Share

Over the past week, Russian state media has featured close to a dozen articles on the notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, who’s currently serving a 25-year sentence in an Illinois federal prison known for holding inmates convicted on terrorism and other serious, related crimes. The Kremlin seems to be signaling a new effort to get him back, with a “hostage exchange” in mind. Its pawns: former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, currently serving a 16-year sentence for espionage and Trevor Reed, another former U.S. marine convicted on charges of resisting arrest after a drunk-driving stop in 2019. When President Biden met with Vladmir Putin in Geneva last June, he raised the cases of Reed, Whelan and Michael Calvey, an American businessman since released after being convicted and handed a suspended sentence on embezzlement charges.

If the Kremlin is angling for a swap, it would hardly be the first time Russia and the United States have