Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer previously imprisoned in the United States and exchanged for US basketball star Brittney Griner two years ago, has reportedly resumed his weapons trading activities.
Citing an unnamed European security source and other anonymous individuals familiar with the situation, it was reported on Sunday that Bout, known as “the merchant of death,” is attempting to broker the sale of small arms to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi armed group.
According to the report, the potential arms transfers have not yet been delivered. The weapons in question are considerably less advanced than Russian anti ship or anti-air missiles, which could pose a significant threat to US military efforts to protect international shipping from Houthi attacks.
The report could not be independently verified, and neither the Kremlin nor Russia’s Ministry of Defence responded promptly to requests for comment from reporters.
Steve Zissou, a New York lawyer who represented Bout in the US, reportedly declined to discuss whether his client had met with the Houthis, and a Houthi spokesman also refused to comment.
After his return to Russia following the December 2022 prisoner swap, the 57-year-old Bout joined the Kremlin-aligned ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) but maintained a relatively low public profile.
Before his 2008 arrest in Thailand on various arms trafficking charges, Bout was among the world’s most wanted individuals. He was extradited to the US, where he was convicted in 2012 and sentenced to 25 years in prison by a Manhattan court.
For nearly two decades, Bout was notorious as one of the world’s leading arms dealers, supplying weapons to rogue states, rebel factions, and brutal warlords in Africa, Asia, and South America.
His infamous reputation was so significant that it inspired the Hollywood film Lord of War (2005), in which Nicolas Cage portrayed Yuri Orlov, an arms dealer loosely based on Bout.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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