Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was just released by the United States, said on Saturday that he “wholeheartedly” supports Russia’s war in Ukraine and will volunteer to fight on Russia’s side, AFP reports.

Viktor Bout and his declaration of love for Putin and the war in UkrainePhoto: video shooting

In an interview with RT, he said he “always” kept a portrait of Vladimir Putin in his cell while serving time in the US, where he was sentenced to 25 years in prison after his 2008 arrest in Thailand.

“I am proud that I am Russian, and our president is Putin,” he said. The 55-year-old former Soviet army officer also said that he “fully” supports the attack on the Kremlin in Ukraine.

“If I had the opportunity and the necessary skills, I would volunteer (to fight in Ukraine),” he said, adding that he “doesn’t understand” why Moscow’s massive offensive hasn’t happened since 2014.

He also presented himself, again as a businessman who operated legally but served as an “example” to get other Russians to agree to deals with Washington, which he said he refused.

Bout also denied selling weapons to the Taliban, as claimed by US media. “The Taliban put a price on my head. So how can I say I’ve worked with them? It doesn’t make sense,” he said.

Finally, he accused the West of encouraging the “suicide of civilization” with “drugs, LGBTQ+”.

Born, according to a United Nations report, in 1967 in Dushanbe, the capital of the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan, Viktor Bout studied at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages ​​in Moscow before joining the Air Force.

He managed from 1991 and after the collapse of the USSR to buy at a low price a certain amount of weapons from military bases in the former USSR, and then in complete chaos to sell them in several conflict zones, especially in Africa. His possible connections with the Russian services are unknown.

Booth, who spent 14 years in a US prison for arms trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy to kill Americans, was released in exchange for basketball player Brittney Griner, who was jailed in Russia for bringing oil to Moscow of cannabis when he arrived to play for the Russian team.

The two crossed paths at Abu Dhabi airport, where the exchange took place.

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