Russian arms dealer 'merchant of death' traded for basketball star explodes in west

Viktor Bout returned to Russia after 14 years in a US prison as part of a trade for WNBA star Brittney Griner with US President Joe Biden under pressure to bring him home

Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout lambasted the West (

Image: AFP via Getty Images

A Russian arms dealer dubbed the 'dealer of death' who returned to his native country in a swap deal for a basketball star has lambasted the West.

Viktor Bout returned to Russia after 14 years in a US prison as part of a trade for WNBA star Brittney Griner.

Bout has provided weapons for some of the world's worst conflicts and in Russia he was considered unjustly imprisoned after a US sting operation.

Russian state media celebrated his release, releasing footage of him talking to his family from a private jet after an exchange at Abu Dhabi airport.

He then appeared to be embracing his wife and mother on a snowy tarmac in Moscow.

Bout as he stands behind bars before a hearing at the Bangkok Criminal Court in 2009 (

Picture:

AFP via Getty Images)

In an interview for RT channel with Maria Butina, who also served 18 months in a US prison after being convicted of acting as an unregistered foreign agent in the US, Bout said that he still struggled to control his emotions after his imprisonment. .

He insisted that the long-standing objective of the West was to destroy Russia.

Bout said, "The West thinks it failed to finish us off when the Soviet Union started to crumble.

"And our efforts to live independently, to be an independent power comes as a shock to them."