Viktor Bout, the ‘merchant of death’as the Russian arms dealer is known, would be back in business. Released from a US prison nearly two years ago in a prisoner swap with Russia, which had released basketball star Brittney Griner, he is reportedly trying to broker the sale of small arms to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants. This was reported by the Wall Street Journal, which quotes a European security official and other people familiar with the matter, according to whom the 57-year-old – whose life inspired the 2005 Hollywood film ‘Lord of War’, starring Nicolas Cage – met Houthi emissaries in Moscow in August to negotiate the purchase of $10 million worth of automatic weapons.
Bout, who spent decades selling Soviet-made weapons in Africa, South America and the Middle East before he was arrested in 2008 in a U.S. law enforcement sting operation, after his release he joined a far-right pro-Kremlin party and won a seat in a local assembly in 2023, apparently turning a corner from his business as an arms broker. The potential arms transfers, which have yet to take place, could pose a significant threat to the U.S. military’s efforts to protect international shipping from Houthi attacks.
The Biden administration fears that Russia may provide the Houthis with such advanced weapons in retaliation for Washington’s support for Ukrainebut there is no evidence that missiles were sent or that Bout was involved in such an agreement. And arming a warring party in the Middle East conflict would also mark an escalation for Russia, which has strengthened security ties with Tehran but has stayed away from confrontation between Israel and its Iran-backed enemies.
Steve Zissou, a New York lawyer who has represented Bout in the United States, declined to reveal whether his client met with the Houthis. “Viktor Bout has not been in the transportation business for over twenty years,” Zissou said. “But if the Russian government had authorized him to facilitate the transfer of weapons to one of America’s adversaries, he would have been no different from the US government sending weapons and weapons of mass destruction to one of Russia’s adversaries as it did to Ukraine.”
According to sources familiar with the matter, lThe small arms deal that Bout allegedly brokered was conducted with two Houthi representatives who traveled to Moscow under the pretense of purchasing pesticides and vehicles and had visited a Lada factory. People familiar with the deal do not know whether the deal was negotiated at the Kremlin’s request or simply with its tacit approval. The first two deliveries – writes the Wall Street Journal – would mostly concern AK-74, an improved version of the AK-47 assault rifle. But during the trip, Houthi representatives also discussed other weapons that the Russian side could potentially sell, including Kornet anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft weapons. Deliveries could begin as early as October at the port of Hodeidah, under the cover of food supplies, where Russia has already made several grain deliveries, they said.
When Bout was released in the December 2022 prisoner exchange, White House officials described the decision as difficult, but it was the only way to get Griner out of a Russian penal colony. They pointed out that Bout had already served 12 years in US prisons. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said at the time that the U.S. government had assessed the risks of releasing Bout before the exchange and concluded they were acceptable. “We believe we can handle these challenges, but we will remain constantly vigilant against any threat that Viktor Bout may pose to Americans, to the United States in the future,” Sullivan said. “I would just like to point out that there is no shortage of arms dealers and mercenaries in Russia.”
Since he was released from prison, Bout has often appeared on Russian television as a commentator on Russian politics and a critic of the USwho he said were determined to dismantle Russia. He has also been quoted occasionally in Russian media as an expert in the arms trade. He said he kept a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the wall of his cell during his captivity in the United States and that he strongly supported the invasion of Ukraine.
Sales to the Houthis would extend Bout’s decades-long career selling weapons to some of the world’s most controversial clients. Born in 1967 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, then part of the Soviet Union, Bout served as a military translator, learning French, English, Arabic, Persian and Portuguese, according to official records. He was sent to assist Angolan forces during a 1980s civil war. After the dissolution of the communist bloc in 1991, he purchased Russian military cargo planes and used them to fly United Nations peacekeepers to Africa. Bout first became known to the public after the United States sanctioned him in 2005 for trading weapons for diamonds with Charles Taylor, Liberia’s former president and convicted war criminal. UN experts also accused him of violating international arms embargoes on Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Arrested in Thailand in 2008 in an undercover operation conducted by US Drug Enforcement Administration agents posing as left-wing Colombian rebels, he was convicted in 2011 of conspiring to kill Americans and trying to sell weapons to Colombian rebels. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.