MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th June, 2021) Alla Bout, the wife of Russian businessman Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year sentence in a prison in the United States, on Wednesday expressed hope that the discussion on the exchange of convicts at the Geneva summit would help return her husband and other Russian prisoners from US to their homeland.
"The fact that the issue was discussed at the summit and the possibility of finding compromises was noted is a great positive action, the first such action in many years. There is hope that the issue will be resolved," Alla Bout told Sputnik.
After he met with US President Joe Biden, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that they discussed the matter of swapping prisoners and suggested that "certain compromises may be found." Putin also said Russia's Foreign Ministry and the US State Department "will work in this direction."
Russian businessman Viktor Bout has been sentenced to 25 years of jail time in a US prison in 2012 on charges of conspiracy to murder American citizens and financially supporting terrorism. He was arrested in Bangkok in 2008 in a joint operation between Thai and US authorities and has been denying all accusations.
