Arms Dealer: The Notorious Mr Bout Storyville


Arms Dealer: The Notorious Mr Bout

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Transcript


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This programme contains some strong language

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Everybody, hands up!

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Hands up!

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You are under arrest.

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-TV:

-'Bout's involvement with arms dealing was

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'the inspiration for the film Lord Of War starring Nicolas Cage.'

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'Viktor Bout was ready to sell 20 million dollars worth of weapons.'

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They call him the Merchant of Death.

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'America's only bargaining chip over Edward Snowden.'

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One of the most dangerous men on the face of the Earth.

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-REPORTER:

-Do you have any regrets, Mr Bout?

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This is my first visit to America.

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On the drive to jail I saw the Brooklyn Bridge.

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POLICE SIREN WAILS

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I recognised it from the movies.

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Today, in Manhattan Federal Court,

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accused arm dealer Viktor Bout begins to face American justice.

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The so-called Merchant of Death is now a federal inmate.

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After more than two years of extradition proceedings,

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a Thai court ordered Bout extradited to the United States for

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his alleged agreement to supply an arsenal of military grade

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weapons to men he believed,

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one, represented the Colombian terrorist group

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known as the FARC, and two, were bent on killing Americans.

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REPORTER: What do you feel about the way ahead?

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Do you think that he's likely to be acquitted or found guilty?

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It's increasingly difficult to talk with any degree of clarity

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about what Viktor Bout is or has done

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without being seduced into one of two very simple narratives.

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One, evil, all-powerful super-villain merchant of death

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got his comeuppance.

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And the other, stooge and victim of a conspiracy.

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I think both of those very simplistic ideas do everybody

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a tremendous disservice.

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Because they allow us

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to avoid confronting some very tough questions -

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questions about how the arms trade actually works

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and about who comes out on top

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when all the sins of the industry are laid at the doorstep of one man.

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I sit in solitary confinement. They call it special housing unit.

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Every day I listen to the Puerto Rican radio station,

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teach myself to salsa.

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I have a lot of time for my thoughts.

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I was born in the capital of Tajikistan, Dushanbe.

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My mother was book-keeper, my father auto mechanic.

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In school I played volleyball and chased after girls.

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But my real hobby was Esperanto, the universal language.

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I believed one day the world will all speak in one tongue.

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COCOPHONY OF LANGUAGES

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I did my service in the Soviet Army,

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then study at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages.

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I wanted to study French but they put me in Portuguese.

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I was placed in intensive ten-months course.

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In 1987, I leave Soviet Union for first time.

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I was 20 years old on my way to Mozambique.

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Viva!

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Viva!

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Viva!

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Arriving in Africa was like seeing widescreen motion picture

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in colour for first time -

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bright sky, red soil, antelopes, crocodiles and zebras,

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sunsets and sounds of village drums beating deep inside my core.

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I was in Mozambique for a year when I meet Alla Protassova,

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four years older than me and married to a journalist.

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She was a fashion designer in St Petersburg.

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TV: 'Good evening. The stunning overthrow of Mikhail Gorbachev

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'by communist hardliners dominates the news this Monday.

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'Gorbachev was reported under house arrest as Soviet tanks took

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'up position throughout Moscow.'

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-TV:

-'The central role of the Soviet Communist Party

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'may at last be ending.'

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HUBBUB

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TV: 'There are scenes of extraordinary drama here

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'in Moscow tonight.'

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-TV:

-'Buses are being used as barricades to guard approaches

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'to the square.'

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-TV:

-'Four people died - shot or crushed by armoured vehicles.'

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TV: 'This week has rocked the very foundations of Soviet power

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'since Stalin's time.'

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-TV:

-'Russian democrats now led by Boris Yeltsin

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'have seized the initiative.'

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TV: 'Gennady Yanayev, Vice President, under arrest.

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'Vladimir Kryuchkov, head of the KGB, under arrest.'

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-TV:

-'Tonight Moscow's skyline was ablaze with the sound

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'and sights of celebration as Boris Yeltsin prepared to sign

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'a decree suspending the Russian Communist Party.'

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TV: 'It was the end of an extraordinary episode

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'in Soviet history.

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'Mr Yeltsin declared we've won, the coup has been defeated.'

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-TV:

-'Russia he said has saved democracy, saved the world.'

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We moved into a one-room apartment and began our life together,

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just when the country was in ruin.

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Every day, new adventure,

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not knowing if you can get food or what will happen, only here and now.

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So I quit the military and start to feel the atmosphere.

