Russian media and state lawmakers have praised President Vladimir Putin after Moscow sent WNBA star Brittney Griner to the United States for convicted Russian arms dealer Vitkor Bout, hailing the prisoner swap as a “capitulation of America” .
Russian state TV host Yevgeny Popov wrote on his Telegram account that Bout’s life, who returned to Russia late last night, “is just beginning,” according to Reuters.
“Everyone will forget about Griner tomorrow,” Popov added.
Maria Butina, who served 18 months in a US prison after being convicted of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, called the prisoner swap “a capitulation of America”.
RUSSIAN DETAINEE VIKTOR BOUT SAYS IT’S ‘TOO EARLY’ TO SAY WHAT HE WILL DO NEXT
Viktor Bout sits inside a detention cell at the Bangkok Supreme Court on July 28, 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand.
(Photo by Chumsak Kanoknan/Getty Images)
“It shows that Russia is not abandoning its own while America has shown its defeat,” said Butina, who is now a Russian lawmaker, according to Reuters. “Russia has not forgotten him.”
Russian state media also described Putin as a “winner” in the trade with the United States, Reuters added.
Russian officials have long pushed for the release of Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence in a US prison after being convicted in 2011 of conspiracy to kill Americans, conspiracy to deliver anti-aircraft missiles and aiding a terrorist organization.
In this photo provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, former Soviet military officer and arms trafficking suspect Viktor Bout takes off after arriving at Westchester County Airport November 16, 2010 in White Plains, New York.
(Photo by U.S. Department of Justice via Getty Images)
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He was captured in 2008 during an undercover operation in a luxury hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, where he encountered informants from the Drug Enforcement Administration posing as officials of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which has been classified by US officials as drug trafficker. terrorist group
WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is escorted from a courtroom after a hearing in Khimki, just outside Moscow, Russia on Aug. 4, 2022.
(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Prosecutors said Bout was prepared to provide the group $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.”
Paul Best of Fox News, Caitlin McFall and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
