This case is the latest string of setbacks in an attempt at resetting relations...- Guess what people in the news and government industry. We the people here in Russia never believed in the American jargon RESET!!! It is silly. The attempts are repeatedly made only to be spoiled like this over and over again. The fact is they want to project global authority and America won't be anyone's friend until they are 1)in control of you 2) they have collapsed the no longer can attempt to even gain an edge to make demands. This whole case is illegal just like the kidnapping of the pilot who was sent to New York. I am almost certain, Russia will be all bark and no bite. They'll let America ruin a man's life from a built up fantasy of a DEA agent who doesn't want to spoil his image.

it is sad, but it looks like the USA is always one step ahed of Russia. It is unfair, but it is reality.

Thailand's leaders have succumbed to American political pressure. But this was a miscalculation. America could expect to find no better friend in the region than the current regime in Thailand. And this places an absolute limit on what the American government can do to show its displeasure. Especially since the Red Shirt movement in Thailand has shown the vulnerability of the current elites to hostile social movements. Any revolutionary movement in Thailand could easily bring into power a government much more favorable to its largest neighbor China. The Russian elites by contrast suffer none of these American constraints. They can afford to dwell on two old sayings 'What goes around comes around' and 'Revenge is best served as a cold dish'. The trial when it comes in the USA will be in the nature of a Show Trial. The Russian government can add that to the bill to be presented down our time line to the leaders of Thailand.

Looks like the US government is another witch-hunt! The Colombian F.A.R.C group is not a terrorist organisation, yet a rebel group that has issues with the Colombian government. ( oh, President Hugo Chavez has suggested that the FARC take a more constructive policy with the Colombian government). I guess that Washington needs atleast one trophy in this case. Last, great consistent coverage and follow-up on this story by Ms Azarova! She's a real journalistic treasure.

It seems Russia needs to start playing by the rules America plays by. Rendition is OK. Pressuring little countries into kidnapping people is OK. Regime change and bombing to get your way is OK.

Can anyone explain to me this: if his crimes were committed outside United States, why will he be tried in the US. US sells to terrorists groups in Africa all the time and so does China.

I am sure Russia has reasons for capitulating to the Anglo-America terrorist alliance, time will tell if it was weakness or strategy.

The obsession to try Mr. Bout in U.S court is not about controlling weapons of mass destruction. The whole world knows the U.S is the greatest trafficker of weapons to the rest of the world. The United States is also internally most militarized society- in the developed world. We can also mention the new queen of imperial chaos, Hilary Clinton, is demanding the British government bring back to prison the only convicted person in the Lockerbie airline bombing. But this man has been freed already and is with his family and in his homeland. In her mindset, the U.S can send the death squats and get this dying man-kill him or kidnap him! What we are seeing is public display of a diminishing imperial powers of the U.S. The leaders of this empire are sensing they are losing global domination.. Mr. Bout’s crime is not that he was engaged in the trafficking of arms but that it is being alleged that he was giving weapons to groups not approved by the U.S. If this man was trafficking weapons to the government of Columbia- a government run by rightwing drug dealing thugs, Mr. Bout would not have been in trouble with the U.S. These days, the empire speaks with many contradictory voices. Some are telling the world that the empire wants to have normalized relation with Russia but neocons continue to treat Russia and Russians as Cold War enemies. Still, it is the moral as well as the legal obligation of the Russian state to make it clear to the Thai government not sent Mr. Bout to the U.S.

Good one less arms dealer in the world. I don't know why you guys are defending him, it really shows your biased opinions.

Srbin I think it is very clear that this case and also the recent U.S kidnapping of a Russian pilot from the African country of Liberia to the U.S without informing the Russian federation is sending a message to the Russian Federation. It says that Russian citizens around the world can be kidnapped and rendered to the U.S or any other country at the U.S order. I do not think the Russian authorities will announce how they plan to respond to this type of extra juridical provocations against Russian citizens. However, given Russia's fulfillment of the starting the first Iranian nuclear plant, Russia’s active command to protect its borders, cultivate business partners and friends- have greater chance of securing Russia than tit for tat trading tricks with the empire of chaos. My guess is that the empire of chaos is seeking the attention of Russia with this and similar rather counter productive recent cases against Russian citizens. As for this case, Russia should make it clear to the Thai government sending Mr. Bout to the U.S is not acceptable to Russia.

