Viktor Bout Russian arms dealer who inspired Lord of War movie swapped for ... trends now
Convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the Russian Merchant of Death, has been swapped for WNBA star Brittney Griner on Thursday.
Bout, 55, has spent the last 12 years in federal prison in Marion, Illinois, on charges relating to arms dealing and conspiring with terrorists to kill American civilians alongside Colombian Farc rebels. He still had 13 years of his sentence remaining.
During his career trading weapons Bout became notorious for his willingness to arm almost anyone, from Al-Qaeda to militias in Sierra Leone, to Charles Taylor's brutal Liberian regime, to the Taliban.
Bout's exploits helped inspire the 2005 Hollywood film Lord of War starring Nicholas Cage, which was loosely based on his life. In the movie, Cage plays the role of Yuri Orlov.
Among Bout's most infamous acts, was stealing $32 billion worth of weaponry from Ukraine between 1992 and 1998. His fleet of aircraft grew to such an existent, Bout was regarded as having his own air force of about 60 planes.
In August, DailyMail.com revealed that Bout had become part of the negotiations to bring Griner home. The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the swap, saying in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that the exchange took place in Abu-Dhabi and that Bout has been flown home.
Viktor Bout is a free man after he was swapped for Brittney Griner in December 2022
A native of the city of Dushanbe in Soviet Tajikistan, Bout is reported to be fluent in several languages and to have served in the Soviet army as a military translator, including in Angola, a country that would be central to his later career.
He has said he attended a Moscow language institute that serves as a training ground for military intelligence officers.
After the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, he was able to capitalize on a glut of cheap, Soviet-made weaponry that could be sold to customers in Africa, Asia and South America.
Operating out of the United Arab Emirates, he used a fleet of Soviet-era planes, that he founded discarded in disused air force bases, to supply guns to insurgencies, warlords and rogue states around the world.
In a 2003 interview with the New York Times Bout said: 'I woke up after Sept. 11 ad found I was second only to Osama.'
He continued: 'My clients, the governments. I keep my mouth shut.' Bout went on: 'If I told you everything I'd get the red hole right here,' he said while pointing at his forehead.
Bout pictured in the 2014 Netflix documentary The Notorious Mr. Bout
Bout's exploits helped inspire the 2005 Hollywood film Lord of War starring Nicholas Cage, which was loosely based on his life
The CIA and MI6 began tracking Bout in a serious way in the early 1990s as he began
