all."

November 17

Griner's legal team confirms that she was transferred to a penal colony in western Russia.

"We can confirm that Brittney began serving her sentence at IK-2 in Mordovia," her attorneys, Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, say in a statement. They also thank everyone for their support and concern.

They say they visited Griner early in the week and that she was "doing as well as could be expected and trying to stay strong as she adapts to a new environment."

December 8

Biden announces that Griner has been freed from Russian prison after a prison exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

"These past few months have been hell for Brittney," he says. "I'm glad to be able to say Brittney is in good spirits. She's relieved to finally be heading home, and the fact remains that she's lost months of her life, experienced a needless trauma. She deserves space, privacy and time with her loved ones to recover and heal from her time being wrongfully detained."