Arms dealer Viktor Bout, freed by the U.S. in a 2022 prisoner swap, mocks the trade as lopsided — an awkward look for the Biden-era deal that brought Brittney Griner home.

• Bout, nicknamed the "Merchant of Death," was released by the U.S. in exchange for basketball player Brittney Griner, jailed in Russia on a marijuana charge.
• He calls the one-for-one trade insulting and lopsided, saying he expected to be swapped for a bigger name.
• He suggests Griner was chosen for political and identity reasons rather than her value to Russia.
• The exchange remains a sore point for critics who saw the U.S. giving up a notorious weapons trafficker for a minor drug case.

Outlook: The swap keeps drawing criticism as a bad trade, and Bout stays a visible pro-Russia voice.