Brittney Griner’s sentencing to nine years in a Russian penal colony, which let’s admit, evokes some scary images and brings to mind Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.” Set in a Soviet labor camp, the short novel describes the prisoner’s struggle for human dignity.
Judging from the brief images of the six-foot-nine WNBA superstar being escorted to her Moscow court appearances, the last of which ended with the draconian nine-year sentencing over less than a gram of cannabis oil, Griner appears to have her human dignity intact.
What About The Billionaire Owners Of Griner’s Russian Basketball Team?
Dignity does not come to mind when pondering the inaction of the Russian oligarchs who have said nothing to their friend Vladimir Putin, that we know of, nor pressured him to give the 31-year-old basketball player a break and allow her to walk free.
Wonder Why? This Could Shed Some Light
The team Griner has played on for the past seven years, the UMMC Yekaterinburg is controlled by Russian billionaires Iskander Makhmudov and his business partner, Andrei Kozitsyn. The two men also run the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, one of Russia’s top producers of copper, zinc, coal, gold and silver.
Proceeds from mining helped Makhmudov and Kozitsyn invest in women’s basketball and other sports in Russia, like martial arts, hockey, motorcycle racing, table tennis, etc.
The Invasion That Changed Everything
The day Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin called together at least 13 of the country’s wealthiest businessmen – the oligarchs who surfaced after the collapse of the Soviet Union and began scooping up investment interests in major industries like gas, oil and precious metals.
The purpose of the meeting other than to tell them that the invasion was a “necessary measure,” was to let his friends to know (as if they didn’t already) that they would likely face economic sanctions from the U.S. and European Union. Too Late For Some To Stash Their Assets
Roman Abramovich, former owner of the Chelsea Football Club had his $4.5 billion London assets (about a third of his total) either sold or frozen after the invasion.
Russian oligarchs have been hiding their assets for years. As much as $1 trillion in Russian wealth is stowed in offshore companies in places like Switzerland, Cyprus and even the United States.
Makhmudov and his Griner team-owning partner Kozitsyn were at the Putin meeting and except for the sanctions, they have reportedly not suffered too terribly.
Makhmudov (net worth $9.41 billion), who has been accused of racketeering, fraud, bribery and attempted murder, also co-owned two British Virgin Islands companies with fellow billionaire Andrey Bokarev (net worth $2.2 billion).
Kozitsyn, (net worth $3.8 billion) whose rap sheet is either shorter or less well known, was recently added to the EU’s sanctions list for financially supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
While these facts don’t answer the question of why Makhmudov and Kozitsyn are not pushing for Griner’s release, stories about Putin’s vitriol when someone dares to question or criticize his actions have circulated for years.
Dignity? That went out with Ivan Denisovich.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Image and article originally from www.benzinga.com. Read the original article here.