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When WNBA superstar Brittney Griner was finally freed from a Russian prison earlier this year, it came with a condition.
Griner was exchanged for Viktor Bout.
Bout, 56, is an alleged arms dealer who has been labeled the “merchant of death” by those in the intellgence community.
Bout was extradited from Thailand to the US in 2010, after a sting operation by the US Drug Enforcement Agency two years earlier.
The exchange didn’t sit well with many who felt the US should not be trading a basketball player for an (alleged) arms dealer.
Others wondered why US marine Paul Whelan, who has been imprisoned longer than Griner, was not part of the deal.
‘Merchant Of Death’ Viktor Bout Wished Brittney Griner Luck During Exchange
T.J. Quinn of ESPN recently spoke to Bout, who revealed details about the exchange and what he said to Griner.
“In an exclusive interview with ESPN, Bout says he recalled hearing a knock on his cell door and being told, ‘Hey, you know, wake up and pack up. You’re leaving,’ Quinn writes.
“‘Then,’ Bout recalled, ‘I realized, yes, I’m going home.'”
Bout then said the outrage in Russia when he was imprisoned was similar to that in US when Griner was sentenced.
“Well, think of this, that the same outrage was in Russia when I was sentenced to 25 years,” he said. “Many people would say, ‘For what? Just for talking? Are you serious?’
“There is not even a proper translation to Russian of the crime of conspiracy. We don’t have such even the legal term, So, this is this same kind of outrage in Russia about my case and about many other cases.”
But he still had respect for the basketball star.
“Look, I mean, in United States, I guess, only lazy would not, you know, cover her trial,” he said. “Every, you know, talking radio host, every news station, every TV channel on the news broadcast, so this was a big, big deal, I guess, you know, especially in jail.”
He even made a point to wish her luck during the exchange.
“So, I said, you know, ‘I wish you good luck,'” he said, “and, you know, and we both went to our, you know, planes.”
What an absolutely wild story.