Brittney Griner's arrival in the US after being released from prison in Russia 1:26
(CNN) --
Recently freed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout said Saturday that he "wholeheartedly" supports Russia's so-called "military operation" in Ukraine and that if given the opportunity and the necessary skills, "I would certainly go as volunteer".
Bout, dubbed the "Merchant of Death" by his accusers, was released Thursday from a US detention center in a prisoner exchange for US basketball star Brittney Griner.
Bout made the comments in a video interview with the Russian Kremlin-controlled RT television network.
He was interviewed by Maria Butina, a Russian gun rights enthusiast turned television personality who now works for the network.
Who is Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer known as the "Merchant of Death" who would be part of a US prisoner exchange?
In the interview, he denied any connection to the Taliban and that he supplied weapons to Afghanistan.
Asked if he had a portrait of Vladimir Putin in his prison cell, Bout said: "Yes, always. Why not? I'm proud to be Russian and that our president is Putin."
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Viktor Bout, a former Soviet soldier, is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States on charges of conspiring to kill Americans, acquiring and exporting anti-aircraft missiles, and providing material support to a terrorist organization.
Bout maintains that he is innocent.
Griner, 32, returned to the United States early Friday morning after being released in exchange for the international arms dealer.
She was "in a good mood" and "incredibly friendly," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN.
Griner, who had played in the off-season for a Russian women's basketball team, was arrested on drug charges at a Moscow region airport in February.
Despite her testimony that she had inadvertently packed the cannabis oil found in her luggage, she was sentenced to nine years in prison in early August and transferred to a penal colony in Mordovia in mid-November, after losing her appeal.
ANALYSIS |
Why Viktor Bout's return to Russia is so important to Putin
The swap, which US President Joe Biden confirmed Thursday, did not include another American who the State Department declared unjustly detained, Paul Whelan.
Whelan was arrested on alleged espionage charges in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison in a trial that US authorities called unfair.
Griner's and Whelan's families had urged the White House to secure their release, including through prisoner exchanges if necessary.
CNN's Travis Caldwell, Tina Burnside, Rosalina Nieves, Rosa Flores and Eliza Mackintosh contributed to this report.
war in ukraine