Basketball star Griner back in court as Russian drugs trial nears its end

Cannabis is illegal in Russia for both medicinal and recreational purposes

U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner returned to a Russian court on Thursday as her drugs trial grinds towards a finale that could result in a 10-year prison sentence and then a prisoner swap for one of the world's most notorious arms dealers, Qazet.az reports.

Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) star, was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Feb. 17 with vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage.

The cartridges threw the 31-year-old Texan athlete into the geopolitical maelstrom triggered when President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.