with victor bout. and the russians were irate about that and said all of this needed to happen behind closed doors and then just a couple of days ago they said there won't be any more negotiations until the end of the year and now this deal has come through and the russians certainly from what we could see in russian public making a big deal out of this and celebrating it as a win for vladimir putin and for the c kremlin, kate. >> thank you for that. >>> now a cnn exclusive, speaking moments ago to paul whelan himself, he remains behind bars in a russian prison, left behind as part of this prisoner swap. jennifer hansler just got off the phone with paul whelan. she joins us now with her exclusive reporting. jennifer, what did paul whelan tell you? how does he sound. >> well he was disappointed that he had been left behind in this prisoner swap. he said he was surprised that he wasn't included in this. that he had gotten indications that things were moving in a good direction toward his release. and he

trial in 2011 , this high-profile case began in new york and the jury stopped that indeed allegedly victor bout but hmm conspired to sell to colombian terrorists. although for these. the bailiff impersonated the americans themselves. and the special agents and federal judges who conducted the case of viktor bout had nothing left. how to agree with the findings here, juror colleagues, but by the way, she appointed the minimum possible punishment on all counts. however, america has very strict laws and even the minimum possible punishment was 25 years in prison and almost half of this term. uh, victor bout spent in an american prison, but in general, outside of human conditions. and he had health problems there and he had a hard time, a resisting. it can be said that they provided medical assistance only after the intervention, and the diplomatic forces of our country. and now all this is behind victor bout here in russia at home. and here is his first comment after he stepped on russian soil. we got there. well, sort of got there. this is the most important thing, we, of course, congratulate you

and now all this is behind victor bout here in russia at home.nd here is his first comment after he stepped on russian soil. we got there. well, sort of got there. this is the most important thing, we, of course, congratulate you and warmly. welcome here in russia and how did you even know that here you are, but they are going to return to your homeland, well, in the middle of the night, they just got up and said, get ready and that's it. there was no such specific preliminary information. you didn't even know where you were being taken. they didn't tell you anything it was clear that, as it were, the situation, how it developed. here is such an unbroken character of a russian, victor will be reminded that he did not admit not a single point of accusation did not admit his guilt during this entire trial, which took place in america, which began back in thailand and by the way, there in thailand, at first, the court found him right, but then, uh, the american side intervened, which, in violation of all laws, i repeat, uh, to their thoughts and unt

victor bout. the man with the gray mustache that you see in this video carrying that manila envelope. he is walking away from a private plane, and he is walking toward brittney griner, who you can see on the left in that red jacket. this is the prisoner swap that happened on a uae tarmac this morning. the biden administration has made clear that they were involved in, quote, painstaking and intense negotiations to bring griner home. and it became clear in the past two days that despite the white house's attempts to also bring back paul whelan, a former marine imprisoned in russia on suspicion of spying, that russia would only release brittney griner. and only in exchange for notorious russian arms dealer victor bout, who is known as, quote, the merchant of death. in 2011, a new york jury convicted him of conspiring to kill americans and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and arms trafficking. he was arrested in thailand in 2008, after attending to some millions of dollars worth o

what do you think about victor bout? the man that has committed atrocities all over the world being released in this exchange? >> well, i trust the president. i think mr. bout is a person that spent a long time in u.s. custody. he's older. that's all i know about him. the experts in the u.s. government and president biden is willing to make that decision baseed on their recommendations, that's good enough for me. >> your brotherly has greatly disappointed and wants to see more action taken to get your brother home. we'll think about you and him, served as a marine and a lot of people would like to see him back on u.s. soil. thanks very much, sir. so with that, we bring in john kirby. john, good to see you. welcome back to the program today. when you hear mr. whalen say that he would like to see the white house be more aggressive, more assertive on his brother's behalf in arranging something to get him home and to have more of a plan, what do you say? >> can i say before i answer that question, martha, the whelan family, p

