Moscow: Viktor Bout, an infamous Russian arms dealer who was imprisoned in the United States and was swapped in a prisoner exchange deal with Russia for former American basketball star Brittney Griner, is reportedly back in international arms trade as the so-called "merchant of death" is supplying weapons to the Houthi militants in Yemen, who are currently waging a war against Israel over its conflict in Gaza.
Citing an unnamed European security source and other anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported that Bout is trying to broker the sale of small arms to Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militants. "When Houthi emissaries went to Moscow in August to negotiate the purchase of $10 million worth of automatic weapons, they encountered a familiar face: the mustachioed Bout," it said.
However, the potential arms transfers are yet to be delivered and stopped well short of the sale of Russian anti-ship or anti-air missiles that could pose a significant threat to the US military's efforts to protect international shipping from the Houthis’ attacks. The Kremlin and Russia's defence ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' request to comment.
Who is Viktor Bout?
Bout was released as part of a US-Russia prisoner exchange deal in 2022 at the Abu Dhabi airport. Variously dubbed “the merchant of death” and “the sanctions buster” for his ability to get around arms embargoes, he was one of the world's most wanted men prior to his 2008 arrest on multiple charges related to arms trafficking.
The 57-year-old Bout was particularly notorious for selling weapons to rogue states, rebel groups and murderous warlords in Africa, Asia and South America. Although much of his life is shrouded in mystery, some biographies indicate that he was born in 1967 in Dushanbe, then the capital of Soviet Tajikistan, close to the border with Afghanistan.
After a stint in the Soviet Army where he achieved the rank of lieutenant, the arms dealer served as a military translator in several countries including in Angola. Bout is a gifted linguist, who used his reported command of English, French, Portuguese, Arabic and Persian to build his international arms empire. His breakthrough came after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as he cashed in on a sudden glut of discarded Soviet-era weaponry to fuel a series of civil wars in Africa, Asia and beyond.
Rise and fall of Bout's empire
According to a 2007 biography entitled "Merchant of Death: Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible", Bout began his arms trafficking empire from a base in the Gulf emirate of Sharjah as a seemingly innocent logistics business. He insisted that he was a legitimate entrepreneur with respectable clients and no case to answer.
He first appeared on the US Central Intelligence Agency's radar amid reports of a shadowy Russian citizen trading arms in Africa. It was a short journey from there to becoming one of the most wanted men in the world. Bout's clients included rebel groups and militias from Congo to Angola and Liberia. He also sold guns to Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and their enemies in the pro-Western Northern Alliance, putting business above politics.
An end to his empire took place in 2008 when the US Drug Enforcement Administration launched an elaborate sting operation and tracked Bout across multiple countries to a luxury hotel in Bangkok. He was caught on camera agreeing to sell undercover US agents, posing as representatives of Colombia's leftist FARC guerrillas, 100 surface-to-air missiles, which they would use to kill US troops. He was arrested by the Thai Police and extradited to the US.
How was Bout released?
Bout faced several charges in the US, including conspiracy to support terrorists, conspiracy to kill Americans and money laundering. However, Russia loudly insisted that Bout was innocent and his case was politically charged and a diplomatic wrangling ensued between the two sides. Bout was tried on the charges related to FARC, which he denied, and in 2012 was convicted and sentenced by a court in Manhattan to 25 years in prison, the minimum sentence possible.
However, US President Joe Biden in 2022 announced that Bout was swapped for Griner, who was detained and arrested on smuggling charges by Russian customs officials after cartridges of medically prescribed hash oil, illegal in Russia, were found in her luggage. Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison, while the US said she was "wrongfully detained".
For some experts, the Russian state's continued interest in Bout, plus his skills and connections in the international arms trade, hint strongly at Russian intelligence ties. "Bout was almost certainly a GRU agent, or at least a GRU asset," said Mark Galeotti, an expert on the Russian security services at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank, referring to Russia's military intelligence service.
(with agency input)
