Viktor Bout claims he has never dealt in weapons

Victor Bout, who returned to Russia from an American prison as a result of an exchange, called the image of the “weapons baron” that the Americans attribute to him a fiction. He assured that he had never been in the arms business, but worked with aviation technology.

“I have never been in the arms business, this is all the result of propaganda. I worked with Libya. We supplied, serviced and worked with aviation equipment. In Africa, we have worked in many countries. I worked for a very long time in Angola,” Viktor Bout said in an interview with radio “TVNZ”. He noted that he would return to the aviation business if “there is such an opportunity.”

The exchange of Viktor Bout for American basketball player Brittney Griner, who was sentenced in Russia to nine years in prison, took place December 8th. December 12 Victor Bout entered in the LDPR. December 15 he declaredwhich is considering the possibility of going to the Donbass.

Viktor Bout is a Russian entrepreneur who owned the Air Cess Liberia airline. In the late 1990s, the United States initiated an investigation into the activities of Viktor Bout. In 2000, Viktor Bout was mentioned in connection with the supply of weapons and ammunition to Afghanistan, the countries of the former Yugoslavia and a number of African states in circumvention of sanctions in the report of the UN Security Council. In 2002, he was included in the sanctions list compiled when the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Liberia. In the reports of the UN Security Council, Amnesty International and the US State Department from 2000, 2005 and 2006, he was called the largest supplier of weapons to Africa.

In 2008, Viktor Bout was arrested in Thailand at the request of the United States. In 2012, he was sentenced to 25 years in a US prison for illegal arms dealing, supporting terrorism, and conspiracy to kill American citizens.

Read more about the exchange – in the material “Kommersant” “Both or not Booth, do something”.

Lusine Balasyan