Quick Facts

Viktor Anatolyevich Bout is a Russian arms seller, business person, and previous Soviet military interpreter who is incredibly known as Viktor Bout. He supposedly utilized his different air transport organizations to pirate weapons since the breakdown of the Soviet Association from Eastern Europe to Africa and the Center East during the 1990s and mid 2000s.

How much is is the Net worth of Victor Bout?

Viktor Bout has a total assets of $50 million starting around 2022 and he likewise has an attractive measure of pay which is around a huge number of dollars each year. He has brought in an enormous measure of cash from his calling as his significant kind of revenue is his arms seller profession.

Early Years and Bio

Viktor Bout was brought into the world on thirteenth January 1967 with the genuine name of Viktor Anatolyevich Bout in Dushanbe, Tajik SSR, Soviet Association. He is Russian by identity and Ukrainian by nationality. In like manner, his strict conviction is in the Christian religion and his race is white. Viktor’s current age is 55 which he celebrated as of late in 2022 and according to his birthdate, his star sign is Capricorn. He is the child of his mom, Raisa Bout while his dad’s name isn’t known. He likewise has one kin a sibling named Sergei Session. Moving to Viktor’s schooling, he moved on from the Tactical Establishment of Unknown dialects.

What is the Professional Career of Viktor Bout?

Viktor Bout started his career serving in the Soviet Armed Forces as his personal website stated that he served in the Soviet Army as a translator. He is thought to have been discharged from the Soviet Army upon its dissolution in 1991 with the rank of lieutenant colonel, whereupon he began an air freight business. He was also involved with a Soviet military operation in Angola in the late 1980s assisting the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the Angolan Civil War. Later he kicks off his first air freight business, Air Cess, in Africa around the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union and made shipments for the pre-Taliban government of Afghanistan in 1994.

He was also involved in negotiations to free Russian hostages during the 1995 Airstan incident in 1995 as well as he was first time formally mentioned in connection with arms trafficking.  He was suspected of supplying Charles Taylor with arms for use in the First Liberian Civil War in Liberia after which he was involved in arms dealings during the Yugoslav Wars. The Slobodna Bosna newspaper has claimed that Cengic was a business partner of Viktor, when 200,000 AK-47 rifles went missing in transit from Bosnia to Iraq in May 2006. He appeared in Moscow and stated that his aircraft made regular flights to Afghanistan after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan however he continued to deny any contact with al-Qaeda or the Taliban instead supplying the rebel Northern Alliance.

More on Career

He is suspected of supplying weapons to numerous armed groups in Africa in the 2000s and his network allegedly delivered surface-to-air missiles to Kenya to be used to attack an Israeli airliner during takeoff in 2002. He was reportedly seen meeting with Hezbollah officials in Lebanon during the run-up to the 2006 Lebanon War, while some sources claim Bout was actually in Russia when the meeting took place. As well, Records found in Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s former intelligence headquarters in Tripoli shortly after the overthrow of the Gaddafi government in 2011, indicated that in late September 2003, British intelligence officials told then-Libyan intelligence chief Musa Kusa that Viktor had a “considerable commercial presence in Libya” and aimed to expand his interests there.

Furthermore, he was charged in the Central African Republic with forging documents and was convicted in “absentia”, but the charges were later dropped in 2000. Belgian authorities also requested that Interpol issue a notice for him on charges of money laundering. In July 2004, his U.S. assets were among those frozen under Executive Order 13348. Viktor was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand on 6th March 2008, by the Royal Thai Police based on an Interpol red notice requested by the United States based on conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Members of the United States Congress signed a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressing their wish that the Bout extradition “remains a top priority” in February 2009.

More on Career

Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s law firm represented him in 2014 by seeking a new trial to overturn his conviction. Moscow was exploring the possibility of a prisoner swap exchanging Whelan for Bout and a pilot named Konstantin Yaroshenko in June 2020. A Forbes article claimed the Biden administration had offered Viktor in exchange for the release of Women’s National Basketball Association star Brittney Griner in May 2022. Griner got arrested by Federal Security Service officers in Sheremetyevo International Airport on what would be minor drug charges in the U.S., but for which she faced 5-10 years in prison.

The proposal got further support from President Joe Biden in July 2022 and on 27th July, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States had made a “substantial offer” to Russia to release Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) player Brittney Griner and Whelan, but declined to say what the United States was offering. CNN reported on the following day that the U.S. had offered to exchange Bout for both Griner and Whelan. Apart from that, the film “Lord of War” is purportedly based on allegations about Bout’s personal history and black-market activities which were launched in 2005. The third chapter “Merchant of Death” of the 2005 book “The Washing Machine” by Nick Kochan is written about Viktor.

Bout’s documentary, “The Notorious Mr. Bout” received its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Stephen Braun and Douglas Farah published a book about Bout: “Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible” in 2007 as well as the 2015 TV series “Manhunt: Kill or Capture”, episode 10, entitled “The Merchant of Death”, details the rise and fall of Viktor Bout. In the US documentary series “Damian Lewis: Spy Wars” published in 2019 by A&E Networks, episode 7 titled “The Merchant of Death” portrays the story of Viktor.

Who is the Wife of Viktor Bout?

Viktor Bout is a married man as he sealed the deal with his lovely spouse Alla Bout in 1992. The couple is likewise honored with a girl named Elizaveta Session. Viktor’s and Alla’s relationship is continuing great notwithstanding, Viktor is seriously investing his energy at the US Prison, Marion since June 2012. Being an arms seller, Alla is steady of him and there’s much love between the two. Concerning his sexual direction, he is straight.

Body Stats: Height and Weight

Viktor Bout remains at a tall level of 6 ft with a decent body weight of 87 kg. He has light earthy colored hair and dim earthy colored eyes tone. Also, his body fabricate type is normal.

Facts and Trivia