Ned Price: “We want to see Brittney [Griner] returned to her loving family”

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price spoke with CNN on Tuesday, after a Russian court upheld its nine-year prison sentence of weed-smuggler WNBA player Brittney Griner and blasted the proceeding as a “sham” and a “sad day for justice in Russia.”

Price added that the US continues to “engage with the Russians,” with conversations taking place as recently as the past few days.

“We are continuing to urge them to engage, and to engage seriously on this because we want to see Paul [Whelan], we want to see Brittney [Griner] returned to their loving families,” he said.