Viktor Bout

US basketball star Brittney Griner was freed in a prisoner exchange for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout nearly 10 months after she was arrested at a ...

President Biden says Brittney Griner is safe in the United States after being released from a Russian penal colony.

The U.S. and Russia agreed to swap WNBA star Brittney Griner for Viktor Bout, an arms dealer who was portrayed in the 2005 film "Lord of War."

Russia got the jailed arms dealer back from the United States on Thursday after exchanging imprisoned U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner for him at Abu Dhabi ...

MOSCOW — (AP) — Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, swapped Thursday for WNBA star Brittney Griner, is widely known abroad as the “Merchant of Death” who ...

The Biden administration struck a deal to bring Brittney Griner home from Russia in exchange for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Viktor Bout, 55, is a former Soviet military officer and translator who was serving a 25-year prison sentence in the US.

ABC News' foreign correspondent Maggie Rulli discusses the guilty verdict in the Brittney Griner trial in Russia.

"We at the DEA were just trying to step up to the plate and do the right thing for national security." helicopters in Columbia, according to Maltz. On Thursday, the WNBA star was swapped for Bout -- a Russian convicted arms dealer who spend 15 years in U.S.

WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was held for months in Russian prisons on drug charges, has been released in a prisoner swap for international arms dealer ...

[continuing to work for his release](https://www.npr.org/live-updates/brittney-griner-release-viktor-bout#biden-vows-to-keep-working-to-bring-paul-whelan-home-from-russia-too). [world's most notorious arms dealer](https://www.npr.org/live-updates/brittney-griner-release-viktor-bout#who-is-viktor-bout-the-russian-arms-dealer-the-u-s-is-trading-for-griner), was swapped for Griner at the Abu Dhabi airport this morning following his release from an Illinois prison. [She is on her way home](https://www.npr.org/live-updates/brittney-griner-release-viktor-bout#biden-says-griner-is-safe-and-relieved)."

Viktor Bout is a man who many ordinary Russians have likely have heard of, and he certainly is of mythological importance to the Russian elite.

Critics label Biden's decision to release Russian arms dealer 'deeply disturbing' – even if Brittney Griner's freedom is excellent news.

Driving the news: The U.S. freed convicted Russian arms dealer Bout in an exchange for Griner that took place in the United Arab Emirates, according to a senior ...

[blasted the prisoner exchange](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/gop-lawmakers-slam-prison-swap-release-brittney-griner) Thursday because it did not include former U.S. [CBS News “60 Minutes” segment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvPGIcVRKco)covering Bout’s extradition to the U.S. "We remain in close touch with Paul's family." court in 2012 for supplying weapons to a terrorist organization and conspiring to kill Americans. Blinken said both had been "wrongfully detained." [had made a "substantial proposal"](https://www.axios.com/2022/07/27/antony-blinken-russia-deal-griner-whelan) to the Kremlin to secure the release of Griner and Whelan. [“baseless and biased”](https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/russia-calls-us-sentence-of-bout-baseless-and-biased-17801)and accused the U.S. [thought to be](https://screenrant.com/lord-war-movie-true-story-viktor-bout/)the inspiration for the 2005 Nicholas Cage film [“Lord of War.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXgyoER0aRc) [nine years in prison](https://www.axios.com/2022/08/04/russia-brittney-griner-convicted)and transferred to a [penal colony](https://www.axios.com/2022/11/09/brittney-griner-being-transferred-to-russian-penal-colony). [Bout](https://www.axios.com/2022/11/18/russia-prisoner-swap-griner-whelan-bout) in an exchange for Griner that took place in the United Arab Emirates, according to a senior administration official. [ charges](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/viktor-bout-extradited-united-states-stand-trial-terrorism-charges) that included conspiring to kill U.S. [is free](https://www.axios.com/2022/12/08/brittney-griner-freed-prisoner-swap-russia) — in exchange for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout who has been known as the “Merchant of Death.”

The former Russian military officer fueled multiple conflicts around the globe by ferrying arms and ammunition to forces under international sanctions.

(NEW YORK) — “I'm very disgusted,” Derek Maltz, who oversaw the Drug Enforcement Administration's investigation of Viktor Bout, told ABC News after Bout was ...

Minutes after President Joe Biden announced that WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner had been released from a Russian p.

8, 2022 5, 2022 Russian arms dealer known as the 'Merchant of Death' swapped for Brittney Griner,"](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/viktor-bout-russia-arms-dealer-merchant-of-death-brittney-griner/) Dec. "The Biden administration made the right decision to bring Ms. [second](https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/politics/trevor-reed-russia/index.html) American returned from Russia this year after what the Biden administration characterized as wrongful detentions. "Sadly, (for) totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul's case differently than Brittney's," Biden told reporters. [Conservatives](https://twitter.com/RepLaTurner/status/1600890128540516354) criticized Bout's release and said Whelan, a former U.S. [sentenced](https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/nys/pressreleases/April12/boutviktorsentencing.html) Bout to 25 years in prison for conspiring to sell FARC hundreds of surface-to-air missiles and 20,000 AK-47s. "But the Pentagon and its contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan have simultaneously paid him millions of dollars to fly hundreds of missions in support of post-war reconstruction in both countries." Their story said he "made millions as the world's most efficient postman, able to deliver any kind of cargo — especially illicit weapons — anywhere in the world." The Biden administration initially offered to exchange Bout for the release of Brittney Griner and former U.S. In 2012, a federal court sentenced Bout to 25 years in prison for conspiring to sell FARC hundreds of surface-to-air missiles and 20,000 AK-47s.