Brittney Griner might be heading to the United States soon as reports say President Joe Biden has offered to exchange Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout for Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan.
According to Side Action;
It appears that the United States is now getting desperate to get Brittney Griner back home.
Earlier today, the White House revealed that they had made a proposal to get the WNBA star out of her Russian detainment. And shortly thereafter, it was reported that the deal was to send back Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange.
Shortly after the proposed deal went viral on the web, people on social media joked that Joe Biden was getting ‘fleeced’ in his offer to bring home Brittney Griner.
Sure, it does seem pretty ridiculous to send Russia back a dangerous weapons trafficker for someone who was found with a little hash oil. But desperate times call for desperate measures.
All WNBA season, players from all over have been speaking out to try to get Brittney Griner back, and perhaps this deal will entice Russia more than previous talks.
People are concerned that maybe we shouldn’t be releasing someone called the Merchant of Death for Griner.
Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death” whose weapons sales fueled deadly conflicts around the world, could be sent back to his motherland in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner and retired U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.
Russian officials have long pushed for the release of Bout, who is currently serving a 25-year sentence in U.S. prison after being convicted in 2011 of conspiracy to kill Americans, conspiracy to deliver anti-aircraft missiles, and aiding a terrorist organization.
He was nabbed in 2008 in a sting operation at a luxury hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, where he met with Drug Enforcement Administration informants who were posing as officials with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which has been classified by US officials as a narco-terrorist group.
Russian officials see Bout as a “high-value asset” and are likely pushing hard for the exchange, according to former Defense Intelligence Agency officer Rebekah Koffler.
“Moscow wants him back because he possesses critical insights that he can share with the GRU, his former agency. Having been in a U.S. prison and interrogated by U.S. officials, he knows what our intelligence requirements are and other information that is valuable for the Russians,” Koffler, the author of “Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America,” told Fox News Digital.
“It would be a big mistake for the U.S. to give up Viktor Bout, as much as one feels compassion for Ms. Griner and Mr. Whelan.”
What do you think?
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