Brittney Griner’s wife said she couldn’t get anniversary call from detained WNBA star in Russia because embassy was understaffed

Separated from her wife for four months while she remains detained in a Russian prison, Brittney Griner tried to call home Saturday for their anniversary. She tried to call almost a dozen times, in fact. But the call never went through.

Griner’s wife, Cherelle, said Monday that the American embassy that was supposed to connect their call wasn’t staffed properly and no one was around to patch the call through to her.

“I was distraught. I was hurt. I was done, fed up,” Cherelle Griner said.

WNBA star Brittney Griner ‘wrongfully detained’ in Russia, according to new U.S. designation

Brittney Griner, right, was supposed to call wife Cherelle Griner for their anniversary Saturday.

“I’m pretty sure I texted BG’s agent and was like: ‘I don’t want to talk to anybody. It’s going to take me a minute to get my emotions together, and just tell everybody I’m unavailable right now.’ Because it just knocked me out. I wasn’t well, I’m still not well.”

The State Department apologized and called it a “logistical error” because of staffing on the weekends.

But Cherelle Griner isn’t accepting that.

Brittney and Cherelle Griner pictured at Game Five of the 2021 WNBA Playoffs semifinals. (Ethan Miller/)

“I find it unacceptable and I have zero trust in our government right now,” she said. “If I can’t trust you to catch a Saturday call outside of business hours, how can I trust you to actually be negotiating on my wife’s behalf to come home? Because that’s a much bigger ask than to catch a Saturday call.”

Griner, a seven-time All-Star, was detained at a Russian airport on Feb. 17 after authorities claimed they found cannabis oil in her luggage. Last month, the Biden administration publicly said she was being “wrongfully detained,” a spokesperson for the State Department confirmed to the Daily News. With that new designation, teammates, friends and supporters were now encouraged to fight for her release.

Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson, who has helped free American prisoners in Russia including Trevor Reed, is reportedly working on Griner’s case as well.

With News Wire Services