Washington — She is an American professional basketball star and has been accused of putting hashish oil in her luggage.
He is a notorious Russian arms dealer known as the “merchant of death” and has been serving 25 years in federal prison for conspiring to sell weapons to those who said he had planned to kill Americans. increase.
And the Kremlin seems interested in linking their destiny in a potential deal with the Biden administration that liberates both.
The big difference between Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout’s case is the extreme difficulty that President Biden will face when he seeks a prisoner exchange and releases Ms. Griner, a detained WNBA player, from detention in Moscow. Is highlighted. The Biden administration is hesitant to create incentives for the arrest and abduction of Americans abroad, but it will be difficult to justify the release of villains like Mr. Bout.
At the same time, Biden is under pressure to release Grinner, who was arrested at an airport in the Moscow region in February. Classified in May As “unjustly detained”. This reflects concerns that the Kremlin considers her influence in the tense conflict between the United States and Russia over Ukraine.Dozens of groups representing people of color, women and LGBTQ Americans last week I sent a letter He urged Mr Biden to “make an arrangement to return Britney to the United States immediately and safely.”
Mr Greener’s trial began on Friday and was postponed until next Thursday.
Former Soviet military officer Bout, 55, who made a fortune in global arms trafficking before being involved in a federal sting operation, could come at the cost of any transaction. Russian authorities have been putting pressure on Mr. Bout’s proceedings for years, and in recent weeks the Russian media has linked his proceedings directly to Mr. Greener’s proceedings. Some, including the state-owned Tass news agency, Even insist Discussions with Washington about the possibility of a replacement are already underway and US officials will not confirm this.
In an interview, Bout’s New York-based lawyer Steve Jissou said Russian authorities were urging him to be released. Person convicted in 2011 He offered to sell weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles, to federal agencies disguised as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Mr. Jisou said in a meeting with Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov in June in Washington that Mr. Bout’s release was a very high priority for the Russian government.
“It was very clear to the Americans that if they expected more prisoner exchanges, they would have to become a reality at Victor Bowt,” Zissou said. “In my sense, Americans won’t go home unless Victor Bowt is sent home with them.”
US officials refuse to substantiate the concept and do not discuss potential deals to release Mr. Greener. As a matter of fact, the State Department has rejected questions about prisoner exchange around the world and warned that they set a dangerous precedent.
“Using illegal detention as a trump card for negotiations threatens the safety of everyone who travels, works and lives abroad,” said Ned Price, a spokesman for the agency.
A better understanding of the Russian-Ukraine war
Biden agreed April prisoner exchangeRussia has released Trevor Reed, a former US Marine Corps from Texas, who has been detained since 2019 for assaulting two police officers. In return, the United States released Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug smuggling in 2011. However, White House officials emphasized that Mr. Reed’s poor health made his case exceptional.
Many have expressed their support for Grinner, a star athlete and basketball icon. Less obvious is the Russian government’s solidarity with organized crime giants related to terrorists and war criminals. December, Moscow Government Building Two dozen pencil drawings by Mr. Bout Other artwork from his cell in a federal prison building near Marion.
By the time he was arrested in 2008, Mr. Bout (pronounced “boots”) knew that the arms trafficking character played by Nicolas Cage in the 2005 movie “Lord of War” was based on his life. Was being done.
Born in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, he attended the Russian Army Academy and served as a Soviet Air Force officer.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mr. Bout began earning money to carry cargo between continents. U.S. officials say he soon became one of the world’s top arms dealers, transporting weapons from the former Soviet army on an Illusion transport plane, a particularly lucrative business in war-torn African countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leone. increase. Mr. Bout denies that he deliberately trafficked weapons.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the United States and European countries were convinced that Mr. Bout’s arms transport not only fueled death and misery, but also violated the UN arms embargo. They were particularly wary of intelligence agencies suggesting that he may have traded with the Taliban in Afghanistan, or even al-Qaeda.
Eventually, the United States invited Mr. Bout into a trap. In 2008, two drug control agents disguised as members of the Colombian left-wing FARC rebel group held a meeting with Mr. Bout in Bangkok with 30,000 AK-47 rifles, plastic explosives, and ground-to-air missiles. I bought a weapon such as. US military personnel supporting the campaign against the Colombian government and FARC.
“Victor Bout was ready to sell weapons that would be the envy of some small nations,” said Preet Barara, a U.S. lawyer in the Southern District of New York at the time. Said after his conviction.. “He sought to sell those weapons to terrorists for the purpose of killing Americans.”
The official status of FARC at the time as a foreign terrorist organization meant that Mr. Bout had sentenced him to a compulsory federal minimum sentence of 25 years.
One of the former U.S. officials familiar with Mr. Bout’s situation said the Russian government’s interest in his freedom was personal and associated with powerful people close to President Vladimir Putin.
Another former US official pointed out a slightly more principled reason. Mr. Bout was arrested in Thailand and handed over to New York from there. Russian officials have called “the practice of the United States actually hunting down foreign citizens and arresting them in other countries,” as Grigory Lucantsev, a human rights commissioner for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in August. Complaining about things. According to the Russian news agency RT..
The first former U.S. official said it was very unlikely that Mr. Bout would be released in a deal with Mr. Greener, given the magnitude of his crime. Since December 2018, a former US Marine Corps has been imprisoned in Moscow on suspicion of espionage. Former officials said Russia had sought to release Mr. Bout in a case that had received more attention in the past and was categorically rejected.
Both former officials were not allowed to publicly discuss their knowledge of Mr. Bout’s case, so they spoke on anonymous terms.
Daniel Gilbert, an assistant professor of military and strategic research at the US Air Force Academy, which specializes in hostage diplomacy, agreed that releasing Mr. Bout was a difficult political proposal. But she did not deny the idea. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were at least considering the possibilities,” she said, noting that she wouldn’t speak for the US government.
Mr. Bout has at least one supporter of his release in the United States. This is Shira A. Shindrin, the judge who presided over his case. In an interview, Shindrin said exchanging Bout for Greener was inappropriate given the magnitude of his crimes associated with her alleged breach.
But she said transactions involving Mr. Welan may even include scale. Mr. Bout had already been in prison for 11 years and said, “In my opinion, he was not a terrorist. He was a businessman.” He added, “I thought it was too expensive at the time.”
“So I think the US interest in punishing him is fulfilled because he has served as long as he is,” she said. It’s important to us. “
Even if the United States was open to such a deal, Zissou said it wouldn’t be imminent. He said Russia, which claims Mr. Greener was not a political pawn in the face of legitimate accusations, believed he had decided to complete her trial before negotiating her release. “And it’s likely to take months,” he said.