After being released, arms dealer Bout supports Russian intervention in Ukraine

The Russian arms dealer Victor Bout expressed this Saturday his support for Vladimir Putin and the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, after being released in a prisoner exchange with American basketball player Brittney Griner.

Bout said he had “always” kept a portrait of the Russian president in his cell in the United States, where he was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being arrested in 2008 in Thailand.

“I am proud to be Russian and proud of our president,” said the arms dealer, during an interview with the Russian state channel RT.

“If I had the possibility and the necessary skills, I would volunteer” to fight in Ukraine, said Bout, who disagreed with the fact that Russia did not start its offensive in 2014, when the conflict between Kiev and the pro-Russian authorities began. from Donbas.

The arms merchant once again presented himself as a businessman who did business in compliance with the law and who was arrested to make him an “example” and force other Russian businessmen to reach agreements with the United States.

Bout also said that he never sold weapons to the Taliban, despite accusations in the US press about it.

“The Taliban put a price on my head. How can they say that I collaborated with them? It doesn’t make any sense,” she stated.

Born in 1967 in Dushanbe (Tajikistan), he was part of the Soviet air force and, after the fall of the USSR, he dedicated himself to buying large quantities of weapons at low prices at military bases in former Soviet republics and selling them in countries in conflict, especially in Africa.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.