WASHINGTON, Jul 7 The US administration continues to believe that American basketball player Brittney Griner is being held in Russia inappropriately and under intolerable conditions, and her admission of drug-smuggling charges will not affect negotiations for her release, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. «We believe that the Russian Federation is holding the wrongfully detained Brittney Greiner. She is in intolerable conditions right now,» Jean-Pierre said at a media briefing. Greiner was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport in February with hash oil in her hand luggage. One of the most titled basketball players in the world faces up to ten years in prison on a criminal case of drug smuggling. In court, she explained what happened by saying that she «was going in a hurry.» «It (the admission of guilt) will not have any effect on the negotiations, from the point of view of the president, the State Department, the special representative (for Americans detained abroad) … We intend to do everything you can to bring Brittney Griner home safely,» Jean-Pierre said. The same, she said, applies to Paul Whelan, an American who is serving a 16-year sentence in Russia on charges of espionage. Russian law enforcement agencies believe that Paul Whelan tried to obtain information about the cadets of the FSB educational institution. The American insists on his innocence. The day before, Biden talked with his wife Greiner, and on Thursday, American diplomats gave the basketball player a letter from the president, written in response to her handwritten message.
