Who Is Viktor Bout? 'Merchant of Death' Arms Dealer in Brittney Griner Swap

Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer nicknamed the "Merchant of Death," was freed from U.S. custody in exchange for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, as part of a high-level prisoner swap on Thursday.

Bout, a 55-year-old former Soviet military officer, was serving a 25-year sentence in the United States. He was convicted of conspiring to kill U.S. citizens and officials, of selling millions of dollars of weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and aiding a terrorist organization.

WNBA star Griner had been in custody in Russia since February after cannabis oil was found in her luggage by Moscow airport officials. Talks of a prisoner swap involving the pair began in July, after Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the proposed deal during a news conference.

Bout, born in then-Soviet ruled Tajikistan, has maintained his innocence, claiming he was a businessman working in international transport.

The Kremlin has long called for his release, calling his sentencing in April 2012 "baseless and biased" and accusing the U.S. of targeting him for political reasons.

He was arrested in 2008 after a sting operation led by U.S. drug enforcement agents in Thailand in which they posed as potential buyers from the FARC. Bout's extradition was ordered by then-U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Eric John and subsequently mandated by the Thai High Court.

Bout has been described by the Justice Department as one of the most prolific arms dealers in the world. His links to the arms trade date back to the 1990s, when he was accused of arranging the trafficking of military-grade weapons to conflict zones from Liberia to Sierra Leone and Afghanistan.

He was named by the United Nations as an associate of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who in 2012 was convicted on charges of aiding and abetting war crimes during the Sierra Leone civil war.

"[Bout is a] businessman, dealer and transporter of weapons and minerals [who] supported former President Taylor's regime in [an] effort to destabilise Sierra Leone and gain illicit access to diamonds," U.N. documents state.

His nickname arose after Peter Hain, who was British Foreign Office minister in 2003, responded to a report he read about Bout.

"Bout is the leading merchant of death who is the principal conduit for planes and supply routes that take arms... from East Europe, principally Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine to Liberia and Angola," Hain said at the time.

"The U.N. has exposed Bout as the center of a spider's web of shady arms dealers, diamond brokers and other operatives, sustaining the wars."

His swap with Griner comes at a time of intense pressure on the Biden administration. Largely expected to have been included in the exchange is Paul Whelan, an American corporate security executive who has been held in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign ministry and the Biden administration for comment.

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