Joe Biden offers Russian arms dealer in exchange for detained basketball star Brittney Griner
Joe Biden is seeking to free Viktor Bout (L) to ensure Brittney Griner’s freedom. (Getty Images)
The Joe Biden administration has offered to exchange convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout as part of a deal to release detained basketball star Brittney Griner.
Queer WNBA star Griner is on trial for drug charges that could land her in prison for a decade after she was arrested at a Moscow airport in February.
While Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death”, is currently serving 25 years in federal prison for conspiring to sell weapons to people who intended to kill Americans.
Sources told CNN that the White House has struck a deal with the Kremlin to exchange the two prisoners, leapfrogging over the Department of Justice which opposes prisoner trades.
“We communicated a substantial offer that we believe could be successful based on a history of conversations with the Russians,” a senior administration official told the outlet. “We communicated that a number of weeks ago, in June.”
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