In the West, he is known as a convicted illicit arms trafficker, "the merchant of death" who helped fuel wars around the world. But in Russia, Viktor Bout was welcomed home this week as something of a hero or at least an innocent victim of American politics.
The Russian government, its allies and the relentlessly pro-Kremlin media hailed the release of Bout, 55, by the United States in exchange for American basketball star Brittney Griner and claimed that it meant that President Vladimir Putin had bested President Joe Biden.
