Viktor Bout released from US prison system in exchange with Russia
- Jerry Atrick
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Viktor Bout released from US prison system in exchange with Russia
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/0 ... t-00073034
Pentagon concerned Bout could return to arms trafficking after Griner exchange
Freeing the convicted Russian "is a deeply disturbing decision," added Sen. Bob Menendez.
Some Pentagon officials are concerned that convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was released on Thursday in a prisoner swap for American basketball star Brittney Griner, could return to illegally trafficking weapons, potentially fueling conflicts across the world.
While officials in the Pentagon applauded Griner’s release, some are worried about the impact of Bout’s return, particularly in Africa. Bout, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death,” was serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States on charges of conspiring to kill Americans, delivery of anti-aircraft missiles, and aiding a terrorist organization.
“I think there is a concern that [he] would return to doing the same kind of work that he’s done in the past,” said one senior Defense Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic.
With Bout back in Russia, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby stressed that “our national security interest is not going to change.”
“We’re going to make sure that we can defend this country against any and all threats,” Kirby said on CNN on Thursday. “And so, with Mr. Bout being back on the street, we’re going to stay focused on making sure we can defend this country.”
“We cannot ignore that releasing Bout back into the world is a deeply disturbing decision,” he said in a statement Thursday. “We must stop inviting dictatorial and rogue regimes to use Americans overseas as bargaining chips, and we must try do better at encouraging American citizens against traveling to places like Russia where they are primary targets for this type of unlawful detention.”
Bout, a former Soviet military officer, launched a cargo airline, Air Cess, with a small fleet of Russian planes in 1995. Bout’s airline supplied weapons to conflicts across the African continent and Afghanistan, sometimes to both sides, fueling civil wars across the world.
“If I didn’t do it, someone else would,” Bout told the New Yorker in 2012.
British officials began sounding the alarm about Bout in the early 2000s as their soldiers in Africa came under attack by increasingly sophisticated weapons, particularly in Sierra Leone and Angola.
“Viktor Bout is indeed the chief sanctions-buster, and is a merchant of death who owns air companies that ferry in arms and other logistic support for the rebels in Angola and Sierra Leone and take out the diamonds which pay for those arms … aiding and abetting people who are turning their guns on British soldiers,” Peter Hain, the minister of state for Africa in Britain’s Foreign Office, told the House of Commons in 2000.
Bout is particularly notorious for his role in the first and second Liberian civil wars, which killed 250,000 people and destroyed much of the country. Between 1989 and 2003, Bout sold arms to warring factions in the conflict, most notably to corrupt former President Charles Taylor, violating several United Nations arms embargoes.
In addition to Liberia and Afghanistan, Bout was also active in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Angola, Yemen, Somalia and the former Yugoslavia.
Bout was arrested on March 6, 2008, in Thailand in a sting operation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
If Bout were to return to his old work, the U.S. military would focus on relaying to allies in Africa that he does not have their best interests at heart, the senior DoD official said.
“Every Africanist who has been working on this for years and years probably will have a little piece of flutter of disappointment inside” that Bout was released, the person said. “If his network … were to come to fruition, then we would definitely share the challenges of what illicit weapons or illegal weapons could mean for their prosperity.”
Bout is a fascinating figure
Surprised the USA agreed to release him under terms of this deal
Merchant of death would seem to be a heavier rap sheet than transportation of a few cannabis vapes across the Russian border as Griner, the American woman released in exchange for Bout did
Re: Viktor Bout released from US prison system in exchange with Russia
Arms dealer V's black lesbian drug smuggler who hates America , seems a fare swap what a great deal.
I'm standing up, so I must be straight.
What's a poor man do when the blues keep following him around.(Smoking Dynamite)
What's a poor man do when the blues keep following him around.(Smoking Dynamite)
Re: Viktor Bout released from US prison system in exchange with Russia
She ticked all the boxes on the progressive checklist
Can't wait for Her to play some mediocre basketball again, can anyone remind us when was the last time she played for an American team and not a Russian one?
Can't wait for Her to play some mediocre basketball again, can anyone remind us when was the last time she played for an American team and not a Russian one?
Re: Viktor Bout released from US prison system in exchange with Russia
The guy had less than seven (7) years left of a 25-year sentence, which seems kind of low for what he did. The guy was going back to Russia in 2029 anyway.
- Random Dude
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Re: Viktor Bout released from US prison system in exchange with Russia
I haven't seen the movie for a long time, but didn't he get the weapons he sold from the USSR when it broke up? I doubt there's any surplus Russian equipment being flogged cheap now. I also wonder if he even has any startup money to get back into the business now, I thought he pretty much lost everything when he got arrested and made some dangerous enemies along the way who would presumably still like to catch up with him.
- Jerry Atrick
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Re: Viktor Bout released from US prison system in exchange with Russia
It should be remembered that the movie was a work of fiction inspired by some events of Bouts lifeRandom Dude wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 12:25 pm I haven't seen the movie for a long time, but didn't he get the weapons he sold from the USSR when it broke up? I doubt there's any surplus Russian equipment being flogged cheap now. I also wonder if he even has any startup money to get back into the business now, I thought he pretty much lost everything when he got arrested and made some dangerous enemies along the way who would presumably still like to catch up with him.
A man like that will have multiple start over funds squirreld away somewhere
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Re: Viktor Bout released from US prison system in exchange with Russia
Yeah true, I guess he would.Jerry Atrick wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 12:35 pmIt should be remembered that the movie was a work of fiction inspired by some events of Bouts lifeRandom Dude wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 12:25 pm I haven't seen the movie for a long time, but didn't he get the weapons he sold from the USSR when it broke up? I doubt there's any surplus Russian equipment being flogged cheap now. I also wonder if he even has any startup money to get back into the business now, I thought he pretty much lost everything when he got arrested and made some dangerous enemies along the way who would presumably still like to catch up with him.
A man like that will have multiple start over funds squirreld away somewhere
I wonder how easy starting up would be after a long stint inside. You'd think whatever contacts he had would be long gone by now and whoever took his place would be pretty protective of their turf.
I hope he writes a book about his life, it would be a fascinating insight into a world the average dude will never experience.
Re: Viktor Bout released from US prison system in exchange with Russia
That’s the US Judicial system.Jerry Atrick wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 12:49 pmHe was given 25 years in 2012
By what math does that equal 7 years left?
He was actually captured in Thailand and brought back to the United States in 2008. He was sentenced in 2012 to 25 years, but I’m sure that would date back to 2008 as time served. With all the other math in determining sentencing times here, he was due to be released on August 29, 2029.
Edit: Sorry, August 19,2029
Last edited by Kenr on Fri Dec 09, 2022 1:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Big Daikon
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Re: Viktor Bout released from US prison system in exchange with Russia
I'd prefer she stay in Russia. No offense to the Russians.
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