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A Russian arms dealer who the US traded in a prisoner swap for WNBA star Brittney Griner is running for office as a member of an ultra-nationalist party. Viktor Bout, dubbed the 'Merchant of Death' by Western security services, has been nominated to run for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) in the Russian election next March, according to state news agency Rossiya Segodnya (RIA). The 56-year-old has only been out of prison for six months, after serving 10 years of his 25-year sentence behind bars in Marion, Illinois, on arms dealing charges. Bout, who is ostensibly from Tajikistan but holds...

If this suicide is not prevented, at least within the non-Western world, then the whole planet will commit suicide, Victor Bout said MOSCOW, December 11./TASS.The developments in the West look like a suicide of civilization, Victor Bout said in an interview with RT on Saturday. "What is happening in the West is simply the suicide of civilization. And if this suicide is not prevented, at least within the non-Western world, within the world not controlled by the Anglo-Saxons, then the whole planet will commit suicide. And it may be happening in all areas, with drugs and LGBT+ among them," he...

Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec International arms dealer Victor Bout has given his first interview after being released from US custody From RT 4:31 PM · Dec 10, 2022

Saudi Arabia, UAE announce successful mediation efforts in US-Russia prisoner swap According to a joint statement, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed led the efforts. Saudi Arabia and the UAE said their joint mediation efforts helped lead to a successful prisoner exchange between the US and Russia on Thursday. “The [two countries] said the success of the mediation efforts was a reflection of the mutual and solid friendship between their two countries and the United States of America and the Russian Federation,” a joint Saudi-UAE statement read. “They also highlighted the important role...

Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is planning to travel to Russia in the near future for talks aimed at finding a deal to free the detained WNBA star Brittney Griner, a source with knowledge of the proposed trip told ABC News.Richardson, who also served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and energy secretary in the Clinton administration, played a role in achieving a prisoner exchange in April that saw Russia release former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed after nearly two and a half years in captivity.He is expected to go to Moscow in the next couple of weeks,...

Cables Portray Expanded Reach of Drug Agency By GINGER THOMPSON and SCOTT SHANE WASHINGTON — The Drug Enforcement Administration has been transformed into a global intelligence organization with a reach that extends far beyond narcotics, and an eavesdropping operation so expansive it has to fend off foreign politicians who want to use it against their political enemies, according to secret diplomatic cables. In far greater detail than previously seen, the cables, from the cache obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to some news organizations, offer glimpses of drug agents balancing diplomacy and law enforcement in places where it can be...

Islamic SocialismFrom the CIA factbook: Following a 1969 military coup, Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-QADHAFI began to espouse his own political system, the Third Universal Theory. The system was a combination of socialism and Islam derived in part from tribal practices and was supposed to be implemented by the Libyan people themselves in a unique form of "direct democracy.[1] The "Green Book" - Arabism, Islam & socialism, with Islam the main line Author John L. Esposito: Under Qaddafi three interrelated ideas were woven into Libya's ideological identity: Pan-Arabism, socialism, and Islam. Qaddafi's appeals to Islam were influenced by his...

On 3 December 2007 a curious item appeared in the Russian media. It concerned Igor Ivanovich Sechin, a Russian political figure close to then President Vladimir Putin. Kommersant [2] featured a quote from Oleg Shvartsman, head of the Financial-Industrial Group: "For us, the Party is represented by the power bloc headed by Igor Ivanovich [Sechin]." This statement was offered in response to a journalist's question about Shvartman's strategic task of velvet re-privatization. "Who set this task for you?" asked the journalist. Shvartsman's extraordinary answer slipped inadvertently from his post-Soviet lips: "The party! (laughing)." On 3 December 2007 a curious item...

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET: "Bout and American-born pal Richard Chichakli were accused of creating a new business, Samar Airlines, which they thought was clean of any connection to their own bloody dealings. Starting in the summer of 2007, Samar Airlines started making deals for airplanes and crews to ferry contraband between the United States and Tajikistan, the indictment said." SNIPPET: "The Russian-born Bout is accused of wiring $1.7 million from bank accounts in Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Russia through banks in New York City and Salt Lake City to finance the scheme." SNIPPET: "Bout, who is accused of supplying weapons to real...

The weapons laden plane seized in Bangkok en route from North Korea at the weekend has been linked to two renowned East European arms traffickers by a respected Swedish think-tank in the latest twist in the mysterious saga. The Ilyushin-76 aircraft, which was found to be carrying 35 tons of weapons including rockets and grenades, was most recently registered under a company called Beibars, linked to Serbian arms dealer Tomislav Dmanjanovic. It had previously been registered with three companies identified by the US Department of the Treasury as firms controlled by the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, according to...

