Gee, who saw this coming?
We traded Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death,” for WNBA player Brittney Griner.
Bout is so notorious that Hollywood based the movie Lord of War on him. He sold weapons to Africa, the Middle East, and South America for decades before the U.S. caught him in 2008.
Well, Bout reentered the weapons business, according to The Wall Street Journal:
Since his release, Bout has joined a pro-Kremlin far-right party and won a seat in a local assembly in 2023, seemingly turning the page on his days as an arms broker. But when Houthi emissaries went to Moscow in August to negotiate the purchase of $10 million worth of automatic weapons, they encountered a familiar face: the mustachioed Bout, according to a European security official and other people familiar with the matter.The potential arms transfers, which have yet to be delivered, stop well short of the sale of Russian antiship or antiair missiles that could pose a significant threat to the U.S. military’s efforts to protect international shipping from the Houthis’ attacks.
The Wall Street Journal did not have evidence that Russia sent weapons to the Houthis or that Bout had a hand in anything.
It wouldn’t shock me at all, though.
Iran and Russia share a cozy relationship. Iran backs the Houthis along with Hezbollah and Hamas:
The people familiar with the deal didn’t know if the deal was being negotiated at the Kremlin’s behest or merely with its tacit approval. While the Houthis have been seeking Russian-made weapons, The Wall Street Journal couldn’t determine the specific source of the planned supply.A Houthi spokesman declined to comment. The Kremlin didn’t return a request for comment.The first two deliveries will be mostly AK-74s, an upgraded version of the AK-47 assault rifle. But during the trip, Houthi representatives also discussed other weapons the Russian side might potentially sell, including Kornet antitank missiles and antiaircraft weapons, according to the European official and other people familiar with the matter.The deliveries could start as early as October to the port of Hodeidah under the cover of food supplies, where Russia has already carried out several grain deliveries, they said.
But but the Biden administration swore nothing would happen:
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said at the time that the U.S. government had done an assessment of the risks of Bout’s release before the exchange and had concluded they were acceptable.“We believe we can manage those challenges, but we will remain constantly vigilant against any threat that Viktor Bout may pose to Americans, to the United States going forward,” Sullivan said. “I would just point out that there is no shortage of arms traffickers and mercenaries in Russia.”A spokesman for the National Security Council didn’t respond to a request for comment on Bout’s current activities.
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