THE REAL LORD OF WAR (or not?) - the story of Viktor Bout

there is such a movie with Nicholas Cage in the lead role Lord of War the main character of this movie Yuri Ola is a cynical International arms dealer who is ready to supply his Goods to anyone who is willing to pay the creators of this movie stated that all of was almost a direct copy of a real person named Victor boot naturally such a statement was immediately picked up by the media whose efforts to date show that all of and boot for the Mass public have become a single person such a view of course is not objective and today we will try to separate victtor boot from Yuri Olaf telling different versions of the story meet the real Lord of War on the other side of the law our narrative today is built in a slightly non-typical way and includes two points of view on the biography of Victor boot the first point of view let's call it conventionally Western is the well-known story that boot was an international arms dealer the second let's call it the Russian one says that Victor was just a successful businessman who was made a scapegoat the Western version is based on the book by Douglas Farah which collects The Works of the main researchers in boot's life within the Lord of War version the Russian version is based on Alexander gas's book which in turn represents conversations with boot's Clos people and business partners and attempts to refute the Western version where the versions agree we compiled facts and built a unified narrative from them where they do not we gave both views in the format of opposition we also tried to take only those facts which had evidence and proof at the level of Investigations of law enforcement agencies of different countries so that they are not our guesses but the results of the work of competent people Victor anatolich boot was born in Duan on January the 13th 1967 his father was a driver and was engaged in repairing cars and his mother was an accountant also in the family was Victor's brother Sergey who later became his business partner and is rumored to be engaged in independent commercial projects to this day his family never belonged to the local nomenclature it never had any influential connections the brothers had to achieve everything exclusively by their own labor Victor graduated from high school with good grades having already shown an interest in foreign languages thus some of his classmates later recall that already in high school boot spoke English quite well ability to learn languages predetermined the choice of University it was MGO mosco State Institute of international relations however the attempt to enter it ended in Failure despite the fact that Victor successfully passed all the exams he was cut off the so-called mandate commission the reason was trivial in those years in order to enter mgimo residents of the Soviet periphery were required to provide a recommendation from the local Republican Central Committee of the Communist party and despite the fact that boot had excellent grades which allowed him to study in this educational institution the party officials from the shanai did not give him such a recommendation boot's friends later attributed this to the desire of the local party apparatus to see their own National tajik kadre in mgimo however Victor stoically endured this failure and went to serve in the Army after demobilization in 1987 Victor decided to try his luck again with higher education but this time he applied not to mgimo but to the military red banner Institute of the ministry of defense of the USSR better known as The Institute of military translators his school successes in studying languages and conscientious service in the Army were a great help so this time Victor managed to get to the university bench however boot does not have a diploma from this institute ution and his name does not appear on the list of its graduates Victor only took a 10-month course in Portuguese after which he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant later in the 2000s Belgian journalist Dirk drains who accompanied boot on some business trips to Africa claimed that he heard a story from him that he allegedly served in the military Airborne forces and after completing his compulsory service was engaged in training the gru Special Forces however drolin himself has no solid evidence of this story but there is a lot of evidence that after receiving the rank of Lieutenant Victor boot was sent to bellarus to the 339th vpsk regimen of military transport Aviation where he served as an interpreter and radio operator this regiment performed the various flying missions in Angola mosm Beque and other African countries some journalists claimed that Victor boot was a KGB resident in Rome between 1985 and 1989 but this version does not stand up to criticism it is difficult to even imagine for what merits an 18-year-old boy could get a place in The Residency which worked in the capitalist country only the son of a high-ranking official could expect such a sweet position but certainly not a provincial from Duan who was cut off when entering mgimo because of the lack of one certificate and these journalists also forgot or rather ignored the fact that in 1985 Victor boot was still doing his military service in transc capathia in 1989 to 1990 Victor worked As an interpreter at the Soviet military mission in mosambique this Mission as well as many other stationed in those countries that had friendly relations with the USSR was engaged in combat training of local Personnel teaching them to work with Soviet weapons and military equipment there in mosm Beque in the Soviet Embassy Victor met awoman Allah who later became his wife and 3 years after marriage gave birth to his daughter there is a version that boot owes his career to his wife she was allegedly the daughter of a high-ranking State security official but this version is nothing more than a fiction of the yellow press alab boot's parents were the most ordinary Soviet servants in 1991 Victor boot decided to quit the Army his thoughts were not yet associated with the organization of a huge Transport company and he to begin with engaged in a simpler business according to the memories of boot's wife all the first big money was earned by Victor on consumer goods which he brought with friends from Europe the budding businessman went through the sale of canned beer in stalls and through the sale of cheap things brought by shuttles quite quickly it became clear that really big money