US basketball player Brittney Griner is in Russian custody for drug smuggling. When asked by a reporter whether she might be exchanged for the Russian Wiktor Bout, who is incarcerated in the USA, US Secretary of State Blinken only reacted evasively.
In February of this year, US basketball player Brittney Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport for drug possession. You face up to ten years in prison in a drug trial.
Last week, Griner pleaded guilty to carrying vaporizer cartridges containing cannabis oil, but insisted she had no intention of violating Russian law. Her defense team presented evidence to support this and now say Griner was prescribed medicinal cannabis by a doctor. A US embassy official in Moscow said the government will do everything it can to free US citizens wrongfully detained in Russia.
Bittney Griner in exchange for Wiktor Bout?
In this context, the US media has repeatedly speculated as to whether a prisoner exchange between the US and Russia could ensure their return. On the sidelines of the G7 summit in Elmau, US Secretary of State Blinken recently responded evasively to a CNN reporter’s very specific question as to whether Griner could be released in a swap with the US arms dealer Wiktor But: “I can’t go into detail say what we’re doing, except that the cases have absolute priority.”
But who is Viktor Bout? Bout was caught in a Bangkok hotel in March 2008 after a worldwide search. He was then sent to a maximum security prison. The US authorities accused the now 52-year-old Russian of having illegally delivered weapons to crisis areas in Africa, South America, the Middle East and Asia. Also in Afghanistan, he is said to have supplied warring factions with weapons for years, including Islamist terrorist groups, as summarized by TIME magazine.
Bout is said to speak six foreign languages and has had various cover identities in the past. His dazzling life was the template for the Hollywood film “Lord of War – Dealer of Death” with Nicolas Cage.
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I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