cnn's brian todd has more on the notorious arms dealer victor bout.me call him the merchant of death. >> that has been his nom de guerre. he was rumored to be a key part of any deal for brittney griner. a man believed to be a mythical player in the murky world of arms deal. victor bout is said to have cut a figure so legendary that he is widely acknowledged for the inspiration for nicolas cage's character in "the lord of war". >> guided missiles, motorer, mines, armored tank personnel carriers. >> they made a whole movie about him, and he provided arms to all parts of the world in contravention of international law. >> reporter: tonight the man nicknamed the merchant of death is back in russia, his 25-year prison sentence cut very short in a prisoner swap for brittney griner. bout always denied breaking any laws. but before being apprehended in an elaborate sting in thailand in 2008, he was thought to have funneled weapons of war from afghanistan. he was known as charismatic figure, a devoted family man, but also as a bully who would barge in on gover

russians came back to the administration and said look, this isn't a question of paul whelan for victor bout or victor brittney griner. it's either griner four bout or, whelan is in a different category. we consider him different. do you buy that? >> not really. no. again, because of what i just said. originally there was a lot of talk by the russians of trading paul for victor bout, and now not. what has changed? what has changed is, the political climate, the united states, the war, a lot of things have changed. but they were willing to make that trade at one point, and now they're not. now they want to get more. and of course they have asked for salons death, but he's a spy but he's also convicted of murder. and obviously that is difficult for the united states to make a trade like that. but there has got to be some deal that can be made. and there are other americans and russia that have not been declared wrongfully detained, which is, that term is misused all the time. there are hundreds of americans around the world that are wrongfully detained but never declared sober fought by our go

there is a report that presiden biden is going to swap for arms dealer victor bout. >> lucas tomlin's wildlife at the white house what do we know? get the fox news into firm that the brittney griner has been freed in a prisoner swot for a convicted russian arms dealer convicted back in 2011 for trying to kill u.s. service members in columbia after he sold 800 surface-to-air missile to a terrorist group in columbi with the goal of shooting down american helicopter the prisone swap, we're not sure where that is happening. likely in switzerland, fox news can confirm that brittney grine who had been detained just days before russia's invasion of ukraine on drug charges, she ha possessed cannabis oil, she claims was for pain, the russia side i detain her and then send to a penal colony last month, she was convicted to five years of hard labor, but efforts have been underway for the last few days of course, today is the 35th anniversary of the inf treaty were mikael gorbachev an ronald reagan signed that historic achievement to be an intermediate range missiles, of course ready to deploy i

>> i'm saddened the fact that victor bout is back in action.ssians chose him all over other citizens in incarceration. there will be strategic impacts, there's immediate effects of his release especially as it relates to the war in ukraine. you better believe he has a bone to pick with the united states. he was taken down at the hands of the dea and sitting in prison after all of those years knowing who was responsible for his incarceration, he will be highly motivated and will likely reactivate his arms deals networks across the globe and he will start providing arms to the russian government to support the efforts in ukraine. this is seen in russia as a massive win for putin. most people don't realize there is a massive supply shortage of ammunition globally. there's this underground arms race occurring in russia, the u.s. and nato. everybody is vying over the sake stockpiles of weapons. victor bout has access to these networks that he can re-establish to provide the arms to russia and support their continued work gleobally. >> martha: i reme

trans-atlantic flight to british manchester there before refueling and only then the plane with victor boutster left the uk for abu dhabi and it was there, and last day in the capital of the united arab emirates, the russians were exchanged for victor boutan american basketball player britney granar, a. which i will remind. here in russia she was convicted of drug smuggling and possession. she was detained in february of this year at the capital sheremetyevo airport oh, the luggage was found hash oil. this oil is legalized in the usa is strictly prohibited, but for distribution in our country and for smuggling. by the way, greiner fully admitted his guilt. she received nine years in prison and managed to serve her sentence, in fact , only a few months. and of course, a completely different story, and the opposite is absolutely the case of viktor bout, who a has been in prison in the united states since 2010. after he was extradited from thailand to the usa in violation of all, but also thai american laws. look at the plane relatives are here. here is alla and heavenly with the current spous

the trade for victor bout was finalized in the last 48 hours. she was flown to abu dhabi where the exchange took place on the tarmac of a small, private airfield. >> i'm glad to be able to say brittney is in good spirits. she's relieved to finally be heading home. >> the u.s. wanted to trade bout for griner and paul whelan but russia refused. whelan told cnn he's surprised he wasn't included. >> i'm greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release. i'm happy that brittney is going home today and that trevor went home when he did, but i don't understand why i'm still sitting here. my bags are packed. i'm ready to go home. >> reporter: whelan told cnn that the russians see him at a higher level than griner. he's been charged with espionage, sentenced to 16 years. >> this was not a choice of which american to bring home. the choice was one or none. i wholeheartedly wish we could have brought paul home today on the same plane as brittney. >> reporter: erin, paul whelan wasn't the only one frustrated and disappointed with today's

