The U.N. Finally Sanctions Bout Associates and Companies

By Douglas Farah

Well, after months of delay (mostly on the U.S. part in getting the information to them), the United Nations finally designated two business associates of Viktor Bout and 30 of his companies, obligating member states to freeze all assests related to the people and firms and banning their international travel. The full list can be found here.

OFAC had designated the same people (Richard Chichakli, a U.S. citizen; and Valeriy Naydo, Ukranian), along with two others, and the same companies, in April. That made it illegal for any U.S. company to do any business with any company related to Bout--a legal barrier that has been routinely ignored by some in the Pentagon and some of their civilian contractors.

However, getting the exact same information to the UN so the designations would have a global effect took an inordinate amount of time because the whole thing got bogged down in the inter-agency review swamp for months--months used by Bout to create new companies, buy new aircraft and continue operating. While the Treasury Department gave the list to the State Department immediately after taking its own action, State was unable to move the papers along for almost six months. The UN acted with relative swiftness in getting the list issued once they got the request from the United States. Only two people, Sergei Bout (Viktor's brother and partner, and another Russian citizen) were kept off the global list due to a "technical hold" by the Russians, pending more information from the United States.

While the freezing measures, both in the United States and the UN, were based on Bout's support for Charles Taylor in Liberia, he is also accused by the U.S. government of making $50 million off of arms sales to the Taliban, weapons that were later used against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. In addition, Bout and his web of companies, according to U.S., European and U.N. investigators, has supplied an array of of other desiganted terrorist groups with weapons, including the FARC in Colombia.

The strength of the UN action is that it provides a legal basis for other nations to act against Bout and his companies. The UAE, for example, has not taken action against several Bout companies as requested by the United States because the companies were only designated by the Treasury Department. Go here to read the full blog.

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