Just a few days ago, former NBA star Dennis Rodman said he planned on visiting Russia to seek the release of Brittney Griner.
“I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl,” Rodman told NBC News. “I’m trying to go this week.” The Biden administration made it abundantly clear Rodman wouldn’t be going as a representative of the U.S. government.
“Well, we have seen through the media, and really only through the media, that Dennis Rodman has said he does intend to travel to Russia,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said. “He — I want to be clear, he is — he would not be traveling on behalf of the U.S. government.”
Well that appears to have been enough to dissuade Rodman from going. According to a report from ABC, Rodman has decided not to go to Russia.
From ABC News:
Amid the scrutiny over his comments, Rodman told ABC News on Monday that he doesn’t currently have plans to travel to Russia. Rodman previously sought to make an impact on U.S. foreign policy as an informal diplomat of sorts amid heated U.S. relations with North Korea.
Griner received a nine-year sentence after being arrested for having hash oil in her luggage at a Russian airport.