Former Russian Prisoner Brittney Griner Issues Statement Showing Support For New Russian Prisoner

After spending 10 months in a Russian prison, Brittney Griner doesn't want any other Americans to suffer the same fate.

In a statement posted on her Instagram account Saturday night, Griner expressed her concern for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is currently being detained in Russia.

Russian security officials arrested Gershkovich, 31, last week, and plan to detain him for at least two months on spying charges. Both Gershkovich and the WSJ deny the accusations.

"We must do everything in our power to bring him and all Americans home," Griner wrote.

The statement, signed by Griner and her wife Cherelle, praises the Biden Administration for its "deep commitment to rescue Americans."

"Every American who is taken is ours to fight for and every American returned is a win for us all," she wrote.

The Griners celebrated recent successful efforts to bring home Jeff Woodke and Paul Rusesabagina. Woodke is an aid worker who was held captive in Niger for six years. Rusesabagina is human rights worker who was imprisoned for more than two years in Rwanda. 

Brittney Griner spent most of last year in a Russian penal colony.

Russian officials arrested the the six-time WNBA All-Star on drug charges at a Moscow airport in February 2022.

She was released in December in a prisoner swap for Viktor Bout, an illicit arms dealer nicknamed "the Merchant of Death." Bout had served 11 years of a 25-year sentence in the U.S.

(Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)

The White House said Thursday it was working to secure U.S. consular access to Gershkovich. Speaking at a news conference, Vice President Kamala Harris said that the U.S. was "deeply concerned" about the arrest.

"We will not tolerate — and condemn, in fact — repression of journalists," Harris said.

Gershkovich's arrest came as tensions between the United States and Russia deepen over the war in Ukraine. He is the first journalist from a U.S. news outlet to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War.