in the ninety- second year he left for south africa, where he started organizing victor bout airline'sirlift at sharjah airport was involved in the transport of flowers for household goods and legitimate military cargo, as well as the transport of french and belgian military peacekeepers in 2002. belgium became the first state to accuse a russian of smuggling diamonds and money laundering and announced that he had to curtail his business and return to russia on the international wanted list. ostensibly to conclude a deal for the supply of modern weapons and made a complementary buddha dictafo. which then became evidence in an american court on march 6, 2008, was detained by the thai police. a warrant for him was issued by a thai court on charges of helping colombian terrorists, who pretended to be american agents. the thai authorities extradited bouts to the united states only in november 2010, almost a year later, a us lawsuit against bout was launched before that. he spent about 15 months in complete isolation in solitary confinement . camera in 2011 during a search of the headquarte

what was the hardest thing for him, victor bout personally admitted not to see or hear anything abouth under supervision and with obligatory audition. well, now he's at home. here they were waiting for him and tried not to change his books, his furniture, my colleague elizaveta khramtsova. i spent the last hours with my family before victor's return . victor talked. he didn't know anything yet. it was the day before yesterday. um, i say, i was supposed to call today, just like that, they were waiting for a call to me at 8:00 pm, but he calls from the planes in abu dhabi minutes before departure. all met. okay okay. i love you very much. well, listen, everything, how are you in general, how is the flight? how do you not freeze at all, have you eaten? don't worry, everything is fine, i'll tell you, 33. everything is fine. yes, your night. see you soon, our family is very grateful. and you've been watching for almost 15 years now. yes, that is, i met with many of our politicians and deputies, and how many letters an appeal was written, the conversations were always very positive. here ar

john bolton generally called it a surrender exchange, victor bout's usa the bud exchange is not a deal like, american power terrorists and the state, outcasts smile, watching this victor bout in the usa was considered one of the most dangerous terrorists. the operation to detain him was carefully prepared, but in the end it turns out that the americans, in their opinion, exchanged a very dangerous criminal for a simple drug addict. well, as a matter of fact, she is black, she is a lesbian, as we have already said. here is what they told about viktor, a very dangerous criminal, at the time of his arrest in 2010. rarely, when has the american government hunted someone so hard as this man? his name is victor bout, he is well known as a merchant of death, according to the american authorities, he was gaining fame as the most famous arms dealer, fueling civil wars around the world. he was popular with drug lords and dictators the united states could not help but see him as a threat due to the fact that he could arm terrorists who wanted to strike at the united states. there will be former r

the us has released a russian arms dealer, victor bout.ti—government demonstrations erupted in september. mohsen shekari was hanged for wounding a member of the basij paramilitary and blocking a street during a demonstration in tehran. a bill to protect same—sex marriage in the united states has been given final approval by the house of representatives. president biden nowjust needs to sign the bill for it to become law. harry and meghan have spoken of press intrusion and how they met in the first episodes of their new series. the couple give more details about the challenges they've

what's the decision the president had to make whether it was going to brittney griner who got out or victor bout, or paul whelan? >> there was only one choice. and the only person that they were willing to treat for with respect to mr. bout was brittney griner. they put paul whelan in a different category. they treat him separately, they treat him differently. because of the sham espionage charges that they've levied against him. we tried many different permutations to try to get both of them out at the same time, as you might expect. but the russians really put mr. whelan in a different category and so, we just were not able to make that work right now. the only deal we can get right now was the deal, bout for brittney griner and the president felt he had a moral obligation to take that. it was either get one american out, in this case, britney, or get none. >> you said earlier today, the u.s. has not been back to square one with whelan's negotiations. where do those stand? >> i think, look, over the last certainly over the last several weeks and months, we've become much more informed about th

