Former notorious arms dealer turns to politics

As an arms trafficker, he operated in some of the world’s most dangerous places, becoming one of the world’s most wanted men and earning the nickname “Merchant of Death,” not to speak of a 25-year prison sentence in the United States. But now, nine months after returning to Russia in a prisoner exchange, Viktor Bout is reinventing himself — as a local politician.

Bout, 56, is standing in elections Sunday as a candidate for the regional assembly in Ulyanovsk, a territory of 1.3 million people about 450 miles east of Moscow that was Vladimir Lenin’s birthplace. His emergence as a politician in Russia’s autocratic system — in which elections serve mainly to add a veneer of legitimacy to President Vladimir Putin’s rule — shows how the Kremlin is eager for fresh faces to maintain popular support.

“I’ve been for 15 years locked up in your federal system,” he said in an interview conducted in somewhat stilted English at his party’s Moscow headquarters. “So what do you expect for me, that I have to take time to take vacation? Heck no. I’ve got to do everything for my country.”

Bout (pronounced “boot”) was arrested in Thailand in 2008 in a US sting operation, convicted in 2011 in a New York City court and sentenced to 25 years in prison on four felony charges, including conspiring to kill Americans and conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization.

He had built his empire during the wild, post-Soviet era of wanton crime and corruption, sending a fleet of airplanes around the world to deliver arms to rebels, terrorists, and militants, analysts and American intelligence agents have said.

He was long suspected of having links to Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU.

He returned to Russia in December in a prisoner swap for American basketball star Brittney Griner, after months of negotiations between Moscow and Washington.

He wasted little time. Four days after returning home, he became a card-carrying member of Russia’s Liberal Democratic Part. It was founded by nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky and, in Russia’s system of “managed democracy,” is nominally an opposition party but actually serves the Kremlin. The party specializes in flamboyant politicians who entertain and scandalize as much as they legislate.

More unassuming than flamboyant, Bout said he wanted to start his political career at the local level to gain a deeper understanding of his country after such a long absence.