on such trade is not to earn that's when boot thought about becoming an airline broker especially since all the previously acquired knowledge and acquaintances were very much in favor of it boot later dryly explained the path that led him into the business after leaving the Army in 1991 I worked in the union of United cooperatives of the USSR which at that time was headed by academian tonov in this organization there was a center for organizing air travel and I was able to study this business more deeply then I acted for a long time as a broker for the organization of Chartered transportation and only then we started buying airplanes and creating our own Airline at first Victor boot was going to bring Soviet aircrafts to the Latin American Market of air transportation as an air broker he was interested in the possibility of opening a business in Brazil where he even visited in the summer of 1991 but this plan was not destined to come true and instead boot began to organize business in Angola from the times of military translation work in mosm Beque boot had numerous acquaintances who worked in various un programs related to a supply of food and other humanitarian Aid which helped him to establish business with Angola where the Civil War had just ended and this country needed humanitarian Aid and building materials with which boot started the problem was that it was extremely difficult to get all of his cargo the few airfields that were in the country had been destroyed in the Civil conflict boot solved this problem by installing the caros on board the airplane in special pallets and then dropping them by Parachute to the desired location these caros were to be delivered by i76 airplanes formerly part of the 339th military transport Aviation regimen which was based in vpsk after the collapse of the Soviet Union these airplanes were transferred to the balance of the Belarusian company transavia export and from there they were leased by The Firm Founders by Victor boot that is roughly speaking boot took the airplanes from transavia and released them for transportation of humanitarian Aid to the UN taking the difference into his pocket in addition to boot's original idea of parachute cargo delivery the UN appreciated these airplanes for the fact that a flight hour of the i76 was very cheap about 500 to $600 for comparison a similar flight hour of the American Hercules transport cost a un 1 and a half or even $2,000 over time boot's company vial did not have enough trans Avia airplanes and they began to rent them from other airlines created in a similar way as transavia just so you understand how much this subl was profitable for boot was he took airplanes in the former Soviet republics for an average of $300 for an hour of work and released them to the UN for $600 for the same hour boot was fortunate to be clearly in the moment when it became possible to rent airplanes that turned out to be useless in the post Soviet space for cheap and then export reporting them to the expensive foreign air transportation Market recruitment of crew for these planes was not a problem either many pilots who found themselves out of work were happy to return to their favorite business and earn good money that allowed them to feed their families however Victor boot's former partners believed that he was able to get the first airplanes for the promotion of his business not due to his strong character and coincidence but because of his Connections in the gru he was given three airplanes and in return boot was obliged to share part of the proceeds the same opinion is held by supporters of the version which we call Weston at the beginning of the video adding that the interest was not only and not so much in kickbacks from the proceeds but in the possibility to use boot for their own transportation tasks simultaneously with the collapse of the Soviet Union communist regimes were overthrown in a number of the ussr's Eastern block allies after the fall of the Berlin War and the subsequent unification of Germany the the days of the Soviet military group there were numbered it was impossible to remove all military equipment from Germany it was not economically feasible the cost of Transportation was too high but this equipment could be sold and in such a delicate event the help of a person who speaks several languages and has experience in organizing large scale air transportation cannot be underestimated that is why it is believed the planes chartered by boot always received all the necessary flight permits and the weapons were delivered to the clients just in time according to supporters of the western version boot paid a small symbolic sum for the lease of these airplanes and in return the gru was able to continue sending weapons to different parts of the world Victor boot's former partner Sergey manv believed that at first boot was simply following orders from big men from Moscow and only after that he started to form his own business but even after he got his own company he still remained in the orbit of influence of his high ranking patrons but even if we accept the fact that Victor was under the hood of influential people it did not prevent him from developing his business he had learned well one of the unspoken laws of air transportation never fly empty boot strove to get loads wherever his Planes landed after landing in GMA with parts for Attack Helicopters boot's planes would take off with a shipment of Colton and after delivering Kalashnikov assault rifles to can daha carpets would be loaded into the same hold a couple hours later Frozen chickens gladi olsis TV sets whatever the main thing was the airplane did not fly empty boot's entrepreneurial Talent was definitely there and allowed his firm to grow very quickly so that by 1993 he had his own his own not rented air fleet thus 48 airplanes 212s an a24 and an m helicopter were purchased from the zatou machine building plant and in 1993 boot opened an office in the UAE and registered a company there under the name transavia the UAE was ideal for boot's growing business as it is in the junction of many trade routes in Europe Asia and Africa the Emirates welcomed foreign companies in the early 1990s local legislation encouraged the influx with economic incentives and low taxes and Sher the city whose airport boot used as his company's main Transportation Hub was struggling to get out of Dubai Shadow Of course its old airport with only one Runway could not compete with Dubai's huge airport in terms