Headline Roundup • October 7th, 2024
Russian Arms Dealer Viktor Bout 'Back in Business' After Prisoner Swap
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as Russian President Vladimir Putin's "Merchant of Death", is once again selling weapons.
Key Details: Bout is trying to sell weapons to the Houthis, a U.S.-designated terrorist group backed by Iran, two years after being exchanged for WNBA star Brittney Griner in a prisoner swap. Bout, 57, served 12 years of his 25-year prison sentence and is now a local politician in Putin's party. His life reportedly inspired the 2005 Hollywood movie, "Lord of War."
Key Quote: "Viktor Bout has not been in the transportation business for over twenty years," said Steve Zissou, a New York attorney who has represented Bout int he U.S. "But if the Russian government authorized him to facilitate the transfer of arms to one of America’s adversaries, it would be no different than the U.S. government sending arms and weapons of mass destruction to one of Russia’s adversaries as it has sent to Ukraine."
For Context: Though the shipment has not been delivered, the $10 million weapons deal between the Houthis and Moscow indicates a rise in tensions by Putin.
How the Media Covered it: Fox News (Right bias) noted that there have been concerns about Russian retaliation after the U.S. approved Ukraine to employ Western-provided weapons against Russia. The Daily Beast (Left Bias) noted that the Houthis have attacked dozens of commercial and merchant ships in the Red Sea in protest to U.S. government involvement in the Israel-Hamas war.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Boris Alekseev/Anadolu Agency/Getty
Infamous arms dealer Viktor Bout is reportedly back to his old ways less than two years after his release from U.S. custody in a prisoner swap for WNBA star Brittney Griner.
The Wall Street Journal reported that, when emissaries from Yemen’s militant Houthi movement visited Moscow in August to negotiate a $10 million arms purchase, they encountered the man known as Vladimir Putin’s “Merchant of Death.”
The polyglot former Soviet intelligence officer turned to arms dealing after the Cold War, buying up enough surplus Soviet-era military equipment to seed his gun-running into a global enterprise that brought...
Fox News Digital
Viktor Bout, the notorious Russian arms dealer released in a prisoner exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner, is now attempting to broker arms deals with Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Bout, 57, is known as the "Merchant of Death" and now serves as a local politician in Russian President Vladimir Putin's party. He has reportedly returned to the arms trade as well, negotiating with Houthi representatives who visited Moscow in August to purchase some $10 million worth of small arms.
While the shipment has not been delivered,...
Sergey Pivovarov/Reuters
Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death,” walked out of a U.S. jail almost two years ago in a trade with Moscow for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner. Now he is back in business, trying to broker the sale of small arms to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants.
The 57-year-old, whose life reportedly inspired the 2005 Hollywood movie, “Lord of War,” starring Nicolas Cage, spent decades selling Soviet-made weapons in Africa, South America and the Middle East before being arrested in 2008 in a U.S. law-enforcement sting operation.
