VA little over a year ago, they were all on the same team, rejoicing at what they had achieved: their team had won the Euroleague for the third consecutive time and sixth time overall, underscoring their top position in the hierarchy of European women’s basketball.
Brittney Griner, Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot, the three Americans in the squad, must already feel like “business as usual”. As a confirmation not only of their skills, but above all that they are doing something thousands of kilometers away from their homeland that they cannot do at home: earning millions with their sport.
Where does big money come from
The guest workers from the United States, who have worn UGMK Yekaterinburg jerseys every winter for years, have never really asked themselves where the money will come from. Although that is already suggested in the name: in the abbreviation for Uralskaya Gorno-Metallurgicheskaja Kompaniya, one of the largest mining holdings in Russia with a focus on coal, copper, zinc, gold and silver.
Or which men support their sport with the profits from this business: the two multi-billionaires Andrei Kozitsyn and Iskander Makhmudov, the latter of whom surprisingly has so far remained largely unaffected by Western sanctions.
“With seats like in business class”
Basketball players like the Bahamas-born Bosnian Jonquel Jones, who was also involved in the success in Istanbul in April 2021, were particularly impressed by the outward appearance. UGMK Yekaterinburg has its own aircraft in order to bridge the large distances between the venues of the Russian league as comfortably as possible. “With business-class seats that fold completely flat,” Jones marveled.
The frugal American professional league WNBA, to which she returned immediately after winning and where she was named Most Valuable Player of the Regular Season by the Connecticut Sun, cannot offer anything like this. And there are certainly no such extras as in Russia: penthouse apartments and a private chauffeur.
“Transported drugs on a large scale”
Therefore, none of the privileged players expected what happened on February 17 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. That’s when Brittney Griner, who had won two Olympic golds and two World Championships with the United States, was arrested at the baggage check upon her arrival and ended up in detention center. Russian customs gave a nebulous explanation for the arrest, saying that Griner “transported drugs on a large scale,” which could result in a prison sentence of up to ten years.
When the criminal proceedings began a week ago in the Moscow suburb of Khimki, the prosecutor’s office specified the accusation: Griner is said to have had two packs of hash oil with him, which some cannabis users inhale from so-called vaporizers.
0.6 grams of hash oil
There was no longer any talk of “big style”, but of just 0.6 grams, which would correspond to a magnitude of not much more than 20 drops. The 31-year-old, who has been held in a detention center since her arrest, was handcuffed in the courtroom.
Just like on Thursday on the second day of the trial, when she pleaded guilty in a brief statement. She was in a hurry before the flight to Russia, packed her things too hastily and accidentally had the oil with her, she said. The trial will continue next Thursday.
Signals from Moscow
The admission should speed up the trial and lead to a guilty verdict, which will give the Russian government something of a price point for negotiations with Washington on a prisoner swap.
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