American basketball star Brittney Griner has been sent to a penal colony in Russia to serve her sentence for drug possession, her legal team says. A Russian court rejected an appeal of her nine-year sentence last month. The eight-time all-star center with the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist was convicted Aug. 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. Her arrest came at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, just days before Russia sent troops into Ukraine, and the politically charged case could lead to a high-stakes prisoner exchange between Washington and Moscow.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/russia-sends-american-basketball-star-brittney-griner-to-a-penal-colony

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