Bout arrived in Moscow last night in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner
By Greg Norman
Following the transfer of WNBA star Brittney Griner to the United States in exchange for convicted Russian arms dealer Vitkor Bout, the Russian state media and lawmakers praised President Vladimir Putin, branding the prisoner exchange a “capitulation by America.”
According to Reuters, Russian state TV host Yevgeny Popov stated on his Telegram account that Bout’s life, who returned to Russia late last night, “is only beginning.”
Tomorrow, everyone will have forgotten about Griner, Popov predicted.
The prisoner swap was described as “a capitulation by America” by Maria Butina, who spent 18 months in a U.S. prison after being found guilty of acting as an unregistered foreign agent.
“It shows that Russia doesn’t abandon its own while America has shown its defeat,” Butina — who is now a Russian lawmaker — said, according to Reuters. “Russia did not forget him.”
Russian state media also described Putin as “winning” the exchange with the U.S., Reuters added.
Russian officials have long pushed for the release of Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence in U.S. prison after being convicted in 2011 of conspiracy to kill Americans, conspiracy to deliver anti-aircraft missiles and aiding a terrorist organization.
He was nabbed in 2008 in a sting operation at a luxury hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, where he met with Drug Enforcement Administration informants who were posing as officials with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which has been classified by U.S. officials as a narco-terrorist group
Prosecutors said that Bout was prepared to provide the group with $20 million worth of “a breathtaking arsenal of weapons — including hundreds of surface-to-air missiles, machine guns and sniper rifles — 10 million rounds of ammunition and five tons of plastic explosives.”
Fox News’ Paul Best, Caitlin McFall and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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