7 October 2024
Victor Bout, an arms dealer sentenced to 25 years in a US prison, has reportedly been negotiating the sale of firearms to Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen after his release through a prisoner swap.
Source: The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing a European security official and other sources familiar with the matter
Details: Bout, often referred to as the Merchant of Death, was released nearly two years ago following a high-profile prisoner exchange between the US and Russia. According to WSJ sources, Bout has since established contacts with Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen and is negotiating a deal to sell small arms, including AK-74 rifles, valued at US$10 million.
While in prison, Bout had a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin on his cell wall and expressed strong support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
His release in December 2022 came after a swap with American basketball player Brittney Griner, who had been convicted in Russia for alleged drug possession.
Since his release, Bout has frequently appeared on Russian television, offering commentary on Russian politics and criticism of the US. Russian media often cite him as an expert on arms trading.
Quote: “When Houthi emissaries went to Moscow in August to negotiate the purchase of US$10 million worth of automatic weapons, they encountered a familiar face: the moustachioed Bout,” WSJ reports.
According to WSJ sources, the negotiations centred on the supply of AK-74 rifles, with additional discussions about the sale of Kornet anti-tank systems and anti-aircraft weapons. These arms deliveries could reportedly begin in October, disguised as shipments of food products to the port of Hodeidah, where Russia has already delivered grain.
Background:
- Bout gained notoriety in 2005 when the US imposed sanctions on him for trading weapons in exchange for diamonds with former Liberian President and convicted war criminal.
- He was also accused by UN experts of violating international arms embargoes on Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- In 2008, Bout was arrested in Thailand during a sting operation by US Drug Enforcement Administration agents posing as Colombian rebels. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison but served only 12 before his release in the 2022 prisoner exchange.
Support UP or become our patron!
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/10/7/7478591
Thank you, Biden, for releasing this prick from prison, where he should’ve stayed to rot.
We used to have a policy that forbade dealing with terrorists. Now we have Biden.
They exchanged a murderous high level criminal for a piss-ass pro-ruZZia sportswoman who went to putlerstan on her own initiative.
It was just another shit show by this sorry-ass administration.
If Houthi wants to buy arms and Moscow wants to sell them, it doesn’t really matter if the person they’re negotiating with is Bout or someone else – the deal’s still going to be made.
But who has the connections like this prick has?
I know you like Biden, Larry, but it’s futile to downplay an obvious blunder such as this one. The prick should rot in a prison, and not get rich on dealing arms with terrorists.
You don’t get it, as usual. This nazi is selling weapons to people that are at least trying to kill Americans and others. No doubt Biden and Marx are proud of you though, lol…
He’s an arms dealer. He’s not selling weapons out of his car trunk. Russia has the weapons, and needs the cash. The deal is going to go through regardless of who the middleman is.
Since Bout is friends with trumpkov’s buddy putler, I do think that President Biden should have been able to do better than a one-for-one trade. But regardless of how good or bad a trade it was, the point remains that the Houthis have cash and Russia needs cash. (And Russia encourages carnage elsewhere to distract from what they’re doing in Ukraine.) So even if Bout were dead, the deal would be happening.
That may be true, Larry, but this does not absolve Biden of his blunder. This prick should be in prison, not running around a free man, helping to cause death, misery and pain. Whatever he does, it now sits on Biden’s shoulders.