Who is Viktor Bout, Russian arms dealer swapped for Brittney Griner?
Russia has released U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who had been detained in Russia since February, President Biden said Thursday. In exchange, Moscow secured the freedom of Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer behind bars in the United States, according to U.S. officials and Russia’s foreign ministry.
Viktor Bout, 55, is a former Soviet military translator who became an international air transport figure after the fall of communism. He was serving a 25-year sentence at a medium-security prison in Illinois for conspiring to kill U.S. nationals and selling weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Read the full story here.
Russia has released U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who had been detained in Russia since February, President Biden said Thursday. In exchange, Moscow secured the freedom of Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer behind bars in the United States, according to U.S. officials and Russia’s foreign ministry.
Viktor Bout, 55, is a former Soviet military translator who became an international air transport figure after the fall of communism. He was serving a 25-year sentence at a medium-security prison in Illinois for conspiring to kill U.S. nationals and selling weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Read the full story here.
Russia wanted Viktor Bout back, badly. The question is: Why?
At the U.S. penitentiary in Marion, Ill., in a special unit so restrictive that it has the nickname “Little Guantánamo,” a broad-chested, mustachioed man nicknamed the “merchant of death,” who speaks at least six languages, was serving a 25-year term after building a gun-smuggling empire that spanned the globe.
His name was Viktor Bout. And his native Russia wanted him home, badly. The big question: Why?
Bout, 55, is the most notorious arms dealer of his time, accused of profiting off weapons that fueled conflict in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
There is little doubt that Bout is a top prize for Russian officials, who protested his treatment since his 2008 arrest in Thailand after a Drug Enforcement Administration sting. Steve Zissou, Bout’s New York-based lawyer, warned in July that “no Americans will be exchanged unless Viktor Bout is sent home.”
Read the full story here.
At the U.S. penitentiary in Marion, Ill., in a special unit so restrictive that it has the nickname “Little Guantánamo,” a broad-chested, mustachioed man nicknamed the “merchant of death,” who speaks at least six languages, was serving a 25-year term after building a gun-smuggling empire that spanned the globe.
His name was Viktor Bout. And his native Russia wanted him home, badly. The big question: Why?
Bout, 55, is the most notorious arms dealer of his time, accused of profiting off weapons that fueled conflict in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
There is little doubt that Bout is a top prize for Russian officials, who protested his treatment since his 2008 arrest in Thailand after a Drug Enforcement Administration sting. Steve Zissou, Bout’s New York-based lawyer, warned in July that “no Americans will be exchanged unless Viktor Bout is sent home.”
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- WNBA star Brittney Griner has been released from Russian detention in a prisoner swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday and two senior Biden administration officials told The Washington Post.
- Russia is not seeking to annex more Ukrainian territories, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday, a day after President Putin hailed the absorptions as positive results of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- The conflict in Ukraine has made oligarchs in the country less powerful, The Washington Post reports.
- Kyiv’s mayor warned that the Ukrainian capital faces an “apocalypse” this winter if Russian airstrikes continue.
- Russia has created an “almost continuous trench system” along a 37-mile strip of land between the Russian border and the occupied city of Svatove, which sits north of Luhansk, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Thursday.
More live updates here.
- WNBA star Brittney Griner has been released from Russian detention in a prisoner swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday and two senior Biden administration officials told The Washington Post.
- Russia is not seeking to annex more Ukrainian territories, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday, a day after President Putin hailed the absorptions as positive results of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- The conflict in Ukraine has made oligarchs in the country less powerful, The Washington Post reports.
- Kyiv’s mayor warned that the Ukrainian capital faces an “apocalypse” this winter if Russian airstrikes continue.
- Russia has created an “almost continuous trench system” along a 37-mile strip of land between the Russian border and the occupied city of Svatove, which sits north of Luhansk, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Thursday.
More live updates here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- President Vladimir Putin on Thursday doubled down on Russia’s attacks on critical civilian infrastructure in Ukraine ahead of the winter season. Putin admitted to targeting Ukraine’s energy grid and accused Kyiv of provoking the strikes, asking, “Who started it?”
- WNBA star Brittney Griner was set to land in the United States after she was freed in a prisoner exchange with notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner and Bout passed each other on the tarmac during the exchange in Abu Dhabi.
- The White House said it would continue to fight for the release of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who remains detained in Russia.
- Putin admitted to targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and vowed to continue the strikes. International condemnation “will not prevent us from completing our military objectives,” he said at an awards ceremony at the Kremlin on Thursday.
More live updates here.
