U.S. Targets Russian Arms Embargo Buster

The United States is targeting Russian air transporter Victor Bout, who it accuses of busting weapons embargoes that have helped prolong African civil wars.

Forces in several African countries fought lengthy bloody internecine wars in the 1990s with arms paid for with conflict diamonds.

The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed broad financial sanctions against Bout's international arms network by freezing the assets of 30 companies and four individuals, including an American named as Bout's chief financial officer.

In addition to his involvement in Africa, Bout is also accused of massive arms shipments to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the 1990s, making around $50 million in the process.

The move prohibits transactions between sanctioned firms and American businesses. Treasury officials said they would ask foreign governments to join the sanctions and would urge the United Nations Security Council to follow suit.

Arms experts say Bout has shielded his assets and planes over the years by moving them through a shifting network of holding companies and registries scattered from Liberia to Delaware.

Bout has been a fugitive since Belgium issued an arrest warrant in 2002 on money-laundering charges.