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Biden Administration Offers Arms Dealer And Lord Of War Viktor Bout In Exchange For Brittney Griner And Paul Whelan

After Russian customs officials found vape cartridges that contained hashish oil in basketball star Brittney Griner’s luggage this past February, she was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.

This has led to Griner becoming a valuable asset for the Russians, who are trying to exchange her for arms trafficker Viktor Bout, who is imprisoned in the U.S., in a prisoner swap.

Earlier this month, Griner then pleaded guilty to bringing hashish oil into Russia, letting the judge know that she had done so inadvertently while asking the court for mercy.

While she now faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, insiders believe that the guilty plea was a strategy to help facilitate a prisoner swap.

This prisoner swap could now indeed be happening, as president Joe Biden and his administration have reportedly offered to exchange Viktor Bout, as part of a deal that would send Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, who has been held by Russia since 2018, home.

Bout used his air transport companies to smuggle weapons from Eastern Europe to Africa and the Middle East during the 1990s and early 2000s.

In 2011, Bout was convicted by a jury in New York City of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and officials, delivery of anti-aircraft missiles, and providing aid to a terrorist organization, and was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment. His person has been the inspiration for Nicholas Cage’s character in the Lord of War.

Per CNN:

Speaking at a press conference at the State Department, Blinken said Biden was “directly involved” and signed off on the proposal. Although Blinken did not directly confirm Bout was part of the deal, saying he “can’t and won’t get into any of the details of what we proposed to the Russians over the course of so many weeks now,” he said “in terms of the President, of course he was not only directly involved, he signs off on any proposal that we make, and certainly when it comes to Americans who are being arbitrarily detained abroad, including in this specific case.”