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JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS

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If you had brain, it wasn't hard to make money in Moscow doing business.

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But all business in Moscow was dirty business.

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You had to have protection, and then protection from your protection.

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I said to Alla, "I don't need this, I am smart enough,

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"I can make money wherever I go."

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-TANNOY:

-'..travelling to Dusseldorf,

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'immediate boarding, please, at gate D32.'

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In 1993, I started a new firm with old friend Sasha Kibkalo.

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We established a small company in Brussels -

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one secretary and two guys at that office.

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Our business plan pretty simple -

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lease old Soviet cargo plane, sublease for three times as much.

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Sasha makes deal with government of Angola - two years,

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100 flight hours each month,

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1,200 bucks an hour. Easy stuff.

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We had a good thing in Belgium.

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But it did not last long.

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Company fell apart.

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Same problem as always - people not knowing how to share.

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I moved to Emirates, to the free trade zone.

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Sharjah was the Hong Kong of Persian Gulf.

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We lived like traders in ancient times. Buying, packing, shipping,

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24 hours a day.

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For Viktor, running his business out of Sharjah was actually

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a masterstroke in a lot of ways,

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I mean, there was this huge battle over cargo waiting to be moved.

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It was the big bang, if you like, of what we know as globalisation.

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It was a surge of cargo. 200 tonnes to Russia every day.

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I remember persons who started with 300 US dollars,

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and in six months were trading millions.

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I asked my brother Sergei to help me with the business.

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Say hello.

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This man who was responsible for manufacturing of all that

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material which was there.

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This man who choose the material, and this man I don't know,

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but it looks like he is also with this man.

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MICHAEL BUERK: 'The leader of Angola's UNITA movement, Jonas Savimbi,

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'has accused the MPLA Government of cheating in the country's

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'first free elections and warned of a return to civil war.'

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-TV:

-'Savimbi has spent 31 years fighting to rule his country.

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'The danger is that he now urges his supporters to abandon

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'the democratic system to return to the guns.'

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I offered to Savimbi a training programme plus logistics support.

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I sent Slava and some Moscow guys.

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-TV:

-'For the past six weeks, UNITA has pounded the government forces.'

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-TV:

-'The rebels have regrouped

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'and now they're mounting a cruel guerrilla war.'

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TV: 'Angolan forces are moving west to cut of the rebels' supply lines

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'in the north.'

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I always think of business as flowing river.

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You need to have more than 1,000 projects under consideration -

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maybe one of them is productive, and maybe makes money.

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For Viktor, Africa was sort of a happy hunting ground.

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There was so much to be done, not just in terms of destabilising

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commodities and in terms of arms, but the food for all

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of our supermarkets - tilapia fish, flowers, chickens.

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There were lots and lots of reasons

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for all these planes to be out there, legitimate reasons.

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I was always excited to study new technologies and see

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what can be used, especially in Africa where everything is needed.

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Viktor and I met on the airfield in Kisangani in the Congo, 1996,

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'97, I forget the exact date.

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I'd been doing some work for an airline,

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which was delivering aid for the Red Cross,

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and it so happened we were the only two white men in town that night.

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So, we were staying in the same half-decent hotel.

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And we had a couple of beers together.

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I should explain the local beer in the Congo is called Primus.

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And it comes in one litre bottles.

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So, you know, you only buy a couple of bottles in an evening and you are

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fairly well accommodated.

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We talked about politics, we talked about climate change,

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and I find him quite a good conversationalist.

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I didn't know anything about him at that time.

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He was someone who was involved in the air freight business,

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I was aware he was quite good at it.

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He was running quite a large freight of Russian transport aircrafts

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from West Africa and from Liberia, across into the Congo,

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including, on some occasions, carrying guns.

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What's the altitude now?

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Altitude? 28,000 feet, my friend...

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-OK, very good.

-..above the sea level.

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Peter Mirchev, you could say, was Viktor's wholesaler,

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the arms dealer with whom Viktor worked.

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He is a Bulgarian, based in Burge and Sharjah.

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With the collapse of the Soviet Union,

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the Bulgarians were desperate to sell arms because you can't suddenly

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go overnight from making Kalashnikov weapons to making washing machines.

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There is a valley in Bulgaria where all the perfume comes from.

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It also has two very big gun factories.

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The most beautiful sight I ever saw was the blood red poppies

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blooming in the spring.

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It was in Afghanistan that things took a wrong turn.

0:30:190:30:23

August 3rd, 1995, I get a phone call.

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One of my planes transporting 30 tonnes of ammunition was

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intercepted by Taliban forces.

