MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. Moscow has been working hard to secure the release of Viktor Bout, a Russian national who has been doing time in a US correctional facility, and will keep up its efforts, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova vowed.

"People here do not understand that a person might be getting increasingly more or less spotlight due to some political situation or under certain conditions. We have been handling the case of [Viktor] Bout and we will continue to do so, [just as we did with Konstantin] Yaroshenko, and [Maria] Butina," she said during a live broadcast of the Soloviev Live TV-channel.

Given that Yaroshenko was swapped, the public has been wondering who will be the next Russian national to be released. "The question they started asking immediately: <...> who’s next? It’s a pity everybody thinks there’s a line over there," Zakharova said. "We have been making attempts without losing faith or hope, and sparing no effort. The country as a whole is involved, and there have been coordinated efforts on the part of various departments," the Russian diplomat concluded.

Viktor Bout was apprehended 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 American authorities. In 2010, Bout was extradited to the United States.