- Viktor Bout revealed details about his encounter with Brittney Griner during their prisoner swap.
- Bout said that he wished her luck and felt that she "was positively inclined" towards him.
Viktor Bout, the convicted arms dealer the US swapped with Russia for WNBA star Brittney Griner, revealed what he said to her while exchanging them on the airport tarmac in Abu Dhabi.
"I wished her luck. She even sort of reached out her hand to me," Bout told the Russian state broadcaster RT in his first interview on Saturday, according to Reuters.
"Again, it's our tradition. You should wish everyone good fortune and happiness," he said, adding that he believed Griner "was positively inclined" towards him.
A video published this week showed the moment in which the pair were swapped on the tarmac. Bout and Griner can be seen walking toward each other, each accompanied by people.
The groups stop to speak briefly, and some of the people accompanying Griner shake hands with Bout before they go their separate ways.
—ТАСС (@tass_agency) December 8, 2022
For his interview on Saturday, Bout sat down with Maria Butina, who was previously imprisoned in the US for 14 months for acting as an unregistered Russian agent and is now a lawmaker and TV presenter.
They also spoke about the war in Ukraine, which Bout said he supported and wished that Moscow had been able to do sooner.
"If I had the chance and the required skills, I'd join up as a volunteer," he said.
He also revealed that he had a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin in his prison cell.
"Yes, always. Why not? I'm proud that I'm Russian and that our president is Putin," he said, according to CNN.
Bout was a prominent international arms dealer arrested in 2008 in a sting operation.
He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2011 and had served less than half of that sentence when he was swapped with Griner.
Griner is yet to release a public statement since getting home but was "in good spirits" and "incredibly gracious," John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesperson, told CNN.