(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer who was released from prison in the U.S. by President Joe Biden in a widely criticized swap for WNBA star Brittney Griner last December, is reportedly back in business.
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Bout 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,” WSJ reported, citing a European security official and other people familiar with the matter.
“The potential arms transfers, which have yet to be delivered, stop well short of the sale of Russian antiship 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,” the newspaper reported.
“The Biden administration has been worried that Russia might provide the Houthis with such advanced weapons to retaliate for Washington’s support of Ukraine, but there is no evidence that those missiles have been sent, or that Bout is involved in such a deal.”
When Moscow and Washington made a deal to swap him for Griner last December, Bout was held in a medium-security facility in Marion, Illinois and had not been scheduled to be released until 2029.
After his return to Moscow, Bout became a politician, winning a seat in a local assembly.
Several Republican leaders, including former President Donald Trump and ex-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., slammed Biden’s Bout-for-Griner trade as foolish and short-sighted when it happened.
“What kind of a deal is it to swap Brittney Griner, a basketball player who openly hates our Country, for the man known as ‘The Merchant of Death,’ who is one of the biggest arms dealers anywhere in the World, and responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and horrific injuries,” Trump said last December.
“Why wasn’t former Marine Paul Whelan included in this totally one-sided transaction?” Trump added. “He would have been let out for the asking. What a ‘stupid’ and unpatriotic embarrassment for the USA!!!”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