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I meet with Mullah Omar,

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leader of Taliban, to negotiate the release of pilots.

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But fucking Taliban hate me because I flied for government in Taliban.

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-TV:

-'As winter settles in, defence minister Ahmad Shah Massoud

0:30:480:30:51

'prepares government forces for a final stunt.'

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IN ARABIC:

0:30:570:30:58

THEY ROAR

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My pilots were held hostage for more than a year.

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Then Massoud helped organise an escape plan.

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During Friday prayers, my men make the move.

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After the boys come home, my company was stronger than ever.

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By 25, I was a millionaire. My business growing every year.

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By 30, I had an empire.

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The confidential sources had two recorders on them to ensure

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that if one failed, that we would still have one good recorder.

0:34:350:34:39

The operation to catch Mr Bout was called Operation Relentless.

0:34:390:34:43

I was one of the two lead agents on the case along with Wim Brown.

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We tried to find an individual that could lead us

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to Viktor Bout that operated with Bout in the past.

0:34:510:34:54

And that penetration point to us was Andrew Smulian.

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He was an older gentleman

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that had managed one of Bout's companies in South Africa...

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and he was not always a very successful guy in his endeavours,

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was down on his luck,

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and we believed that Andrew would be a willing partner in this scenario.

0:35:130:35:17

Mr Smulian, in approximately what year

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did you first meet the defendant?

0:35:200:35:22

1997.

0:35:220:35:24

He was looking for a base from which to operate in South Africa.

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Where in South Africa did you set up the defendant's business?

0:35:280:35:31

In a town called Pietersburg, just north of Johannesburg.

0:35:310:35:35

MUSIC: Ain't That A Kick In The Head by Dean Martin

0:35:350:35:38

APPLAUSE

0:35:530:35:55

LAUGHTER

0:36:330:36:34

APPLAUSE

0:36:390:36:40

'I had projects in Mauritania,

0:36:460:36:49

'diamond concession in Central African Republic,

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'charter business in Europe,

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'but I decided to make South Africa my home -

0:36:530:36:56

'lots of opportunity there,

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'transporting wild animals to zoos and private collectors.

0:36:580:37:02

'But big problem - their business runs the plane.

0:37:070:37:11

'So my guys would engineer cargo hold

0:37:110:37:13

'and within three months we take over the cargo market.'

0:37:130:37:17

The next day, they attacked the office.

0:39:030:39:05

My name is Albert Dayan. I'm the lead counsel for Viktor Bout.

0:40:210:40:25

Thank you all for coming. I just want to let you know

0:40:250:40:28

that today we have selected the jury that will preside over his trial.

0:40:280:40:32

'I must have been like the 30th lawyer

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'that Viktor had seen prior to his selection.'

0:40:360:40:39

He had seen lawyers that would tell him,

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"Look, Viktor, you got to go in and co-operate

0:40:410:40:44

"in order for you to come out of a federal case."

0:40:440:40:46

He is, at this point, detained in downtown Manhattan

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in solitary confinement.

0:40:490:40:52

I believe that he believed

0:40:520:40:54

that I believed that he was innocent.

0:40:540:40:58

The DEA agents, they knew that Viktor Bout

0:40:580:41:02

had two airplanes in the Congo that he wanted to sell.

0:41:020:41:06

So they get Viktor into a meeting

0:41:060:41:08

and entrap him into saying certain things.

0:41:080:41:12

There's a lot of people

0:41:360:41:38

that aren't particularly fond of sting operations,

0:41:380:41:41

if you want to call it that. Some people call it entrapment.

0:41:410:41:45

But I don't see this being entrapment in really any sense.

0:41:460:41:50

Entrapment is tempting someone to engage in an illicit activity

0:41:510:41:55

that they have absolutely no experience in,

0:41:550:41:58

and that certainly wasn't the case here.

0:41:580:42:01

The arms trade was Viktor's trade.

0:42:010:42:03

He had been a professional in that field for a long time.

0:42:030:42:07

He was offered an opportunity and he had every ability to say no to it.

0:42:070:42:11

'Carlos and Ricardo worked for us.'

0:42:210:42:25

We sat down there in advance,

0:42:250:42:26

went over the scripts, on how we wanted this to play out.

0:42:260:42:29

At any point, Viktor could have stepped out of this scenario

0:42:290:42:32

and said, "I'm not in it. I just want to sell planes."

0:42:320:42:35

If you're in a meeting

0:42:350:42:36

and someone starts talking about killing Americans,

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the first place that I'd be going is the door.

