The US and Russia exchanged US basketball player Brittney Griner and Bout in a one-for-one prisoner swap on Thursday. Bout was serving a 25-year sentence in the US on arms dealing charges. Griner was sentenced earlier this year to nine years in prison in Russia for illegally bringing cannabis oil into the country.
"Mr. Bout has choices to make, and if he chooses to get back into that line of work then we're going to do everything we can to hold them properly accountable as we have in the past," Kirby told Fox New.
Washington did a national security assessment of the possible risks associated with Bout's release, concluding that they were "manageable" to make the deal with Russia, the White House official said.