Viktor Bout and the Battle of Narratives

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There has been quite a bit of talk and discussion on a figure who is quite controversial. Viktor Anatolyevich Bout, has amassed quite a collection of monikers, such as "Merchant of Death", or my favorite "Boris."

Well, as I am sure you have seen grace the headlines of the various media outlets the past few weeks, the United States has officially closed the deal and traded Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) player Brittany Griner, who had pleaded guilty for drug charges in Russia and been sentenced to a Russian prison, was offered up for a prisoner exchange for the international arms dealer of Russian origin, Viktor Bout. Bout, who has amassed quite a collection of monikers, such as "Merchant of Death", or simply "Boris" was made famous by his abilities to skirt sanctions, law enforcement and intelligence agencies in various countries. He was doing this while being the head of an international enterprise that supplied weapons to terrorist groups and totalitarian governments.

I was having a hard time thinking about what to write about this week, as there has been quite a lot going on in the world of organized crime, with the biggest headline being about Viktor Bout. I was happy to see the headlines honestly. I have known about Viktor Bout and his story for a few years now, and came to be knowledgeable of his crimes after he had been extradited and put into the U.S. prison system.

What I Learned

What I learned about Bout was what most people had already learned as well. He was a Soviet Air Force veteran with alleged ties to the KGB turned international arms trafficker who had provided, and was always attempting to provide weapons to terrorist groups and totalitarian governments, many of which were not friendly to the United States. I learned that Bout did not appear to discriminate who he supplied weapons too. If someone had the means to pay, Bout and his network had the means and methods to deliver. Bout had a seemingly endless supply of Soviet era arms, ammunition, and weapons systems that were leftover from the fall of the Soviet Union.

Bout utilized various front companies to paint the picture that he was a humble international transportation business entrepreneur, simply providing a method to move bulk cargo via aircraft to and from. He also utilized sophisticated money laundering methods to clean his money, making these front's appear legitimate.

So, despite being saddened about learning about the prisoner trade agreement between Russia and the United States, I was happy to see the various media-outlets discussing Bout and his history. It was a pleasure to see a hint of bona-fide journalism offering glimpses into who Bout is and the type of activities he was involved in. Before this instance, and despite a movie being made which was somewhat based on Bout's life, he had been  forgotten as he sat wasting away in a U.S. prison. However, what I noticed about what was being published was that the media was downplaying the significance of his release and what it means to the law enforcement community, and the administrations involved in the exchange.

What I noticed being portrayed was the typical divisive journalistic tactics being published by the big outlets, whose purpose appears to publish articles which are written and designed to put spin on a story, and to smear the other political side. I saw zero articles, about how his release was a slap in the face to the law enforcement and intelligence entities world wide who went to great lengths to imprison Bout and deal a strategic blow to Putin and his possible investments into shady, underworld figures spreading his regime's foreign policy.

The Criminal Complaint

If you have not read the criminal complaint that highlights Bout's criminal enterprise, and the work that went into his arrest, you should. I will have a link posted at the bottom of this article for your viewing pleasure. It is a wild ride of a read. What the complaint illustrates is that United States Drug Enforcement Administration(DEA) went to great and creative lengths to apprehend Bout and stop his network from operating. The DEA presented a case for his arrest to George Bush's Department of Justice and enlisted the aid of various countries and jurisdictions, such as in Romania and Thailand in an attempt to arrest him. That in of itself is no small feat, the ability to coordinate law enforcement and intelligence sharing efforts worldwide should be commended for the investigative teams involved in the Bout case.

His whole story and case is exciting from start to finish to well, now "start" again. I implore you again to do some research on his story, and while doing so ask yourself why, why was a man with such high, infamous international status simply let go? I wanted to do a deep dive analysis on Viktor Bout, however after a long thought process I realized that I am no expert and definitely not a biographer of him. There are quite a few articles detailing him as indicated above.

The Screw Up

What I will briefly discuss is the colossal screw up, I believe, the Biden Administration has walked into and why it should alarm you to some degree. What I want to point out first is that I do not support unjust imprisonment of Americans abroad and there is merit in attempts to bring Americans home to some degree depending on the alleged severity of whatever crime was committed. I am not here to convince you that Griner should have been left in Russia or not. I want to point out and highlight her as a poor choice in a prisoner exchange and that it is unfortunate that the United States appears weaker due to it.