of Passenger traffic but local officials decided to go the other way they started luring foreign cargo companies passenger Transportation had failed they thought so they would take the upper hand at the expense of cargo transportation in addition to luring companies shaja airport also invited foreign experts one of whom named Richard chuley was once quite friendly with boot chule was a Syrian born former US Army Sergeant whose background includes studies in Riad where he said he was even friends with a young Osama Bin Laden and participation in the Gulf War after his military service he earned a degree in accounting and started a financial consulting business he was so successful that he was noticed by enterprising Sager businessman who decided to make the yesterday's War veteran a director of the airport's free economic zone but back to transavia boots chartered Transporters delivered to many countries household goods mainly household appliances and electronics and it was then that boot first encountered weapons as well however those transactions were quite legal Victor began to provide his site in sja for refueling and maintenance of Russian A14 russland planes which were delivering cargo from Russia to Africa making intermediate Landings in the UAE transavia tried to make money on literally everything for example the company transported French peacekeepers to Rwanda and for a year and a half provided allil transportation for the Belgian military contingent in Somalia once Victor boots charges even had to deliver French satellites from tulo to kuu a French Spaceport located in Guana Victor's income was growing and he began to think more more often about the need to expand his business as boot later mentioned in interviews he wanted to create a transportation and passenger air carrier like Virgin Atlantic and in 1995 the first step towards this goal was taken boots company trans Aviation Network group opened a representative office in Belgium transport planes were to be located on leash sites of the oston Airfield there as well as sja Airport cargo flights to all sides of the world could be made however not only good news was in boot's life during that period sometimes there was no less stress such as for example the case discussed next in August 1995 an IL 76 TD airplane chared by boot from the tatan airline aerosan was on a flight from sajja to Bagram Afghanistan in Disguise over Afghanistan the plane was intercepted by mig21 fighter jet of the Taliban an organization banned in Russia and enforced the land in kaha for cargo inspection on board was a 30ton set of ammunition ammunition for Kalashnikov assault rifles it was a perfectly legal cargo that the pilots have flown from Albania to Kabul ordered by the legitimate Afghan government the Taliban militants who were fighting it felt entitled to detain both the plane and the crew the pilots were able to escape only a year later when under the pretext of checking the plane's engines they managed to disarm three armed guards and flew through Iran to the UAE Victor boot was not a bystander in this story as a superior who cared about his subordinates he felt it was his duty to save them throughout the year of confinement in kaha boot tried to supply the pilots with food and medicine and brought doctors from the sjar clinic to the crew and only after all negotiations had reached an empass he began to look for alternative options to save the crew thus help came from the customers of the cargo the legitimate Afghan government and Afghan president Rabani there is reason to believe that among the Taliban there was an agent of the Afghan intelligence who threw to the Taliban the idea that an airplane that had been idle for a long time without maintenance may be unsuitable for further operation the Taliban wanted to avoid this but they had no specialist to inspect the aircraft so the captive crew had to do it the Russian Pilots were allowed to inspect the plane refill it and even make small test runs on the runway at this point the viewer may have a question why didn't the crew Fly Away immediately at the first such run but not everything was so simple a special permit is required to fly over countries and in the case of a flight over Iran such a permit must be requested 5 days before takeoff this is where all of Victor boot's connections came in handy and he got this permission after the successful Escape Victor p personally met the prisoners in sja airport for a long time weapons did not occupy the first places in Victor boots financial statements in terms of profitability chickens household appliances and flowers were much more successful yes yes ordinary gladi olsis a gladiolus bought in Johannesburg for $2 was sold in Dubai for $100 it is easy to imagine the size of the profet given that for one flight ilil could deliver up to 20 tons of flowers at the end of 1997 boots Airline became the second largest operator of sja airport in terms of Transportation second only to such a giant as the German Lanza however if the serer finance department had known how boot's company had actually achieved this honorable second place it would hardly have awarded him boot grew Rich pretty soon he could even afford to buy real estate in South Africa The Villa and the office bought in joint use with business business partners cost $800,000 of course such a successful and charismatic businessman attracted attention of local Elites subsequently boot was often accused of quietly socializing with such uncouth figures as Charles Taylor of Liberia mabuto Zeo of Zia PA kagami of Rwanda and other people whose photo on the covers of the times and the New York Herald Tribune are accompanied by headlines in the spirit of cannibals and dick ators the Press accused boot of being almost buddies with John Pierre bber later indicted by the international criminal court for several crimes against humanity a scandal was caused by rumors that Victor boot was allegedly among the guests of honor at the wedding of King mawati thei of swasiland the last absolute monarch in Africa the media in general likes to attribute to boots acquaintances with criminals and dictators but all Publications that told readers about boots friendships with this or that Public Enemy had one drawback lack of evidence these articles had huge headlines but they were never contained for example joint photos of boot with those people the fact of acquaintance with whom the journalist attributed to him Victor boot has never denied the fact of air