American influence has prevailed in Thailand after a two-year tug of war between Moscow and Washington over the extradition of Viktor Bout, a Russian national the United States accuses of being an international arms trafficker.
Russian officials have asserted Bout's innocence, and are certainly wary of his potential knowledge of the FSB's inner workings falling into American hands.
First Bangkok sided with the Russians; then flipped under American pressure. Taking heavy security precautions, AP reports that Thai security forces took Viktor to the airport today and loaded him onto a U.S. jet loaded with DEA agents. (Associated Press image)
What are the Russians afraid Viktor might say? A lot, according to the BBC's Richard Galpin:
Well-placed sources in Moscow have told the BBC Mr Bout could not have operated what is alleged to have been a massive illegal arms dealing business without support from many different parts of the Russian state... in particular the secret services.
Many suspect Mr Bout is himself an intelligence officer or at least closely connected with the intelligence agencies here.
A former British minister who had access to secret files while in office has alleged that Mr Bout's connections go to very senior levels of the Russian government.
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