Russian Arms Dealer Extradited to U.S.

Accused Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout is led by Thai authorities to a showing before the media in Bangkok, Thailand, March 7, 2008.

Saeed Khan / AFP / Getty

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(BANGKOK) — The Thai government agreed Tuesday to extradite accused Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout to the United States, where he faces terrorism charges.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters that the Thai Cabinet sided with an earlier Appeals Court decision that Bout, alleged to be one of the world's major arms dealers, could be extradited.(See more about Viktor Bout and the tug-of-war with Russia.)

Abhisit said Bout would be sent as soon as the U.S. was ready to receive him, even suggesting that the suspect might already be on his way.

Bout, a 43-year-old former Soviet air force officer who is reputed to have been one of the world's most prolific arms dealers, was arrested in March 2008 in Bangkok as part of a sting operation led by U.S. agents.(See the work of an Italian artist who made art from weapons.)

Bout has allegedly supplied weapons that fueled civil wars in South America, the Middle East and Africa, with clients including Liberia's Charles Taylor and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and both sides in Angola's civil war.

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