The man who was traded for Brittney Griner was called “one of the world’s most dangerous men” by the former head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
This week, basketball star Griner was let out of jail in Russia as part of a deal that US President Joe Biden signed.
The 32-year-old was freed in exchange for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in the US. President Vladimir Putin has been trying to get Bout back since he was given that sentence.
Bout is a former Soviet military officer who has always said he is not guilty. He has been called “the merchant of death.”
He was serving a 25-year sentence in the US for plotting to kill Americans, getting and shipping anti-aircraft missiles, and giving material support to a terrorist group.
Back in 2010, Mike Braun, who used to be the head of the DEA, warned about the danger that Bout posed.
Viktor Bout, in my eyes, is one of the most dangerous men on the face of the Earth,
said the former DEA chief adding,
Without a doubt.
He said that Bout first made a big splash in war-torn West Africa in the late 1980s, when “AK-47s, not by the thousands, but by the tens of thousands,” were used in the fighting.
He transformed these adolescent warriors into insidious, mindless, maniacally driven killing machines that operated with assembly line efficiencies.
When asked what made him a threat to the US in particular, Braun said:
He is a shadow facilitator. He’s arming not only designated terrorist groups, insurgent groups, but he’s also arming very powerful drug trafficking cartels around the globe.
Griner was convicted of having cannabis in her possession when she arrived in Russia in February. She said that the canisters got packed by accident in her luggage and that they were prescribed to her to treat her chronic pain.
The WNBA star has been in jail for 10 months. During her trial in July, she pleaded guilty, but she said she didn’t mean to do anything wrong when she brought cannabis oil into the country.
She was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison colony more than 300 miles east of Moscow. She started serving her time there last month.
Last month, Biden talked about how he planned to get the basketball star back to the US.
I’m telling you, I am determined to get her home and get her home safely — along with others, I might add.
