Who is Victor Bout

Victor Bout is a Russian businessman who became one of the world’s famous on the basis of fictitious tales and stories which were generated from one source -- a corrupt United Nations contractor who was generously paid for the UN contracts he arranged with the help of others for Victor’s companies, and then became mad for vengeance when Victor refused to continue paying him.  All you know about Victor Bout is traceable to Johan Peleman’s report, a report that was written as a novel and made Peleman an expert, a hero, and a very wealthy man.   

Victor Bout is a dynamic, charismatic, spontaneous, well-dressed, well-spoken, and highly energetic person who can easily communicate in several languages including Russian, Portuguese, English, French, Arabic, among several others. He is a born salesman with undying love for aviation and eternal drive to succeed.

Victor was born in the Soviet Union, the city of Dushanbe, in an average home and an average family. His father and mother were both employees in the administrative and accounting fields respectively. Victor went to schools in Dushanbe, the city where his parents were employed, prior to returning to Moscow. There he was drafted to do the mandatory military service as a translator serving in the Soviet Union and abroad, and that was how he got introduced to Africa.

Upon the collapse of the Soviet Union Victor decided to leave the military service and start his own aviation business, the field he was always fascinated by. And with some help from his family and his wife, Victor was able to purchase four Antonov-8 cargo aircraft that became the core and starting point of his fleet and his business.

Venturing into Africa was a matter of necessity rather than choice. Victor who had already invested all he had into the purchase of the AN-8 had no other choice but to operate in Africa, and particularly, Angola which was the first and only country to grant a certificate for civilian operations to the Antonov-8 which was only certified as military freighter until then.  Pictured here is one of the AN-8 that started the fleet of Aircess.  

The low cost of acquisition of aircraft and the required crew, and the availability of capacity in a highly diverse fleet provided Victor with unparalleled competitive advantage. And until the demise of his operations in Africa there was not any operator capable of competing with Victor Bout.  Victor's operation turned the western European competitors to bitter enemies, and that was the major reason behind the unified efforts to drive him out of Africa, and the whole world. The stories of arms trafficking then became a snow ball, a huge matter that had no core; however, it got bigger with every roll, and plenty of rolling was added over more than 10 years. 

Welcome to the Internet age, and to the time that any story can become a reality without evidence or proof as long as the story can circulate long enough, with a help of those benefitting from it.