0:42:390:42:42

What kind of man is he? Is he a man who could deal arms?

0:42:480:42:52

HE TRANSLATES INTO RUSSIAN

0:42:520:42:54

BIRDSONG

0:43:350:43:37

TV: 'It's been a long and brutal war in the Congo.

0:44:300:44:33

'In the last year,

0:44:330:44:35

'the conflict has been at its worst in the region around Bunia,

0:44:350:44:38

'sparking fears of a Rwanda-style genocide.

0:44:380:44:42

-TV:

-'Following the assassination of President Laurent Kabila,

0:44:430:44:46

'former businessman Jean-Pierre Bemba

0:44:460:44:48

'rallies support in local elections

0:44:480:44:50

'for his Uganda-backed MLC party.'

0:44:500:44:52

Congo is the biggest untapped trunk of natural resources in all Africa.

0:44:590:45:04

That's why wars there will be endless.

0:45:040:45:07

Here he is, Viktor Bout...

0:45:130:45:15

..Bemba's man in Congo.

0:45:160:45:19

The first time I saw Viktor...

0:45:230:45:25

..I heard his first name and then he gave me his card, business card -

0:45:260:45:30

"Viktor Bout from Central African Airways, based in Kigali, Rwanda".

0:45:300:45:35

Viktor, he loved to be in the fields.

0:45:370:45:39

He could have gone to a hotel,

0:45:400:45:42

but he preferred to stay in a little tent on the airport.

0:45:420:45:45

Usually in the morning, he took a little while

0:45:450:45:48

for making satellite phone calls.

0:45:480:45:50

And then, when that was finished, he put away his phone

0:45:570:46:00

and he was a tourist

0:46:000:46:02

in one of the most turbulent areas of the world, East Congo.

0:46:020:46:06

Viktor was filming the whole experience here

0:46:220:46:25

of Bemba visiting the town of Aru.

0:46:250:46:26

This was supposed to be

0:46:450:46:46

the first real elections after Mobutu left the country.

0:46:460:46:49

And here he was, establishing his party in the area

0:46:510:46:54

by visiting all these small towns, talking about how he would bring

0:46:540:46:59

electricity and medicines to the people.

0:46:590:47:02

He had all these fantastic proposals.

0:47:020:47:05

But there were stories about what his troops did with prisoners of war,

0:47:050:47:09

rape and looting and even cannibalism,

0:47:090:47:13

and that's the stories that finally ended him up

0:47:130:47:16

in the prison of the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

0:47:160:47:19

Un, deux, trois.

0:47:370:47:39

CHILDREN SING:

0:47:390:47:42

In this place, a few weeks after we left there,

0:47:480:47:52

some horrible killings were done.

0:47:520:47:55

SINGING CONTINUES

0:47:550:47:57

Viktor saw Bemba as a future.

0:48:030:48:05

He was talking about what he might do

0:48:080:48:11

in an area controlled by Bemba that was peaceful,

0:48:110:48:15

creating satellite communication businesses, agricultural businesses,

0:48:150:48:19

creating free-trade zones.

0:48:190:48:23

That was also one of his ideas.

0:48:230:48:25

When we met,

0:48:260:48:27

the first UN report in which Viktor Bout was actually mentioned

0:48:270:48:31

as one of the main sanction busters

0:48:310:48:33

had already been published.

0:48:330:48:35

And he said that everything that was told about him was rubbish.

0:48:350:48:38

He said, "I'm not an arms trader.

0:48:380:48:40

"It's possible that I've transported arms,

0:48:400:48:43

"but I am a businessman, and I have lots of planes,

0:48:430:48:46

"and I don't care what I transport,

0:48:460:48:48

"because that's not my responsibility."

0:48:480:48:50

But every war I mentioned, he had been there,

0:48:500:48:53

been in Somalia, in Sudan, in Uganda, in Rwanda, in Burundi.

0:48:530:48:58

But he denied that he was fuelling wars,

0:48:580:49:00

he was just trying to see situations where he could make money.

0:49:000:49:04

My friend the photographer and I,

0:49:060:49:08

we knew that it was not going to be easy to take a picture of him,

0:49:080:49:12

because he had one of his bodyguards.

0:49:120:49:13

He had sort of a big Rambo kind of knife,

0:49:130:49:17

and when he saw at some point that we were actually aiming at Viktor,

0:49:170:49:21

he took the knife out and he made sort of this cutting throat movement.

