Viktor Bout

The Biden administration has offered a deal to Russia aimed at bringing home WNBA star Brittney Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan,” Antony ...

In his bombshell announcement Wednesday, Blinken also said that he intends to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, with whom he has not talked since before Russia invaded Ukraine. Blinken said he hopes to discuss both the potential prisoner swap and a recent UN-brokered deal about releasing Ukrainian grain. Pressure has mounted on Biden to bring the two home and the trade, if successful, could be a much-needed political win. He described the offer as a “substantial proposal” and said it was made weeks ago, though the Associated Press reports that it remains unclear whether Russia will accept it. Reed, who was held in Russia for more than two years on what the U.S. said were trumped-up charges of assaulting police, was exchanged for a Russian pilot who had been in U.S. federal prison for more than a decade on cocaine smuggling charges. The White House may have been emboldened by its recent success in bringing home Trevor Reed, a former Marine, through a prisoner swap. The offer would see notorious Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout be released from a U.S. prison in exchange for the two American detainees.

The Biden administration has proposed returning Viktor Bout to Russia in exchange for the release of detained Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, ...

“It has been communicated to the American side very clearly that they’re going to have to get real on Viktor Bout if they expect any further prisoner exchanges,” Zissou told the New York Times earlier this month. Biden recently spoke by phone with Griner’s wife and Whelan’s sister to update them on the administration’s efforts to free their relatives. We start all of these with somebody who has taken a human being American and treated them as a bargaining chip,” the person added. Griner, a star of the WNBA, has been locked up in Russia since February on drug possession charges, to which she pleaded guilty earlier this month. The secretary said he would “raise an issue that’s a top priority for us — the release of Americans Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner, who’ve been wrongfully detained and must be allowed to come home. “We’ve conveyed this [offer] on a number of occasions, and directly to Russian officials.

On the same day, Griner testified in Russian court as part of her ongoing trial on drug charges following her February arrest at a Moscow airport. Whelan was ...

"I've never touched diamonds in my life and I'm not a diamond guy and I don't want that business." He said that Bout graduated from the Military Institute on Foreign Languages, a well-known feeder school for Russian military intelligence. The trial honed in on Bout's role in supplying weapons to FARC, a guerrilla group that waged an insurgency in Colombia until 2016. Bout has repeatedly maintained that he operated legitimate businesses and acted as a mere logistics provider. Now, at the center of that bid is Bout, a man who eluded international arrest warrants and asset freezes for years. On the same day, Griner testified in Russian court as part of her ongoing trial on drug charges following her February arrest at a Moscow airport.

The future of two American citizens detained in Russia could hinge on the release of a convicted Russian arms dealer, nicknamed the "Merchant of Death" by ...

"I've never touched diamonds in my life and I'm not a diamond guy and I don't want that business." He said that Bout graduated from the Military Institute on Foreign Languages, a well-known feeder school for Russian military intelligence. The trial honed in on Bout's role in supplying weapons to FARC, a guerrilla group that waged an insurgency in Colombia until 2016. Bout has repeatedly maintained that he operated legitimate businesses and acted as a mere logistics provider. Now, at the center of that bid is Bout, a man who eluded international arrest warrants and asset freezes for years. On the same day, Griner testified in Russian court as part of her ongoing trial on drug charges following her February arrest at a Moscow airport.

The former Soviet military officer was arrested in Bangkok in 2008 and is now serving 25 years in US prison.

He was held in custody for two years in Thailand before being extradited to the US to go on trial. Ever since he was convicted, the Russian government has demanded his release. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

According to CNN, the Biden administration has offered to exchange Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms trafficker serving a 25-year US prison sentence, ...

A Russian arms dealer known as the "Merchant of Death" could be exchanged for WNBA star Brittney Griner and retired U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in a prisoner ...

Griner was arrested at a Russian airport in mid-February after police said they found cannabis oil in her bags. "Moscow wants him back because he possesses critical insights that he can share with the GRU, his former agency. The Biden administration confirmed Wednesday that it has made a "substantial proposal" to help free Griner and Whelan. Having been in a U.S. prison and interrogated by U.S. officials, he knows what our intelligence requirements are and other information that is valuable for the Russians," Koffler, the author of "Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America," told Fox News Digital. Russian officials have long pushed for the release of Bout, who is currently 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. 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."

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said he would speak to his Russian counterpart for the first time in months about a “substantial proposal” to free the ...

Ms. Griner’s Russian legal defense team said it had learned about the American offer from the news and that it had not been participating in the discussions. The senior official said that the White House contacted Elizabeth Whelan, Mr. Whelan’s sister, about the proposal, and that she received it very positively. But the United States did make a trade with Moscow in April, sending home a convicted Russian drug smuggler in exchange for Mr. Reed, who was arrested on charges of assaulting two police officers. The State Department has classified him and Ms. Griner as “wrongfully detained” and has referred their cases to a special hostage affairs office. “She emphasized that she never planned to bring it to Russia and use it.” In an interview last month, however, the judge who sentenced Mr. Bout, Shira A. Scheindlin, said that Mr. Bout “was not a terrorist, in my opinion. In 2010, Mr. Bout agreed to sell arms to undercover U.S. federal agents who said they belonged to Colombia’s FARC rebel group, which the United States classified at the time as a terrorist organization. A lawyer came to help after 16 hours of detention, he said. She said she was told to sign papers with no explanation of what they were. Speaking at the State Department, Mr. Blinken said he expected to talk with Sergey V. Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, in the coming days and would urge him to accept the proposal. The notion of trading Ms. Griner for Mr. Bout surfaced in Russian news media several weeks ago. Some analysts believe that Mr. Bout enjoys loyalty from former criminal associates with continued influence at the Kremlin.

Griner was arrested in Russia in February on drug-related charges. She testified at her trial in Russian court on Wednesday she did not mean to travel with the ...

It is certainly true that he may have continued to sell arms in other places in the world, but there is no reason to believe he would have committed any crime over which American courts have jurisdiction. “But for the approach made through this determined sting operation, there is no reason to believe that Bout would ever have committed the charged crimes. Though the potential trade for Bout has been rumored for months, it was until today largely dismissed in media reports and by experts as unlikely, or even immoral. According to a transcript of the sentencing hearing shared with Defector, the judge said: Bout, who is eligible for release in 2029, was arrested in Bangkok in 2008 after the United States Drug Enforcement Agency initiated a sting operation in which Bout agreed to sell arms to agents posing as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Whelan, a former Marine, was arrested in Moscow in 2018 on espionage charges.

U.S. Proposes a Prisoner Swap to Bring Brittney Griner, Paul Whelan Home. The trade announced by Antony Blinken reportedly involves Russian arms dealer ...

In 2020, he was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in Russian prison. She now faces up to ten years in prison. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Wednesday that the Biden administration has proposed a prisoner swap that would bring home basketball star Brittney Griner, who has been in Russian jail for five months, and ex-marine Paul Whelan, who was accused of spying and has been detained since 2018.