WASHINGTON, December 11. /TASS/. The decision to hand over Viktor Bout to Russia in exchange for the release of US basketball player Brittney Griner caused controversy within the US administration, The Washington Post wrote on Saturday.

"Negotiating for an exchange of prisoners often involves complex political trade-offs within different parts of the US government, and the Griner-Bout case was no exception," the newspaper points out. According to its sources, many officials within the Justice Department resisted the idea of trading Bout before his scheduled release in 2029. In their opinion, such a swap was unequal. "If she were my relative, I would want to do the swap. <…> But trading a notorious international arms dealer for a basketball player is madness," one of the sources said.

According to the article, "the most painful aspect of the exchange" was that it excluded Paul Whelan who was sentenced for espionage in Russia. For months, State Department officials have been advocating a swap that would include the release of both Whelan and Griner, but, according to the newspaper, Moscow refused unless the United States also secured the release of a Russian national serving time in Germany. According to a US official, Berlin made it clear that his release was not possible.

According to the Washington Post, the State Department was also interested in including Marc Fogel, an ex-employee of the US Embassy in Moscow sentenced to 14 years for drug smuggling in Russia, in the exchange but the Russian side refused. "As a result, the administration decided to trade for Griner and keep negotiating for Whelan and Fogel in the future," the newspaper explained.

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 returned 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. The Foreign Ministry added that the exchange took place in the airport of Abu Dhabi, in the UAE.