Russian Arms Dealer And Putin Ally Viktor Bout, Exchanged For Brittney Griner, Resumes Gun Trafficking
Viktor Bout, the notorious Russian arms dealer imprisoned in the U.S. and swapped in December 2022 for WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was jailed in Moscow for cannabis possession, appears to be back in the gun trafficking business, or perhaps he never left it.
According to an exclusive report by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, citing an unnamed European security source and other anonymous informants, Bout is attempting to broker the sale of small arms to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants. A personal friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bout’s connections raise concerns about his renewed involvement in global arms trafficking. A former KGB officer, Bout is known as “the …