‘Merchant of Death’ Released by Biden Administration Sells $10 Million in Arms to Houthis

Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer nicknamed the “merchant of death,” plans to sell Houthi terrorists $10 million worth of automatic weapons, the Wall Street Journal wrote Monday, based on reports from a European security official and others familiar with the matter.

‘Merchant of death’: After 12 years in a United States prison, Bout was released nearly two years ago when the Biden administration agreed to trade him for Brittney Griner, a U.S. professional basketball player who had been arrested in Russia in February 2022.

Bout had previously built a global arms trafficking network by exploiting unused military supplies from former Soviet states that leaked onto the black market. He provided weapons and heavy machinery to groups like al Qaeda, the Taliban and warring factions in countries such as Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

Today, he is back in the arms business.

Details:

• Bout is said to have made the arms deal with two Houthi representatives who had traveled to Moscow under the guise of buying pesticides and vehicles.
• The deliveries would include AK-74s (an upgraded version of the AK-47 assault rifle), Kornet antitank missiles and antiaircraft weapons.
• The weapons could arrive as early as October to the port of Hodeiah under the cover of food supplies.

A shameful trade: When Bout was released in December 2022, the Biden administration said it was the only way to get Griner, who had been arrested on drug-related charges, out of a Russian prison. U.S. officials argued that they could manage the security threat Bout would pose to America and the rest of the world. Many liberals believed the trade was necessary due in part to Griner being a minority. At the time, the Trumpet wrote:

[Bout] was probably the most high-profile and most dangerous Russian in U.S. custody. Despite, or perhaps because of everything he did, the Russian campaign to bring him home was emphatic: “We don’t abandon our own.” …

But [his] release teaches us as much about Russia’s priorities as it does about America’s. Like Bout’s, the campaign to bring Brittney Griner home was emphatic because of everything she is—a black, female lgbtq athlete who protested against the national anthem.

Her release is a victory for racially conscious, sexually “liberated,” feminist America.

Time has proved this prisoner swap to have been a dramatic mistake. The U.S. shamefully capitulated to Russia’s demands, and two years later we face the results: a free Russian arms criminal selling weapons to a terrorist organization blocking the Red Sea and threatening global stability.

Learn more about this trade and how it portrays a modern era plagued by a weak America, read “Biden Releases Russian ‘Merchant of Death’ for WNBA Player.”