MOSCOW, December 10. /TASS/. Viktor Bout, a Russian man who was released from a US prison, expressed his entire support for the Russian special military operation in Ukraine and said that he could have joined it as a volunteer if he had the opportunity and required skills.

"I wholeheartedly support it, if I had the opportunity and the skills needed, I certainly would have volunteered," he said on RT.

Bout pointed out he could not understand why Russia had not started the special military operation earlier, but added that there were no conditions for it in 2014.

"We were not ready," Bout said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry reported on December 8 that Viktor Bout, a Russian citizen, who was serving out a prison sentence in the United States on arms trafficking charges, was returning to Russia as a result of a deal with the US to swap him for American basketball player Brittney Griner, who was apprehended in Russia for drug smuggling in February 2022.

Upon Griner’s arrival at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport from New York, two cartridges with cannabis oil were found in her luggage during baggage inspection. According to an expert review, the substance was cannabis oil, which qualifies as a narcotic substance. The court sentenced her to nine years in a penal colony.

Viktor Bout was arrested in Thailand’s capital of Bangkok in 2008 following a sting by US federal agents. He was charged with conspiracy to deliver weapons to a group regarded as a terrorist organization by the United States. In 2010, Bout was extradited to the United States. In April 2012, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined $15 million.