BANGKOK, Thailand - A Russian dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for allegedly supplying weapons to Africa's bloody conflicts over power and diamonds was arrested Thursday in Thailand on suspicion of conspiring to smuggle guns to Colombia's leftist rebels. Viktor Bout, 41, whose dealings reportedly inspired a 2005 movie about the illicit arms trade, was arrested at U.S. request in his hotel room in Bangkok, said police Lt. Gen. Pongpat Chayapan. Bout had eluded arrest for years and was finally seized after a four-month sting organized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In New York, federal authorities unsealed a criminal complaint...

BANGKOK, Thailand — A Russian arms dealer accused of breaking U.N. arms embargoes by supplying weapons to African war zones was arrested Thursday in Bangkok, Thai police said. Viktor Bout was arrested in the heart of the capital city on a warrant issued by a Thai court, said Police Lt. Gen. Pongpat Chayapan, head of the Crime Suppression Bureau. The warrant stemmed from an earlier one issued by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, he said. A U.S. Embassy spokesman "congratulated" Thai police for the arrest but could not provide details about the role U.S. officials played in it. Details of...

The world is full of bad people doing bad things. There are regimes that persecute Christians, Buddhists and others. There are double-crossing generals, arms and drug traffickers, treacherous diplomats and false fronts. There are double agents and blackmailed politicians. There is blood in the streets, revolution, war and hatred in today's world. You wouldn't know it from looking out a suburban window in America. But beyond our borders things aren't nice. People are suffering. On Feb. 11 FoxNews.com reported that Chinese authorities were cracking down on Christian churches that operate outside government control. Nearly 24,000 Christians have recently been arrested ...

Last week, a Swiss prosecutor found former Kremlin aide and present Secretary General of the Union between Russia and Belarus, Pavel Borodin, guilty of money laundering. Prosecutor Bernard Bertossa convicted Borodin and ordered him to pay a fine of 300,000 Swiss francs ($177,000). Switzerland issued an international arrest warrant for Borodin in December 1999 on suspicion of laundering up to $30 million linked to a lucrative Kremlin renovation contract awarded to two Swiss-based construction companies. He was arrested in New York in January 2001 and extradited to Switzerland in early April. After spending a few days behind bars, he was...

A FORMER Soviet air force officer has been named as the chief supplier of arms and equipment to Osama Bin Laden’s network in Afghanistan. Victor Bout, a mysterious Russian whose air freight firms are accused of flouting United Nations sanctions across Africa and Asia, is alleged by intelligence sources to have operated flights to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda until just days before the September 11 terrorist attacks. Last week an international arrest warrant was issued and will shortly be circulated worldwide by Interpol. Controlling one of the world’s largest fleets of former Soviet cargo planes, Bout brought in arms and ...

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion. Arrest of Kenyan Exposes Massive Global Arms Trade The East African Africa News February 25, 2002 Monday Kenya L AST WEEKEND'S arrest of Kenyan-born Sanjivan Ruprah, who is alleged to be a part of a major arms smuggling operation to Africa, has brought into the open the extent of the multi-million dollar illegal business. The whereabouts of Bout remain unknown. Some media reports say he is in Moscow, while others say he is in the Congo or the United Arab Emirates. An international ...

Russian Mogul's Planes Took al-Qaida, Taliban Gold To Sudan9-3-2 Planes owned by Russian businessman Viktor Bout have been used to fly al-Qaida and Taliban gold to Sudan in recent weeks, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Several shipments of gold were delivered by boat from Karachi, Pakistan, to either Iran or the United Arab Emirates, the newspaper said, citing unidentified European intelligence officials. From there, the gold was flown on charted planes to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, where al-Qaida has broad business contacts, the paper said. European officials believe the gold was transported by Air Bas, an airline set up...

ROME (Reuters) - Italian police have arrested a man suspected of having links to arms trafficking and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network for travelling on a false passport, according to a police spokesman. Police acting on a tip-off, arrested Sanjivan Ruprah, 36, in the northern town of Cremona, outside Milan, on Friday. He was travelling on a false Belgian passport, the spokesman said on Saturday. "Sanjivan Ruprah is an internationally known figure," he said. "He is known as an international trafficker of arms and diamonds and has already been arrested in Belgium, from where he was released on bail."...

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

Afghan Fundamentalism: The Role of the U.S., Russia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia David Storobin, Esq. - 12/12/2004 Victor Boot was a graduate of Military Institute for Foreign Languages in Moscow, a known school for Russian intelligence. He was the son of the son-in-law of foreign Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, who initiated the Russian policy of secretly assisting Islamic terrorists. In 1997, Boot arrived in the United Arab Emirates for the first time. From UAE, it was easier for Boot to funnel Russian weaponry to Afghanistan. In June 2001 - less than three months before September 11 - Pakistani intelligence described...