Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was traded for Brittney Griner, sold weapons to the Iran-backed Houthis

Viktor Bout, the notorious Russian arms dealer who was released in a prisoner swap for WNBA star Brittney Griner, is now trying to negotiate arms deals with Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Bout, 57, is known as the “Merchant of Death” and now serves as a local politician in Russian President Vladimir Putin's party. He has also reportedly returned to the arms trade, negotiating the purchase of about $10 million in small arms with Houthi representatives who visited Moscow in August.

Although the shipment was not delivered, an arms deal between Moscow and the Houthis – a group designated as terrorist by the US – represents an escalation of tensions on Putin's part.

There were widespread concerns about Russian retaliation after President Biden's administration allowed Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons in offensive attacks inside Russia.

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Viktor Bout, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), poses during the opening of an art exhibition in Moscow March 7, 20213. Bout was serving a 25-year sentence in a U.S. prison when he was exchanged in Abu Dhabi for an American basketball star Brittney Griner.

Steve Zissou, a New York lawyer who represented Bout in the United States, compared the alleged arms trade to America's own arms shipments around the globe.

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“Viktor Bout has not been in the transportation business for over twenty years,” Zissou told the Journal. “But if the Russian government were to authorize him to facilitate the transfer of arms to one of America's adversaries, that would be no different than the U.S. government sending arms and weapons of mass destruction to one of Russia's adversaries, just as it sent to Ukraine have.”

Putin condemned the United States for allowing Ukraine to use Western weapons in attacks inside Russia. ((Photo by Contributor/Getty Images))

Bout had already served 12 years of his 25-year sentence at the time of his release in December 2022.

Last year, Bout compared his sentence in the United States to Griner's sentence in his home country, saying there was “the same outrage… in Russia when I was sentenced to 25 years.”

“A lot of people would say, ‘For what? Just to talk? Are you serious?'” Bout said in an interview with ESPN. “There is not even a correct translation of the term “conspiracy” into Russian. We don't have such a term, not even the legal term. So this is the same kind of outrage in Russia over my case and many other cases.”

About two years after her release, Brittney Griner won gold for the U.S. women's basketball team at the Paris Olympics. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

He then described the prisoner exchange and said he had a moment during the event to greet Griner.

“So they put the two planes together, gave us instructions, went down and here you are,” Bout said. “Someone came from the Russian side and said, 'Hello, is everything OK?' I said, 'Yes.' So he identified me and a few minutes later the exchange happened, literally.”

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“Admittedly, I was a little shocked to see her without her signature braids. She was much taller than me. I just shook her hand and said to her, 'I wish you good luck.' And we both went to our planes,” he said.