Global Courant
(Reuters) – A Russian arms dealer who was released last December in a prisoner swap for American basketball star Brittney Griner has been chosen as a far-right party’s candidate for a seat in a Russian regional legislature, state news agency RIA reported Sunday.
Viktor Bout, once called “the merchant of death” by the United States, served 10 years of a 25-year sentence in US prisons on arms trafficking charges until his release in the prisoner swap with Griner, an Olympic gold medalist.
RIA quoted an official from the local organization of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) of Russia as saying that Bout had been nominated as a candidate for the legislative assembly of the Ulyanovsk region in central Russia.
Bout was arrested by U.S. agents during a 2008 stabbing in Thailand. The U.S. Justice Department described him as one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers who had spent decades selling guns around the world to terrorists and U.S. enemies. Bout has always denied the allegations.
Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2022 for possession of vape cartridges containing cannabis oil – which is illegal in Russia – after a legal process that was labeled a sham by Washington. Griner has since resumed her sports career.
Bout publicly joined the LDPR after returning to Russia. Despite its name, the LDPR holds far-right, ultra-nationalist views and strongly supports President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The LDPR has previously hosted Andrei Lugovoi, who is wanted in Britain for the 2006 murder of ex-KGB officer and Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko. Lugovoi has been an LDPR member of the Russian National Parliament since 2007.
(Reporting by Felix Light; editing by Gareth Jones)
