Dennis Rodman Seeks Talks With Putin To Release Brittney Griner

Summary

• Britney Griner currently serving 9 years in a Russian prison
• Dennis Rodman will fly to Russia to ask Putin to release her
• Megan Rapinoe talks privately to President Joe Biden to get Griner released

WNBA star Brittney Griner is currently serving a 9 year sentence in a Russian prison after pleading guilty to bringing in canisters of cannabis oil into Russia.

Her lawyers have filed an appeal but things do not look very positive for basketball star as athletes in the United States and Canada believe that she is being used as a political pawn by Russia to get back at America.

Dennis Rodman Set To Fly To Russia 

The United States has used multiple tactics to get Russia to release Griner but has received stiff resistance with Russia asking the United States to respect its drug laws and not politicize the situation. Some of the top names in the NBA and WNBA have called on President Putin in the past to release Griner but have got no response.

Ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman has decided to get involved and says that he has received permission to fly to Russia. Rodman is reported to have the ear of President Putin and claims he will be in a better position to get Putin to agree to release Griner.

Rodman has also flown in the past to North Korea to meet with their Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and has a lot of influential contacts. He once wrote a letter to the Supreme Leader asking for the release of American Kenneth Bae and secured his release 10 months later. Will Rodman be able to get Putin to release Griner, we will have to wait and see.

However, a representative for the U.S. State Department said Americans have been warned not to travel to Russia based on the current Level 4 travel advisory due to the war with Ukraine. 

Rapino Asks President Biden To Intervene 

US female soccer star Megan Rapinoe has also campaigned heavily for America to do more to secure the release of Griner from Russia.

Reports suggest that when Rapino received her Presidential Medal of Freedom in July at the White House, she wore a white suit with the letters BG on her lapel. She also requested President Joe Biden privately to get involved and secure the release of Griner but so far nothing has materialized.