transportation of cargos to Afghanistan by his company but with one important reservation these caros were never intended for the Taliban or al- Qaeda and organ organization banned in Russia boot he said had only two customers in Afghanistan the internationally recognized Afghan government and the Northern Alliance which opposed the Taliban boots flights helped restore Russian influence in Afghanistan that had been lost after the collapse of the Soviet Union the first of these flights date back to late 1992 just then after several years of fighting between the mujahedin and the Taliban which threatened to turn into a fullscale Civil War the Rabani government was formed in Afghanistan its defense minister Ahmad sha masud was fond of victtor boot calling him a true Miracle Worker capable of replenishing depleted stocks of weapons the link between Boot and massud was Abdul Latif after the Northern Alliance troops took Kabul in April 1992 he had a lot of work to do but Latif did his job well handling boots money in Dubai and in return receiving machine guns sniper rifles shells and ammunition massud however was a little annoyed by the fact that in his opinion sometimes boot overestimated the cost of some supplies for example one tank shell cost mud $60 while in Russia it officially cost only about $10 but they had no other alternative to boot first of all in terms of accuracy and timeliness of delivery so they had to overpay the Russian government did not officially sell weapons to Afghanistan at that time relations between the countries remained rather cool for a long time primarily because of outbreaks of ethnic conflicts among the border between Afghanistan and the former Soviet republics to the South Tajikistan ubekistan and Turkmenistan Moscow suspected the Afghan government of aiding and abetting tajik insurgents who had previously had to send a 25,000 strong military contingent to subdue them and the two countries even exchanged notes of protest after an incident involving an attack on a Russian milit Outpost so given this environment boot had to operate covertly and apart from the episode with the previously described flight to Kabul he was quite successful in 1992 NATO Representatives revealed boot's involvement in the supply of weapons to Bosnia and heroa one of the six Balan republics that emerged as a result of the collapse of Yugoslavia serbs in the Bosnian State feared their minority status and opposed its independence believing it would be better off as an autonomy within Serbia the Bosnian Muslims supported by Croatia on the contrary favored the idea of Independence so when Bosnia and heroina became a state in April 1992 there was a natural conflict wanting to somehow stop the Bloodshed the UN came up with nothing better than an arms embargo on all sides the Embargo gave an advantage to the serbs who at that time had far more options the bosnians had no weaponry and no Army so the US and most of Europe while paying lip service to the arms embargo were in fact willing to turn a blind eye to the fact that someone would arm the bosnians the main supplier of weapons to them was a little known organization called the third world relief agency or tww for short this organization existed for only 3 years from 1992 to 1995 but during this time about $400 million passed through it the first operation of the organization dates back to September 1992 then Victor boot's transport plane was hired and a flight was sent from hatum the capital of Sudan to the airport of Slovenian maribor as the closest to Bosnia with a cargo of humanitarian Aid which included 12 tons of Kalashnikov rifles RPGs mines and other deadly toys how is this even possible you may ask How could an arms dealer do his job right in the middle of Europe the answer is simple in those years his activities were perceived as beneficial to the Civilized Community which was interested in the independence of Bosnia and herina radical Islam in those days was not yet perceived as a threat to National Security and Boots activities despite all their ambiguity were not yet even vaguely perceived as a threat to the political and economic interests of the United States and Europe Austrian officials namely Austrian investigators who established the link between boots companies and the supply of weap weapons to Bosnia also did not oppose tww activities in any way they honestly recorded the fact of the organization's activities in the arms trade but since none of the deliveries even came close to the Austrian border they could not do anything about it from the point of view of the law boot remained crystal clear in 1997 Congo was going through a bad time Rebels led by lauron desire cabila a former student of CH Gara himself backed by the armies of Uganda and Rwanda launched an offensive against the incumbent regime of Mutu CEO while cabila was struggling to rest control of the country from Mutu the rwandans and ugandans were busy searching the Congo for hutus the participants in the genocide against the tosis in Rwanda in 1994 had managed to find refuge in Congo but now retribution was close at hand the UN tried to help the population to the best of its ability in such a situation and its officials made frequent visits to Congo in March 1997 one such official witnessed a very strange incident at kisangani airport he saw an IL 76 Landing after beginning to unload the humanitarian cargo the plane was delivering food crew members pulled out a ladder put it against the tail of the plane and removed the UN emblem when the unloading was over boxes of weapons recognizable boxes of Kalashnikov assault rifles and ammunition began to be placed in the plane's cargo hold after all loading was complete the plane departed no more than 50 minutes elapsed from Landing to takeoff the official witnessed Victor boot's favorite move and a living embodiment of his main principle the plane should never fly empty i76 delivered food to kangani under the official opes of the UN and flew away with a cargo of weapons intended for unknown units most likely for the Rwandan army with one shot boot killed not even two but three birds with one stone he provided his Planes with profitable cargo fulfilled a deal with his partner and importantly ingratiated himself with the global organization which is the UN by delivering its cargo to those in need boot was capitalizing on several sides of the congales conflict at once his planes were able to deliver humanitarian Aid to refugees and arms to kabila's Rebels all