Tag: Russia

You may remember the now infamous Brittney Griner, WNBA star, prisoner swap with Russia.  Russia wanted a known arms dealers released in exchange for professional female basketball player who brought a cannabis vape pen into Russia. Well, Putin sees an opening with cannabis legalization around the world and is working his "cannabis prisoner swap" rhetoric, again, this time with Germany. Russia's customs service announced the detention of a German man upon his arrival in St. Petersburg for possessing cannabis-infused gummy candies.… Read more.

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested on Thursday that mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin’s fiery death in a plane that went down was due to cocaine and grenades, not a coordinated assassination in retaliation for his uprising, as many suspect. Prigozhin’s days were numbered the moment he led the Wagner Group—his paramilitary mercenary group—in a short but surprisingly robust uprising against Putin’s military last June. Prigozhin also openly criticized the Russian Defense Ministry, calling the invasion of the Ukraine as more or less… Read more.

A U.S. senator and a former ambassador are imploring the Biden administration to “immediately” escalate diplomatic efforts to secure the return of an American imprisoned in Russia over possession of medical cannabis that he lawfully obtained in Pennsylvania. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday, requesting that the government formally designate Marc Fogel as wrongfully detained and “prioritize securing his release.” “He is serving… Read more.