victor bout never had a bargaining chip for mr.la home, as we have been working since he was illegally detained in russia, this was a deal that we could make and now was the moment when we made it. we simply felt that the choice was either to bring one american back home or not to get one. convicted of espionage paul weeland, he is a former naval officer, and is disappointed in his country, which cannot get him out of a russian prison in any way. and he, it turns out, was already sitting on his packed suitcases, but instead they preferred a dark-skinned woman with a non-traditional orientation. these are the current trends in america. i am very disappointed that nothing has been done to secure my release. especially as the four-year anniversary of my arrest is approaching. i was arrested for a crime that never happened. i've been led to believe that everything is moving in the right direction, that the government is negotiating and that something is going to happen pretty soon. well guys, it's just unlucky to be white and tradition

s. handed over russian arm sealer victor bout in exchange. and don't forget, you can always get d w news on the go. just download our app from google play or on the apple app store that will give you access to all of the latest news as well as push notifications for breaking news. you can also watch this program and live stream is this news if i call chris cobra, is after a very short break to stay with us if he can for that. i'm sorry. kelly and berlin and for watching. take care. ah. people in trucks injured when trying to free the city center more and more refugees are being turned away at the border families playing phone tags in syria to these critical illness with.

victor bout. a notorious arms dealer, nicknamed the merchant of death.ack in 2008 after trying to sell cash for weapons or many thought or colombia revolutionaries. he said they wanted to use the guns to kill u.s. citizens. he served 11 years, 25 year sentence here in this country. when charges which included conspiracy to kill americans. the deal comes at a particularly perilous time, of course, for u.s. russian diplomacy. griner was arrested one week before russia invaded ukraine. the biden administration found itself in the unenviable position of negotiating her release while also trying a hard line against russia for its geopolitical belligerence. the white house was hoping to negotiate a deal that also included the release of another american, paul whelan, an american security executive serving 16 years in russian prison on charges of spying which the u.s. denies. well, russia would not agree to her release. nor did the deal secure the release of mark vogel, pennsylvania teacher currently serving a 14 year sentence in a russian penal colony for simi

. >>> convicted russian arms trafficker victor bout, now back in russia, is voicing his full-throatedow's invasion of ukraine saying he would volunteer if he could. bout had been serving a 25-year prison sentence in the u.s. when he was set free on thursday in a controversial swap for american basketball star brittney griner. while many u.s. officials opposed the trade, fearing bout would use his trafficking skills against ukraine and the west, a russian lawmaker said on social media that the first thing bout asked him was, how can i help donbas? >>> barbie nadeau is monitoring developments in ukraine. we understand ukraine has targeted occupied crimea and med med. >> a strategic move on the part of ukraine, this was described as a giant russian military base. much of the infrastructure there in that city is occupied by russian forces. there are -- there's military hardware in residential areas, we understand. a direct hit on this is a very strategic move for ukraine, fighting back now, taking the war to russia. and these explosions in crimea are very much the same. this is going to b

see for yourself at botoxcosmetic.com >> neil: you're looking at a live shot of moscow where victor boute merchant of death, is supposed to be returning shortly to moscow. part of that prisoner swap for brittney griner. >> neil: for the surge on the border, a task force providing more to assist. bill melugin has more. hi, bill. >> neil, good afternoon to you. texas dps says they have lunched this new specialized task force in part because of the record numbers of got-aways. border patrol is overwhelmed, undermanned. they can't be everywhere. so texas dps launched this unit and we got a chance to embed with them. take a look at this video. specialized texas temperatures troopers using drones and k-9s going to the brush here to track down and arrest illegal immigrantses that are looking to evade. these are not asylum seekers. these are single adults that don't want to be caught, turning themselves in and they're in the brush out here. we were with these troopers after they found group after grouped hiding in the brush here in the la jolla, texas and mission texas areas. we saw them a rest

e, victor bout alla bout strong people wonderful family, we are waiting for you again in our studio.are far from exhausted, as much as our conversation we know the right things, victory will definitely be ours, we pass the floor to the news, and the big game will return at 22:45. hello on channel one, the evening news is with you andrey kharev mushroom is attacking. you can stop it with the help of vaccination. an example was shown personally, vladimir putin did not exist a few days ago. you told me to do it. here are the reports i made yesterday. at the meeting of the president, the snowfall beats records in terms of the amount of precipitation and the length of traffic jams the traffic situation in the capital region is difficult to clear, the streets are abandoned with all their might. a new blizzard is ahead. the legend of donbass is a tanker. a sniper from 8 km goes right on target , the first channel film crew visited the battle with him. the main new year's beauty of the country is already approaching the kremlin. a complex transport operation to transport a giant spruce, a ro

