Moscow, Bangkok Argue On Extraditing Viktor Bout

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is trying to repair damaged relations with the Kremlin after Moscow's foreign minister condemned a decision to extradite a suspected Russian weapons smuggler, Viktor Bout, from Bangkok to New York.

"In a situation like this, pressure is normal. So it is best to handle it in a straightforward manner," the soft-spoken, Oxford-educated Thai prime minister said, after hearing Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov insult Thailand's judicial system.

"The [Thai] government has been saying all along to the U.S. and Russia that it doesn't, and it can't, intervene in the justice process," Mr. Abhisit said on Saturday (August 21).

After stalking Mr. Bout around the world for more than a decade, America's frustrating legal battle to extradite him from Thailand after his arrest in March 2008 put enormous double-barreled pressure on Bangkok.

Both Washington and Moscow are major trading and security partners with this modern Southeast Asian nation.

The U.S. is a much bigger player in Thailand's military, political and commercial circles, having provided training to its armed forces since the 1960s, supported its previous dictators and democratically elected governments, plus offering large-scale investment including a healthy flow of imports and exports.

Russia has emerged in recent years as a growing business partner by attempting to sell warplanes, helicopters, petroleum and other strategic items to Thailand, and sending thousands of Russian tourists to Thailand's tropical beaches.

Perhaps coincidentally, relations between Bangkok and Moscow recently suffered because of Thailand's most wanted criminal, though that spat was never publicly linked to Mr. Bout's appeal against extradition.

In April, Thailand's Foreign Minister harshly criticized Russia for briefly hosting Thailand's fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who Bangkok wants sent home to serve a two-year prison sentence for corruption.

"Everyone is washing their hands, but he [Thaksin] is a bloody terrorist," Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said in April.

"There is this act of interference by third countries -- how can the Russians allow him there for two days or the Germans before that?"

Despite that frost, Mr. Bout and his lawyer said they would plead with Thailand's Foreign Ministry, and also its monarchy, to ignore the extradition order and set him free -- which observers predicted would not be likely.

Mr. Bout faces possible life imprisonment if convicted in New York for an alleged international weapons deal in Bangkok, money laundering in the U.S. and other crimes.

He has consistently denied all wrongdoing.

"Bout should be extradited in about a week, although the Russian government has already made clear it will do what it can to slow the process even further," said Douglas Farah, co-author of the book about Mr. Bout titled, Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes and the Man Who Makes War Possible.

"One thing is for sure, the last thing Russia wants is Bout on American soil, spilling his guts after getting a taste of American justice meted out in a federal courthouse," said Michael A. Braun who, as chief of operations in 2007 for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), was asked by the U.S. National Security Council to finally bring Mr. Bout to trial after chasing him since President Clinton's administration.

Born on January 13, 1967, Mr. Bout was arrested in a Bangkok luxury hotel during a DEA sting, for allegedly planning to sell weapons to Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, which could also be used to kill Americans allied to the Colombian government.

After a lower Bangkok court rejected the first U.S. request for extradition in August 2009, New York prosecutors bolstered their request in February by adding allegations of money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy.

Those newer, seemingly more incriminating charges possibly indicate the main strategy prosecutors will pursue during Mr. Bout's trial in New York.

"Viktor Bout allegedly made a career of arming bloody conflicts and supporting rogue regimes across multiple continents, even using the U.S. banking system to secretly finance a fleet of aircraft," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in February.

The newer indictment alleged Mr. Bout and his Syrian-American partner Richard Ammar Chichakli wired about $1.7 million through banks in the U.S. to buy two Boeing airplanes in America.

Mr. Chichakli is a Syrian-born U.S. citizen, also known as Robert Cunning and Raman Cedorov, who served in the U.S. Army.

He escaped arrest and currently may be in Russia after the U.S. Treasury Department seized his assets.

The newest indictment said prosecutors would seek to seize Mr. Bout's alleged accounts at Wachovia, the International Bank of Commerce, Deutsche Bank, and the Israel Discount Bank of New York, according to the New York Daily News.

The alleged money transfers broke a U.S. ban against any American company or bank doing business with Mr. Bout, who reportedly hid his name behind a front company, Samar Airlines, while trying to purchase the two Boeings.

"The United Nations and the United States have long-standing sanctions against Bout that stem from, among other things, his support of the most violent and destabilizing conflicts in recent African history," U.S. Attorney Bharara said earlier

A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Sanctions Committee on Liberia said Mr. Bout had supported Liberia's former President Charles Taylor to destabilize neighboring Sierra Leone and steal its so-called "blood diamonds."

