
Viktor Bout: Russian arms dealer known as the 'Merchant of Death' swapped for Brittney Griner
CNN
US basketball star Brittney Griner was freed in a prisoner exchange for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout nearly 10 months after she was arrested at a Moscow airport.
On Thursday, a source told CNN that the US basketball star had been released from Russian detention in a prisoner swap for Viktor Bout, nicknamed the "Merchant of Death" by his accuser.
Bout, a former Soviet military officer, was serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States on charges of conspiring to kill Americans, acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles, and provide material support to a terrorist organization. Bout has maintained he is innocent.

The two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat in a secondary strike against a suspected drug vessel in early September did not appear to have radio or other communications devices, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings.