while maintaining good relations with SEO mabutu from whose the cpit hands power was slipping at this time the Pentagon military advisers and independent investigators were not even stunned by the fact that boot was supplying arms they were used to that they were more outraged by the fact that boot managed to supply weapons to several participants in the conflict at once thus the Belgian John pelman a former scholar of medieval literature and then one of the world's leading researchers of Victor's life and a pillar on which stands the version of boot as a la Lord of War wrote that there is no room for politics or ideology in this story Victor boot according to pelman single-handedly challenged the face of an entire continent if previously African tribes preferred to settle relations with each other with the help of Spears machetes and ancient hunting rifles then with the Advent of affordable modernized weapons when the African Market Avalanche of automatic rifles and rocket propelled grenade launchers the situation has changed drama atically pelan likes to cite the example of the Karim mojong tribe this tribe has used weapons to settle territorial disputes for centuries but since these weapons were pre flood fatalities were extremely rare and all feuds were usually settled by Clan Elders however with the appearance of kalashnikovs in their hands the number of this tribe decreased several times boot did not forget about such parias of international Politics as Libya and Sudan mamad Gaddafi SP moned many Rebel armies for which boot acted as a supplier of weapons the cooperation was so beneficial that boot even opened a company operating directly from Tripoli registered however in the Bahamas as for Sudan having first used hatum as a base for arms delivery to Bosnia boot continued to use it thereafter of course he could not have done so without the knowledge of the local authorities and given that the flights from hatum were frequent it is hard to escape the idea that they were not lobbied at the the highest local level after earning enough money boot decided that he and his family would be better off living in South Africa saja was still his main Transportation Hub but in conversations with friends boot talked about Africa being the place he wanted to live and South Africa offered excellent opportunities for legal business and boot understood the importance of this point very well and after all Johannesburg was the most comfortable city to live in of all the African capital at first everything went as well as possible boot moved with his family to Johannesburg his wife Allah opened her own clothing business and not far from the border with Zimbabwe in Petersburg boot found a suitable airport his then partner deod Ward obtained the necessary business permits and already owned the company himself Norse air which had all the necessary valid certificates to fly on February 19th 1997 boots Liberian company asirs and North Air Incorporated a new company Petersburg Aviation Services and systems PTY or airp pass boot owned 90% of the new company and Ward owned the remaining 10% in exchange for that 10% Ward allowed boot to use North Air Charter operators license which allowed the new company to operate in South Africa according to the now familiar Richard chuley boot paid about $2 million for his share boot also used his own money to build a refrigeration plant thanks to which he began to transport Frozen chickens a very profitable commodity in countries with hot climates and no conditions for storing meat boot liked doing business from Petersburg so much that he even discussed with chichakly the possibility of opening a South African version of a free trade zone like Saga Victor was also going to invest in the Garment business here and open a factory but these Endeavors remained only in the plans in November 1997 boot went with his family to his own mansion in the sanur district of Johannesburg where the unfortunate incident that ended boot's business in South Africa took Place Victor's house was burglarized and it happened late in the evening when the entire family was at home with the help of accomplices of the bandits from among the domestic workers the alarm system in the house had been disabled so the attack by the gang of 10 came as a complete surprise to the owners the guards and Victor were not around boot's mother-in-law and wife were beaten some sources say that during the raid from boot's house disappeared only phones and computers were valuable information While others on the contrary say that the catch of the Raiders were almost $6 million which Victor kept in his personal safe what is clear is that this was not a random robbery of a wealthy house by a street gang but the reasons were probably remain a mystery the local police on the other hand couldn't even find the burglars boot them put the house up for sale and moved his family back to sja Meanwhile the clouds were gathering over air pass thus the country's authorities came to the conclusion that in the activities of the previously impeccable firm there were over 146 violations of the national legislation on civil aviation and the South African Department of Home Affairs also declared boot an undesirable alien and refused to issue him a new Visa it is not known who exactly forced boot out of South Africa there is an opinion that it could be the intrigues of Russian criminal groups which were also engaged in the organization of cargo transportation and they did not need such a successful competitor there is also a version that the night raid on boots house is the work of Western special services which already then in 1997 realized what destructive consequences for the African continent could lead to boots activities and were ready to achieve his departure from the country at any cost and other researchers considered The Raid as revenge on the part of the American intelligence which allegedly shortly before that inclined boot to cooperate hoping to learn from him information about his customers and buyers boot refused the offer after which his St in South Africa were numbered in May 1998 the aviation authorities of neighboring swasiland over which boots planes flew under pressure from the South African authorities suspended the flights of 43 planes of five of Victor's companies accus accusing him of lack of proper documentation as well as illegal arms shipments from mosm Beque to Angola among the cargo found on one of the planes were two disassembled Russian military