Mr. Bout's alliances include Boris, Victor But, Viktor Budd, Viktor Butt, Viktor Bulakin, and Vadim Markovich Aminov, according to DEA Special Agent Robert F. Zachariasiewicz, who signed the original 2008 charges presented to the court in New York.

Mr. Bout previously worked as military translator and allegedly entered the international weapons business in the 1990s.

To catch the elusive Russian, the DEA allegedly infiltrated his circle and convinced him a FARC representative wanted to meet him in Bangkok on March 6, 2008, to finalize the deal.

Inside a bugged luxury hotel room in Bangkok, two undercover agents met Mr. Bout and they allegedly talked about him selling a massive amount of weapons and ammunition.

Waiting Thai authorities then arrested him in the room as planned.

Evidence presented in Bangkok included wiretapped telephone and e-mail messages between a U.S.-paid DEA "confidential source" and Andrew Smulian, who was allegedly Mr. Bout's partner before being arrested in America.

One e-mail message, allegedly from Mr. Bout to the agent, ended: "Best Regards Friend of Andrew," apparently referring to Mr. Smulian.

The DEA also displayed what it called "a map of South America that Bout reportedly used in discussions about the locations of American radar stations," which might monitor his cargo planes during deliveries to the FARC guerrillas.

The DEA also showed what they described as "notes handwritten by Bout during the meeting regarding the details of the weapons deal" in Bangkok, allegedly listing anti-aircraft guns, AK-47 assault rifles, an unmanned aerial vehicle, ten million rounds of ammunition for sniper rifles and machine guns, plus rocket launchers and grenade launcher.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York provided the documents to the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists (FAS), which was concerned about where the weapons might be located and how they could be seized, especially a purported missile.

"It appears that missile on offer was the AT-4 Spigot, a wire-guided Russian missile system that has a maximum range of 2,000-2,500 meters and can penetrate up to 400-460mm of armor, depending on the type of missile used," FAS said in October.

FAS said it was also concerned about locating "100 shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missiles," which could shoot down military and commercial planes.

The U.S. earlier lost its extradition case for Mr. Bout when a lower Thai court ruled in August 2009 that Colombia's FARC guerrillas were a "political" group, not "terrorists", and that no weapons were present when the sting operation was carried out in Bangkok.

That lower court also ruled it was not a crime for foreigners to discuss a shady business deal in Thailand, because they did not carry it out on Thai soil.

No weapons or ammunition were found in Bangkok, and the deal Mr. Bout allegedly discussed apparently involved payments and a delivery outside of Thailand.

It was unclear if Mr. Bout actually had personal access to any weapons.

The U.S. now has 30 days to complete the extradition process, otherwise Mr. Bout will be released.

Dubbed the "Lord of War" and "Merchant of Death," the stout, mustachioed Mr. Bout arrived at the appeals court on Friday (August 20), grinning and winking with confidence, but after hearing the final guilty verdict in the "United States of America vs. Viktor Bout" case, began crying while led away in mandatory leg chains.

Mr. Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister, lashed out at the Bangkok court's verdict hours after it was announced.

"We are sorry about this -- in my opinion -- non-legal decision, politically motivated decision, that Thailand's court made," Mr. Lavrov said, according to Russia's TV channel RT.

"This decision, according to information we dispose, was made under strong pressure from outside, and this is sad," he said, without mentioning the United States or offering any evidence.

"Concerning interests of the Russian citizen, all these months we have been giving him assistance, were in touch with his lawyers and his family, and I assure you that we will do all that is necessary to achieve his return home," Mr. Lavrov said.

"We will face the trial in the United States and win it," Mr. Bout told reporters in Russian after the verdict, according to Russia's RIA Novosti news agency.

"I appeal to Russian authorities to interfere in the case, and react the same tough way to this dishonest [American] interference, and help the citizen of the Russian Federation," Mr. Bout's wife, Alla, declared in Bangkok after the verdict was read out, according to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass.

"Given that the defendant was charged with conspiring to kill American citizens and American officers, conspiring to source ... anti-aircraft missiles, and acquire weapons for a terrorist group like FARC — these are criminal offenses not just in the country where he is a plaintiff but also the country receiving the charges," the Bangkok extradition ruling said.

The Thai government denied rumors that it agreed to Mr. Bout's extradition in exchange for three Black Hawk helicopter gunships from the U.S., the Bangkok Post reported on Monday (August 23).

Security at the prison in Bangkok where Mr. Bout is
currently held has been tightened amid speculation that he could be assassinated to silence him from spilling his secrets, or hoping to plan an escape.

Richard S Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist who has reported news from Asia since 1978. He is co-author of "Hello My Big Big Honey!", a non-fiction book of investigative journalism. His web page is
http://www.asia-correspondent.110mb.com

(Copyright 2010 Richard S Ehrlich)

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