“I got permission to go to Russia to help this girl,” Rodman told NBC.
Eccentric former NBA star Dennis Rodman plans to travel to Russia to work for the release of WNBA player Brittney Griner, NBC News revealed on Sunday. According to the network, Rodman said he hoped to fly to Russia this week to help basketball player Griner, who was sentenced to nine years in prison by a Russian court for trafficking cannabis.
“I got permission to go to Russia to help this girl,” Rodman told NBC. “I’m trying to go this week,” he said without giving further details. In a statement to AFP, a senior official in Joe Biden’s government expressed concern that “anything that does not enter into the continuation of the negotiation through the established channel is likely to complicate and hinder the efforts of release”.
At 61, the five-time NBA champion is not his first geopolitical coup. He has been close to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and has visited the reclusive country several times. He was also in Singapore in 2018, during the summit between Kim Jong Un and former US President Donald Trump.
Rodman met Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014 in Moscow, describing him as “really cool”. Considered one of the best basketball players in the world, Brittney Griner, 31, was arrested in February in Moscow in possession of a vaporizer containing cannabis-based liquid. Since his arrest, Moscow and Washington have been discussing a possible prisoner exchange, despite tensions linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.