Viktor Bout, the arms supplier who was returned to Russia in a prisoner swap for U.S. citizen Brittney Griner, praised his country’s invasion of Ukraine and claimed it should have happened before, in accordance to state tv.

During an interview on Russian propaganda outlet Russia Nowadays (RT), Bout claimed, “any Russian individual” should approve of Russia’s “unique military services procedure” and that he would have joined the combating if he was able.  

“To be truthful, I couldn’t even fully grasp why we did not do it earlier,” he reported Saturday on RT. “Why in 2014, you know, there were demonstrations in Kharkiv, persons ended up carrying great tricolors and shouting, ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’ in Donbas and Odesa, as nicely, you know!”

Viktor Bout sits inside a detention mobile at Bangkok Supreme Court docket on July 28, 2008, in Bangkok, Thailand. 

(Chumsak Kanoknan/ Getty Pictures)

He included: “Of course, plainly the ailments were not proper and we have been not all set, but I would have supported it wholeheartedly.”

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Bout later on informed host Maria Butina that if he “experienced the option and required skills” he “would have gone” joined the fighting as a volunteer. According to the Ukraine authorities, about 94,000 Russian troops have been killed in the combating, as of Dec. 11.

The Russian losses consist of nearly 6,000 armored staff motor vehicles, nearly 3,000 tanks, and practically 2,000 artillery systems.

Former Soviet armed forces officer and arms trafficking suspect Viktor Bout at Westchester County Airport November 16, 2010, in White Plains, New York. 

(U.S. Office of Justice via Getty Photos)

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Throughout the identical job interview, Bout explained Western nations around the world, which include the U.S., ended up trying to find to “wipe out” and “divide” Russia.

“The West thinks that they did not end us off in 1990, when the Soviet Union started to disintegrate… They consider that they can just wipe out us yet again and divide Russia,” he explained, according to the Moscow Situations.

As for Griner, Bout stated he “wished her luck” next their prisoner swap in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, Dec. 9. Each were being returned to their respective countries inside 24 hours.

“Once again, it is our tradition. You really should desire everybody good fortune and happiness,” he added, for each Reuters.

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Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout arrives at a Felony Courtroom in Bangkok on Oct 5, 2010. 

(NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP through Getty Images)

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The Russian, who is dubbed the “Service provider of Death,” was formerly convicted of arms trafficking, conspiring to eliminate People, and funds laundering. 

Griner was convicted by a Russian court docket of carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in Russia, the place cannabis is banned.