Article contentMOSCOW — Former U.S. marine Paul Whelan, who was sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison last week on spying charges, hopes to be freed as part of a prisoner swap with the United States, his lawyer said on Tuesday, Interfax news agency reported. Try refreshing your browser, or Russia wants Trump to swap 'Merchant of Death' arms dealer Viktor Bout for Canadian prisoner Paul Whelan: report Back to videoNews outlet Insider reports that the other man at the centre of the would-be swap is notorious Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout — the so-called “Merchant of Death” made famous by the Nicholas Cage film ‘Lord of War’. Bout currently sits in a U.S. prison, having been sentenced to 25 years for peddling arms to terror groups. Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, was detained by agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in a Moscow hotel room on Dec. 28, 2018. Russia says Whelan, 50, was caught with a computer flash drive containing classified information.

Source: National Post June 24, 2020 15:11 UTC