Its clear that he had significant ties to Russian government circles, said Lee Wolosky, a National Security Council official in the Clinton administration who led early efforts to tackle Bouts network. Read our full coverage of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bout, like many others who saw opportunity to profit amid chaos, became an entrepreneur. Bout, who has said in interviews that he was born in Tajikistan in 1967, studied languages at the Soviet Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow. Bout was nicknamed "The Merchant of Death," which was also the title of a biography. Bout was arrested later in Thailand, where he had been secretly recorded by the DEA organizing the purchase of 100 surface-to-air missiles, 20,000 AK-47 rifles, 20,000 fragment grenades, 740 mortars, 350 sniper rifles, five tons of C-4 explosives and 10 million rounds of ammunition for people he thought were agents for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), an insurgent group. The Russian government is eager to retrieve him so that it stays that way, Saradzhyan said. Brittney Griner testifies about her medical marijuana prescription and chaotic arrest, U.S. Marine veteran Trevor Reed is released from Russia in a prisoner swap. Despite facing international sanctions and threats of arrest, Bout managed to stay a step ahead of law enforcement until 2008, when he was captured in a sting operation in Thailand, organized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. The big question: Why? Most all of them were ill-equipped to pay their troops or keep track of the weapons they'd just inherited. Russia has used an array of weapons against Ukraine, some of which have drawn the attention and concern of analysts. hide caption. Bout, 55, is the most notorious arms dealer of his time, accused of profiting off weapons that fueled conflict in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Who is Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich? Amid increasing international pressure, including an Interpol arrest warrant issued in 2004, Bout returned to Moscow. Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout is shown in custody in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2008. A friend visiting his home in 2008 later noted that it was filled with books as well as, surprisingly, a DVD of the 2005 Nicolas Cage film Lord of War, which was reportedly inspired by Bouts life. hide caption. And while his links to Sechin are unclear, both studied Portuguese and overlapped with the Soviet military in Mozambique. American Paul Whelan, who was arrested in Russia in 2018 and charged with espionage, stands inside the defendant's cage as he awaited his verdict in 2020. U.S. officials hope public pressure will bring Russian release of prisoners Proposal for Griner, Whelan follows history of U.S.-Russia prisoner swaps. A U.S.-Russian prisoner swap would signal the two countries can still do business on some level despite the terrible state of relations and the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, where the Americans are the leading arms supplier to the Ukrainians. His name is Viktor Bout. The article has been corrected. If it's me, I'll get my U.S. citizens out.". 
American basketball player Brittney Griner arrives in court outside Moscow on June 27. Bout, a 55-year-old Russian, was the world's most notorious arms dealer before a U.S. court convicted him in 2011 and sent him to a prison in Illinois. Where most people saw chaos, Viktor Bout saw opportunity. He was moving out weapons for a decade, from places like Ukraine, said Douglas Farah, the president of the national security firm IBI Consultants and the co-author of a book about Bout. But that silence could be the point. Simon Saradzhyan of Harvard Universitys Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs said that Bout could never have operated such a large smuggling business without government protection, but that he never spoke about it. But analysts say there's no real prospect that the overall atmosphere which has been going from bad to worse is likely to improve. The U.S. and Russia have a history of working out deals to gain the return of their own citizens. We have a special word in the Russian language for people like Bout: svoi. It means someone from us. Its someone who worked for the motherland, at least in [the governments] eyes.. But the current negotiations appear uneven in some respects. After all, he made his money selling weapons that had been intended for use by the Soviet Union's military and successor countries. This week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had proposed to Russia a substantial offer to secure the release of two Americans being held in Moscow, WNBA star Brittney Griner and security consultant Paul Whelan. Wolosky said Bout came to the Clinton administrations attention because he was disrupting peace processes that the president was backing across Africa. Bout has denied any such links to the GRU. 
In 2011, a federal court in New York found him guilty of a variety of charges, including conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals. Whelan, 52, a former Marine who traveled openly to Russia for years, was arrested in 2018 and convicted on espionage charges in a secret trial. Ukraine Live Briefing: Russia noncommittal on Griner deal; safe passage for Ukraine could be turning the tide of war again as Russian advances stall, Nuclear threat higher now than in Cold War, British official warns. Farah said he believed that given the scale of military equipment being moved, such work may have been tacitly approved by the GRU. The latest: The United Nations has expressed hope that the first grain shipments from blockaded Ukrainian ports could start Friday. Bout is also believed to have access to something more valuable than planes: knowledge of the fate of the Soviet Unions enormous caches of weapons. In some cases, he was arming both sides of the conflict, Wolosky said. The fight: Russias recent operational pause, which analysts identified in recent weeks as an effort to regroup troops before doubling down on Ukraines south and east, appears to be ending. Almost anything was available for a price. Are you on Telegram? Ukraine Live Briefing: Brutal shellings rock port city and kill one of Uk Ukraine Live Briefing: Russia accused of deliberate mass murder; Donetsk Horrific video apparently showing castration of Ukrainian fighter condemn Ukraine Live Briefing: Blinken calls on Lavrov to accept significant propo Berlins landmarks go dark as Germany races to save energy for winter, Moscow move to shutter Jewish Agency alarms Russian Jews. He has also said he doesnt know Sechin. 
