Military man turned businessman
Viktor Bout was born in Dushanbe, the capital of the Tajik Soviet Republic (now Tajikistan) to Russian parents. He graduated from the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow and joined the elite 339th regiment of the Soviet Union air force as a translator. His regiment was based out of Vitebsk, Belarus and operated in Angola as part of a UN contingent until 1991. When the regiment was disbanded after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bout moved to South Africa.
Having reached the rank of First Lieutenant in the Air Force, Bout left his military career behind him and began to put his skills to use in business. His mastery of languages, knowledge of Africa and experience with aircraft gave him a good grounding for a career in the aviation industry.
He started an air transport business, which quickly ballooned into a global airline network. It was the perfect timing for such a venture: in the early 1990s former Soviet Union aircraft could be bought quite cheaply as demand plummeted. It is thought that he began his empire with the purchase of a single An-12 ('Antonov') turboprop transport aircraft.
https://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/business/viktor-bout/