lozano hoy jueves 8 de diciembre >>> brittney griner vuela de regreso a estados unidos y queda libre vÍctor bout

that's ahead, but right now i want to bring in retired district judge shira shenlen who sentenced victor bout to 25 years after he was convicted of arms trafficking back in 2012. judge, thank you so much for being here. how do you feel about viktor bout walking free today? >> i'm okay with that because i'm so happy brittney griner is home. and whatever it took to get her home, i'm for it. so i'm not against viktor bout being sent back to russia. >> this is interesting to hear because so many people say this swap while everybody's grateful brittney is back the swap didn't make sense. everybody says he's a bad guy, and let me run through it for people who don't know his history. as you know better than anybody he was caught in a sting operation after agents basically posed as terrorists, and he was willing to sell them hundreds of surface-to-air missiles, thousands of ak-47 machine guns, five tons of plastic explosives to the terrorist group who admitted they wanted to kill american pilots in columbia. so why should he be serving any less than the 25 years that you sentenced him to? >> i though

de presos dijo wladimir putin que acordÓ con el presidente joe biden la liberaciÓn de griner con vÍctor bout salud y buen humor segÚn reportÓ la casa blanca sÉ iluminÓ con los colores patrios de la llegada a casa de britney griner. >>> va a estar el tiempo que quiera y va a permanecer un dÍa mÁs y va a decidir cuando salir y cuando regresar a casa hoy se cumplen 10 aÑos de la muerte de jenni rivera. su hija mayor chiquis rivera escribiÓ en instagram. "he vivido 10 aÑos sin ti, duele" ademÁs le prometiÓ mantener unidos a sus hermanos y seguir haciendo honor a su legado. >>> bad bunny anuncio una pausa en su carrera. para dpis fru tar de sus logros. podrÍa producir nueva mÚsica sin la presiÓn de una gira. en el estadio azteca en mÉxico. las alfombras ¿pagas excesivamente por cremas con vitamina c sin resultados? olay te ilumina. olayay vitamina a c. tu piel l 2 veces mámás radian. hidratata mejor quque la crea de 400 d dólares. ololay. face anything.. ¡es el nuevevo menú susubway serieies! 12 nuevos s subs irresesistibs como el l número #7#7, el mexicicali. pollo o tierno eststilo rorostizado.

are really glad that brittney griner is out and that the president did the right thing to swap victor bout. but they are devastated that paul whelan will stay in prison. this is terrible news for him. the fact is that u.s. officials are telling me that they tried everything to try to get rusia to are lease him. russia is insisting that he is guilty of espionage, something that's not true according to the government. he's a businessman, a former marine, who was taken and accused of spying. so now the russians say they want a spy to trade for him. the u.s. government is saying they have no russian spies in captivity. and they have no one to trade. so the bottom line when the whole deal was almost blowing up, according to my sources, a u.s. official says they were told by the russians you get one or none. their unwillingness to release whelan, the decision was made by the president to have brittney griner come home. and paul whelan is saying that that was the right decision. to bring at least one person home. but now there's a different statement coming from paul whelan's russian lawyers, who

after months of negotiations with russia, on a prisoner swap that included russian arms dealer, victor bout. griner was one of several americans wrongfully detained in russia, including paul whelan. who vladimir putin refused to release. and bases marissa parra is at brooke army medical center, where brittney griner was evaluated. good morning, marissa. do we know anything about brittney griner's condition? >> good morning, katie. yeah, the thing with this is, because of privacy laws, that information have to come through griner's camp. but what we can say is, we haven't heard of anything health related that would be a negative. so far, everything we have heard, including john kirby who told us that according to people who are on the ground with griner yesterday, she appeared to be in good physical health. you can see that she's walking just fine, we were told that she's in good spirits, and in the videos that we've seen, including that one of her getting off the plane, which you'll probably see in a moment, you can see that she was walking with gusto. probably in eagerness to get back home

