International arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death,” revealed Friday what he told WNBA star Brittney Griner during December’s prisoner swap between the US and Russia The exchange between the two countries happened at an airport in Abu Dhabi. Bout, 56, emerged from a plane and shook hands with one man, hugged another before seemingly looking in Griner’s direction. “I said, you know, ‘I wish you good luck, and, you know, and we both went to our, you know, planes,” Bout exclusively told ESPN’s TJ Quinn. Griner had been arrested on drug charges at a Moscow airport for almost 10 months while Bout has been in US custody since 2008. Bout followed Griner’s arrest timeline from inside an Illinois prison where he was serving a 25-year sentence for conspiracy to kill Americans — Drug Enforcement Administration captured him in Thailand. Convicted international arms dealer Viktor Bout said he wished Griner “good luck” during their brief exchange during the swap.AFP via Getty Images Griner, 32, was detained by Russian authorities in February 2022 after finding a cannabis vape cartridge in her luggage while attempting to exit the country as Russia prepared to invade Ukraine. The WNBA All-Star pleaded guilty to drug possession charges in July 2022 and was sentenced to nine years in a forced labor camp in Mordovia. Bout found out he’d be “going home” from a guard the day of the exchange. Bout recalled that “guards came at four o’clock in the morning with the boxes” and knocked on his cell door and told him to start packing his things, and he knew his hours were numbered in America. “I realized, yes, I’m going home,” Bout said. Brittney Griner is seen arriving back in San Antonio, TX, on Dec. 9, 2022, following the exchange.AFP via Getty Images Griner sits inside a holding cell after being sentenced to nine years in a forced labor camp.REUTERS The convicted arms dealer told the outlet he was “immediately shocked” seeing the All-Star baller without her “signature braids” after she had cut them off to prevent her hair from freezing in the harsh Russian winter. Noting the WNBA Center was significantly “taller” than him as the deal began to unfold, Bout said he reached out and shook Griner’s hand briefly before embarking back to Russia, he told the outlet. Bout sympathized with Griner, saying they were both “pawns” for the politicians involved who were playing “chess, on this big chessboard which they call geopolitics.” Bout is being escorted by police as he arrives at the Ratchada criminal court in Bangkok for an important hearing that could determine if he will be extradited to the United States on Oct. 5, 2010.ZUMAPRESS.com US Marine veteran Paul Whelan is still in a Russian prison after being accused of was arrested of spying for the US in Moscow.AP “I feel, you know, bad or sorry for any person who’s going to be used as a pawn, despite whether they committed something or not,” he told the outlet. “Publicity is a, like, multiplying factor which can really kill you if you are not strong enough to handle it.” President Joe Biden signed off on the trade after months of back-and-forth with the Kremlin and White House on securing Griner’s release. The exchange came with much pushback from Americans, believing Bout to be a danger to the nation and the administration not including US Marine Veteran Paul Whelan in the swap. Whelan has been accused of spying for the US and has been jailed in Russia since 2018.

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