Whelan, a former
Marine, has
been in a Russian prison
for nearly four years now
on espionage charges.
The Biden administration
has been facing
criticism for not securing his r
along with Griner.
Meanwhile, that freed arms dealre
Bout says he, quote,
wholeheartedly supports
Moscow's war on Ukraine.
Speaking to Kremlin controlled
Network three,
he said he would certainly go
as a volunteer, his words,
if he had the opportunity
and the necessary skills.
Boot was interviewed by Maria Bu
a Russian gun
rights enthusiast turned TV pers
who herself was
previously jailed by the US on c
she was working as a foreign age
I want to bring in Jill Doughert
She is an adjunct professor
at Georgetown University,
a CNN contributor
and actually former CNN
Moscow bureau chief.
She joins me from Washington, D.
Always good to see you.
Jill, this was quite a sight to
Viktor Bout being interviewed by
Butina herself
once a US prisoner
before going back to Russia.
What did you make of the scene
and the content of the interview
Well, I mean,
even the fact that it happened
you know, it happened
so quickly
after he was out,
after he got back from Moscow.
You know, Brittney Griner is still going t
kind of reception
at a military medical center, et
So the fact that he
that they put him on air very qu
and then just, you know, the set
it looked very homey.
They had curtains,
kind of a snowy Russian scene.
He and then what he said, you kn
of course,
said that he had a portrait
of Vladimir Putin in his jail ce
because he's proud to be a Russi
that he
was one of the main things that
But he also was very critical of
the prison, said it was Nazi ins
and he criticized
the food,
basically said he had hamburgers
and overdone potatoes and chicke
for the entire time
that he was in the United States
But seriously,
the gruesome, bizarre things
and I think they were the commen
that life in the United States a
he was really irate about LGBT p
and he said that American school
are taught
that there are 72 different gend
which I'm
sure a lot of Americans
would either laugh
or be kind of surprised.
So but substantively,
he had the message down pat. You
well, maybe you want to talk abo
Yeah. No, no, no.
I was going to ask you about tha
I mean, the messaging
and how controlled
do you think the messaging
was for both a domestic
and international audience?
Well, I think that's a good ques
because it was balanced.
I think this was really
kind of more domestic than inter
I mean, he was a supporter of Pu
He's back home.
He is what they would argue, an
businessman who is now by the Am
because he's a Russian
So these are all messages
for people at home.
I think he immediately said,
I do support the war.
I'm questioning why it didn't ha
earlier was what he said.
And then he would be a volunteer
if he could have the opportunity
I want to ask you this too.
What do you think
his role will be going forward?
Purely propaganda or some tangib
Of course, he was, you know,
merchant of death arms dealer,
but he you know,
he spent more than a decade in p
and probably doesn't
have the same contacts and power
that he once had.
What do you see his role going f
Well, we really don't know.
And I think that's
one of the key questions.
But he does have knowledge now.
Maybe the knowledge is a decade
out of out of date,
but he does have knowledge
and he has
he was very effective
at busting sanctions
when he was involved in arms tra
which, again, he denies.
But there is proof of that.
So that could be useful
in terms of the war in Ukraine r
Sanctions are a big issue.
So his knowledge could be useful
And of
course, there's been political
criticism in the US
that this was far
from a fair trade merchant of de
for a basketball
It was interesting listening.
Maria Butina.
She was frankly gleeful in discu
that with Viktor Bout.
How was the deal itself
being portrayed in Russia?
As a big win
for Vladimir Putin, number one.
And then also there's
kind of an odd approach to it,
which is
and this would all be in quotes
that the United States
is such a depraved country
that it would allow
a trade for a basketball player.
And, you know, for an important
such as Victor Boot.
Now,
that is what the Russians want t
But when you look at,
you know, Boot himself,
he has to be important to Russia
So I think there was
you know, they
they got somebody who's valuable
But in the United States,
he was perceived as being valuab
because precise
because she is a very well
known sports
person in America, wanted her ba
Yeah, indeed.
Well, we'll see what the next de
and what he does next.
Jill Dougherty, always a pleasur
Thank you, Jill.