The Guardian 12-12-2022
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/12/freed-russian-arms-dealer-viktor-bout-joins-ultranationalist-party
The Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who returned home last week in a prisoner exchange for the American basketball star Brittney Griner, has joined the pro-Kremlin far-right Liberal Democratic party (LDPR), in a move that could see him seek a seat in the Russian parliament. In a video posted on telegram, LDPR’s leader, Leonid Slutsky, who was standing next to Bout, said: “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.” Despite its name, the Liberal Democratic party has, since its foundation in 1991, propagandised an ultranationalist and xenophobic ideology, urging Russia to invade the countries of the former Soviet Union.
2022-12-13
