A basketball star for a notorious arms dealer: the US-Russia prisoner swap

It’s a story fit for a James Bond movie: last week US WNBA star Brittney Griner came home, after being swapped for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. 

In this episode we find out why Bout has been called ‘a merchant of death’; how tough it was to catch him in the first place; what the domestic fallout has been in the US; how Griner is doing now; and the diplomatic effort it takes to make a swap like this.

We’re speaking to Danielle Gilbert, expert in US foreign policy at Dartmouth College, about the US-Russia prisoner swap.

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