WNBA basketball player Brittney Griner waits inside a defendants' cage during a hearing in Khimki outside Moscow, on Aug. 4, 2022. Photo: Evgenia Novozhenina/pool/AFP via Getty Images
WNBA star Brittney Griner has begun serving her nine-year sentence at a penal colony outside Moscow, AP reports.
Driving the news: "Brittney is doing as well as could be expected and trying to stay strong as she adapts to a new environment," her lawyers said in a statement obtained by AP.
- Griner, 32, was set to be transferred to the penal colony in Mordovia last week, after meeting with U.S. embassy officials.
Catch up quick: Griner was detained in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport for having vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage.
- She was found guilty on drug charges by a Russian court in August and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
- A Russian court rejected her appeal in October.
- The Biden administration has been trying to negotiate her release for months — so far to no avail.
Go deeper: What Brittney Griner could face in a Russian penal colony