viktor bout

World News

Latest on Ukraine: A weekly recap and look ahead at Russia's war (Dec. 12)

11:46am December 12, 2022

by NPR Staff

Catch up on key developments and the latest in-depth coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Women's National Basketball Association player Brittney Griner leaves the courtroom after the verdict in Khimki, outside Moscow, on Aug. 4. A Russian court found Griner guilty of smuggling and storing narcotics.

Brittney Griner will appeal her prison sentence in Russia on Tuesday

12:39pm October 24, 2022

by Charles Maynes

"Brittney does not expect any miracles to happen but hopes that the appeal court will hear the arguments of the defense and reduce the term," her lawyers said in a statement.

American pilot Francis Gary Powers (far right) during his 1960 trial in Moscow. Powers was shot down while flying a U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union. He was jailed for nearly two years before he was freed in a swap for a Soviet spy imprisoned in the U.

National

The Cold War to Brittney Griner: a new twist in U.S.-Russia prisoner swaps

5:07am August 11, 2022

by Greg Myre

The U.S. and Russia are trying to work out a prisoner exchange that involves basketball star Brittney Griner. While they've done deals for decades, the trading usually involves spies for spies.

Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout is shown in custody in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2008. Bout was later extradited to the U.S. and convicted of conspiring to kill Americans. He's serving a 25-year sentence, but he may be part of a prisoner swap the U.S. and Rus

Who is Viktor Bout, the prisoner the U.S. may trade for Brittney Griner?

10:19pm July 28, 2022

by Greg Myre

Bout is a Russian who was the world's most notorious arms dealer in the 1990s and early 2000s. He's serving a 25-year prison sentence in Illinois, but could be freed as part of a U.S.-Russia swap.