“The Merchant of Death” back in Russia

After nearly ten months in a Russian prison, American basketball player Brittney Griner was released on Thursday.

The price the US had to pay to bring home the WNBA star: That the Russian terrorist-convicted arms dealer Viktor But was also released.

The Russian arms dealer Viktor But has been internationally called the “merchant of death”. Since 2011, he has been serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States for planning to do business with the Farc guerrillas in Colombia.

In Russia, however, he is seen as a cantankerous businessman who was unjustly imprisoned after an American criminal provocation.

When the Soviet Union broke up, ex-military Viktor But bought a fleet of aircraft, with accompanying crew, from the Russian Air Force and founded a transport company, writes the BBC. In the years that followed, he became, according to the US Department of Justice, one of the world’s top arms dealers. Mainly in Africa and the Middle East.

He is accused, among other things, of having sold weapons to Liberia’s convicted war criminal former president Charles Taylor, Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi as well as both sides in Angola’s civil war.

Arrested in Thailand

But was arrested in March 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand. American agents had pretended to represent the now defunct Farc guerrilla in Colombia. According to the US prosecutor, the meeting would be about a deal regarding “a breathtaking arsenal of weapons”.

After two years in Thailand, But was extradited to the United States, where he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. But himself has denied the allegations, describing himself as a legitimate businessman who did not sell guns.

Greeted by the family

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the exchange of Giner for But had taken place in Abu Dhabi, and Russian state television showed footage of But aboard a private jet undergoing health checks and talking on the phone with his family. Later, the Russian television viewers got to see his arrival in Moscow where he was met by his wife and mother.

– They simply woke me up and told me to collect my belongings. They didn’t give any specific information but I understood the situation that was developing, says But.

For several years, Russia has been trying to get Viktor But home, and as recently as this week, an exhibition was opened in the Russian parliament with paintings made by But during his years in prison.

Further American

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner was arrested in February this year at a Moscow airport, on her way to her Russian club team, for having e-cigarettes with cannabis oil in her luggage. In August she was sentenced to nine years in prison for drug possession, and in October she had her appeal against the sentence rejected.

The US hoped that another imprisoned American would also be included in the exchange. But Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018 and two years later was sentenced to 16 years in prison in Russia for espionage, remains in custody.