Russian ex-arms dealer Viktor Bout to run for far-right party in local vote

Viktor Bout served 10 years of a 25-year sentence in US prisons until his release in the prisoner exchange with Brittney Griner, an Olympic gold medallist
Russian state news reported on Sunday that Bout had been nominated as a candidate for the legislative assembly of the Ulyanovsk region in central Russia

Russia

Reuters

Published: 7:31am, 3 Jul 2023

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A Russian arms dealer freed last December in a prisoner swap for US basketball star Brittney Griner has been chosen as the candidate of a far-right party for a seat in a Russian regional legislature, state news agency RIA reported on Sunday.

Viktor Bout, once dubbed “the merchant of death” by the United States, served 10 years of a 25-year sentence in US prisons on arms dealing charges until his release in the prisoner exchange with Griner, an Olympic gold medallist.

RIA cited an official in Russia’s ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR)‘s local organisation as saying that Bout had been nominated as a candidate for the legislative assembly of the Ulyanovsk region in central Russia.

US basketball player Brittney Griner, left, escorted to a courtroom in Russia in July last year; and Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout escorted by special forces in Thailand to board a plane for extradition to the US in 2010. Photo: EPA-EFE

Bout was arrested by US agents during a sting in Thailand in 2008. The US Department of Justice described him as one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers who had sold weapons across the globe to terrorists and America’s enemies for decades. Bout always denied the charges.

Griner was sentenced in 2022 to nine years in a penal colony for possessing vape cartridges containing cannabis oil – which is banned in Russia – after a judicial process labelled a sham by Washington. Griner has since resumed her sports career.

Bout publicly joined the LDPR following his return to Russia. Despite its name, the LDPR holds far-right, ultranationalist views and strongly supports President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The LDPR has previously provided a home to Andrei Lugovoi, who is wanted in Britain for the 2006 murder of ex-KGB officer and Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko. Lugovoi has served as an LDPR member of Russia’s national parliament since 2007.

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