A Russian arms dealer freed last December in a prisoner swap involving American basketball star Brittney Griner has been chosen as the candidate of a far-right party in regional elections in Russia, a news agency said on Sunday. .

Viktor ButPhoto: Federal Security Service of Russia / UPI / Profimedia Images

Victor Booth, once dubbed the “dealer of death” by the United States, served 10 years of a 25-year sentence in US prisons for arms trafficking until he was released in a prisoner swap with gold medalist Brittney Griner.

RIA quotes a representative of the local organization of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) as saying that Bout was nominated as a candidate for the legislative assembly of the Ulyanovsk region in central Russia.

Booth was arrested by US agents during a raid in Thailand in 2008. The US Department of Justice has described him as one of the world’s most successful arms dealers, selling weapons to terrorists and America’s enemies around the world for decades. Booth has always denied the allegations.

Griner was sentenced in 2022 to nine years in prison for possession of e-cigarette cartridges containing hemp oil – which is banned in Russia – after a trial Washington described as a farce. Since then, Griner has resumed his sports career.

Bout publicly joined the LDPR after returning to Russia. Despite its name, the LDPR has far-right, ultra-nationalist views and strongly supports President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier, the LDPR offered housing to Andrii Lugovoi, who is wanted in Britain for the 2006 murder of former KGB officer and Putin critic Oleksandr Litvinenko. Since 2007, Lugovy has been a member of the Russian Parliament from the Liberal Democratic Party.

Read also:

  • Did Biden make a “bad deal”? Griner’s exchange with the arms dealer is hotly contested
  • Arms dealer Viktor Bout offers Trump to hide in Russia
  • Moscow hints it may be ready to negotiate a prisoner swap for freed reporter Evan Hershkovich