0:49:210:49:26

Wim was a very good photographer,

0:49:560:49:58

so he used a wide-angle lens and he was aiming at the soldiers

0:49:580:50:02

but actually was just having Viktor in the picture,

0:50:020:50:05

so I think he managed to make five shots.

0:50:050:50:08

And these were the first pictures of Viktor taken in the field ever...

0:50:120:50:16

..so they had a wide circulation. It went on the internet.

0:50:170:50:20

The end was near - that was clear, the moment the pictures were taken.

0:50:210:50:25

AFRICAN MUSIC PLAYS ON RADIO

0:50:260:50:28

RHYTHMIC SHOUTING

0:50:570:50:59

'By 2000, I had a lot of government contracts in Africa.

0:51:030:51:07

'When Kagame became president of Rwanda,

0:51:070:51:10

'he hired my guys to train his troops.

0:51:100:51:12

'The cargo business was too easy for me.

0:51:240:51:27

'I made money, but it was just means to an end.

0:51:270:51:31

'I wanted to travel, see world, make documentary film.'

0:51:330:51:38

The last time I saw Viktor was in the Sheraton in Kampala,

0:52:210:52:27

and he was there trying to get money off President Museveni.

0:52:270:52:31

He reckoned the Ugandan government owed him eight million bucks

0:52:310:52:34

for transportation costs.

0:52:340:52:35

I think that the first time Viktor Bout was on my radar

0:52:560:52:59

was in the late '90s,

0:52:590:53:01

and it was just seeing this name cropping up again and again.

0:53:010:53:05

Viktor Bout is indeed the chief sanctions buster at the present time,

0:53:060:53:10

a real merchant of death.

0:53:100:53:12

-TV:

-'He's known as the world's most efficient postman,

0:53:470:53:49

'delivering almost any cargo anywhere in the world,

0:53:490:53:52

'especially if it's illicit weapons.

0:53:520:53:53

'The notorious business of arms trafficking

0:53:530:53:55

'has netted Viktor Bout hundreds of millions of dollars,

0:53:550:53:58

'but he remains something of a mystery man.

0:53:580:54:00

'Joining me now is Douglas Farah,

0:54:000:54:02

'the co-author of The Merchant of Death:

0:54:020:54:04

'Money, Guns, Planes And The Man Who Makes War Possible.

0:54:040:54:07

'I've got to start off by asking you, who is this man?

0:54:070:54:10

'How did he get so entrenched in so many different places at once?

0:54:100:54:13

'Look, you never shoot the postman, and as you said earlier,

0:54:130:54:16

'his mantra was to deliver the packages wherever they needed to go

0:54:160:54:20

'and deliver them on time.

0:54:200:54:21

'He switches his company's registrations,

0:54:210:54:23

'he wires his money to different groups around the world,

0:54:230:54:25

'he hides his tracks incredibly well.'

0:54:250:54:27

Viktor's arms trafficking

0:54:270:54:29

was less than 5% of his total uplift of cargo.

0:54:290:54:34

Viktor Bout is not a merchant of death,

0:54:340:54:37

he is a merchant of some death,

0:54:370:54:39

because on occasion his aircraft willingly carried guns

0:54:390:54:43

for people who used them to commit human rights abuses.

0:54:430:54:47

One of the problems with the illegal arms trade

0:54:470:54:50

is that most of it is actually probably not terribly illegal.

0:54:500:54:54

Governments are actually quite loath to make international laws tougher,

0:54:540:54:59

because it stops us supporting our friends.

0:54:590:55:03

There's no law anywhere which says you can't carry guns.

0:55:030:55:07

When you want to make money by carrying cargo,

0:55:070:55:10

how many questions do you want to ask?

0:55:100:55:13

As long as it's legal or appears to be legal,

0:55:130:55:15

what else do you need to worry about?

0:55:150:55:17

We had an earlier eyewitness that told us

0:56:480:56:50

he thought it appeared to be a 737.

0:56:500:56:53

SIRENS WAIL

0:56:530:56:55

SCREAMING

0:57:010:57:03

TV: 'Good evening and welcome.

0:57:060:57:08

'Disaster has struck the United States,

0:57:080:57:10

'with New York and Washington

0:57:100:57:11

'reeling under a series of terrorist attacks.

0:57:110:57:13

-TV:

-'Tonight, we are a country awakened to danger

0:57:130:57:16

'and called to defend freedom.

0:57:160:57:18

'Our grief has turned to anger...

0:57:180:57:21

'and anger to resolution.

0:57:210:57:23

'Whether we bring our enemies to justice...

0:57:240:57:27

'or bring justice to our enemies...

