DUBAI: Viktor Bout, the arms dealer freed in a prisoner swap for US basketball star Brittney Griner, said he wished her good luck on the tarmac in Abu Dhabi where they were exchanged.
Bout, who spent 14 years in US jail for arms trafficking, money laundering and conspiring to kill Americans, was swapped on Thursday for the basketball star, jailed this year for bringing cannabis vape oil when arriving to play for a Russian team.
Russia’s FSB security service released images of the two being led past each other on the tarmac at the airport in Abu Dhabi during the swap, although the video cuts away as they pass and there was no footage showing them interacting.
“I wished her luck, she even sort of reached out her hand to me,” Bout said on Saturday in an interview with Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT.
“Again, it’s our tradition. You should wish everyone good fortune and happiness,” he said, adding that he believed Griner “was positively inclined” toward him.
Speaking to Maria Butina, who herself spent 14 months in US prison for acting as an unregistered Russian agent and is now a lawmaker and RT presenter, Bout praised President Vladimir Putin, whose portrait he said he had hung on his cell wall.
Asked about Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, Bout said he wished that Moscow had been able to launch it sooner.
“If I had the chance and the required skills, I’d join up as a volunteer,” he said.
Griner has not yet spoken publicly. Her wife, Cherelle Griner, said on Thursday their family was now “whole,” and the couple would work to help secure the release of other Americans held abroad, including former US Marine Paul Whelan, jailed in Russia on spying charges he denies.
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Russian arms dealer says he wished Griner good luck at prisoner exchange
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Russian arms dealer says he wished Griner good luck at prisoner exchange
- Russia's FSB security service released images of the two being led past each other on the tarmac at the airport in Abu Dhabi
- "I wished her luck, she even sort of reached out her hand to me," Bout said on Saturday
Robotics build path from rural Kenya to world stage
LAIKIPIA: Jeremiah Kithinji had never touched a computer before he finished high school. A decade later, he is teaching robotics, and even took a team of rural Kenyans to the World Robotics Olympiad in Singapore.
In a classroom in Laikipia county — a sparsely populated grasslands region of northern Kenya known for its rhinos and cheetahs — pupils are busy snapping together wheels, motors and sensors to assemble a robot.
Guiding them is Kithinji, 27, who runs a string of robotics clubs in the area that have taken some of his pupils far beyond the rural landscapes outside.
In November, he took a team of three to Singapore for the Olympiad, where he also served as the competition’s first Kenyan judge. They presented a simulated space mission with a robot that could launch a model satellite and collect space debris.
Singapore was an eye-opening experience for Kithinji, who was educated in a modest rural school without access to computers.
“I felt this country is so advanced. Interacting with the people showed me how much they care about their nation, and it made me think about how I can instil the same mindset in my students,” he told AFP.
Kenya has pushed science and engineering in its latest curriculum, but lacks the resources for robotics training.
The clubs in Laikipia, which reach around 200 pupils, are funded by a US nonprofit, Science in a Suitcase, which helped train Kithinji and funded the trip to Singapore.
They have inspired Natalia Wangari, 14.
“In the future, when I become a neurosurgeon, I won’t have to perform every surgery myself. I can build a robot that acts as a doctor. I’ll just need to code it, and it will do the surgery itself,” she told AFP.
- Robots adapted to Kenya -
Kithinji hopes robotics can provide solutions to some of Kenya’s specific challenges.
He previously coached a team at the African Olympiad in South Africa in 2024, where they designed agricultural robots that can operate farming tools and irrigate fields, and sees particular benefits for rural hospitals — assisting in surgeries and delivering medication.
He dreams of more support and collaborators to expand his robotics program across the country.
For now, his pupils are focused on winning a place at the next Olympiad, in Puerto Rico, and they are brainstorming ideas for this year’s theme: robots meet culture.
But whatever happens, he is happy they are taking control of modern technology.
“The skills these kids are developing — critical thinking, problem-solving and technical skills... are the future skills our country needs,” he said.
“I want our kids to create the technology, not just consume it.”
In a classroom in Laikipia county — a sparsely populated grasslands region of northern Kenya known for its rhinos and cheetahs — pupils are busy snapping together wheels, motors and sensors to assemble a robot.
Guiding them is Kithinji, 27, who runs a string of robotics clubs in the area that have taken some of his pupils far beyond the rural landscapes outside.
In November, he took a team of three to Singapore for the Olympiad, where he also served as the competition’s first Kenyan judge. They presented a simulated space mission with a robot that could launch a model satellite and collect space debris.
Singapore was an eye-opening experience for Kithinji, who was educated in a modest rural school without access to computers.
“I felt this country is so advanced. Interacting with the people showed me how much they care about their nation, and it made me think about how I can instil the same mindset in my students,” he told AFP.
Kenya has pushed science and engineering in its latest curriculum, but lacks the resources for robotics training.
The clubs in Laikipia, which reach around 200 pupils, are funded by a US nonprofit, Science in a Suitcase, which helped train Kithinji and funded the trip to Singapore.
They have inspired Natalia Wangari, 14.
“In the future, when I become a neurosurgeon, I won’t have to perform every surgery myself. I can build a robot that acts as a doctor. I’ll just need to code it, and it will do the surgery itself,” she told AFP.
- Robots adapted to Kenya -
Kithinji hopes robotics can provide solutions to some of Kenya’s specific challenges.
He previously coached a team at the African Olympiad in South Africa in 2024, where they designed agricultural robots that can operate farming tools and irrigate fields, and sees particular benefits for rural hospitals — assisting in surgeries and delivering medication.
He dreams of more support and collaborators to expand his robotics program across the country.
For now, his pupils are focused on winning a place at the next Olympiad, in Puerto Rico, and they are brainstorming ideas for this year’s theme: robots meet culture.
But whatever happens, he is happy they are taking control of modern technology.
“The skills these kids are developing — critical thinking, problem-solving and technical skills... are the future skills our country needs,” he said.
“I want our kids to create the technology, not just consume it.”
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