Viktor Bout. Photo: Sergey Ilnitsky / EPA-EFE

Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms dealer who was exchanged in a prisoner swap with the US two years ago, is alleged to have sold Kalashnikov assault rifles to the Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday.

Bout, nicknamed “the merchant of death”, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in the US for arms trafficking in 2012. He was exchanged for American basketball player Brittney Griner, who had been convicted of drug smuggling in Russia, in December 2022.

According to the WSJ, two Houthi representatives visited Moscow in August under the pretext of buying pesticides and vehicles. During the trip, the men met Bout and concluded a deal for the supply of AK-74s, an upgraded version of the AK-47 assault rifle, valued at $10 million (€9.1 million), the WSJ wrote, adding that they had also discussed the purchase of Kornet anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft weapons.

The WSJ sources said the shipment to the port of Hodeidah, on Yemen’s Red Sea coast, could begin as early as this month under the cover of food supplies. However, they didn’t know if the deal was being negotiated at the Kremlin’s behest or merely “with its tacit approval”.

Speaking to state-affiliated business news outlet RBC on Monday, Bout called the article “disinformation for Vladimir Putin’s birthday”. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also dismissed the article as “fake”.

Upon returning to Russia, Bout joined the far-right nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia founded by the late political firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky. He has served as a Legislative Assembly deputy in the Ulyanovsk region, located on the Volga River, since July 2023.