Viktor Bout, the notorious Russian arms dealer who was released in an eyebrow-raising prisoner swap with Brittney Greiner, is now selling weapons to the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, according to a new report. That's what it means.
In December 2022, the Biden administration signed a deal with Russia to exchange Bout and Greiner.
Potential weapons such as Kornet anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft weapons may also be included in the suspected arms deals.
Greiner is a basketball player in the WNBA.
In February 2022, Griner was detained at Sheremetyevo International Airport on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia. Greiner was charged with possessing marijuana, which is illegal in Russia. She admitted the crime but insisted it was an “honest mistake”. In August 2022, Griner was found guilty and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Before his arrest in Russia, Greiner made headlines by declaring that the national anthem should not be played before sports games. She was intentionally in the locker room when “The Star-Spangled Banner” played before the Phoenix Mercury game in 2020.
As Blaze News previously reported, Greiner sang a different song after his release, saying in 2023 that “when I hear the national anthem, I definitely get a different impression.”
Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death,” is one of the world's most notorious arms dealers. Bout has been an international arms trafficker since the 1990s, allegedly involved in arms trafficking to Afghanistan, Colombia, Libya, and multiple conflicts in Africa.
In 2008, a U.S. sting operation arrested Mr. Bout in Thailand on suspicion of offering to provide anti-aircraft missiles to Colombian guerrillas to shoot down U.S. military planes. In 2011, Merchant of Death was convicted of a crime Conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens, conspiracy to kill U.S. officials, conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, and conspiracy to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations. At the time of his release, Bout had served 12 years of a 25-year sentence.
In the 2005 film Lord of War, Nicolas Cage's character was loosely based on Bout.
Since the controversial prison exchange scandal, Bout has joined the pro-Kremlin far-right Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. In 2023, Bout won a seat in the local council.
On Monday, wall street journal It was reported that Bout had returned to the arms trading business.
According to reports, Bout is working on a deal to send small arms and light weapons to the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The Journal reported, citing European security officials and people familiar with the matter, that Houthi envoys traveled to Moscow in August to negotiate the sale of automatic weapons worth $10 million, where they met “a familiar face with a mustache. “I encountered this person,” he said.
The first two deliveries will reportedly primarily consist of an upgraded version of the AK-47 assault rifle and could begin as early as this month. The shipment is reportedly scheduled to be transported to Yemen's western port of Hodeidah under the cover of food supplies. However, more powerful weapons such as Kornet anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft weapons may also be included in the suspected arms deal.
Bout called the claims “baseless accusations.”
“We tend to classify this as fake news or an information attack on elected officials,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the WSJ article.
Steve Zissou, a New York lawyer who represented Bout in the United States, likened the rumored arms deal to the United States shipping weapons to Russia's enemies.
“Victor Bout hasn't been in the transportation business for over 20 years,” Gisou told The Wall Street Journal. “But if the Russian government gave him the authority to facilitate the transfer of arms to one of the United States' adversaries, it would be the same as the one the United States government sent to Ukraine.” It would be no different than sending weapons or weapons of mass destruction.”
Houthis slogan It is “God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse to Jews, victory to Islam.''
President Donald Trump's administration designated the Houthis a global terrorist and foreign terrorist organization in one of his final acts as president in January 2021. However, President Joe Biden reversed this decision a month later. Biden's State Department reversed course in January. classified Designates the Houthis as a “specially designated global terrorist group.”
US Department of Defense declared “The continued reckless actions of the Iranian-backed Houthis threaten regional stability and endanger the lives of seafarers in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” it said in June.
In June, Yemen-based Houthis attacked two cargo ships, necessitating the rescue of the crew.
Since the Israeli-Hamas war began last October, the Houthis have targeted more than 80 commercial ships with missiles and drones.
On Friday, US forces struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen. According to to US officials.
Houthi rebels launched two drones and fired more than six ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles at three U.S. warships sailing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, according to the Associated Press. reported that all were intercepted by naval destroyers.
Co-founder of Blaze Media glenn beck We analyzed a video clip of Bout's first interview as a free man in decades.
– YouTubewww.youtube.com
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