INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
basketball star Brittney Griner last week, has joined Russia's ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), according to video
footage posted on the party's Telegram channel on Monday
In his first public appearance since arriving back in Russia on Thursday, Bout was seen receiving his LDPR membership card from party leader
On Saturday, Bout used his first interview since arriving back in Russia to praise Russian President Vladimir Putin and to offer his backing
and necessary skills."Bout was arrested in a United States sting operation in Thailand in 2008 after being accused of arming rebels in some
of the world's bloodiest conflicts
He was subsequently extradited to the United States and sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2012.While the LDPR is currently the third
largest party in the State Duma having taken 7.5% of the vote in Russia's 2021 parliamentary elections, the party has been struggling to
remain relevant since the death of its founder and veteran leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky earlier this year
Bout's invitation to join the party's ranks appears to be another LDPR overture to a high-profile supporter of the war in Ukraine
Last week the party invited business magnate and Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin to join the party, only to be publicly rebuffed and
told by Progozhin that he "does not respect" the party's new leader.Slutsky, who was appointed LDPR leader in May after Zhirinovsky's
death, was accused of sexual harassment by three journalists in 2018, leading to a short-lived media boycott of parliament
Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for Russian President Vladimir Putin
