Since his release from U.S. custody in a high profile prisoner swap, notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout has received a celebrity's welcome in Russia.
He has since given high-profile interviews to state media and on Monday appeared on stage at a political event as he joined an ultranationalist party. Analysts said that while he is not a household name with the public, securing his return holds symbolic value to the Russian leader and his allies.
He gained fame supposedly by supplying weapons for civil wars in South America, the Middle East and Africa. His clients were said to include Liberia’s Charles Taylor, longtimeand both sides in Angola’s civil war, according to The Associated Press. "If I had the opportunity and the necessary skills, I would, of course, volunteer," Bout told Butina in his second interview, which aired Saturday.
On Monday, he joined the right-wing populist and pro-Kremlin Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, founded by the ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky. The long-rumored exchange has fueled debate over whether the Biden administration should have given in to the Russian demands given the disparity between the two cases and the status of Paul Whelan, a corporate executive imprisoned in Russia since 2018 on espionage charges the U.S. and his family have said are baseless.
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DEA agent who put Viktor Bout in prison blasts Brittney Griner swapTom Pasquarello, retired regional director of the DEA who helped arrest arms dealer Viktor Bout in 2008, sharply criticized the prisoner exchange that saw the notorious criminal sent back to Russia…
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Viktor Bout says he wished Brittney Griner luck during prisoner swapViktor Bout, an arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death,” and the WNBA star briefly crossed paths on the tarmac. Griner has not commented on the alleged interaction.
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WATCH: Mike Pompeo blasts Brittney Griner-Viktor Bout prisoner swapFormer Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed the Biden administration for the prisoner swap involving WNBA player Brittney Griner and Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
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Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout speaks out after Brittney Griner swapSitting in a Moscow studio as snow fell outside, looking relaxed in a blue blazer and maroon T-shirt, Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout described his 14 years in a U.S. prison in his first interview since he was exchanged for Brittney Griner, an American basketball player who had been held in a Russian prison colony following a drug conviction earlier this year.
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Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout speaks out after Brittney Griner swapSitting in a Moscow studio as snow fell outside, looking relaxed in a blue blazer and maroon T-shirt, Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout described his 14 years in a U.S. prison in his first interview since he was exchanged for Brittney Griner, an American basketball player who had been held in a Russian prison colony following a drug conviction earlier this year.
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Viktor Bout offered Brittney Griner well wishes at prisoner exchangeBrittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony after cannabis vapes containing THC were discovered in her luggage — via TheGrowthOp
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