WASHINGTON (AP)-WNBA star Britney Greener tried to call her husband nearly a dozen times through the US embassy in Russia on Saturday, the couple’s fourth anniversary, but they couldn’t reach him due to Cherell’s hotline at the embassy. Greener said in a statement Monday. .
The couple did not speak on the phone for four months after Griner was arrested in Russia, where he was in prison. That will change on Saturday, when the long-awaited call should take place exactly after approval from the Russian government. But the day came and passed with no interaction, leaving the troubled Sherel Griner to wonder what was going on and even at first to suspect that the Russian authorities were interfering with the search.
On Monday, she said she learned an even more embarrassing truth from her husband’s lawyers: Britney Griner tried to call the number given to her at the US embassy in Moscow 11 times in a matter of hours and told the couple. she said she would direct the call to Cherell Greener in Phoenix. But every time the call went unanswered, the embassy box office was obviously down when the phone rang on Saturday.
“I was confused. I was hurt. I was sick,” Cherell Griner told The Associated Press, explaining how the anniversary she had been looking forward to instead passed in tears. I’ll take a moment to collect my thoughts and tell everyone I’m not available right now.” Because it just knocked me out. I’m bad, I’m still bad.”
On Monday, the State Department said it was “very sorry Britney Greener didn’t speak to her husband because of a logistical error.” The ministry affirmed that it has no higher priority than the safety of Americans abroad and is in regular contact with the families of hostages and wrongfully imprisoned.
For Cherell Griner, the experience contributed to a simmering disappointment with the US government’s response to her husband’s case. While U.S. officials have repeatedly said they are working behind the scenes to bring home two-time Olympic champion Russia, he said he was “very angry” at this mess, especially since the call was two weeks old. no one warned him that it might not be possible due to the weekend.
I think this is unacceptable and I don’t trust our government right now. If I can’t count on you to call you after hours on Saturday, how can I be sure you’re negotiating to get home on behalf of my husband? Because it’s a bigger request than calling this Saturday.”
Cherell Greener said she apologized to him for a contact he had with the US government. She said she has since learned that a number she was given to Britney Greener to dial usually handles calls from inmates Monday through Friday, but not every Saturday and Sunday, no one can divert the call.
“But remember,” Cherell Griner said in an interview, “this phone call was scheduled for about two weeks — with a weekend date.”
Britney Greener, a seven-time WNBA All-Star with the Phoenix Mercury, was detained at a Russian airport on February 17 after local officials said they found e-cigarette cartridges containing cannabis oil while searching her bag.
In May, the State Department found that he had been wrongfully detained, placing his case under the supervision of the president’s special envoy for hostage affairs, who is de facto the government’s hostage negotiator. Russian state news agency TASS reported last week that the detention period has been extended until 3 July.
Cherell Griner said she still hopes to meet or meet with President Joe Biden, but “at this point it’s starting to look negative.”
For now, Cherell Griner said she only had to rely on others’ assessments of her husband’s condition. Lawyers and consular officials met with the basketball star, but his wife did not.
On the eve of the call, he went to bed at 5 pm to wake up at midnight and be ready to receive the expected call, which did not come to Phoenix from Russia.
Sherel Griner, who described it as a “life or death” chance to find out how her husband really was, said, “It was a huge moment because for the first time I could tell if he was okay.” . “It’s the first time I’ve actually heard of it in real time, and I know if it’s really good or if it’s seconds away from existence.”
Source: Breitbart