up at the sentence that was completely disproportionate to what she did, and then was traded for victor boutthat is how they roll these days. governments can do this and to that point about allen grove's and having to normalize relations, i guess some good came of that with cuba the danger now is that governments can try to extract concessions that they weren't about the rise able to extract because they called american citizens. >> i believe the official term for that is being used as a pawn. >> exactly, exactly right. you are talking about paul whelan being thought of as a spy. part of the things that they, do they do this in around, they do it and a lot of countries. they took a journalists phone and they go through it. and guess what you have? you have state department officials, you have dissidents, you have journalists, you've got all sorts of people. and they use those as charges. so it becomes very dicey as to how you negotiate those. >> or you take teachers in the case of paul whelan who have contacts with diplomats because they teach their children and assert that they are spies. i

>> well victor bout was an arms control deal around the world, getting arms to lots of bad charactersments around the world, if you look at his biography on his wikipedia page you can see that he studied at institutions in the soviet union were typically kgb agents also studied. so he is close to that world, that world of vladimir putin remember, putin was a kgb agent himself, and i can tell you from personal experience when i was the ambassador to russia, that the russian government mr. putin's government, has been focused for years to try to get him home. they consider him one of tears and finally he is back at home like they wanted to achieve. like i said, for many many years. >> and i want to be clear, it is a victory and a celebration that britney griner's home, it is more about the questions that it raises moving forward for what this means for diplomats like yourself who work through these questions. i wonder how it is that you are thinking about it? >> these are very hard calls, they are very difficult decisions, all diplomacy is about trying to get a deal with here interlocut

lozano hoy jueves 8 de diciembre >>> brittney griner vuela de regreso a estados unidos y queda libre vÍctor boutomienzan las detenciones de cubanos que cruzaron la frontera desde mÉxico el primer aviÓn que los llevarÁ deportado a mÉxico estÁ listo para despegar en los prÓximos dÍas y hoy dÍa les tengo el reporte. >> la polÉmica llega con el estreno hoy de la serie documental del prÍncipe harry y meghan markle no escapan las comparaciones entre la princesa de sussex y lady di. >> cÉline dion suspendiÓ su gira padece una rara enfermedad neurolÓgica en la que les contarÉ. >> muchas gracias por permitirle acompaÑar le. brittney griner y v. >>> buenas tardes muy buenas noticias creo que es el tema mÁs comentado de esta maÑana el paÍs sigue siguiendo esta historia de hace meses brittney griner fue detenido en febrero cuando las autoridades rusas dijeron encontrar botes de cannabis. >> y sentenciada a 9 aÑos. >> despuÉs de anunciar esto biden hizo una apariciÓn pÚblica despuÉs y pudo hablar sobre su llamada telefÓnica con brittney griner esto es lo que dijo. y junto a biden estaba la esposa de brittney

victor bout, now we are waiting for him in moscow well, as for the united states, the reaction therery ambiguous. joe biden thus improve your rating. however, yastrebov from among the republicans, the release of viktor bout in exchange for one grainer is categorically not satisfied, they say, washington cheapened and had to keep a man in prison even longer, whose guilt is essentially not proven from the united states, a report by our correspondent valentin bogdanov an atmosphere of complete secrecy, as well as negotiations that went through closed channels, but the main thing was done by viktor bout at large. he finally began to fly home to russia we get urgent messages from the white house. here's what the president tells us, biden, intends to trade britney grainer. on victor, butane good news, russia gave the go-ahead for the exchange, concluded by the united states at the highest level by the government of both countries, never relations between countries are tense to the limit for the americans , new by itself in that they exchanged for buto their prisoner sentenced to 9 years fo

quickly can you just tell me what was victor bout's value to russia? and if you could tell me on his release jeopardizes national security in the united states? is that true? >> let me just say that this was a very difficult decision that the president had to make. and he did not make this decision lightly. he did not make this decision lightly. but at the end of the day, when he had the chance to bring an american home, he made the decision. and i will also say that we take a u.s. national security extremely, extremely seriously. and we will continue to monitor and stay vigilant to protect u.s. national security always. >> all right, desiree cornea smith, a good diplomat at the state department. thank you very much for your time today coming on. >> thank you >> appreciate your time. ahead on simone. we have brand-new legal setbacks for citizen donald trump on the january six committee is preparing to meet one the weekend tomorrow to discuss potential criminal referrals. i have little expert who will bring you all down but first, y'all know who it is.

