{"id":2028443,"date":"2023-09-11T18:38:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-11T22:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/merchant-of-death-viktor-bout-trades-prison-for-politics-after-return-to-russia\/"},"modified":"2023-09-11T18:39:18","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T22:39:18","slug":"merchant-of-death-viktor-bout-trades-prison-for-politics-after-return-to-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/merchant-of-death-viktor-bout-trades-prison-for-politics-after-return-to-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Arms Dealer&#8217; Viktor Bout swaps jail for politics upon returning to Russia."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmerchant-of-death-viktor-bout-trades-prison-for-politics-after-return-to-russia%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2028443&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>An Arms Trafficker, Dubbed the &#8220;Merchant of Death,&#8221; Runs for Elected Office in \u200dRussia<\/h2>\n<p>An infamous\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/escalating-tensions-between-russia-and-u-s-imperil-wrongfully-imprisoned-americans\/\" title=\"Escalating Tensions Between Russia and U.S. Imperil Wrongfully Imprisoned Americans\">arms trafficker<\/a> known\u200c as the &#8220;Merchant of Death,&#8221; who was controversially traded by the Biden administration for basketball\u200d star Brittney Griner in a prisoner swap last\u200c year, has returned to Russian soil and is now vying for elected office.<\/p>\n<p>Viktor Bout, labeled as one of the world&#8217;s most dangerous\u200d criminals, was sentenced to 25 years in an American \u200dprison on four felony charges, including conspiring to kill Americans and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/actblue-facilitating-donations-to-terror-tied-charity-legal-group-says\/\" title=\"ActBlue Facilitating Donations to Terror-Tied Charity, Legal Group Says\">providing material support<\/a> to a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n<p>The former Soviet military translator had established his empire during a lawless post-Soviet era by \u200csupplying weapons to\u2063 terrorists and militants worldwide. He was eventually apprehended in\u200b Thailand through a Drug Enforcement Administration sting operation that spanned three continents.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Bout \u200dis\u200d determined to contribute to his homeland.<\/p>\n<h3>A Political Aspirant in Ulyanovsk<\/h3>\n<p>The 56-year-old is currently running as a candidate for the regional assembly in Ulyanovsk, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/merchant-of-death-viktor-bout-trades-prison-for-politics-after-return-to-russia\/\" title=\"'Arms Dealer' Viktor Bout swaps jail for politics upon returning to Russia.\">territory \u2062located 450 miles east<\/a> of Moscow \u200dand renowned as Vladimir Lenin&#8217;s birthplace. \u200bWith a population of \u20631.3 million people, Bout aims\u2062 to represent the interests of everyday Russians.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with the New York \u2064Times conducted in Moscow, Bout expressed his motivation, stating, &#8220;I&#8217;ve been locked up in\u2064 your federal \u2063system for\u200c 15 years. So what do you expect from me? To take a\u200c vacation? Heck no. I have to do everything for my country.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While Bout\u200c did not\u2062 delve into the specifics of his campaign platform, he emphasized his \u200bdesire to start \u2062from the grassroots level and gain a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by ordinary Russians after spending over a\u200d decade incarcerated in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When you&#8217;ve\u200d been absent from\u200c your country\u2064 for 15 years,\u200b you need to start\u200b somewhere,&#8221; he explained. \u2063&#8221;For me, entering regional office is a better \u2062way to comprehend the problems. \u2062I need to meet people. I need to \u200clearn how they live.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Not the First Controversial Figure to Hold \u2062Office in Russia<\/p>\n<p>If successful, Bout would join a list of individuals accused of crimes by Western\u200d authorities who have returned to prominence \u2062and held positions\u200b of power in Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Andrei Lugovoi,\u2062 a former\u2064 KGB \u2062bodyguard accused of \u2062murdering Alexander Litvinenko according to British authorities, now serves as a deputy \u2062in the State\u200c Duma, the lower house \u2063of the Russian parliament.<\/p>\n<p>Maria Butina, a Russian \u200dagent who attempted to infiltrate the National Rifle Association \u2063to influence policy \u2064and pleaded guilty\u200b in 2018 to \u2062conspiring as a foreign agent,\u200d was deported to Russia. In 2021, she became a member of the Duma and\u2062 is affiliated with the United Russia Party, led by President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n<p>Only time will tell if Viktor Bout&#8217;s bid for elected office will be successful, but his controversial past and\u200c determination\u2062 to serve his country make his campaign an intriguing development in Russian politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An infamous arms dealer, known as the &#8220;Merchant of Death,&#8221; was exchanged by the Biden administration for basketball player Brittney Griner in a contentious prisoner swap. Viktor Bout, considered a highly dangerous criminal, has returned to Russia and is now seeking elected office. He had previously been labeled as a one-way ticket out of society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2028444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2028443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2028443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2028444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2028443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2028443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2028443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}