- President Vladimir Putin on Thursday doubled down on Russia’s attacks on critical civilian infrastructure in Ukraine ahead of the winter season. Putin admitted to targeting Ukraine’s energy grid and accused Kyiv of provoking the strikes, asking, “Who started it?”
- WNBA star Brittney Griner was set to land in the United States after she was freed in a prisoner exchange with notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner and Bout passed each other on the tarmac during the exchange in Abu Dhabi.
- The White House said it would continue to fight for the release of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who remains detained in Russia.
- Putin admitted to targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and vowed to continue the strikes. International condemnation “will not prevent us from completing our military objectives,” he said at an awards ceremony at the Kremlin on Thursday.
More live updates here.
Who is Paul Whelan, the former U.S. Marine held in Russia?
The release of Brittney Griner, the American basketball star imprisoned in Russia who was exchanged Thursday for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, shed light on the case of another American prisoner, Paul Whelan.
U.S. officials say they are still working to secure the release of the former Marine, who was arrested in Moscow in 2018, but claim he was not part of the negotiations for Thursday’s prisoner swap because his case is being treated differently by the Russians.
Here's what you need to know about Paul Whelan.
The release of Brittney Griner, the American basketball star imprisoned in Russia who was exchanged Thursday for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, shed light on the case of another American prisoner, Paul Whelan.
U.S. officials say they are still working to secure the release of the former Marine, who was arrested in Moscow in 2018, but claim he was not part of the negotiations for Thursday’s prisoner swap because his case is being treated differently by the Russians.
Here's what you need to know about Paul Whelan.
War has tamed Ukraine’s oligarchs, creating space for democratic change
BURSHTYN, Ukraine — Over two days in October, eight Russian cruise missiles screamed out of the sky and obliterated tens of millions of dollars’ worth of critical machinery at this city’s hulking coal-fired power plant.
The attacks were designed to leave Ukraine cold and dark this winter. But they also deepened a financial crisis for the plant’s owner, Rinat Akhmetov, the country’s richest man.
Akhmetov’s wealth has dived from $7.6 billion to $4.3 billion since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, according to Forbes. In 2012, before Russia annexed Crimea and backed separatists in Ukraine’s east, locations where Akhmetov also had numerous assets, the magazine estimated his wealth at $16 billion.
The losses are largely from Russia’s destruction and confiscation of his vast networks of power and steel plants, coal mines and agricultural operations.
Read the full story here.
BURSHTYN, Ukraine — Over two days in October, eight Russian cruise missiles screamed out of the sky and obliterated tens of millions of dollars’ worth of critical machinery at this city’s hulking coal-fired power plant.
The attacks were designed to leave Ukraine cold and dark this winter. But they also deepened a financial crisis for the plant’s owner, Rinat Akhmetov, the country’s richest man.
Akhmetov’s wealth has dived from $7.6 billion to $4.3 billion since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, according to Forbes. In 2012, before Russia annexed Crimea and backed separatists in Ukraine’s east, locations where Akhmetov also had numerous assets, the magazine estimated his wealth at $16 billion.
The losses are largely from Russia’s destruction and confiscation of his vast networks of power and steel plants, coal mines and agricultural operations.
Read the full story here.
Russian court sentences war critic to eight years for spreading ‘fake news’
A Russian court on Friday sentenced an opposition politician, Ilya Yashin, to eight years and six months in prison on charges of “spreading false information” about atrocities by Russian forces in Ukraine — the latest criminal verdict intended to silence critics of President Vladimir Putin’s war.
Yashin, 39, posted a YouTube video in April in which he dissected the potential war crimes documented by Western journalists and Ukrainian officials in the city of Bucha, near Kyiv, in an effort to debunk the official Kremlin line that those reports were staged or fabricated to smear Russia.
The Kremlin in the early days of its invasion took aggressive steps to suppress criticism of the war by pushing through laws that made it illegal to criticize the military or the government, or even to call the war a “war” rather than a special military operation, with violations punishable by up to 15 years in jail.
Read the full story here.
A Russian court on Friday sentenced an opposition politician, Ilya Yashin, to eight years and six months in prison on charges of “spreading false information” about atrocities by Russian forces in Ukraine — the latest criminal verdict intended to silence critics of President Vladimir Putin’s war.
Yashin, 39, posted a YouTube video in April in which he dissected the potential war crimes documented by Western journalists and Ukrainian officials in the city of Bucha, near Kyiv, in an effort to debunk the official Kremlin line that those reports were staged or fabricated to smear Russia.
The Kremlin in the early days of its invasion took aggressive steps to suppress criticism of the war by pushing through laws that made it illegal to criticize the military or the government, or even to call the war a “war” rather than a special military operation, with violations punishable by up to 15 years in jail.
Read the full story here.
