Viktor BoutMOSCOW, May 21. Six months of failure to provide medical assistance to Russian businessman Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year prison term in the United States on charges of conspiring to kill US citizens and materially support terrorism, may be an attempt by the US authorities to put pressure on Russia in order to extradite and return to America the American Paul Whelan, who is in a Russian prison, convicted on charges in espionage. The American lawyer for Viktor Bout, Steve Zissou, told RIA Novosti on Saturday.Viktor Bout's wife said she did not know about her husband's exchange plans Six months ago, Bout had serious complaints about a sudden skin disease that affected some areas of the skin, including in close proximity to the eyes. The prison administration and the US Bureau of Prisons ignore both the appeals of the Russian embassy in Washington on this issue and requests for the protection of the Russian. Lawyer Steve Zissou told RIA Novosti that neither the prison administration nor the US Bureau of Prisons have yet responded to him or Russian diplomats how and when a doctor will be able to see a Russian. «We don't know what it is. We don't even know if it's an infection or a disease associated with other causes. There are fears that this disease could adversely affect Viktor's vision, serious consequences,» he told the agency.Victor Bout is unable to contact his family due to restrictions in US prisons, Zissou noted that he can neither confirm nor deny the rumors about a possible exchange of Bout, but believes that the recent exchange of Konstantin Yaroshenko for Trevor Reed showed that the negotiations for the exchange of Bout in are in principle possible.» And now I have the impression that such treatment of Viktor, that he has not been provided with medical care for such a long time, is an attempt by the US authorities to put pressure on the Russian authorities in order to return to the US Paul Whelan, who official America considers a «hostage» and whose name President Biden called in a conversation with President Putin in Geneva,» the lawyer suggested. : US authorities are not interested in the exchange Viktor BoutaBut was arrested in Thailand at the American request in 2008 as a result of a provocative operation by US intelligence services and taken to the US. He was accused of preparing a conspiracy to kill US citizens and provide material support to terrorism. Bout denies the accusations on all counts. In Thailand, he won two extradition cases in the first instance, but then, at the appeal stage, the decisions of the courts of first instance were overturned. While still under the jurisdiction of the Thai court, Bout was taken to the United States with gross violations of both Thai and American laws. In 2012, a jury in New York found the Russian guilty, after which the federal court sentenced him to the minimum sentence under the sane articles — 25 years prisons. To date, the Russian has served more than half of this term.
