![]() And here's the thing, says Farah, Bout often supplied arms to both sides in a conflict at the same time.įARAH: He was essentially a one-stop shop for them. He armed the Taliban and Hezbollah, as well. SULLIVAN: The real-life Viktor Bout, Farah says, armed Charles Taylor in Liberia, Mobutu in Zaire and Savimbi in Angola. I supplied every army but the Salvation Army. I was an equal-opportunity merchant of death. You make calls, pound the pavement, take orders. NICOLAS CAGE: (As Yuri Orlov) Selling guns is like selling vacuum cleaners. SULLIVAN: His exploits became the stuff of fiction - the 2005 Nicolas Cage movie "Lord Of War" based loosely on Bout's life. And he simply realized he could make a lot of money marrying those two products together and providing a service that people wanted. And there were clients lining up to buy these weapons. SULLIVAN: Douglas Farah is co-author of a 2007 book about Bout called "Merchant Of Death." That vision, he says, was realizing there were lots of idled planes all over the former Soviet Union and huge stocks of weapons no longer being guarded because the guards weren't getting paid.įARAH: And he saw the possibility of marrying those two things to feed the wars around Africa and elsewhere that were still raging. He had a vision that no one else really did. But for nearly two decades before his arrest, Bout was perhaps the most successful arms dealer in the world.ĭOUGLAS FARAH: He came out of the Russian intelligence services after having spent time in Africa and as the Soviet Union sort of disintegrated. MICHAEL SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Viktor Bout has now spent more than a decade in a federal prison in Marion, Ill. NPR's Michael Sullivan takes a closer look. Viktor Bout was arrested in a sting operation in Bangkok by DEA agents posing as weapons buyers, and he's serving 25 years for conspiring to kill Americans and providing aid to terrorists. The Biden administration insists both Griner and Whelan are wrongfully held, but officials have offered to trade a notorious arms dealer for their release. government, meanwhile, is negotiating for Griner's freedom and that of another American, former U.S. It's been a month since her trial began on drug charges that could carry a penalty as high as 10 years in prison. WNBA star Brittney Griner went back to court today in Moscow.
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