0:57:270:57:30

'justice will be done.'

0:57:300:57:32

APPLAUSE

0:57:320:57:34

2001 was the point

0:57:350:57:37

at which everybody started watching what was coming and going.

0:57:370:57:40

Suddenly all eyes were on whatever was on every aeroplane in the world.

0:57:400:57:44

You know, it all had to be checked.

0:57:440:57:46

For Viktor, obviously this was very bad, because that meant

0:57:460:57:48

that not only was there a lot of scrutiny

0:57:480:57:50

suddenly coming on businesses like his,

0:57:500:57:52

but Viktor had been doing business

0:57:520:57:54

with some of the very people that were suddenly under the spotlight.

0:57:540:57:57

The work visas were not renewed. We became personae non grata.

0:59:270:59:32

TV: 'Bout was accused of fuelling conflicts...'

1:00:061:00:08

-TV:

-'..operating a fleet of 50 aircraft...'

1:00:081:00:10

The other important thing to remember is that post 9/11,

1:00:101:00:13

the standard of evidence you needed

1:00:131:00:14

to call somebody a terrorist or in partnership with terrorism

1:00:141:00:17

almost disappeared.

1:00:171:00:19

And so people start floating ideas around it,

1:00:191:00:23

and I think, in some instances,

1:00:231:00:24

the US intelligence was mentioning things to journalists as rumours.

1:00:241:00:29

The journalists would then write them.

1:00:291:00:31

US intelligence would then quote those articles as substantiated fact

1:00:311:00:36

and then begin to leak them and to sort of publicise them

1:00:361:00:39

as "this proves it" and it's part of a dossier.

1:00:391:00:41

It was all a bit of an echo chamber.

1:00:411:00:43

I think that Viktor was naive to think he would clear his name...

1:03:261:03:30

because, let's face it,

1:03:301:03:31

it's quite nice to have the Russians as the villains.

1:03:311:03:34

We're used to it, it's part of our comfort zone.

1:03:341:03:36

And it's interesting that the Russian slang word for a gangster

1:03:361:03:39

is "biznizman", B-I-Z-N-I-Z-M-A-N.

1:03:391:03:42

Many ordinary Russians are quite unable to understand the difference

1:03:441:03:48

between a businessman and a crook.

1:03:481:03:50

I think that he...

1:03:501:03:52

did not have sufficient moral fibre to necessarily realise

1:03:521:03:57

when he was overstepping the mark and doing things that were wrong -

1:03:571:04:00

morally wrong, as distinct from legally wrong.

1:04:001:04:03

I think when you look back at the history

1:04:101:04:12

of the American authorities' relationship with Viktor Bout,

1:04:121:04:15

there's this sort of, "Shall we?" "Oh, no, let's not bother."

1:04:151:04:17

"Shall we?" "Oh, let's..."

1:04:171:04:19

"Who's this?" "Oh, he's always doing some naughty things."

1:04:191:04:21

"Is it our problem?" "Not really." And you get this kind of...

1:04:211:04:24

It's not even a cat and mouse game, it's a "can we be bothered?" game.

1:04:241:04:27

And eventually, I think the tipping point

1:04:271:04:28

was the point at which he started to become so prominent

1:04:281:04:32

and to love the limelight so much.

1:04:321:04:33

And this was the point at which he did

1:04:331:04:35

the New York Times article and photo shoot.

1:04:351:04:37

So, we sell by the kilo.

1:05:071:05:10

They're second-hand weapons, but they're still OK.

1:05:101:05:13

Is it true that there was a Hollywood film based on your story?

1:05:131:05:16

I feel very sorry for Nicolas Cage, who went to play this role.

1:05:161:05:20

It's very silly, and I feel pity for... It's bad movie.

1:05:201:05:23

And he certainly isn't the huge villain he's painted.

1:05:231:05:26

He's a fool rather than a villain.

1:05:261:05:28

-SINGING:

-In a way, it was nice to go back to Moscow,

1:05:341:05:37

not have three mobile phones ringing day and night.

1:05:371:05:40

I tried to explore new businesses.

1:05:421:05:45

I manufactured kitchen tile,

1:05:451:05:47

imported reindeer meat to Moscow restaurants, grow organic arugula.

1:05:471:05:53

Most new projects don't make money.

1:05:531:05:55

I go broke.

1:05:551:05:57

UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS

1:06:261:06:28

PHONE RINGS

1:09:171:09:18

In 2007, we made contact with Andrew Smulian.

