Outside View: Lord of war -- Part 2

MOSCOW, March 21 (UPI) -- Russian businessman and international arms dealer Viktor Bout has always denied that he knew about arms trafficking, saying he could not know what kind of cargo his chartered planes carried.

Bout gained notoriety as one of the world's leading arms smugglers. Following Sept. 11, 2001, he was accused of selling arms to Osama bin Laden.

Bout has also been charged with supplying arms to Liberia, Congo, Angola, Iraq, Colombia and many other Third World countries engulfed in military conflict. The sources are being traced to stockpiles of weapons and ammunition abandoned in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Warsaw Pact.

Many compare the business of Bout, who controls several air carriers, equipped mainly with Soviet-made military transport planes, with "Air America" -- the airline the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency used to make clandestine deliveries of weapons to Southeast Asian countries during the Vietnam War.

At present Bout is accused of supplying portable ground-to-air missiles to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- FARC -- the left-wing militia waging a war against the Colombian government. Tensions have been mounting in South America since Colombian forces destroyed a FARC camp in Ecuador earlier this month.

Venezuela has also joined the confrontation, threatening to go to war with Colombia if it tries to do the same on its territory. Moreover, Colombia's two opponents -- Ecuador and Venezuela -- stick to anti-American positions while Colombia's government supports the United States.

On March 6, 2008, the "Lord of War," as many came to call Viktor Bout following the release of a film under the same name starring Nicolas Cage, was reported by Agence France Presse to be arrested by American law enforcers posing as FARC militants and placed in a Thai prison.

Bout is expected to be extradited to the United States for trial there soon.

A few days previously, on Feb. 28, 2008, Belgium issued an international warrant for the arrest of Bout and turned to Interpol for assistance. The Belgian authorities are accusing Bout of supplying arms to various terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida.

Where Bout is to be tried is not yet clear. What is more or less clear is that Thailand will most likely extradite the arrested businessman to the United States, although a number of powers, including Russia, may step in. Russia could demand the extradition of its citizen for trial under Russian laws and on its own territory.

In any case, we are in for an exciting and fascinating trial, so the story is bound to be continued.

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(Ilya Kramnik is a military commentator for RIA Novosti. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.)

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(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)