In the United States, basketball player Greiner would have received well over nine years, Zhurova said

American basketball player Britney Griner in her native country, she would have received a much harsher punishment for what she had done, the Olympic speed skating champion, a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, told . Svetlana Zhurova .

The Khimki City Court on Thursday sentenced Greiner to 9 years in a penal colony and a fine of 1 million rubles in a drug trafficking case.

– The fact that Greiner is an American counts in the final decision of the court, what do you think?

“Neither citizenship nor political situation is absolutely irrelevant here,” Zhurova told a correspondent. – A man imported drugs into a foreign country, why did she do it? His explanation that it’s accidental isn’t even funny. If our citizen was detained at the US border with drugs, I’m afraid he wouldn’t be 9 years old at all. You know, Americans can even ban entry into the country and cancel their visas for certain prohibited products like an orange. What about drugs. And let’s be honest: now in Russia there are enough people who suffer the same punishment for the same crime, regardless of their nationality, and why an exception should have been made for Greiner, I do not understand.

Additionally, Greiner is a titled athlete, much like a role model. In the United States, this is handled very responsibly and they believe that high-ranking people who damage the reputation of the nation should be seen under a magnifying glass. And the punishment for such people is always harsh, even exaggeratedly harsh. Being disrespectful to others.

Greiner, 31, has been playing for UMMC Yekaterinburg since 2015, winning the Olympics twice as part of Team USA (2016, 2020).