president when americans linger in captivity for months or four years. joining us now msnbc international affairs analyst and former ambassador to russia michael mcfaul. ambassador, thank you for being with us avalon of questions for you but first i want to talk about viktor bout, can you explain why this exchange, why bout himself was so personal for putin? well victor bout was an arms control deal around the world, getting arms to lots of bad characters, lots of back governments, lots of bad movements 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
back on u.s. soil and being examined at a medical facility incident tonya. after being detained in russia for ten months, griner was sentenced to nine years and a russian penal colony for possessing trace amounts of cannabis oil in her luggage. the biden administration did a prisoner swap for griner exchanging her for russians arm dealer victor bout. food is known as the merchant of death trafficking weapons to terrorist groups. there are concerns the swaps what sets a precedent for more americans to be the griner boot exchange reflects the high price u.s. presidents have historically paid to win freedom for american citizens or face the consequences. they can cut a sweetheart deal to win freedom for their own nationals convicted of criminal activity or espionage if they abduct americans. the public inevitably blames a
presidents have historically paid to win freedom for american citizens or face the consequences. they can cut a sweetheart deal to win freedom for their own nationals convicted of criminal activity or espionage if they abduct americans. the public inevitably blames a president when americans linger in captivity for months or four years. joining us now msnbc international affairs analyst and former ambassador to russia michael mcfaul. ambassador, thank you for being with us avalon of questions for you but first i want to talk about viktor bout, can you explain why this exchange, why bout himself was so personal for putin? well victor bout was an arms control deal around the world, getting arms to lots of bad characters, lots of back governments, lots of bad movements 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 vlad