helicopters packed in crates labeled machine parts investigators suspected they were destined for Rwanda however despite this boot's planes were soon spotted in the sky again but already over another part of Africa in the winter of 1996 and spring of 1997 a young Afghan man named fared Ahmed could often be seen at saja airport who seemed intent on settling in the local Air Cargo hangers and officers he had been secretly sent to sajja by the Taliban who had become the new government of Afghanistan just a month and a half before they had stormed into Kabul and defeated the weakened government of boot's former buyer buranan Rabani but the king is dead long Liv the new king the new government was as much in need of Victor boot's arms as the old one the Taliban were fighting against rani's government and forces loyal to his defense minister Ahmad sha MAUD and were primarily dependent on Pakistan's intelligence services and Armed Forces for their tasks artillery and ammunition but their relations with the pakistanis began to sour after the Taliban captured jalalabad and entered Kabul in late September 1996 in their eagerness to disperse the remnant of mud's forces the taliban's top leadership began to irritate Pakistani officials not independent enough to break away from their Pakistani patrons the Taliban MERS began to show a vested interest in developing an independent procurement capability as analysts at Human Rights Watch later concluded US military intelligence later agreed with this assessment Pakistan played a big role in supplying weapons certainly but they supplied mostly large weapons tanks trucks heavy artillery but Small Arms which are the lifeblood of any army the Taliban had to get on their own and they were looking for them absolutely everywhere in late 1996 the Taliban regime began operating through fared Ahmed as a representative of atar mansur the Taliban defense minister Ahmed was given full control over the personnel and bank accounts of irania the only Afghan airline that had the right to fly internationally Ahmed was entrusted with the difficult task of sourcing weapons for the Army and cargo planes for the Taliban Air Force the UAE was one of only three countries in the world along with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to recognize the new Taliban regime UAE leader and founder shik zad bin sutan Al naan spoke of the new Taliban leadership in exceptionally enthusiastic terms eager to help his new friends shik mum even agreed to wave all Landing fees for Ariana planes a move that was to further boost traffic in saja in addition the airport in saja seemed to to have been purpose-built for all sorts of dark Deeds inspection at the airport was formal and rules were easily circumvented planes landed and took off regularly ground handlers quickly unloaded cargo from airplanes without interference from airport security Personnel it was for this reason that the Taliban sent their Envoy to sja where he met Victor boot a few weeks after arriving in sja armed along with Ariana's director met two Russian businessmen there one was a fat man with half LED eyes and a neatly trimmed mustache who took the lead in conversations the Russian did not give his name to the Afghan leader but years later the Ariana director identified the heavy set man as boot recognizing his unruffled face from a color portrait published in the New York Times in 2003 when the meeting ended and the Russians left Ahmed told the director that he had made a deal with boots company airs to get part for the planes the director also recalled that an unofficial bonus to the deal was the sale of arms and ammunition to the Taliban the delivery of which for Ariana was to be handled by another serer based firm flying dolphin owned by the Emirates cheek in fact boot was only responsible for delivering the caros needed by the Taliban to sja after which the caros would continue on Ariana's plane to Kabul and kaha airports boot himself categorically denied that he had dealt with Taliban officials and repeat reply stated that he had never done business with Al-Qaeda or any other Islamic militants I have not made any contracts with the Taliban or Al-Qaeda he insisted in a 2002 Moscow radio interview in a public statement issued later that year boot said I am not and have never been associated with al- Qaeda the Taliban or any of their officials or Affiliated organizations neither I nor any of my organizations in his hard-hitting assessment of world politics boot scoffed in his Moscow interview that us officials conveniently ignored his own historic role in arming Afghan Fighters using him as a scapegoat to claim it was the Russians fault boots arrangements with the Taliban were secretly carried out for nearly 5 years before the extent was revealed by press reports and intelligence reports that emerged only after the all too familiar Fallout in New York City in the early 21st century both Boot and the mulas proved to be masters of operating in the shadow between 1998 and 2001 boots Network and other charger based Air transport companies secretly sold 12 heavy lift cargo planes to the Taliban allowing the militant Air Force to bolster its air fleet and deliver tons of Eastern European weapons to Afghanistan not counting the movement of weapons and thousands of Fighters inside the country us officials later concluded that some of the Armed shipments had been given to Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda operatives of course course this state of affairs could not be tolerated on October 15th 1999 the security Council voted unanimously to freeze Taliban assets impose a complete arms embargo and ban all international flights operated by Taliban Airlines virtually all of Ariana's international flights except for a few humanitarian flights were shut down thus Victor boot was deprived of the most important element of the well functioning mechanism that ensured the supply of weapons to Afghan an without Ariana his activities in the area were meaningless in November 1999 Victor boot embarked on a plan to increase his fortune the location was to be Africa and the object of enrichment was to be Colton a rare mineral mined in Southwestern Sierra Leon that is used in the manufacturer of electronics Colton mining is nowhere near the size it used to be but in the late 1990s there was a consistently large demand for it according to Douglas Farah Victor boot offered to supply weapons to the Ruf that is the Revolutionary united front free of charge and