ULYANOVSK, October 7. /TASS/. Russian national Viktor Bout, who was released in a prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington two years ago and is now a member of the legislative assembly in Russia’s Ulyanovsk Region, has told TASS that the Wall Street Journal article about him is nothing but sensationalist news meant to get clicks, and has no substance to it.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Bout was allegedly selling weapons again, holding talks on arms sales to the Yemeni Houthis. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out that the report "falls into the category of fake news and bogus stories aimed at attacking lawmakers."
"The article’s allegations are baseless; it’s just a flash in the information field," Bout said.
According to him, the newspaper "long ago shifted from being a strictly economic outlet, traditionally covering financial and economic matters, to becoming a biased political media." "We know this particularly from the case of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was caught red-handed and arrested in [the Russian city of] Yekaterinburg. It was proved during the trial that he had acted under cover and collected intelligence for the CIA while working for the newspaper. This is why reports by such media outlets should be viewed primarily through the prism of who the report benefits and what news hook it seeks to create," the Ulyanovsk legislature member added.
Bout also noted that "the US media continue hyping up the ‘arms dealer’ image they promoted in the past, which is widely known." "All this is being done to attract attention and boost the paper’s popularity, which has apparently been on the decline," he said.
In 2022, Moscow exchanged Bout for US basketball star Brittney Griner, convicted in Russia on drug smuggling charges. Both had been pardoned ahead of the swap.