Sean .. because of the hypocrity of the USA ,NATO , EU and Israel

Hypocrisy?!?!? There is no hypocrisy here, just keeping a villain off the streets of the world. Russia is just making it person b/c he is Russian.

One less dealer? I doubt anyone who believes he is a dealer has seen, beyond a reasonable doubt, evidence that is enough to convict him. They have a hollywood movie and the news calling him the merchant of death, they also had foreigners arrest him at the behest of the DEA. This is enough for almost all people to make assumptions of guilt. This is another reason why America's legal system is a joke. Most people see a cop pulling a car over on the street and think... haaaaaa!!! Caught another speeding car. Sometimes they do it because they inform a driver a headlight is out. What gives America any right to a man who hasn't commited a crime in USA? Their biggest claim is he gave weapons to the FARC. Okay... if that were true, WHAT ARE AMERICANS DOING????????!!!! This is beyond sad. GarryB is right, soon all will take the US government's example and say to hell with international law. America kidnapping and torturing is nothing new. They've done it in the name of national security for long time. One reporter who even gives it a look is John Pilger.

@Sean, Evil Empire has declared its intention to DOMINATE space above Planet Earth, in effect domination and enslavement of Earths inhabitants. Resist Evil!

Bout has not been convicted of any crime Sean yet you call him an arms dealer and say one less in the world is a good thing... you realise the US government is currently the largest arms exporter in the world? I think that clearly shows your bias... the Americans want to arrest him so he must be guilty? Of course he is guilty... he has had a fair trial... by Hollywood and the US media... so he must be guilty. How dare Russia Today suggest otherwise... how dare they even run this story? How unamerican of them!

You get mad at me for calling him an arms dealer "with no proof." But you guys have no problem saying the CIA is behind the warrant of julian assange. America is the world largest arms deal but Russia and China are at a close 2nd. But i'm the hypocrite, typical anti-american propagandists. You people criticize America but but secretly do what America does.

Who is angry Sean? I haven't arrested anyone or demanded anyone arrest anyone? I haven't demanded anyone gets put on trial for selling arms or for putting pressure on foreign countries to kidnap someone. Bout runs an airline in Africa and occasionally makes money in the transport of firearms. Should the owner of FED EX be arrested and sent to Russia because as an export agency we can be sure that at some time they might have sent arms related items to people who might have performed terrorist actions in Russia? The CIA acts in the US's interests outside of the USA so they can break US law. You really think they are the good guys? The fact that they sold drugs to earn money to fund their operations tells you they are pretty much a drug cartel to the rest of the world. You say :America is the world largest arms deal but Russia and China are at a close 2nd. But i'm the hypocrite, typical anti-american propagandists. You people criticize America but but secretly do what America does. Where did I say selling arms was wrong? It is the US and YOU demanding this guy is a criminal because he transported and made a little profit from weapons. People who are International Arms dealers could not operate without the tacit consent of national governments and they operate in the background everywhere till someone annoys the wrong person or supports the wrong cause and loses the protection they need to keep operating. What probably happened was that Bout was supplying the Taleban and then after 11/9 he didn't stop supplying them quickly enough so when the US government changed sides he got left holding the bag and is suddenly the bad guy. His real crime will be not bending with the wind... like the Saudis do. 15 of the 19 hijackers in 11/9 were Saudi Nationals and nothing happens to that fkd up country. It is a joke. A bad one.

Sean,your argument doesn't change a thing. The US is still number 1 in arms dealing & number 1 in political hypocrisy. Number '2' doesn't matter in this contest...Only two forces of evil have the means and will to corrupt the world consistently today: -NATO & their corporate NGO mercenaries blindly financed by the exhausted U.S, taxpayer so Americans can stay employed in the US military & government and their numerous contractors which are the 2 biggest employers in the US. -Radical Islam which ironically is also financed by the exhausted US taxpayer/oil consumer channeling foreign aid to Islamic states like Pakistan & Albania which are in turn blackmailing the West..These fascist Muslims also maintain vast criminal enterprises selling drugs & trafficking people....which smells a whole lot worse than arms smuggling...

To make it short and simple: Every day, just watching RT and other Worldwide media, we see proofs of how deceitful are the US decisions-makers. Nevertheless, Mr Medvedev insist in taking America as an example and appreciating trough that reset-button propaganda his great guy buddy N-PiPO (Bla bla bla Obama). My Russian friends; something is wrong and need to be explained; but it is not up to me to ask...Remember: your future is our future... Best Regards. Jean-Claude Meslin