After reading a 2003 report about him, Mr Hain said: "Bout is the leading merchant of death who is the principal conduit for planes and supply routes that take arms from East Europe, principally Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine to Liberia and Angola. How much for Depp's drawings? Rise of the far right: will there be an election bonanza for Europes populists? He has been accused of assembling a fleet of cargo planes to traffic military-grade weapons to conflict zones around the world since the 1990s, fueling bloody conflicts from Liberia to Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. He also claimed to have helped the French government transport goods to Rwanda after the genocide, and to have transported UN peacekeepers. Now, at the center of that bid is Bout, a man who eluded international arrest warrants and asset freezes for years. Putin still has friends in the west and theyre gaining ground, European Commission launches rule-of-law disciplinary procedure against Hungary. Their families have urged the White House to secure their release, including via prisoner exchange if necessary. 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", "I'm not afraid," he told Dougherty. On the same day, Griner testified in Russian court as part of her ongoing trial on drug charges following her February arrest at a Moscow airport. Bout was extradited from Thailand to the US in 2010, after a sting operation by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) two years earlier. "It's a false allegation and it's a lie," he said. -- and he denied each claim. The 2005 film Lord of War, loosely based on the arms dealer's life, has the anti-hero escaping justice at the end. He said that Bout graduated from the Military Institute on Foreign Languages, a well-known feeder school for Russian military intelligence. Bout said the US case against him was politically motivated; his wife has been quoted as saying his only connection with Colombia was "tango lessons". Bout claimed he was simply an entrepreneur with a legitimate international transport business, wrongly accused of trying to arm South American rebels - the victims of US political machinations. 'Justice has been delivered': Biden says US killed al Qaeda leader, Indigenous lawmaker calls Queen Elizabeth II a colonizer during ceremony, Viktor Bout's attorney says prisoner swap would be a 'fair trade.' He is believed to be in his 50s, with his age in dispute because of different passports and documents. ", CNN reporter breaks down potential deal to release Griner and Whelan from Russia. Five things that held women back in football in England, Griner case throws spotlight on hostage diplomacy. Instead, US agents bided their time until 2008 when they posed as buyers for Colombia's Farc rebels and gained an introduction to Bout through one of his former associates. That group - which has since disbanded - was classified as a terrorist organisation by the United States. "I've never touched diamonds in my life and I'm not a diamond guy and I don't want that business. From Latin Victor. Allegations of trafficking activities in Liberia prompted US authorities to freeze his American assets in 2004 and blocked any US transactions. Alarm grows as Orban prepares to take pure Nazi rhetoric to US, Longstanding adviser to Viktor Orbn resigns over pure Nazi speech, Viktor Orbn sparks outrage with attack on race mixing in Europe, Talmudic sage offers a leg-up to the Tories, Hungary protests continue for fifth day amid growing anger at Orbn tax changes, Luxembourg PMs same-sex husband seated next to Viktor Orbn at summit, Hungary to make $600m annual profit through Russian oil tax research agency, Behind Natos defensive shield lies weakness and division. But Bout's history in the arms trade extended much further afield. The US made moves against Bout throughout the 2000s, freezing his assets in 2006, but there was no law he could be prosecuted under in the US. Read about our approach to external linking. Whelan was arrested on alleged espionage charges in 2018 and sentenced to 16-years in prison in a trial that US officials have called unfair. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. morning, Available for everyone, funded by readers. Ukraine will pay the price, EU leaders agree to partial embargo of Russian oil imports, The American right is whitewashing Hungarys nasty, autocratic regime, The Guardian view on Viktor Orbns Brussels bashing: a reckoning must come. Prosecutors said he replied: "We have the same enemy.". Who is Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer known as 'merchant of death'? Viktorm (genitive singular Viktora, nominative plural Viktorovia, declension pattern of chlap). He defied Donald Trump - what happens now? But a jury in New York didn't believe his story. According to a 2007 book - Merchant of Death, by security experts Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun - Bout built up his business using military planes left on the airfields of the collapsing Soviet empire in the early 1990s. Farah told Mother Jones magazine in 2007 that according to his multiple passports, Bout was born in 1967 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, the son of a bookkeeper and an auto mechanic. But he did admit to flying arms to Afghanistan in the mid-1990s, saying they were used by commanders fighting against the Taliban. "[Bout is a] businessman, dealer and transporter of weapons and minerals [who] supported former President Taylor's regime in [an] effort to destabilise Sierra Leone and gain illicit access to diamonds," UN documents state. His three-week trial heard that Bout had been told the weapons would be used to kill US pilots working with Colombian officials. She asked him about allegations against him -- did he sell arms to the Taliban? CNN reported Wednesday that the Biden administration. In an interview with the UK's Channel 4 News in 2009, he flatly denied ever dealing with al-Qaeda or the Taliban. (CNN)The future of two American citizens detained in Russia could hinge on the release of a convicted Russian arms dealer, nicknamed the "Merchant of Death" by his accusers, whose life story inspired a Hollywood film. This page was last edited on 16 October 2021, at 17:39. Read about our approach to external linking. Media reports in the Middle East claimed he was a gun-runner for al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The US said the weapons were intended to kill US citizens. Agents from the DEA posed as potential buyers from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as Farc. