Tom Pasquarello’s phone started buzzing around 7 a.m. on Thursday.
“Did you hear the news?” a friend asked.
“What news?” Pasquarello responded.
The news turned out to be the undoing of one of Pasquarello’s proudest achievements from his tenure as a regional director with the Drug Enforcement Administration. The U.S. had released the notorious Russian arms trafficker who Pasquarello helped take down 14 years ago.
Viktor Bout, the so-called “Merchant of Death” is who Russia received back from the U.S. on Thursday in a prisoner swap for WNBA star Brittney Griner. Bout, 55, was serving a 25-year sentence in an Illinois federal prison on charges of providing weapons to terrorists & conspiring to kill Americans.
“I’m kind of in disbelief that someone with the potential to orchestrate arms deals that can kill Americans anywhere in the world would be traded for a prisoner,” Pasquarello said. “I think this sends a terrible message that the U.S. will negotiate, that the U.S. will make concessions & that, if an American is held overseas, there’s always the potential that the U.S. will acquiesce to the demands of people like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin & bail them out.”
The U.S. alleges Bout smuggled military-grade weapons to rogue leaders & insurgent groups across Africa & beyond, elevating conflicts from machetes & one-shot rifles to grenade launchers & AK-47s. Russia alleges Griner flew into Moscow on Feb. 17 with vape cartridges containing less than 1 ounce of cannabis oil in her luggage.
Yuval Weber, an expert on Russian military & political strategy said Bout’s release may “incentivize rogue state & non-state actors to kidnap or imprison on trumped-up charges more Americans.” Weber also expressed concern that Bout might reprise his former role as an operative who exported arms to Russian allies at the Kremlin’s bidding.
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Source: Yahoo Sports
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