Why I named monster in Parliament
I WAS horrified by the amount of intelligence I received on a daily basis about Viktor Bout’s arms dealing.
We knew where he was going. We knew the flights he was on. I was outraged nothing was being done.
I spoke to a Russian minister but nothing happened because Bout was protected by Putin’s circle.
By that stage these arms were being used to shoot at our squaddies in Sierra Leone. So after a long tussle between the Foreign Office and our intelligence agencies, it was agreed that I could name Bout in Parliament and I coined the phrase the Merchant of Death.
It stopped the flow of weapons to Sierra Leone and it cranked up the pressure on Bout.
But I think there are other, smaller Viktor Bouts still running weapons into the Middle East and Africa, perhaps with Putin’s blessing.
We have to be vigilant and put these people out of business.