The man is accused of supplying arms to terrorist organizations and making arms deliveries to countries under UN embargoes. Some even claim Viktor Bout acted with the approval, and under the control of, the Russian secret services.
On August 16, 1996, an Il-76 aircraft took off from Kandahar airfield. This plane, manned by a Russian crew, had been grounded by a Taliban MiG-21on the same runway a year previously. It had been taking a shipment of arms to the Northern Alliance.
The escape from Kandahar, which later provided the basis for a film, was one of the notable events in Russia's history in the 1990s. But the incident, in which the Taliban forced an Il-76 to land in a city they controlled, was noted in the West, too.
It was at this time that the name of Viktor Bout gained international notoriety - according to the UN and the U.S. State Department it was he who chartered the Aerostan transport plane to carry weapons for the Northern Alliance.
Later, Viktor Bout gained notoriety as one of the world's leading arms smugglers. Following September 11, 2001, Bout was accused of selling arms to Osama bin Laden. Some media went so far as to spread tales that he had supplied chemical weapons to the "planet's most dangerous terrorist."
Bout has also been charged with supplying arms to Liberia, Congo, Angola, Iraq, Colombia and many other Third World countries engulfed in military conflict. The sources are being traced to stockpiles of weapons and ammunition abandoned in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Warsaw Pact.
Many compare the business of Bout, who controls several air carriers, equipped mainly with Soviet-made military transport planes, with "Air America" - the airline the CIA used to make clandestine deliveries of weapons to South-East Asian countries during the Vietnam War.
According to that story, the Russian businessman supplied arms to movements and governments that enjoyed the support of the Russian secret services.
Bout has always denied that he knew about arms trafficking, saying he could not know what kind of cargo his chartered planes carried.
At present Bout is accused of supplying portable ground-to-air missiles to FARC, the left wing militia, waging a war against the Columbian government. Tensions have been mounting in South America since Columbian forces destroyed a FARC camp in Ecuador last week.
Venezuela has also joined the confrontation, threatening to go to war with Colombia if it tries to do the same on its territory. Moreover, Colombia's two opponents - Ecuador and Venezuela - stick to anti-American positions while Colombia's government supports the U.S.
On March 6, 2008, the "Lord of War", as many came to call Viktor Bout following the release of a film under the same name starring Nicolas Cage, was reported by the Agence France Presse to be arrested by American law enforcers posing as FARC militants and placed in a Thai prison.
He is expected to be extradited to the U.S. for trial there soon.
A few days previously, on February 28, 2008, Belgium issued an international warrant for the arrest of Viktor Bout and turned to Interpol for assistance. The Belgian authorities are accusing Bout of supplying arms to various terrorist organizations, including Al-Qaeda.
Where Bout is to be tried is not yet clear. What is more or less clear is that Thailand will most likely extradite the arrested businessman to the U.S., although a number of powers, including Russia, may step in. Russia could demand the extradition of its citizen for trial under Russian laws and on its own territory.
In any case, we are in for an exciting and fascinating trial, so the story is bound to be continued.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