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in April 2012 after being found guilty of conspiracy to kill Americans and US officials, delivering anti-aircraft missiles and aiding a terrorist organisation. The 31-year-old US player has been in custody since February after Moscow airport officials found cannabis oil in her luggage while she was returning to the US after playing in Russia. Hungarian leaders aide who quit over race mixing remarks said his words have a chilling potential, Hungarian leader was criticised by Xavier Bettel in 2021 for introducing homophobic law, Some 75% of imports will be banned and Sberbank ejected from Swift but Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia to keep supplies, US conservatives are signaling their commitment to authoritarianism loud and clear by holding this years Conservative Political Action Conference in Budapest the first-ever outside the US, Its one thing to enjoy the ex-advisers attacks on the PM, another to read his line on autocrats, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every All rights reserved. In 2002, CNN's Jill Dougherty met with Bout in Moscow. "The UN has exposed Bout as the centre of a spider's web of shady arms dealers, diamond brokers and other operatives, sustaining the wars.". 2022 BBC. The Russian businessman, who speaks six languages, was arrested in a sting operation in 2008 led by US drug enforcement agents in, "Viktor Bout has been international arms trafficking enemy number one for many years, arming some of the most violent conflicts around the globe," said Preet Bharara, the US attorney in Manhattan when Bout was, "He was finally brought to justice in an American court for agreeing to provide a staggering number of military-grade weapons to an avowed terrorist organization committed to killing Americans.". "He was a Soviet officer, most likely a lieutenant, who simply saw the opportunities presented by three factors that came with the collapse of the USSR and the state sponsorship that entailed: abandoned aircraft on the runways from Moscow to Kiev, no longer able to fly because of the lack of money for fuel or maintenance; huge stores of surplus weapons that were guarded by guards suddenly receiving little or no salary; and the booming demand for those weapons from traditional Soviet clients and newly emerging armed groups from Africa to the Philippines," Farah told the magazine. "His early days are a mystery," Douglas Farah, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center who co-authored a book on Bout. Reports in US media suggest that Moscow might now be interested in exchanging Ms Griner for Bout. The Russian authorities supported him throughout his legal proceedings, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov vowing to fight to secure his return to Russia and labelling the Thai court's decision "unjust and political". Previous reporting by Ashley Hayes and CNN staff. First recorded as a a Swedish given name in 1640 as Victor. He is also alleged to have armed both sides in Angola's civil war and supplied weapons to warlords and governments from the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Sudan and Libya. The sturdy Antonovs and Ilyushins were up for sale along with their crews, and were perfect for delivering goods to bumpy wartime airstrips around the world. But law enforcement agencies pursued him throughout the 2000s. Trump shares CPAC Hungary platform with notorious racist and antisemite, Conservatives want to make the US more like Hungary. Bout -- who reportedly has used names including "Victor Anatoliyevich Bout," "Victor But," "Viktor Butt," "Viktor Bulakin" and "Vadim Markovich Aminov" -- is thought to have been the inspiration for the arms-dealer character played by Nicolas Cage in the 2005 movie "Lord of War.". Viktor Bout spent more than two years in a Bangkok jail. It is thought Bout travelled under several aliases, moving through countries such as the United Arab Emirates and South Africa before resurfacing in Russia in 2003. Did he supply rebels in Africa and get paid in blood diamonds? US could swap Russia arms dealer for Griner, The troubling tale of a vanished basketball star, Brittney Griner pleads guilty to Russian drugs charge, US kills al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan drone strike, Tensions spike as Pelosi's Taiwan visit looms, World one misstep from nuclear annihilation - UN, Helping children to overcome the trauma of war. Bout has repeatedly maintained that he operated legitimate businesses and acted as a mere logistics provider. Bout - who was 45 when he was sentenced - is said to have begun channelling weapons through a series of front companies to war-torn parts of Africa. "I didn't do anything in my life I should be afraid of. Roland Otterbjrk: Svenska frnamn, Almqvist & Wiksell 1996. Taylor was jailed for war crimes and is serving his sentence inside a UK maximum security prison. In the same year, British Foreign Office minister Peter Hain coined the nickname "merchant of death". 2022 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. Russian authorities have called for Mr. Bouts return since his 2011 conviction. Viktor Bout, one of the world's most infamous arms dealers, is back in the news - this time as part of a possible prisoner exchange for American basketball star Brittney Griner. But such an ending has eluded Bout, who has remained in prison in the US since his conviction in 2012. To al Qaeda? Take our quiz How rangers use AI to help protect India's tigers, Kenya election: Split loyalties in battleground area, When Delhi and London colluded to deny passports to Indians, This curious geographic transaction has been going on for more than 350 years, The youngest in the labour market have a slew of demands. Shortly after the undercover officers discussed arms shipments to Farc with Bout, Thai authorities arrested him and lengthy legal proceedings began to bring him to the US. Bout was extradited from Thailand to the US after efforts by Russian diplomats to have him released failed. Militiaman who took gun to US Capitol riot jailed, Beyonc to re-record offensive Renaissance lyric, Hundreds still missing amid Kentucky flash floods, BP sees biggest profit in 14 years as bills soar, Man's 11m bid to dig up tip for binned Bitcoin, More research needed on climate extinction threat. Bout has said that he worked as a military officer in Mozambique. The UN named him as an associate of former Liberian President Charles Taylor - who was convicted in 2012 on charges of aiding and abetting war crimes during the Sierra Leone civil war. So notorious are the exploits of the former Soviet air force officer that they have inspired a Hollywood film and garnered him an impressively fearsome nickname - the merchant of death. If Dominic Cummings were still running No 10, would we have given up on Ukraine?