'Merchant of Death' back in weapons business, WSJ reports

Photo: Member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), Viktor Bout poses during the opening of an art exhibition in Moscow on March 7, 20213.//AFP

Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer who was jailed in the United States and then swapped two years ago for the US basketball star Brittney Griner, is back in international arms trade, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Citing an unnamed European security source and other anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the WSJ wrote that Bout, dubbed "the merchant of death" is trying to broker the sale of small arms to Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militants.

"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," the newspaper reported, citing its sources.

The potential arms transfers are yet to be delivered, the WSJ reported. They stop well short of the sale of Russian anti-ship or anti-air missiles that could pose a significant threat to the U.S. military's efforts to protect international shipping from the Houthis’ attacks, it added.

Reuters could not independently verify the report. The Kremlin and Russia's defence ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' request to comment.

The WSJ reported that Steve Zissou, a New York attorney who represented Bout in the U.S., had declined to discuss whether his client had met with the Houthis, and that a Houthi spokesman declined to comment.

After returning to Russia following the prisoner swap in December 2022, the 57-year-old Bout joined the Kremlin-loyal ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), but has kept a relatively low public profile since.

Bout was one of the world's most wanted men prior to his 2008 arrest in Thailand on multiple charges related to arms trafficking. He was extradited to the U.S. and in 2012 was convicted and sentenced by a court in Manhattan to 25 years in prison.

File photo : Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout is escorted by members of a special police unit after a hearing at a criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand, October 5, 2010.//Reuters

For almost two decades, Bout was one of the world's most notorious arms dealer, selling weaponry to rogue states, rebel groups and murderous warlords in Africa, Asia and South America.