A former top Pentagon official said Saturday that she’s concerned Russia is detaining American basketball star Brittney Griner as “leverage over the United States.”
Evelyn Farkas told Yahoo Sports that Russia may want Griner as a “high-profile hostage” who could serve as a valuable bargaining chip.
“If we want her out of jail, Russia is going to have some terms,” said Farkas, who served as the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia and Ukraine from 2012-15. “It could be a prisoner swap. They also could use it as an implicit threat or blackmail to get us to do something or not do something.