until thursday, one on a tarmac in abu dhabi, griner was exchanged for russian arms dealer victor bout. nicknamed the merchant of death, he served 11 years of the 25 year sentence in the u.s. for conspiring to kill americans among other charges. top republicans now slamming the president for not bringing fellow american captive paul whelan home as well. calling the exchange an equal. >> this as well, he left a marine behind. it has made as weak, or made putin stronger, and made americans more vulnerable. >> the biden administration said they made a national security assessment before signing off on his release. putin said more exchanges are possible. whelan's family says they are happy griner's home, but the inability to bring paul home remains difficult. >> the choice really was either we bring brittany home and get one american released, or get none. we will keep working for paul whelan. >> alex, as for what comes next, we don't know how long brittney griner will be here. my colleague spoke to trevor rick spokesperson who said he was in the hospital for around 48 hours, but stayed on

forth a lot of negotiations that took place. ultimately there was this release in exchange for victor bout the convicted arms dealer. but the white house making very clear that the trade is in no way proportionate given the fact that the convicted arms dealer a serving a 25 year sentence in the united states for a very serious crimes, he's known as the merchant of death. whereas in contrast, brittany griner is a basketball star who inadvertently packed to it her luggage incorrectly. when she was travelling through a moss for airports the u. s. president. very clear that they believe that this was done because of the efforts of high level diplomacy, but also expressing some regret for the one american left behind. that's paul whalen, who is detained. he is an american, a u. s. marine who has been serving a sentences that is very lengthy. he has been there for 4 years and the white house says that they are still working to secure his release. and he thank you very much . that is our white house correspondent. kimberly helped us. we'll live spring in ali hush him who is in moscow for us. and

trying to get back as soon as possible in order to talk to dad in person and uh, it is known that victor boutns in light summer clothes, well, his family is lucky. now only a winter jacket. he lost a lot of weight in prison, and the wife's mother decided in advance not to buy smaller things for him, they were afraid to climb. alexey yes. thank you for khramtsov on how relatives work. well, finally meet him. this is a specific application for the tribunal to recognize that the west is acting by forgery russian foreign ministry's comments on angela merkel's sensational interview in which the former german chancellor finally, honestly spoke about the position of berlin in the normandy format. in particular, about how the west actually treated the minsk agreements on the donbass. so , according to merkel's statement, the peace accords were an attempt to give ukraine time so that kiev could better prepare for a military conflict about it. he spoke about the interview in an interview with the german tsar, in which the politician tried to explain her decisions as head of the federal government of th

she was released and exchange for a victor bout and notorious russian arms dealer, detained in the us for over a decade. and the high price paid for griner is release as cast renewed light on the fate of another american held in russia. paul whelan, a former us marine who was arrested in 2018 and is accused of spying grinders. wife charel was at the white house for the announcement. she expressed her deep emotions and her gratitude for the help from the bite administration. stay my family as whole, but as you all are we're, there's so many other families who are not whole and still b, g is not here to say this, but i will gladly speak on her behalf and say that b g and i will remain committed to the work of getting every american home including call, whose family is in our hearts today as we celebrate b, g, b, a home. we do understand that there are still people out here who are in doing what i endure at the last 9 months of missing tremendously their loved ones. so thank you everybody for your support and see there's a happy day for me and my family. so i'm going to now right now. th

victor bout, who spent many years behind bars in the united states, finally at home, american intelligencervices took a russian from thailand to the states where they were accused of arms trafficking , even the judges had doubts about the verdict, but as if they were sentenced to twenty-five years in prison after difficult negotiations, they managed to achieve his return, long road home will tell. the plane with viktor bout landed at the capital 's airport, vnukovo, around midnight, and this way home for the russian was not easy from the us state of illinois, where the businessman was kept in prison for a transatlantic flight to british manchester, then after refueling, a flight to abu dhabi, where the exchange took place, and from there already to russia, but first to makhachkala, where there was another refueling, and finally, moscow, at the airfield trail, he was met by his closest mother and wife , peering through the windows with bated breath. won he and already after a few seconds. the long-awaited meeting with flowers, joyful hugs and tears of happiness waited for whispering son. ra

