Brittney Griner.Photo: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty

US' Women’s National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, arrives to a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow on August 4, 2022. - Lawyers for US basketball star Brittney Griner, who is standing trial in Russia on drug charges, said on July 26, 2022 they hoped she would receive a “lenient” sentence.

Officials from the United States Embassy in Moscow visited incarcerated WNBA starBrittney Grineron Thursday, the White House announced.

“The State Department just confirmed that U.S. Embassy officials in Moscow were able to visit Brittney Griner today,” White Housepress secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saidaboard Air Force One.

Jean-Pierre said her team is told that Griner, 32, “is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances,” after she was sentenced tonine years in a Russian prisonin August.

“As we have said before, the U.S. government made a significant offer to the Russians to resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful detentions of American citizens Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan,” Jean-Pierre said.

Brittney Griner.NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty

US basketball player Brittney Griner (R) is escorted by police before a hearing during her trial on charges of drug smuggling, in Khimki, outside Moscow on August 2, 2022. - Griner was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in February 2022 just days before Moscow launched its offensive in Ukraine. She was charged with drug smuggling for possessing vape cartridges with cannabis oil. Speaking at the trial on July 27, Griner said she still did not know how the cartridges ended up in her bag.

Jean-Pierre said that working out a deal with Russia “continues to be a top priority” and that the U.S. has proposed “alternative potential ways forward with Russia through all available channels.”

State Department spokesperson Ned Price also confirmed Griner’s visit with embassy personnel on Thursday. “They saw firsthand her tenacity and perseverance despite her current circumstances,” Price wrote.

“We continue to press for the immediate release of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan and fair treatment of every detained American.”

Griner is running low on options as she starts on her nine-year prison sentence, especially after judges denied her appeal request at the end of October. After her appeal was rejected, lawyers for Griner told PEOPLE that she is “a very strong person” and “has a champion’s character.”

“She of course has her highs and lows as she is severely stressed being separated from her loved ones for over eight months.”

However, the athlete’s wife,Cherelle Griner, delivered an emotional speech duringGlamour’s Women of the Year AwardsTuesday night, where she said that Brittney is “100% not okay” in Russia.

“She is 100% not okay, and there is little I can do to ease her pain. But I believe from the bottom of my heart that while I can’t bring her back, words can make a difference,” Cherelle said.

Brittney and Cherelle Griner.Brittney Griner/Instagram

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“Babe I’m missing everything about you. Especially your friendship,” Cherelle began, before noting that she “took for granted being able to talk with” Brittney before the arrest.

“I catch myself picking up my phone, only to sit it back down because your voice is the only voice I want to hear.”

Cherelle continued: “I’ll likely talk your ear off once you’re home. I know your heart is heavy right now babe. I wish you were here to feel all the love that surrounds you. You are not forgotten. So, keep your head up champ. This too shall pass! I love you and I cannot wait for the day that I get to embrace you! Love, Relle.”

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Brittney has been in Russian custody since shewas arrested Feb. 17 at the Sheremetyevo International Airport near Moscow, with Russian Federal Customs Service saying that the WNBA star was in possession of vape cartridges containing hash oil while traveling through the airport.

source: people.com