1:09:461:09:50

In January of 2008,

1:09:501:09:52

Smulian goes to Moscow to make contact with Viktor Bout.

1:09:521:09:55

Viktor trusted Smulian. I mean, that's the most basic understanding

1:09:551:09:59

of what their relationship was.

1:09:591:10:02

Within a very short period of time,

1:10:021:10:04

Smulian left Moscow after discussing the specifics

1:10:041:10:07

of this proposal by the FARC undercover operatives.

1:10:071:10:11

Bout said that he could meet in Thailand,

1:10:111:10:13

and at this point it was game time.

1:10:131:10:15

PHONE RINGS

1:10:151:10:17

Hello?

1:10:171:10:18

OK, look, my side we now fully ready.

1:10:181:10:20

-Yeah.

-But we only meet, we don't do anything there.

1:10:201:10:23

-OK. I'll talk to them in the morning, first thing.

-OK.

1:10:231:10:26

One of the tragic points about Viktor Bout

1:11:411:11:43

is that he's clearly a very intelligent man

1:11:431:11:45

and clearly had a lot of success early on,

1:11:451:11:47

and I think in some ways that was his downfall.

1:11:471:11:51

If he had known failure earlier in life,

1:11:511:11:53

he wouldn't have grown up convinced of his own perfect judgment...

1:11:531:11:57

..and he wouldn't have been so naive

1:11:591:12:01

to walk into this room against everybody's advice,

1:12:011:12:03

or against all the clues,

1:12:031:12:05

against the kind of hamminess of the actors wearing the wire,

1:12:051:12:08

against all the hints that they were giving.

1:12:081:12:11

He wouldn't have blindly carried on,

1:12:111:12:12

thinking, "I'm going to make the deal."

1:12:121:12:15

-Everybody, hands up!

-Hands up!

1:12:351:12:37

Following Mr Bout's arrest,

1:13:401:13:42

the Thais provided us an opportunity to talk to him,

1:13:421:13:44

and I said, "Look, Mr Bout, I think it's only fair if I explain to you

1:13:441:13:48

"that those two gentlemen that you were just negotiating with

1:13:481:13:51

"back in the hotel for an hour or so

1:13:511:13:54

"were actually DEA undercovers.

1:13:541:13:56

"The entire meeting was recorded, and it came out crystal clear."

1:13:561:13:59

And he looked down, put his head down for a minute,

1:13:591:14:02

very quiet and reserved, and then just looked up and said,

1:14:021:14:05

"Well, I guess you're holding all the cards, then, aren't you?"

1:14:051:14:09

'After the arrest, DEA come and talk to me,

1:14:111:14:14

'they say agree to extradition,

1:14:141:14:16

'and if I don't go to New York I would rot in Thai jail.'

1:14:161:14:20

There was a political desire

1:14:251:14:26

to make somebody pay for the illegal arms trade.

1:14:261:14:29

He was a convenient scapegoat.

1:14:291:14:31

He's not the only Russian businessman

1:14:311:14:34

whose aircraft have flown weapons.

1:14:341:14:37

I'm certainly aware of also American businessmen that did the same thing.

1:14:371:14:40

The tragedy is that there's been a huge waste of time and resources

1:14:401:14:43

which has put somebody away in prison for God knows how long

1:14:431:14:46

and has done absolutely nothing to try and curb

1:14:461:14:49

the excesses of the illegal arms trade.

1:14:491:14:51

So, after the bust, Smulian was offered a plea deal,

1:15:231:15:26

and he agreed to testify against Viktor Bout.

1:15:261:15:28

And this was the beginning

1:15:281:15:30

of a kind of horse trading and politicking between the US and Russia

1:15:301:15:33

to try and get him back onto their soil.

1:15:331:15:36

-TV:

-'US prosecutors want to extradite him to stand trial,

1:15:371:15:41

'but today a Thai judge rejected their request,

1:15:411:15:44

'saying this was a political case

1:15:441:15:46

'and that Thailand does not recognise FARC

1:15:461:15:48

'as a terrorist group.'

1:15:481:15:49

Viktor, your reaction?

1:15:501:15:52

At one point, Thai authorities decided

1:15:521:15:55

they had to send him back to Russia, and then there was an appeal,

1:15:551:15:59

and then they said, "Oh, all right,

1:15:591:16:01

"we'll overturn that. We'll extradite him."

1:16:011:16:03

And then the States had a plane waiting on the runway for him

1:16:031:16:06

and, from that point, there was no escape.