the white house is defending its decision to exchange griner for notorious russian arms dealer victor bout. president biden said he turned down a deal with russia to trade bout for paul whelan because bout killed hundreds people with his arms deal. fiona hill says there's another reason plump never secured whelan's release. >> he wasn't particularly interested in paulas case in the way one thought we would be. >> reporter: the next high-level talks between russia and the u.s. about paul whelan are slated to take place later this week and the state department says it's ready to get creative. though i'm told that does not mean the u.s. is willing to change anything about its policy toward russia when it comes to the war in ukraine. norah. 'dy coes, thank you so much. america's largest pharmacies have agreed to pay billions over the opioid crisis. that story is ahead. metastatic breast cancer are living longer with kisqali. so, long live family time. long live dreams. and long live you. kisqali is a pill proven to help women live longer when taken with an aromatase inhibitor. and kisqali help

it's good that victor bout is back it is in a certain sense.re already given what has happened in recent years, uh, in russian american relations. e. well, in general, we can say, yes, it’s like yaroshenko is at home, but a few months ago. they were heard by everyone like those. eh, who was under the rink of american punitive justice? well, here is what presidential press secretary dmitry peskov said about this in an interview with the author and host of the moscow kremlin putin program pavel zarubin, exchanging as if he could become some kind of be a step towards a possible normalization of us relations or it means nothing at all. no, no, it was natural that the special services were engaged in, the corresponding two countries and the contacts concerned only the topic of exchanges. they continue in an exclusive way and exchange. this is not projected to anyone. in general, it is a picture of authentic relations on a sad picture of bilateral relations. potential damage from a fire in the obi hypermarket in khimki could amount to 20 billion rubl

we met with the lawyer of britney marie, who was exchanged for victor bout. favor. her now former client is now. so to speak, digests everything that happened, but to the russian prison. she has no claims. i can absolutely say that britney had no complaints about the content to her very much. in general , it’s good, but they were treated, therefore, to say that the rights to shave were not violated there, or that britney was unhappy with something, but definitely. she was in prison. she, of course, was a test, which she, by the way, with great dignity. actually survived all these months, but uh, britney will say again herself, but e had no such complaints, but impressions. i guess she has a lot of these photos from the unfortunate colony. britney greiner doesn't look like one. take, for example, cleaning . she understands what he's gaining. that is, we are falling. it's all the language, she doesn't know much. uh, moreover, she does not know the specific language of the prison suit, as she says, she does not pull shilo there, neatly dressed mittens, observes the reg

was serving a 9 year prison sentence for possession of cannabis oil was released in exchange for victor bout an international arms dealer nicknamed the merchant of death washington correspondent justin or joining us live. jesse, a lot of people are talking about this. good morning. good morning to you as well. griner is officially back on u.s. soil this morning. and yesterday her family and the biden administration so they could finally breathe a sigh of relief after months of trying to secure her freedom. but >> they they're tension really. it turned very quickly to another american who still in russian detention. paul whelan. >> my family is whole. cheryl griner celebrated the release of her wife, wnba star brittney griner from russian prison but recognized other families of wrongfully detained. americans are still waiting. there are still people out here. >> who are in doing what i endured the last 9 months of missing tremendously their loved ones. that includes david whelan, the brother of paul whelan, an american marine serving a 16 year sentence in russia on espionage charges. i'm not

took me right out of the cell with all the things that it was a long road, don’t be anywhere, and victor bout know to the house until the last, like the american basketball player. britney griner, for which he was exchanged. well, do you know where you fly? the plane with victor flew home to the united arab emirates to makhachkala and the opportunity to call relatives. yeah, don't worry, i'll tell you everything when we meet. they waited 14 years, 12 of them viktor bout spent in american prisons. all this time, russia tried to return him to his homeland, but washington categorically refused to dialogue with his wife, who cannot hold back her tears, the last time they saw each other was 3 years ago, but it was only a short meeting of everyone. eh, in general i talked to everyone, always talked, the conversations were very positive and there was always some kind of hope. well, let's say remained in the shower. yes, the work will continue and with some words. i know that in prison they became such a hero among the prisoners there were no american opportunities, but there was somewhere, so there