Victor Bout, the international arms dealer who served a 25-year sentence in the United States, was released back to Russia in exchange for the release of an American athlete. Victor Bout was accused of supplying weapons to al-Qaeda, the Taliban and rebels in Rwanda
Shortly after his 2011 conviction on charges of conspiring to kill American citizens, Russian arms dealer Viktor Bot sent a defiant message through his lawyer as he faced the prospect of decades in prison. “Bot,” said his lawyer, “believes this is not the end.”
More than a decade later, Bott, 55, was released despite serving less than half of his 25-year sentence. He was replaced last Thursday by American athlete Brittany Griner, who was imprisoned in Russia for 10 months while serving a 9-year sentence for using and bringing drugs into Russia.
Meet Viktor Bout, whom Biden set free today
This is from years ago, back when 60 Minutes occasionally dabbled in journalism. pic.twitter.com/xQS3XaTYVN
— Christina Pushaw ???? ???????? (@ChristinaPushaw) December 9, 2022
Russian officials have pressed for Mr. Bout’s return since his conviction by a New York jury on four counts of conspiracy to kill American citizens. Prosecutors said he agreed to sell anti-aircraft weapons to drug enforcement agents posing as arms buyers for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
The Attorney General at the time, Eric Holder, called Bott “one of the most prolific arms dealers in the world.” Bout became notorious among US intelligence officials, earning the nickname “Death Dealer” when he evaded prison for years.
In interviews with journalists, Bout has repeatedly denied allegations that he worked for Russian intelligence agencies. But Mark Galotti, an expert on Russia’s security services, told The New York Times that there are strong indications — Bot’s education, his social and professional networks and his logistical skills — that he is a friend of, or at least has been in close cooperation with, the Russian military and military intelligence agency. known as the GRU.
“This is also the opinion of the US authorities and other authorities – and it explains the reasons why Russia has conducted such a vigorous campaign to bring him back,” said Galotti, a lecturer in Russia and international crime at University College London, in an interview last July. “All countries are trying to get the Their citizens are from difficult jurisdictions, but it was clear that this was a priority for the Russians in returning Viktor Bot.”
Viktor bout back in business time rewatch war dogs and lord of war. pic.twitter.com/gACrvIJ1Lk
— John Dutton???????? (@KING_MMBJ) December 8, 2022
Bot grew up in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan until he was 18. After completing his military service, he studied Portuguese at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow, an easy entry into Russian intelligence. and finally became an officer in the Air Force. The Soviet Union disintegrated not long after Butt left the army. As Russia’s economy collapsed and criminal groups flourished, he moved to the United Arab Emirates and started a cargo company that grew to a fleet of 60 planes.
With military supplies from former Soviet states leaking onto the black market, his shipping empire supplied guns to rebels, militants and terrorists around the world, US prosecutors said. In Russia’s new era of privatization, arms dealers could use social media to promote deals.
Bout was accused of selling weapons to al-Qaeda, the Taliban and militants in Rwanda. According to several investigations and his indictment in the US, he and his associates blew the whistle on arms embargoes in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Algeria, where he sold weapons to both government forces and the rebels fighting them.
His ability to avoid capture added to his fame among Western intelligence officials. In 1995, the Taliban shot down one of its planes in Afghanistan, seized the cargo and imprisoned the crew. Bott and Russian officials somehow managed to get the team out of the country: in 2003, he told The New York Times that “they got out,” and in 2012, The New Yorker reported, that they “just escaped.”
U.S. authorities finally captured him in Bangkok, Thailand in 2008. Bout met with undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents posing as agents representing rebels from the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia, which the United States considered a terrorist organization until last year.
When the potential buyers told him the weapon could be used to kill American pilots, Butt responded: “We have the same enemy,” prosecutors said. Thai authorities arrested him on the spot. He was extradited to the United States in 2010 and two years later was sentenced to 25 years.
In the years since then, the Russian authorities have kept him, and tried to exchange him for American detainees held by Russia. He was at the center of a Russian campaign, “We do not abandon ours”, which called his arrest “unfair and politically motivated”.