WNBA star Brittney Griner tried to call her wife nearly a dozen times through the American embassy in Russia on Saturday, but was unable to connect because the phone line at the embassy was reportedly not staffed. 

Cherelle Griner provided the update on Monday, saying the phone calls came on the date of the couple's fourth anniversary.

The couple has not been able to speak by phone in the four months since the two-time Olympic gold medallist's arrest in Russia, where she remains in jail.

Their long-awaited call was to take place on Saturday, after the couple finally received Russian government approval.

However, the day came and went without any contact, leaving an anguished Cherelle Griner to wonder what went wrong.

On Monday, she said she learned that Brittney Griner had tried to call 11 times over a period of several hours, dialling a number she'd been given for the US embassy in Moscow.

The couple had been told that call would then be patched through to Cherelle Griner in Phoenix.

However, each time Brittney Griner rang, the call went unanswered, because the desk at the embassy where the phone rang was apparently unstaffed on Saturday.

"I was distraught. I was hurt. I was done, fed up," Cherelle Griner told The Associated Press, adding that she was in tears. 

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"I'm pretty sure I texted [Brittney Griner'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.'

"It just knocked me out. I wasn't well. I'm still not well."

Brittney Griner, a seven-time WNBA All-Star who plays for the Phoenix Mercury, was detained at a Russian airport on February 17 after authorities there said a search of her bag revealed vape cartridges containing hashish oil.

On Monday, the State Department released a statement saying they "deeply regret that Brittney Griner was unable to speak with her wife because of a logistical error".

The department reiterated that it has no higher priority than the safety of Americans overseas and that it remains in regular contact with families of hostages and wrongful detainees.

In an interview with the US television network NBC news, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the US basketballer was guilty of drug offences and denied she was a hostage.

For Cherelle Griner, the experience has exacerbated already simmering frustrations about the US government's response to her wife's case.

Although US officials have repeatedly said they were working behind the scenes to get the WNBA star home from Russia, Cherelle Griner said she was "very pissed" about the incident.

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"I find it unacceptable and I have zero trust in our government right now," she said.

"That's a much bigger ask than to catch a Saturday call."

Cherelle Griner said a contact in the US government had apologised to her for the error.

She added that she had since since learned that the number Brittney Griner had been given to dial typically processes calls from prisoners on Mondays through Fridays, which is why no one was there to transfer the call.

When Brittney Griner was arrested in May, the State Department designated her as wrongfully detained, moving her case under the supervision of its Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, effectively the government's chief hostage negotiator.

Russian state-run news agency Tass reported last week that her detention had been extended until July 3.

Cherelle Griner said she was still hoping to talk to, or meet with, President Joe Biden, but "at this point it's starting to feel like a no".

So far, Cherelle Griner says she's had to rely exclusively on others' assessments about her wife's condition.

Lawyers and consular affairs officials have been able to speak to the basketball star, but her wife has not.

"This was such a big moment, because this would have been the first time where I truly could tell if she's OK," Cherelle Griner said. 

"This would have been the first time for me to actually just hear her in real time and to truly know if she's OK, or to know if she's seconds away from not being in existence anymore."

AP