Accused 'Merchant of Death' Arms Dealer Has Day in Court

(Nov. 17) -- In the eyes of Russian officials, Viktor Bout is an innocent businessman being railroaded -- quite contrary to the American view that he's a cunning and dangerous arms dealer worthy of the moniker "Merchant of Death."

Clad in black T-shirt and black sweat pants, Bout briefly appeared this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, represented by a federal defender. He entered a not guilty plea and was ordered held without bail pending his next court appearance, set for Jan. 10.

"Yes, your honor," Bout told U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin when asked if he understood the charges, the New York Daily News reported.

The case has garnered international attention and caused Cold War-like strains between Russia and the U.S. And things heated up when he was extradited from Thailand and arrived Tuesday in New York aboard a plane chartered by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

U.S. authorities allege that Bout had agreed to supply arms and weapons to two confidential sources for the DEA who posed as Colombian rebels intending to kill American pilots patrolling the drug war.

He was arrested in March 2008 in Bangkok and held in a Thai jail for more than two years while he battled extradition to the U.S. He was busted as part of a U.S.-Thai sting.

"Viktor Bout has been indicted in the United States, but his alleged arms trafficking activity and support of armed conflicts in Africa has been a cause of concern around the world," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement issued after Bout's arrival in New York.

"Long considered one of the world's most prolific arms traffickers, Mr. Bout will now ... answer to charges of conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to a terrorist organization for use in trying to kill Americans," Holder said.

Russia sees the situation far differently.

A statement issued by the Foreign Ministry called the extradition "inexplicable and unjustifiable," according to the Los Angeles Times.

"It leaves no doubt that the anti-legal extradition of V.A. Bout stems from the unprecedented political pressure applied by the United States government and judicial authorities in Thailand," the ministry said in the statement. "All this can be characterized as none other than interference in the execution of justice and puts in doubt the independence of Thailand's justice system."

The Justice Department alleged that Bout had assembled a fleet of cargo airplanes to transport weapons and military equipment to different parts of the world, including Africa, South America and the Middle East.

In 2004, as a result of alleged arms trafficking in Liberia, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control placed Bout on the "Specially Designated Nationals" list, authorities said. That legally banned transactions between Bout and U.S. nationals, and froze any of his assets in the U.S.

"For more than a decade, Mr. Bout is alleged to have plied a deadly trade in surface-to-air missiles, land mines, bullets, death and destruction," said Michele Leonhart, head of the DEA.