Viktor Bout, Russian arms dealer freed from US prison, joins Kremlin-loyal political party

Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer freed last Thursday in exchange for Brittney Griner, a US basketball player, has joined the Kremlin-loyal ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR).

Bout, once nicknamed ‘the merchant of death’, was released after 14 years in US custody.

On Monday, Leonid Slutsky, LDPR leader, confirmed Bout’s new membership in the party, a move that could see him seek a seat in the Russian parliament.

“I want to thank Viktor Anatolievich (Bout) for the decision he has made and welcome him into the ranks of the best political party in today’s Russia,” Slutsky said.

Since its foundation in 1991, the LDPR has promoted an ultranationalist and xenophobic ideology, urging Russia to invade the countries of the former Soviet Union.

The party has often been described as adhering to authoritarianism and is famous for its hardline views.

The LDPR has also been famed for providing a platform for questionable characters to join Russian politics.

In 2007, Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB agent accused by Britain of murdering the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, gained a seat in the Russian Duma on the party’s platform.

However, on a Kremlin-organised media tour after his release, Bout said he had no immediate plans to participate in any election.

Bout backed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and praised Vladmir Putin, the country’s president, for his fierce decision to take back power.

“I am proud that I am a Russian person, and our president is Putin,” he said, adding that he kept a picture of Putin in his US prison cell.

“I know that we will win. Why did we not do it earlier?” he said in response to the Russia-Ukraine crisis.