Here's the latest from Ukraine:
— Russia is adding to its nuclear stockpiles, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested his country’s military doctrine could be changed to allow for a preemptive first strike.
— The tensions follow a prisoner swap that secured the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner from Russian custody. Those negotiations did not thaw U.S.-Russian relations, which have been stressed since Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin said Friday at a televised news conference in Kyrgyzstan.
Read more updates.
— Russia is adding to its nuclear stockpiles, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested his country’s military doctrine could be changed to allow for a preemptive first strike.
— The tensions follow a prisoner swap that secured the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner from Russian custody. Those negotiations did not thaw U.S.-Russian relations, which have been stressed since Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin said Friday at a televised news conference in Kyrgyzstan.
Read more updates.
Russian disinformation is demonizing Ukrainian refugees
As Russian forces continue to shell Ukrainian cities, pro-Kremlin propagandists have homed in on a new target: turning Europeans against the 7.8 million Ukrainian refugees who make up the continent’s largest displacement since World War II.
In doing so, Russia’s disinformation merchants are needling at deep-seated European fault lines over immigration, echoing how Russia-linked operatives famously exploited major U.S. social media platforms to sow division around topics such as race ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Experts say the propaganda campaign, which Facebook parent company Meta has called “the largest and most complex Russian-origin operation that we’ve disrupted since the beginning of the war in Ukraine,” aims to stoke fear and divisions among Ukraine’s critical European allies as they brace for a new influx of refugees this winter.
Read the full story here.
As Russian forces continue to shell Ukrainian cities, pro-Kremlin propagandists have homed in on a new target: turning Europeans against the 7.8 million Ukrainian refugees who make up the continent’s largest displacement since World War II.
In doing so, Russia’s disinformation merchants are needling at deep-seated European fault lines over immigration, echoing how Russia-linked operatives famously exploited major U.S. social media platforms to sow division around topics such as race ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Experts say the propaganda campaign, which Facebook parent company Meta has called “the largest and most complex Russian-origin operation that we’ve disrupted since the beginning of the war in Ukraine,” aims to stoke fear and divisions among Ukraine’s critical European allies as they brace for a new influx of refugees this winter.
Read the full story here.
Russian mercenaries accused of using violence to corner diamond trade
A Russian mercenary group that has gained international attention for its role in the war in Ukraine is also active in one of Africa’s poorest countries, using violence and extortion in an effort to corner its extremely lucrative diamond industry, according to a new report issued by European-based researchers.
Individuals linked to the Wagner Group, which is most infamous for its brutal tactics in eastern Ukraine, have set up a shell company in the Central African Republic (CAR) to secure and sell diamonds, say researchers from two groups, France-based All Eyes on Wagner and the London-based Dossier Center, sponsored by exiled Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky,and European Investigative Collaborations, a network of news organizations.
Read more here.
A Russian mercenary group that has gained international attention for its role in the war in Ukraine is also active in one of Africa’s poorest countries, using violence and extortion in an effort to corner its extremely lucrative diamond industry, according to a new report issued by European-based researchers.
Individuals linked to the Wagner Group, which is most infamous for its brutal tactics in eastern Ukraine, have set up a shell company in the Central African Republic (CAR) to secure and sell diamonds, say researchers from two groups, France-based All Eyes on Wagner and the London-based Dossier Center, sponsored by exiled Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky,and European Investigative Collaborations, a network of news organizations.
Read more here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Russia is “modernizing and expanding its nuclear arsenal,” Austin said Friday at a ceremony at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, where the U.S. Strategic Command oversees the country’s nuclear operations.
- The conflict in Ukraine could become “a major war” between NATO countries and Russia if things go wrong, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned in an interview with Norway’s public broadcaster.
- Brittney Griner was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center in her home state of Texas after landing in the United States on Friday. She “is resilient and so happy to be home and be with her wife,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.). U.S. officials said she was in good spirits.
More live updates here.
- Russia is “modernizing and expanding its nuclear arsenal,” Austin said Friday at a ceremony at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, where the U.S. Strategic Command oversees the country’s nuclear operations.
- The conflict in Ukraine could become “a major war” between NATO countries and Russia if things go wrong, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned in an interview with Norway’s public broadcaster.
- Brittney Griner was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center in her home state of Texas after landing in the United States on Friday. She “is resilient and so happy to be home and be with her wife,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.). U.S. officials said she was in good spirits.
More live updates here.
Here's the latest from Ukraine:
—In his first televised interview since his return to Russia following a prisoner swap with American WNBA star Brittney Griner, arms dealer Viktor Bout said he “wholeheartedly” supports the war in Ukraine and would volunteer for the effort if he had the opportunity, Russian state media reported.