in return he asked only for one thing the seizure of several abandoned mines in the southwest of the country Victor told the Ruf leaders that he had connections with interested investors from Russia that they would not begin their Investments until they had a firm Assurance of safety the meeting between Victor Boot and Ruf Chief Ibrahim Baja was arranged by Charles Taylor a regular client of boots and one of West Africa's most powerful Warlords and architect of the Liberian Civil War and a participant in the military coup in Burkina Faso he had promised boot for years as a reward for his years of help to discuss taking over the mines at the meeting he was told that with all the necessary equipment and weapons the Takeover would take a month at most however these plans were not to be realized a short time after the meeting at which boot received the consent of Ibrahim Baja the latter was removed from the command of the troops because of serious disagreements with fod Sano who was at that time the supreme commander of the Ruf thus all of boot's hopes of gaining control of the mindes collapsed however boot was not upset for long Charles Taylor soon needed a lot of weapons again a group of rebels from neighboring Guinea led by some of Taylor's former field commanders began a military campaign to overthrow the boots help came in handy by 2006 boots planes stopped taking off from saja international airport but this was not a problem airports in kishni almati fuera and other cities replaced them by this point boot had been a permanent resident of Russia for several years a year earlier he had to leave the UAE because the pressure on boots business which was exerted on the local government by American officials made it simply impossible for him to do business here and in 2002 Belgium became the first country to accuse him of illegal activities namely Diamond smuggling and money laundering of over $300 million in the same year the UN imposed a ban on boots movements and in 2005 even demanded to freeze all his accounts Victor by the way then claimed that as a result of these sanctions he lost more than $17 million even earlier around the time when boot in the company of Ibrahim Baja was contemplating the possibility of seizing the mindes in Sierra Leon the US government began investigating boots activities the hunt for Victor began in Earnest Johan pelman who by that time had already completely abandoned his studies in medieval literature became a un counselor and collected a whole file on boot's case that's why boot lived in Moscow where he was often seen in the offices of companies that traded abroad sometimes Victor also appeared in the media field giving interviews one of them dating back to 2005 refers to cinematography that year the movie Lord of War directed by Andrew Nicole was released the creator of this movie long before its Premiere stated in public that the biography of the main character Yuri Olaf is based on the biography of Victor boot this movie which incidentally a few years later still has a role to play in a life of boot did not make the slight his impression on Victor I didn't like the movie I felt sorry for Nicholas Cage boot told a journalist Victor boot's brother Sergey often compare the activity of an airline broker to the profession of a cab driver a cab driver would never ask a passenger what is in his suitcase a cab driver should only take the passenger from point A to point B and other details do not concern him even if the cab driver has some guesses about what the passenger has in his bag he should keep those guesses to himself actually the version we named at the beginning of the Russian version is in fact that Victor boot was such a cab driver throughout his life achieved everything by his own labor accustomed to always rely only on himself executive and responsible businessmen this is how our hero appears to the apologist of this approach to the interpretation of his life path yesterday's Young officer who sincerely wanted to connect his fate with the Army but left it after 1991 had no doubts about the correctness of his choice in the conditions of the country's collapse changing priorities and political instability he did only what he considered his duty to take care of his family and his friends Victor boot decided to use his knowledge and experience to organize cargo Transportation having no connections except acquaintances with his former co-workers with extremely meager starting baggage Victor achieved impressive results in a country where it had long been considered indecent to ask rich people questions about the origin of their capital Victor had nothing to hide he lost his place at MGO for lack of one certificate worked hard for a long time in mosm beak where he even had a fever and never had high patrons Victor boot always observed business ethics in relation to his clients he did not seek to know more about the cargo being delivered than what was stated in the documents accompanying it and his clients knew it Victor was always mindful of how much effort he had put into his business so the idea that he could jeopardize it is Preposterous if boot's guilt in the crimes is obvious why for so many years the authorities of many countries could not prove anything why was Victor pressured with some far-fetched pretexts the already mentioned story about boot stay in South Africa for example looks strange from the point of view of the rule of law at first the South African authorities initiated an investigation into boots companies operating in the country but after multiple violations of the local Aviation legislation were found in a record short period of time boot was not charged with anything the Belgian authorities followed a roughly similar scenario and 7 years after boot seized all trading operations in the country accused him of money laundering and issued an international warrant for his arrest by Interpol in fact boot's successful air transportation business was shut down not for economic reasons not because it was unprofitable but only because of his damaged image and accusation of this nature haunted boot right up to his arrest which in a sense can be considered the apotheosis of his life's journey congratulations you have convicted Nicholas Cage rumor has it that these were the words spoken by Victor boot's wife after the announcement of the verdict despite the many rumors linking boot to a number of diverse crimes and violations of the law the only crime for which he was ultimately punished