US basketball star Brittney Griner is “as expected” also in a Russian prison, the White House said on Thursday after embassy officials were able to visit her.

“She is doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters traveling with President Joe Biden.

Griner is serving a nine-??year sentence, which was handed down in August after pleading guilty to possession of a small amount of cannabis oil in vape cartridges. She said the cannabis was intended to treat pain from her sports injuries, but Russia doesn’t allow the use of medical marijuana.

The harsh verdict and Griner’s failed appeal last month come against a backdrop of the worst relations between Moscow and Washington since the height of the Cold War, with Biden citing Western support for Ukraine’s resistance to a Russian invasion.

Griner, a two-time Olympic basketball gold medalist and women’s NBA champion, had been in Russia during her offseason to play for the Phoenix Mercury Women’s National Basketball Association’s Yekaterinburg professional team.

Griner and another American jailed in Russia, Paul Whelan – a former US Marine arrested in December 2018 and accused of espionage – could reportedly be traded for Viktor Bout, a famous Russian arms dealer who served 25 years in prison in 2012 Conviction.

This was not confirmed, but Jean-Pierre reiterated that the Biden administration “made a significant offer to the Russians to resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful detention of American citizens.”

She cited a “lack of good faith negotiations by the Russians,” but said the “US government has followed up on this offer and suggested alternative possible avenues for the future.”