US prosecutors filed new charges this week in their global pursuit of the suspected Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout, dubbed the ‘Merchant of Death’. The updated indictment charges that Bout and his former business associate, Richard Chichakli – a Syrian-born American last reported to be living in Moscow – conspired to violate United Nations sanctions aimed at stopping bloody fighting in Africa by using a series of shell companies to try to purchase two planes from US companies in 2007, in violation of US and United Nations sanctions.