On December 18, an office of the regional branch of the Russian LDPR party was opened in Grozny. The ceremony was attended by party member Viktor Bout, who was released from an American prison and handed over to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange ten days earlier.
“Death merchant” and “arms baron,” as the Western press nicknamed him, Viktor Bout was detained in Thailand in 2008 and transferred to the United States, where in 2012 he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for preparing to sell weapons to Colombian anti-government groups. He did not admit guilt. On December 8, in the UAE, Bout was exchanged for an American citizen, US national team basketball player Britney Greiner, who was convicted in Russia of transporting hashish oil in an electronic cigarette.
On December 12, Bout joined the Liberal Democratic Party. The party card presentation ceremony took place in the Column Hall of the House of Unions in Moscow. The former prisoner said that the LDPR and party leader Leonid Slutsky, who heads the international committee of the State Duma, did a lot for his release, and therefore his duty now is “to take an active part in the work of the LDPR.”
On December 17, Bout participated in the opening of the regional branch of the party in the so-called Lugansk People's Republic.
As Kommersant reported, citing its source in the State Duma, the LDPR leadership is negotiating with the presidential administration about Bout’s participation in the by-elections to the Duma in 2023.