Alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. AP.
Moscow: Viktor Bout, the recently freed Russian arms dealer, says he “wholeheartedly” supports Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine and he would “certainly go as a volunteer” if he had the opportunity and the desired skills.
The remarks were made by Bout during a video interview with Russian state television network RT. He said, “If I could, I would share the skills I have and I would readily volunteer.”
He further said that “any Russian person” should approve of Moscow’s “special military operation”.
“To be honest, I couldn’t even understand why we did not do it earlier. Why in 2014, you know, there were demonstrations in Kharkiv, people were carrying enormous tricolors and shouting, ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’ in Donbas and Odesa, as well, you know!” Bout said.
Bout was released on Thursday from US detention in a prisoner swap for American basketball star Brittney Griner, who was detained in Moscow for nine months on drug charges.
The US and Russian officials agreed to the one-for-one swap last week.
‘Proud that Putin is our President’
During the interview, Bout was asked if he had a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin in his prison cell, to which he replied, “Yes, always. Why not? I’m proud that I’m Russian and that our president is Putin.”
‘US seeking to destroy Russia’
During the interview, Bout claimed that Western countries, including the US, were seeking to “destroy” and “divide” Russia.
“The West believes that they did not finish us off in 1990, when the Soviet Union began to disintegrate… They think that they can just destroy us again and divide Russia,” the Russian arm dealer, who is dubbed the “Merchant of Death” said.
The former Soviet military officer was serving a 25-year prison sentence in the US on charges of conspiring to kill Americans, acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles, and provide material support to a terrorist organisation.
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