MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. Viktor Bout, who returned to Russia from a US prison several days ago, told the media on Monday that he has no immediate plans for participating in any elections.

"I'm not going to for now," Bout replied when asked whether he would nominate himself or agree to be nominated.

On Monday, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Leonid Slutsky, told the LDPR national congress, timed for the party’s anniversary, handed a membership card to Bout.

Earlier, Slutsky said that Bout would soon be invited to a meeting of the State Duma’s committee on international affairs and the LDPR faction.

The Russian Foreign Ministry reported on December 8 that Viktor Bout, a Russian citizen, who was serving out a prison sentence in the United States on arms trafficking charges, was returning to Russia as a result of a deal with the US to swap him for American basketball player Brittney Griner, who was apprehended in Russia for drug smuggling in February 2022.

Viktor Bout was arrested in Thailand’s capital of Bangkok in 2008 following a sting by US federal agents. He was charged with conspiracy to deliver weapons to a group regarded as a terrorist organization by the United States. In 2010, Bout was extradited to the United States. In April 2012, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined $15 million.