— In Ukraine, more than 1.5 million people in the Black Sea port city of Odessa and its surroundings were left without electricity on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address, after what he described as a night of strikes by Iranian-made drones.
Read more updates.
—In his first televised interview since his return to Russia following a prisoner swap with American WNBA star Brittney Griner, arms dealer Viktor Bout said he “wholeheartedly” supports the war in Ukraine and would volunteer for the effort if he had the opportunity, Russian state media reported.
— In Ukraine, more than 1.5 million people in the Black Sea port city of Odessa and its surroundings were left without electricity on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address, after what he described as a night of strikes by Iranian-made drones.
Read more updates.
Fierce claims to Crimea highlight slim chance of Russia-Ukraine peace deal
After nine months of death and destruction, the key to Russia’s war against Ukraine lies in the craggy, sea-swept peninsula of Crimea — with its limestone plateaus and rows of poplar trees — which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
It was in Crimea in February 2014, not February 2022, that Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine began. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insists that only by retaking Crimea will the war end, with Ukraine defeating its Russian invaders.
“Its return will mean the restoration of true peace,” Zelensky declared in October. “The Russian potential for aggression will be completely destroyed when the Ukrainian flag will be back in its rightful place — in the cities and villages of Crimea.”
Read the full story here.
After nine months of death and destruction, the key to Russia’s war against Ukraine lies in the craggy, sea-swept peninsula of Crimea — with its limestone plateaus and rows of poplar trees — which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
It was in Crimea in February 2014, not February 2022, that Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine began. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insists that only by retaking Crimea will the war end, with Ukraine defeating its Russian invaders.
“Its return will mean the restoration of true peace,” Zelensky declared in October. “The Russian potential for aggression will be completely destroyed when the Ukrainian flag will be back in its rightful place — in the cities and villages of Crimea.”
Read the full story here.
After missile strikes, Ukrainians persist without electricity, water, heat
KYIV, Ukraine — The electricity was out and the water service was cut off, and in an eighth-floor apartment in one of Kyiv’s outer neighborhoods, Olha Tkachuk felt like her world was coming apart.
A priest had come to her home to baptize her 4-month-old daughter, Nikol, who was scheduled to undergo lifesaving heart surgery the next day. Guests had arrived for the ceremony, and her oldest daughter, Kristina, 17, stepped out to grab extra pizza from a nearby cafe.
Just then, Russian missiles started slamming into the Ukrainian capital — again. The power went out. Kristina was trapped in the elevator. The surgery was thrown into doubt.
Read the full story here.
KYIV, Ukraine — The electricity was out and the water service was cut off, and in an eighth-floor apartment in one of Kyiv’s outer neighborhoods, Olha Tkachuk felt like her world was coming apart.
A priest had come to her home to baptize her 4-month-old daughter, Nikol, who was scheduled to undergo lifesaving heart surgery the next day. Guests had arrived for the ceremony, and her oldest daughter, Kristina, 17, stepped out to grab extra pizza from a nearby cafe.
Just then, Russian missiles started slamming into the Ukrainian capital — again. The power went out. Kristina was trapped in the elevator. The surgery was thrown into doubt.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Ukraine deployed HIMARS rockets in Melitopol, Russian-installed officials said on Telegram, with regional governor Yevgeny Balitsky adding that the recreation center they hit was “destroyed” and civilians were eating dinner there. The Post could not independently verify the claims.
- Ukrainian and pro-Russian officials reported different death tolls in the Melitopol strikes, with Balitsky claiming two deaths and more than 10 injuries. Ivan Fedorov, the exiled Ukrainian mayor of Melitopol, said 200 people were killed or injured. The Post could not independently verify the figures.
- Ukraine’s biggest rock star, Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, showed support for Melitopol by posting a selfie on Instagram wearing a shirt that said, “Melitopol is Ukraine!” to his 342,000 followers.
More live updates here.
- Ukraine deployed HIMARS rockets in Melitopol, Russian-installed officials said on Telegram, with regional governor Yevgeny Balitsky adding that the recreation center they hit was “destroyed” and civilians were eating dinner there. The Post could not independently verify the claims.
- Ukrainian and pro-Russian officials reported different death tolls in the Melitopol strikes, with Balitsky claiming two deaths and more than 10 injuries. Ivan Fedorov, the exiled Ukrainian mayor of Melitopol, said 200 people were killed or injured. The Post could not independently verify the figures.
- Ukraine’s biggest rock star, Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, showed support for Melitopol by posting a selfie on Instagram wearing a shirt that said, “Melitopol is Ukraine!” to his 342,000 followers.
More live updates here.