WASHINGTON, Dec 10 Exchange question of former basketball player Brittney Griner punishment in the Russian Federation, against the Russian Viktor Bout, was fraught with the need to achieve complex political compromises in the United States, the Washington Post writes, citing unnamed representatives of the American government. US citizens and material support for terrorism. On Thursday, he was released from a US prison after nearly 15 years in a trade for American basketball player Brittney Griner.
According to newspaper sources from among former and current officials of the US Department of Justice, many representatives of the department resisted the idea of extraditing Bout to Russia. «If she (Greiner — ed.) was my relative, I would go for an exchange. However, changing a well-known international arms dealer for a basketball player is crazy,» one of the interlocutors commented to the publication. The businessman Bout himself denied all US accusations of arms smuggling, conspiracy to kill Americans, and support for terrorism.
The most painful aspect of the deal for the US, according to a Washington Post source, was that Russia did not allow the inclusion of Paul Whelan, a Marine Corps veteran who is serving a prison term in Russia on espionage charges, on the exchange list.
The last few months, according to the newspaper. State Department officials advocated an exchange of Booth for Whelan and Griner. Moscow, according to sources, refused such a format of the deal, demanding that the «Russian Vadim Krasikov», who allegedly represented the Russian special services in the past, be included in the exchange list. However, the German authorities, where, according to the newspaper, «Krasikov» is serving his term, made it clear to the US that his release would be «an unfortunate decision.» We are talking about a Russian citizen Vadim Sokolov. According to the German investigation, his real name is Vadim Krasikov.
«According to high-ranking officials, in private, the same disagreements manifested themselves within the American administration, echoing the usual bureaucratic delays,» the newspaper notes.
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