was a sham boot's attorney Steve vizo said don't forget his crime is a talking crime no guns were sold no one paid money for it it was a trumped up crime created solely to charge him and then for this colloquial crime the prosecution demanded life in prison without parole Victor boot was arrested in March 2008 in Thailand his arrest was the crowning achievement of an operation designed by Juan Zarate an adviser in the George W Bush Administration and Agents from The Drug Enforcement Administration or DEA agents posing as representatives of the Colombian FC Rebels reached boot through one of his former partners British citizen Andrew smulian the rebels were allegedly interested in the possibility of buying eigler manpads thanks to which they could shoot down American helicopters the same agents devised a plan to lure boot out of Russia and bring charges against him that would allow him to be tried in US jurisdiction why did boot who had not left Russia for several years decide to travel so far there are different opinions on this matter as an example Victor was simply tired of being in constant isolation in addition he did not want to miss the opportunity to make a major deal it was too serious a sum to entrust its discussion to any partner if the preliminary stages of the deal boot conducted In Absentia through a companion or by telephone the figures here required his personal Presence at the meeting the DEA agents made a real spectacle of it deliberately provoking victim to hang himself with the heaviest articles of the American criminal code there is an audio recording of this conversation made by the agents as evidence but it was never made public and the public had to be satisfied only with excerpts from the transcripts made thus according to the judge to the words of the bias that the weapons were intended to kill American soldiers boot replied we have a common enemy after these words Victor was detained By Thai police accompanied by other DEA agents on a warrant that was issued by a local Court in January 2008 at the request of the United States as for boot's partner sman he too was detained but then released less than a day later he flew to New York where he voluntarily appeared in court which took him into custody there were well found suspicions that he had been cooperating with the Americans from the very beginning and it was his idea to lure boot to Thailand in May 2012 sman was sentenced to 5 years in in prison four of which however he had already served on November 16 2010 Victor boot was extradited to the United States where he was charged with four counts criminal conspiracy to murder US citizens criminal conspiracy to murder persons in government service criminal conspiracy to purchase and sell Man portable air defense systems or man pads criminal conspiracy to assist in foreign organization recognized as a terrorist organization at the trial boot argued that when he agreed to supply weapons in reality he was only going to sell two cargo planes that were gathering dust in the Congo but these arguments did not convince the judge and jury which on November the 2nd unanimously convicted boot on all four counts boot's defense however asked to overturn the verdict as during the hearing an interesting detail emerged the jury forom Heather Hobson in an interview with the New York Times admitted that she had seen the already mentioned film Lord of War which somewhat influenced her decision however then it turned out that this movie had a s not during the trial but several years before it the verdict was upheld and boot had only to scold cage for his convincing acting on April the 5th 2012 a New York City Court sentence boot to 25 years in prison which he served in the infamous adx Florence Maximum Security Prison in prison Victor tried not to lose heart he read a lot through practice yoga in his letters to his family boot never complained about the inconveniences and lamented only that by the time he left prison he would be an old man that he would not be able to see his daughter grow up with his own eyes however fortunately for boot fate had other plans for him on February the 17th 2022 an ordinary flight from New York landed at moscow's Shero airport among its passengers was a 31-year-old US citizen basketball player Britney Grinder from Moscow Britney was going to Yak cinberg where her teammates were waiting for her ummc with whom she was supposed to prepare for the new sports season but at the airport her luggage was found to contain ecigarettes with liquids with traces of hashish oil a substance that is banned for import into Russia grinder was detained and sentenced to 9 years in a general regime colony and a fine of 1 million Rubles members of the US government as well as the President Joe Biden immediately declared that such a harsh sentence was unacceptable and unjustified they said that Grinder's detention was a purely political gesture as the trumped up charges turned the Olympic champion into a diplomatic hostage but there was a violation of Russian law and in addition to loud words the state department needed to take other more concrete steps for the release of its citizen at first the US government offered to exchange Britney grinder and Paul Wan a US citizen detained in Russia in 2018 for ESPN and sentenced to to a 16-year term for Victor boot on July 27 2022 it was announced that Joe Biden had approved it but diplomats from both countries eventually agreed that it would be better to conduct this procedure on a onetoone format with only Boot and grinder involved on December the 8th 2022 the long awaited Exchange took place at Abu Dhabi airport Victor boot spent a total of 14 years and 9 months behind bars the domestic press noted with deep satisfaction the fact of his return to his homeland 3 Days Later boot was accepted into the ranks of the ldpr party and is currently lecturing about his time in an American prison Victor boot is only 56 years old and he is free so who knows maybe we will hear more about him this was the story of Victor boot a story where it is still to this day impossible to fully determine who this man really was maybe an international arms dealer making millions of dollars maybe he was a cab driver who drove the necessary Goods at the behest of the powers that be without asking unnecessary questions or maybe an ordinary businessman who was lied to and illegally imprisoned today we only gave you different views on his fate and what to believe and what not to believe is up to you