Putin is desperate. Things haven’t gone well with his wars and he is hoping Bout can fix it all. There will probably be an uptick in some arms into Russia, but, it will be brief. The world is different than it was when Bout made his money. Now he is being asked to bring arms into Russia rather than export them.
Bout has friends and connections and will get early successes simply because people owe him a favor, but, favors are short lived.