1:16:061:16:09

'I was shocked to see how international politics played out -

1:16:101:16:15

'greed, treason, betrayal,

1:16:151:16:17

'but then my shock disappeared...

1:16:171:16:20

'..and I was able to learn quickly how these things really work.

1:16:221:16:26

'Not a lot has changed since ancient time.'

1:16:261:16:29

PHONE RINGS

1:16:361:16:38

Alo?

1:16:411:16:42

Privyet!

1:16:441:16:45

PHONE BEEPS

1:17:191:17:20

-TV:

-'Viktor Bout faces life imprisonment

1:17:461:17:49

'for trying to sell arms to what he believed were Colombian militants.'

1:17:491:17:52

Is your daughter coming today? Is your daughter supposed to come?

1:18:121:18:16

-Yes.

-She's going to be here?

-Yes. She's opposite side of here.

1:18:161:18:19

Opposite side, I understand. Have you prepared her for this?

1:18:191:18:23

-It's difficult for me.

-Yes. You speak well. We've spoken.

1:18:241:18:27

No, maybe I... Something I not understand.

1:18:271:18:30

But how are you feeling about the whole thing?

1:18:301:18:33

I mean, you've got to be feeling...

1:18:331:18:35

Do you feel like your husband feels confident?

1:18:351:18:37

-He feels strong.

-Yeah.

-That's all.

1:18:371:18:40

Viktor Bout showed little emotion

1:18:501:18:52

as the jury's unanimous guilty verdict was read out.

1:18:521:18:55

Mr Bout, do you wish to say anything to the court

1:18:571:18:59

before sentence is imposed?

1:18:591:19:01

I'm innocent. I don't commit any crime.

1:19:011:19:03

There is no crime to sit and talk.

1:19:031:19:05

If you're going to apply the same standards to me,

1:19:051:19:08

then you're going to, you know, jail all those arms dealers in America

1:19:081:19:11

who are selling their arms and then they kill Americans.

1:19:111:19:14

At the trial, during sentencing,

1:19:141:19:16

the judge asked Viktor if he had anything to say,

1:19:161:19:19

and for the first time he got up,

1:19:191:19:21

somewhat composed in the beginning, but it quickly turned into...a rant.

1:19:211:19:26

Even in Asia they start to say, "Oh, we saw the movie about you.

1:19:261:19:29

"It was so exciting. Let us take pictures."

1:19:291:19:32

I am for them like a trophy, like a hunted deer whom they killed.

1:19:321:19:35

I was taken back by what he said.

1:19:351:19:38

I mean, how can he not see what he's done in the past is wrong?

1:19:381:19:41

I think the real Viktor came out at that moment.

1:19:411:19:44

There was a lot of anger. He wasn't happy about it.

1:19:441:19:48

He wasn't happy that he couldn't be Viktor Bout any more,

1:19:481:19:50

and he let his true colours show.

1:19:501:19:53

It's a double standard. It's a hypocrisy. I want to go home.

1:19:531:19:57

I don't commit any crime. I'm innocent.

1:19:571:19:59

Thank you, Mr Bout. Now, I have a lot to say.

1:19:591:20:03

I begin with the nature and circumstances of the offence.

1:20:031:20:06

Until the DEA went after Bout,

1:20:081:20:10

he had not committed a crime chargeable in an American court

1:20:101:20:13

in all his years as an arms dealer,

1:20:131:20:16

and but for the approach

1:20:161:20:17

made through this determined sting operation,

1:20:171:20:20

there is no reason to believe

1:20:201:20:21

that Bout would ever have committed the charged crimes.

1:20:211:20:25

Based on review of the statutory factors, I intend to impose

1:20:251:20:29

a required mandatory jail term of 25 years in custody.

1:20:291:20:32

The notoriety, the myth of Viktor Bout

1:20:401:20:43

propelled the jurors to look for a reason to convict him...

1:20:431:20:49

and not for a reason to acquit him,

1:20:491:20:51

and that's the unfortunate thing in this case.

1:20:511:20:53

What do you think about this sentence, 25 years the minimum?

1:20:531:20:57

Erin, I'm both shocked and disappointed.

1:20:571:21:00

There are these intermediaries

1:21:001:21:02

where it just seems like they're evading justice,

1:21:021:21:05

and they are the ones we should be going after.

1:21:051:21:07

And like again we saw today with the Viktor Bout trial,

1:21:071:21:11

they just keep getting off lightly.

1:21:111:21:13

REPORTERS SHOUT QUESTIONS

1:21:351:21:37

HE WHISTLES A TUNE

1:23:401:23:42

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