Viktor Bout slams US media ‘hoax’

The WSJ is seeking to boost its ‘sagging readership’ with a fabricated report on an alleged arms deal with the Houthis, the Russian businessman has said

Russian businessman Viktor Bout has blasted a Wall Street Journal report about an alleged attempt to broker the sale of small arms to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, calling it a hoax. Bout, who spent 12 years in a US prison, accused the newspaper of bias and of having ties to the CIA.

The article published on Sunday cited a European security official and other sources as claiming that in August, Bout met with Houthi representatives who traveled to Moscow to negotiate the purchase of $10 million worth of automatic weapons from Russia.

“If we look at the title of the article, and it is pointedly titled ‘Putin’s Arms Dealer,’ we naturally understand that this fabrication was specifically timed to coincide with the birthday of President Vladimir Putin,” Bout told RBK on Monday.

“I would like to note that in the absence of significant media personalities, American media outlets are using the ‘Lord of War’ branding, which they once promoted themselves and which is known to a wide audience, and my name,” he said.

Bout added that by doing so, the WSJ is clearly aiming “to attract more public attention to their article and boost readership, which has apparently sagged.” 

The report claims that two Houthi representatives allegedly met with Bout under the guise of buying pesticides and vehicles while visiting a Lada factory.

The sources claimed that arms deliveries to the Yemeni port of Hodeidah could start as early as October. The first two deliveries will mostly be AK-74s, an upgraded version of the AK-47 assault rifle. During the trip, the Houthis also allegedly discussed other weapons the Russian side might potentially sell, including Kornet antitank missiles and antiaircraft weapons.

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However, the “potential arms transfers stop well short of the sale of Russian antiship or anti-air missiles,” the paper wrote.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that Moscow considers the report on Bout’s alleged participation in arms sales to be fake.

Bout was arrested in Thailand in 2008 based on an Interpol ‘red notice’ requested by the US. He was extradited and convicted of conspiring to sell weapons to a US-designated foreign terrorist group and given a 25-year sentence.

Bout has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

In December 2022, he was released as part of a high-level prisoner swap between the US and Russia in which he was exchanged for US basketball star Brittney Griner, who had been sentenced to a penal colony in Russia on drug smuggling charges.

After returning home, Bout joined the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Last year, he secured a seat in the legislative assembly of Ulyanovsk Region in regional elections.