U.S. State Department officials met on Monday with Brittney Griner’s W.N.B.A. team, the Phoenix Mercury, to discuss the status of Griner’s monthslong detainment in Russia and efforts made toward securing her release.
Griner, one of the W.N.B.A.’s most recognizable stars, has been held in Russia since Feb. 17, after customs officials accused her of carrying hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow.
In May, the State Department said it determined that Griner had been “wrongfully detained.”
“It’s something that we’ve all talked about intimately as a group, and now knowing the State Department at the highest level, from U.