Viktor Bout is the global arms smuggler that President Joe “Bad Deal” Biden swapped for woke basketball player Brittney Griner in a prisoner exchange with Russia.
He has shown himself as a full-fledged Moscow extremist in his first TV interview – while also mocking America with bogus “good luck” wish for Griner.
One of the Worst Prisoner Swap Deals Ever
The arms trafficker and former Soviet Army officer, who was most probably a freelancer of the Russian military intelligence GRU, spent 14 years behind bars in the United States.
The 55-year-old was serving a 25-year sentence in Illinois when Sleepy Joe decided to make Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin happy and let Bout go in exchange for Griner.
She, in February, was caught at a Moscow airport carrying 0.7 grams of cannabis oil and got sentenced to nine years in prison.
Biden’s deal with the Russians has been particularly lambasted by critics not only because he gave up Bout, but also because he also failed to get Moscow to let got Paul Whelan, a former US Marine jailed in Russia on most likely fake espionage charges.
Bout had an interview with Maria Butina, who was also previously arrested by the US an accused of being a Russian spy. pic.twitter.com/LK4Q22JHES
— Sentletse 🇷🇺🇿🇦 (@Sentletse) December 10, 2022
Maria Butina's interview with Viktor Bout was clumsy, full of lies and unintentionally hilarious. Bout complains his public defender was too sexy and keeps calling Butina "Marina." At the end, Butina doesn't seem to know that the camera is still rolling. https://t.co/sfJotJY7o2
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) December 11, 2022
Greeting Viktor Bout at the airport in Moscow: none other than Maria Butina (remember her?), per her Telegram channel
“It is a capitulation by America,” she told state TV from the tarmac. “It shows that Russia doesn't abandon its own while America has shown its defeat.” pic.twitter.com/OrLhX9O9f5
— Vera Bergengruen (@VeraMBergen) December 9, 2022
Russian Imperialist Extremist All the Way
Obnoxiously enough, Viktor Bout gave his first TV interview back in Russia to Maria Butina, who was herself jailed in the US as a Russian spy, but is now a “respected” member of Putin’s rubber-stamp parliament.
Bout didn’t leave any doubts as to his stance as a Russian nationalist extremist and Putin-style Soviet imperialism. He lauded both the bloodthirsty Moscow tyrant and his nauseating war against the West being waged through the invasion of a free and democratic Ukraine.
The merchant of death styled himself a “Russian person” who is “proud” of being that and of “President Putin.”
He added he kept a Putin portrait in his prison cell in the US, a quip leading some Ukrainian commentators to joke they wouldn’t wish to think what Bout may have used the Putin picture for.
In his 40-minute interview with fellow Russian international criminal Butina, Bout declared Russia would “win” Putin’s war in Ukraine. This is a far-fetched forecast, considering the war claimed well over 100,000 Russian fighters’ lives and over 20,000 units of Russian military equipment.
The Ukrainians’ will to resist is unyielding, and they are pummeling the Russians with some of the best US-made weapons systems.
Bout, the Russian extremist, complained only about one thing regarding the war in Ukraine, namely, that Putin hadn’t started it earlier – though he technically began it in 2014 in Crimea.
The merchant of death said he would have volunteered to fight for Russia in Ukraine if he had what was needed.
Bout also revealed he wished Brittney Griner “good luck” as they passed by one another during the prisoner exchange, claiming Russians had been brought up to be nice. He added he thought the basketball player was well-disposed toward him.
Victor Bout, who returned to Russia, said that he always had a portrait of Putin hanging in his cell in an American prison.
"Yes, always. I am proud that I am Russian, and our president is Putin," he said.
We are even afraid to imagine for what purpose this portrait was hung. pic.twitter.com/KAss3tDDsr
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) December 10, 2022
This article appeared in Mainstpress and has been published here with permission.These are the indicative estimates of Russia’s combat losses as of Dec. 12, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/wWDbyW6UjD
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) December 12, 2022
