From our perspective in the West, the beginning of Brittney Griner’s wrongful detention in Russia was a release from TASS, the Russian state-owned news agency founded over a hundred years ago.

This first TASS news release on the Griner situation was communicated to us in a New York Times article. While we are now getting news on Griner’s detention from Western sources, the only outlet claiming to have official information remains TASS. We should feel confident that anything coming from TASS or any news media run or sponsored by the Russian government (I would include RT in this mix) is simply propaganda.