We got Ukraine selling US arms on the black market as soon as they get their grubby hands on it, right? That's a pretty big problem.

Wouldn't it be nice to have one of the most seasoned black market arms merchants on your side to use his experience and contacts to trace and track all the munitions so you can snub them when they try to trade hands?

Yeah, that makes sense to me.

I think Putin wanted Viktor Bout back in action so he can help be like Frank William Abagnale, Jr. (Catch Me If You Can), after he straightens up, and get to work to take these guns off the market before stinger missiles end up in the hands of some ISIS zealots, Somalian pirates, or MS13 dirtbags.

Meanwhile Saudi Arabia decides that a stable Middle East is the best bet, so they brokered the deal. Biden was all shit on by the two, and now looks like an ass. His freak show is so out of the loop of sanity that they probably didn't even realize who they were trading for Big Dick Griner.

Anyways, that's a theory, I guess.