Chumsak Kanoknan/Getty Images However, the exact coordinates needed to ensure a safe passage for ships were still being negotiated on Thursday, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said. He's serving a 25-year sentence, but he may be part of a prisoner swap the U.S. and Russia are trying to negotiate. He was dubbed the leading merchant of death in Britains Parliament, and was named in U.N. reports for supplying heavy weaponry to a rebel movement in Angola as well as Liberias Charles Taylor, then supporting a deadly civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone. He's now the focus of a potential prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia, which holds two Americans the Biden administration hopes to free. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the two Americans, Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan have been "wrongfully detained and must be allowed to come home. That silence could be rewarded. Unfortunately for him, that guest former South African intelligence agent Andrew Smulian was working for the DEA. The elaborate sting operation got around a key problem in the U.S. pursuit of Bout: He hadnt broken any U.S. laws. Blinken plans to speak with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, though it's not clear when that might be. Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine. Blinken said he's presented a plan to Russia for the return of two Americans, though he did not mention Bout by name. Additionally, reports suggest that Bout could have close ties to Igor Sechin, a former deputy prime minister of Russia and an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. When the agents posing as buyers for the FARC said the weapons would be used against U.S. Air Force pilots working with the Colombian government, Bout could be heard telling them they had the same enemy., Its not business, he said. And lets face it, at the moment the Kremlin is looking for triumphs., Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya, the founder of the R.Politik political analysis group, said Putin wants something deeper than political gain. Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout is shown in custody in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2008. Steve Zissou, Bouts New York-based lawyer, warned this month that no Americans will be exchanged unless Viktor Bout is sent home., What is less clear, however, is exactly why Russia cares so much about Bout. Essential reporting and analysis from correspondents around the world. U.S. officials hope public pressure will bring Russian release of prisoners. Bout always denied he was selling weapons, claiming he was flying flowers and frozen chickens to some of the world's most violent places. And the other one is make essentially a dirty deal. The U.S. says he sold them all over the world. KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images Who is Viktor Bout, Russian arms dealer eyed in rumored prisoner swap? He was always hard to pin down, but he lived openly in Moscow, traveled widely, occasionally spoke to reporters and seemed to welcome at least some of the attention. When CIA Director William J. Burns, at the Aspen Security Forum this month, was asked why Russia wants Bout, Burns responded: Thats a good question, because Viktor Bouts a creep.. Though Russia has complained that Bout was entrapped by the DEA, many U.S. officials and analysts believe that its anger is not linked to the merits of the case, but rather Bouts links to Russian military intelligence. He used a small fleet of Soviet-made Antonov An-8 planes to set up an airfreight business and was apparently willing to take risks that others wouldnt, flying to war zones and failed states. Follow him @gregmyre1. "It's a real good public relations move for him to show that he's taking care of his own.". 
Russia wants Viktor Bout back, badly. Russian officials have complained particularly about the aggressive and unusual targeting of Bout. And his native Russia wants him home, badly. An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelled Lee Woloskys name. It has been accused in recent years of everything from hacking elections to assassinating dissidents. He was convicted in a Manhattan court in 2011, and is a little less than halfway through his 25-year sentence at a prison in Marion, Ill. Freeing Bout would send a message to others who could end up in trouble, said Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian security: The motherland will not forget you., The Russians successfully bringing [him] back would be regarded as a triumph, Galeotti said. The U.S. says it's working on a potential prisoner swap that would bring Griner back to the U.S. She's acknowledged in court that she had hashish oil in her luggage when arriving at a Moscow airport. By 2000, Bout was one of the worlds most notorious traffickers. The arms trafficker refused to cooperate with U.S. authorities, even as he sat for over a decade, isolated and alone, in a cell thousands of miles from his home in Moscow. 
Are you on Telegram? But the recording of Bout helped make the broader argument that he wasnt a simple businessman. When CIA director William Burns was asked this question last week at the Aspen Security Forum, he said succinctly: "That's a good question, because Viktor Bout's a creep.". hide caption. The two have not spoken since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Separating fact from fiction has often been difficult when documenting Bout's work, but many reports said he even sold arms to both sides in the same conflict. Trained by the Soviet military as a linguist, Bout began acquiring Soviet military transport planes and loaded them up with weapons. KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images How you can help: Here are ways those in the U.S. can help support the Ukrainian people as well as what people around the world have been donating. Dan Hoffman says he supports the efforts to win the release of the Americans. He was convicted and sentenced to 16 years. 
Bout was later extradited to the U.S. and convicted of conspiring to kill Americans. He's serving a 25-year sentence, but he may be part of a prisoner swap the U.S. and Russia are trying to negotiate. He said he was pushed into studying Portuguese and later sent to Angola to work as a translator with the Soviet air force. Bout was later extradited to the U.S. and convicted of conspiring to kill Americans. He kept his cool in prison, never exposed anything to the Americans, as far as I can tell, said Russian journalist Andrei Soldatov.
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