Shortly after his 2011 conviction for conspiring to kill US citizens, Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout delivered a message of defiance through his lawyer, even though he faced decades in prison.
Mr. Bout, his lawyer said, “believes this is not the end”.
More than a decade later, Mr. Bout, 55, may be on the verge of a fresh start, even though he has served less than half of his 25-year prison sentence.
The United States, which was trying to negotiate the release of two Americans imprisoned in Russia – basketball star Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan – last month offered to exchange them for Mr. Bout, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken declined to discuss details of a possible swap on Wednesday, but said the United States had made “a substantial offer.” He said he intended to raise the issue in the coming days with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Russian officials have been pushing for Mr. Bout’s return since his 2011 conviction by a New York jury on four counts of conspiracy, including conspiracy to kill US citizens. Prosecutors said he agreed to sell anti-aircraft weapons to anti-drug informants who posed as arms buyers for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Then-Attorney General Eric Holder called him “one of the most prolific arms dealers in the world”. Now he is probably the most high-profile Russian detained in the United States.
Mr. Bout (pronounced “Boot”) had become notorious among US intelligence officials, earning the nickname “dealer of death” as he eluded capture for years. His exploits inspired a 2005 film, “Lord of War,” which starred Nicolas Cage as a character named Yuri Orlov.
Mr. Bout grew up in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, until he was drafted into the Soviet army at the age of 18. After a term in the army, he studied Portuguese at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow, a common entrance to the Russian intelligence services, and eventually became an officer in the air force.
The Soviet Union disintegrated shortly after Mr. Bout left the military. As the Russian economy collapsed and criminal groups flourished, he moved to the United Arab Emirates and started a cargo company that grew to a fleet of 60 planes.
As military supplies from former Soviet states leaked onto the black market, his shipping empire delivered weapons to rebels, militants and terrorists around the world, prosecutors said.
Mr. Bout was accused of selling weapons to al-Qaeda, the Taliban and militants in Rwanda. According to United Nations investigations, he flouted arms embargoes in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Algeria, where he sold arms to government forces and rebels fighting them.
U.S. authorities eventually caught up with him in Bangkok in 2008. Mr. Bout met with undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents who he said represented rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, whom the United States believed to be a terrorist organization until last year.
When potential buyers told him the weapons could be used to kill American pilots, Mr. Bout replied, “We have the same enemy,” prosecutors said.
Thai authorities arrested him on the spot. He was extradited to the United States in 2010 and two years later was sentenced to 25 years.
Ivan Nechepurenko contributed report.
nytimes Gt