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Russia said the chances of a prisoner swap for Brittney Griner had 'strengthened,' and is angling to get a notorious arms dealer freed

Sophia Ankel   

Russia said the chances of a prisoner swap for Brittney Griner had 'strengthened,' and is angling to get a notorious arms dealer freed
International2 min read
  • The Kremlin said the chances of a prisoner swap for WNBA player Brittney Griner had "strengthened".
  • It said arms dealer Viktor Bout is among those who are being discussed in return.

Russia said the chances of a prisoner swap for WNBA player Brittney Griner had "strengthened," with the country looking to get a notorious arms dealer freed in return, according to multiple reports.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday that Washington and Moscow are currently exploring a possible prisoner exchange for Griner, and that convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout is among those who are being discussed.

"I want to hope that the prospect not only remains but is being strengthened and that the moment will come when we will get a concrete agreement," Ryabkov said, Reuters reported.

"The Americans are showing some external activity, we are working professionally through a special channel designed for this," Ryabkov said. "Viktor Bout is among those who are being discussed, and we certainly count on a positive result."

Ryabkov added that a "common denominator" has not yet been reached between the two countries.

Bout, who has been called "the merchant of death," is a former Soviet air officer who was one of the world's most infamous arms dealers, the BBC reported.

He is believed to have helped arm numerous terrorist organizations, including the Taliban and the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone, and Abu Sayyaf, a militant Islamic group in the Philippines, according to The Guardian.

Bout was arrested at a luxury hotel in Bangkok in 2008, in a US sting operation, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Since 2012, Bout has been held at the United States Penitentiary, Marion, in southern Illinois.

Ryabkov's comments come as Griner, an eight-time WNBA All-Star, was moved to a penal colony in Russia's Mordovia region, her lawyers said on Thursday.

Last month Griner lost her appeal against a nine-year drug sentence, after she was arrested at the airport in Moscow in February when officials said they found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage.

"Brittney is doing as well as could be expected and trying to stay strong as she adapts to a new environment," her lawyers, Maria Blagovolina and Aleksandr Boikov, said in a statement, according to The New York Times.

A 2017 article by the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets reported widespread torture and slave labor conditions in the penal colony Griner is currently being held in.

The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.


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