ST. PETERSBURG, June 19. /TASS/. Viktor Bout, a member of the LDPR, on Monday opened an exhibition of his paintings at the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg and said he was writing a book, according to a TASS reporter attending the event.

This is the first public exhibition of Viktor Bout's paintings in St. Petersburg. All of them were painted during his imprisonment in the United States. The exhibit is also supplemented with his personal belongings and photographs. An outline of the prison cell, where he spent many years, has been reproduced on the floor with a stencil. Viktor Bout gave the library a gift: his self-portrait and two copies of an autographed book about him, The True Story of the Arms Baron, which will be stored at the Russian National Library.

"In a crisis, a difficult situation, any art, any craft helps not just to distract yourself, to gather strength, [but] to somehow escape a little into another dimension, which calms and then gives you even more strength to get through it all," Bout said.

He said of the 25 paintings shown in the library, some are originals and some are copies, as another exhibition of 40 works, entitled My Shore is a Thin Line, will open at the Museum of Political History in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, and some originals will be on display there. The exhibition at the Russian National Library will run until July 1.

Writing a book

The paintings depict the faces of Bout’s wife and children, Russian movie stars, vehicles and aircraft, animals, architecture, and, from later periods of work, abstract pieces and landscapes. Besides, Bout talked about work on his book, which readers will be able to pick up in a year and a half.

"This is a work in progress. It’s hard to pin down when it will be over. It may take at least one year and a half. We will definitely present it at the Russian National Library afterward. It’s an autobiographical book about what it was like, who was behind it, and my personal recollections," Bout said.

Bout has been brought back to Russia as a result of an agreement to exchange him for US basketball player Brittney Griner. Viktor Bout was detained in Thailand’s capital Bangkok in 2008 under a warrant issued by a local court at the US request. He was charged with illegal supplies of weapons to the rebel group called the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the US. Bout was extradited to the United States two years later. In April 2012, he was sentenced to 25 years in jail and a fine of $15 million.