A Profile of Viktor Bout
He claimed that he was just a normal businessman, a deliveryman. But his extradition has tightened the relations between two world powers: Russia and the United States, as well as entangling Thailand. The Western media nicknamed him the "Merchant of Death". Even a Hollywood movie, Lord of War, starring Nicholas Cage was based on his life.
His name is Viktor A. Bout, a Russian arms dealer who owns the largest private fleet of Soviet-era cargo aircraft. His weapons fueled conflicts in Africa, Afghanistan and even armed the U.S. army in Iraq.
Little is known about Viktor's early years. According to the U.S. intelligence, Viktor Anatolijevitch Bout was born on Jan 13, 1967 in Tajikistan. But he himself has claimed another birthplace in Turkmenistan. While his family background seems ordinary—his father was an auto mechanic and mother a bookkeeper—Bout showed an unusual gift for languages and business insight. Since an early age, Viktor has been the more adventurous and ingenious boy in his family. He was said to have earned extra pocket money by selling pirated pop songs. He also joined Komsomol, the Communist Youth League, because it seemed to him the only way to be successful in the Soviet Union.
Graduating from Moscow's Military Institute of Foreign Languages and then earning a degree in economics from the Russian military college, Bout speaks almost perfect English and French, fluent Spanish and Portuguese, as well as German and several South African languages. It enabled him to serve in a Russian military aviation regiment including a 2-year stint in Mozambique and a translator for Russian peacekeepers in Angola, which probably introduced him to his later business in Africa.
When the USSR collapsed in 1991, thousands of pilots and crewmen were suddenly unemployed. Piles of unsold weapons filled the inventories while aircrafts stood abandoned. But Bout, in his mid-20s by then, saw opportunities where others saw chaos. He bought three Antonov cargo planes for a ridiculously low price of $40,000 apiece. He recruited unemployed pilots and launched his own aviation business by leasing his small fleet both wet (with crews) and dry (just the plane). "His eyes sparkle when he sees an aircraft," said Richard Chichakli, Bout's financial manager. Bout was fascinated by aviation and he developed ties with everyone who could help to expand his fleet and to keep the arms traffic flowing.
As an unparalleled “deliveryman”, Bout registered his fleet of over 60 planes in obscure countries in Africa, Middle East, and east Europe to conceal his clients’ identities and to benefit from their lax regulations. He could transport weapons anytime anywhere, and deliver them with pinpoint accuracy. It was believed that his success had everything to do with his ties with the GRU, Russia's largest foreign intelligence agency, and with big men like Igor Sechin, the deputy prime minister of Russia. But one thing that did account for his successful business was his unvarying personal code: entrusted cargo has to be delivered on time. When one of his aged planes had to fly a load of weapons into Angola from South Africa, the plane's tires were so worn that metal bands showed through. Rather than delay the flight, Viktor suggested his crew coat the tires in black paint to circumvent safety violations. It was the worried client who forced the crew to wait for replacement before taking off.
Essential to a successful arms dealer, Bout walked a fine line between adventurous shrewdness and recklessness. He took no sides in his business and had loyalty only to profits. His planes simultaneously armed the Taliban and Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, as well as rebel and government troops in Angola. He usually kept his phone call no longer than a minute or two during his business travel to avoid tracing. But sometimes the line got slippery. Bout made his mistake in 2008, a fatal one that resulted in his detention in the U.S. He took the bait when a special squad of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), under the guise of the Colombian FARC rebels, contacted him through his middleman with a $12 million deal to provide weapons against Colombian government and the United States. Bout was suspicious at first and didn't show up in Bucharest. But the deal was too good to lose. Bout walked right into the trap when DEA tried again in Bankok.
Extradited from Thailand to the U.S., he denied all charges against him, including conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, and to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Parted from his wife and daughter, Bout still held on with the support of his family. His brother Sergei said that anyone who thought Viktor would betray his country was deceiving himself. But Viktor's was not optimistic about his trial in the U.S. He said in the letter before he was extradited, "If I die in prison, it won't be a natural death."
After all, it might be nothing but politics. Russia denounced Bout's extradition as "illegal" and rumors spread that Russian government was terrified over Bout's trial since he allegedly possessed much information on how Russia's shadow state worked.
When Bout was arrested, he mumbled, "The game is over.” On the contrary, it is just beginning.