Recently freed arms dealer Viktor Bout, who the U.S. exchanged with Russia for WNBA star Brittney Griner, voiced support Saturday for the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.
Known as the "Merchant of Death," Bout, 55, also suggested during the interview with Russia Today that he would join the Armed Forces for President Vladimir Putin's war effort if he were a little bit younger.
"I fully support the special military operation," he stated, adding, "If I could, I would share the skills I have, and I would readily volunteer."
Bout later recalled the 2014 pro-Russian demonstrations in Kharkiv, Donbas, and Odesa before he was incarcerated, acknowledging he "would have supported" Russian military intervention at the time if the conditions allowed for it.
"The West believes that they did not finish us off in 1990, when the Soviet Union began to disintegrate," Bout insisted. "They think that they can just destroy us again and divide Russia."
His comments arrive one week after President Joe Biden's administration facilitated a swap with Moscow for Griner, who was detained on minor drugs charges in February. Bout, on the other hand, was serving a 25-year sentence over arms trafficking charges.
Drug Enforcement Administration official Derek Maltz told Politico the notorious smuggler could be back in action soon "with greater motivation to fuel conflicts and support Russia in its outrageous and disastrous war with Ukraine."
"Bout was a master," former DEA chief of operations Mike Braun said. "There was no one who came close to his ability to move any type of armaments around the world and deliver them with absolutely precision, with air drops, landing on unimproved airstrips, using old Soviet heavy cargo aircraft."
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