If you watch and read the news stories regarding Bout, and if you think critically about those news stories, which hopefully you gleamed from various sources, and if you take those stories at face value and trust them, you would probably come to the conclusion that Russia came out on top here. They were actually on top the whole time, right from the beginning of the Brittney Griner situation.

The only thing that made the Brittney Griner story exceptional was that she is somewhat of a celebrity. Being a WNBA player gave her some appeal to the American people, and the news media here, as well as the Biden Administration, who saw her getting arrested as an opportunity to show the world how much of a oppressor Russia was.  A propaganda battle was beginning. After all, it was only a bit of cannabis oil in her luggage, right? How dare Russia arrest an American celebrity basketball player!  Despite her indeed attempting to smuggle in drugs that the Russian government has deemed illegal. It was indeed her responsibility to know the laws of Russia, and any excuse she had about not knowing those laws, to me, appears untruthful. She had been visiting Russia since 2014 to play basketball. It would simply appear as she felt the rules did not apply to her.

The Battle of the Narratives

As stated, the Biden Administration saw an opportunity in Brittney Griner to make the United States appear as the good guy and Russia as the bad guy. A narrative was created that would show that Russia was using Brittney Griner as an example, despite her knowing the laws of the country she had been visiting. As the story goes, Russia ended up convicting, based on a confession, and sentencing her to nine years in a Russian prison.

Indeed, Russia may have been using her as an example, that no foreigners, celebrities and especially Americans were above their laws. A win in Russia's book, I am sure as that government felt a need to show that to their populace. Russia used this occurrence to paint the picture of them being hard on crime and against drugs. Russian media ate this story up and the propaganda there flowed. Behind the scenes, and seeing the media war playing out, Russia appeared to use their propaganda in hopes the U.S. would put forward a prisoner exchange. A win-win situation was being built by Russia.

It would appear that the United States was losing the narrative battle, and upon seeing Griner sentenced to a lengthy jail term, a plan was concocted to exchange a prisoner for her. This was picked up by American media sources as the leaks came out about this plan. It made total sense that the U.S. would attempt this, although I do not believe they should have.

The United States incarcerates foreigners to a great degree for all sorts of crimes, including petty drug crime, where zero exchanges occur between the U.S. and whatever respective host country. Other countries utilize this practice as well. Russia still has other Americans imprisoned for more serious crimes including an American Marine Corps veteran, who is thought to have been spying for the United States.

If Griner is and was not some sort of spy or asset, then it is beyond me as to why the Biden Administration would leverage her against Russia's choice in Viktor Bout. From what I had read about Viktor Bout, it was believed in some circles that Bout was an extension of Putin's foreign policy. Bout was allowed to work as he did because of Putin and the Russian government.

It appears that belief was confirmed when Russia asked for him back. I wonder if the Russian's believed that the U.S. would actually take this deal. If they did not accept, Russia would still be in control of this narrative and it would show that Biden was leaving behind a woman of color in an oppressive country and that Russia was still some sort of arbiter of justice.

In this day and age where narrative and appearance is everything in politics, that simply would not do. It was decided. Griner, and Griner alone, no Marine, and no other American would be apart of this trade deal. Bout would be released, and he would make his way back to Russia, a trained asset with all of his knowledge of the American justice system, how the Americans question prisoners, and how the prison system operates.

No doubt will Bout return to Russia, be debriefed and give up this knowledge, and the knowledge he possessed on his many contacts, his methods of dealing and trafficking weapons and setting up fronts, how to launder and hide money, how to set up businesses and transportation routes, and how to elude American law enforcement better. Even if Bout is not drafted into Putin's war with Ukraine, his knowledge and know how, will. At this point, it is naïve to think it will not.

Furthermore, as seen in Russian media outlets, they are portraying a huge win for themselves in getting Bout back. They know it was a great deal for them. Griner's release offered nothing more then voting points amongst Biden constituents, and it appears many of which are not convinced this was a good trade.

Griner's future reputation is still up in the air, however Bouts still appears intact. The Merchant of Death was given a second chance to get back to work, and all for a basketball player. , the U.S. appears to have lost this narrative battle. I hope there are plans being thought up to free other Americans there, especially ones who may have been working on behalf of our government. Time will tell.

As promised, here is the link to Viktor Bout's complaint:

https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2008/March/bout-complaint.pdf