Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer freed in the swap for Brittney Griner, said after returning home that his fellow Illinois inmates were “sympathetically inclined” toward Russia. Then he echoed the Kremlin line that America was trying to “destroy us again.” Mr. Bout spoke in an interview Friday for Russian state television with Maria Butina, […]
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Russian State Media Releases Video of Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout Swap
Russia’s state media on Thursday released video footage of the prisoner exchange of Brittney Griner, the American W.N.B.A. star, and Viktor Bout, the convicted Russian arms dealer known as “the Merchant of Death,” at an airport in the United Arab Emirates. The video, which was verified by The New York Times, shows Ms. Griner, in […]
Viktor Bout Could Be Swapped for Brittney Griner. Who Is He?
Shortly after his conviction in 2011 on charges including conspiring to kill American citizens, the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout relayed a defiant message through his lawyer, even though he faced the prospect of decades in prison. Mr. Bout, his lawyer said, “believes this is not the end.” More than a decade later, Mr. Bout, […]