Victor bout taliban execute

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The Ukrainian SBU, successor to the Soviet-era KGB, states that Bout is a citizen of the United Arab Emirates. Bout was ready to help. They took advantage of loopholes in the global arms trade through money laundering and shell companies to avoid detection, per The Guardian.

He has denied doing anything wrong

Chumsak Kanoknan/Getty Images

Viktor Bout's illustrious career precedes him, but he disagrees with what that means.

After he was sentenced, Russia's foreign ministry promised to bring back Bout by any legal means necessary. African clients would set up temporary airstrips, deceiving American satellites by only cutting down underbrush to slightly below wing level rather than clear-cutting an identifiable runway for the rugged former Soviet aircraft. Russia took these allegations seriously, while the spokesman for Russia's Foreign Ministry said that Bout had told him he had been under "professional psychological pressure," per CNN.

Most of all, Bout insisted he never did anything morally wrong.

Dasgupta confirmed that Smulian had been in Bangkok at the time of Bout's arrest, telling journalists, "We don't really understand what happened to Mr Smulian. By late 2004, Bout's activities had also become a liability for the Pentagon. We cooperated with the legal government of Rabbani, which was recognized by the world community," Komsomolskaia Pravda quoted him as saying.

He has reported from Europe and flown Super Puma and Cougar helicopters with the Swiss Air Force. On 26 April 2005, the Treasury Department expanded its sanctions against Bout by identifying 30 companies and four individuals linked to Bout, whom it labeled "an international arms dealer and war profiteer," and submitted the 30 companies and four individuals to the UN Sanctions Committee to add to the consolidated list of individuals and entities tied to Taylor.

The Kremlin and Russia’s Ministry of Defence did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency.

The WSJ reported that Steve Zissou, a New York lawyer who represented Bout in the US, had declined to discuss whether his client had met 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 maintained a relatively low public profile.

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Bout was one of the world’s most wanted men prior to his 2008 arrest in Thailand on multiple charges related to arms trafficking.

And there was also that time when his associate told undercover DEA agents that Bout was protected by the upper rungs of the Kremlin and was "really close" with President Vladimir Putin, per the New Yorker.

Viktor Bout inspired a Nicolas Cage movie

In 2002, Viktor Bout downplayed the criminal charges brought against him by the U.S.

government, saying he had done nothing wrong and that the accusations were akin to a "plot for a Hollywood action film" (via The Washington Post).

On 8 March after a brief hearing, Bout was fingerprinted before the media and transferred to Bangkok's Klong Prem Special Prison. In 2000, Peter Hain, Minister for Africa at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, used MI6 reports and his parliamentary immunity publicly to name Bout as one of Angola's sanction busters.

Rwanda still allegedly owes Bout US$21 million for the weapons. From a suite of offices in Richardson, Texas, Chichakli was president and director of the Trans Aviation Global Group, Inc. The UN identified Chichakli as the Chief Financial Officer for San Air General Trading in the UAE and president of Orient Star Aviation.

During a recent interview he said that his brother was a victim of a "specific battle for the international aviation transportation market. In 1997, we were the second-biggest operator in Afghanistan after Lufthansa. But his sentence may in 2022 if he's swapped for two Americans being held in Russia — WNBA star Britteny Griner and retired Marine Paul Whelan.

Although Bout hasn't been confirmed as part of the negotiations between the U.S.

and Russia, his name has become a clear, but risky option, per NPR. Read on to learn why that may be a dangerous decision.

Viktor Bout first worked as a military translator

It seems as though Viktor Bout has a natural gift for words and languages.

victor bout taliban execute