美国国家公共电台 NPR--A convicted arms dealer returns to Russia in Griner prisoner swap

A convicted arms dealer¹ returns to Russia in Griner prisoner swap²

Transcript³

Former White House counterterrorism official Lee Wolosky talks about the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner from Russian custody⁵ in exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout⁴.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

WNBA star Brittney Griner is on her way back to her family after being released from a Russian prison.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: She's safe. She's on a plane. She's on her way home, after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances.

MARTIN: That's President Biden announcing Griner's release from the White House this morning. In a background call with reporters, White House officials said Griner is in good health. And she was met in the UAE by U.S. Special Envoy⁶ for Hostages Roger Carstens. Griner was arrested in Russia back in February on drugs charges. She was freed in a prisoner exchange, with the U.S. government handing over convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. So who is this man? I asked Lee Wolosky, most recently special counsel to President Biden and a former White House counterterrorism official who helped shut down Bout's gunrunning business.

LEE WOLOSKY: Viktor Bout first came to the attention of the United States in the late 1990s, when President Clinton was working to resolve various conflicts in Africa. And we noticed in these countries that there was one person who was supplying arms not just to one side of the conflict but, in some cases, to both sides of the conflict. And I'm talking about countries like Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Angola that were in the midst of some form of civil wars. And because of the president's interest in trying to resolve those conflicts, we took a very close look at Viktor Bout, soon learned that he ran a aviation logistics empire with the capacity to move not just guns but, really, much of anything to anyone who would pay him enough money to move those items of guns, ammunition⁷, in some cases helicopter gunships and things of that sort into conflict zones.

MARTIN: Was Viktor Bout working at the behest of the Russian government, or is he just an independent contractor⁸?

WOLOSKY: Certainly, a lot of the capabilities⁹ that he brought to bear were capabilities that would be hard to obtain without very deep contacts with the Russian government. He used Russian aircraft that had been previously¹⁰ Russian military aircraft, for instance. And, I mean, not just planes but huge cargo¹¹ planes and things of that sort that moved massive amounts of weaponry and other military equipment around the world. So I can't say that he was working for the Russian government, but I can say with a high degree of confidence that he certainly had deep relationships with the Russian government.

MARTIN: How did you track him down? How was he finally arrested?

WOLOSKY: Well, he was finally arrested long after I left government in a sting operation that drew him to Thailand, where he was arrested by U.S. authorities for wanting to provide weapons to the FARC in Colombia. But at the time that I was involved, we worked with numerous countries to essentially¹² ground him, which we did. We forced him back to Russia and, essentially, put him out of business. And then the sting operation occurred a few years later to pull him out of Russia and into a place where the United States could arrest him. He was then transferred to U.S. custody, tried and convicted in federal court in Manhattan and has been in prison for a number of years and is now actually nearing the end of his sentence.

MARTIN: Huh. He was nearing the end of his sentence, yet it was clearly very important for Vladimir Putin and the Russian government to get him back. Why?

WOLOSKY: All the available evidence points to a deep relationship with the Russian government. And any government wants to get its people back, particularly if they have worked for that government. That's what the Russians have now been able to achieve. It's why they put him on the table. They put him on the table in prior instances when they've wanted to get something out of the United States, and they did that again here for Brittney Griner.

MARTIN: So Viktor Bout is an older man now. He is free. He is presumably, if not already in Russia, on his way back. What does he do now? Does he go back in business?

WOLOSKY: I think it's going to be hard for him to reconstruct the empire that he once had, which involved scores and scores of aircraft and personnel in many different countries. So I don't think that it's likely that he's going to go back at least to that business.

MARTIN: As someone who has looked at broader national security issues, what do you make of the fact that, at this point, it appears the American Paul Whelan has not been released?

WOLOSKY: I certainly hope that Paul Whelan comes home. He's wrongfully detained, as was Brittney Griner. And I should add that Viktor Bout was not wrongfully detained. Viktor Bout is a criminal. But I think it's a little hard based on the information that we now have available to us to know the full scope of the deal that has led to the Bout and Griner exchange.

MARTIN: Lee Wolosky, a former White House counterterrorism official. We appreciate your time and context this morning. Thank you.

WOLOSKY: Thank you, Rachel.

1 dealer   

n.商人，贩子

参考例句：

• The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
• The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。

2 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 bout   

n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛

参考例句：

• I was suffering with a bout of nerves.我感到一阵紧张。
• That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了。

5 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

6 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

7 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

8 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

9 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

10 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

11 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

12 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。