another American who had been convicted of spy activities in Russia, but declined to say what the United States was offering. On the same day, CNN reported that the U.S. had offered to exchange Bout for both Griner and Whelan. Bout was released back to Russia on 8 December 2022. Once confirmation came on that the prisoner exchange excluded Whelan, Biden said, "While we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul's release, we have not given up; we will not give up." After returning to Russia On 9 December 2022, Viktor Bout gave an interview to Maria Butina for RT, where he stated that he did not think he was important for Russian politics. On 10 December, Bout supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine and said that he would volunteer if given the opportunity and skills. On 12 December 2022, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) leader Leonid Slutsky announced that Bout had joined the LDPR. Personal life Since 1992, he has been married to Alla Vladimirovna Bout (nee Protasova; born in 1970 in Leningrad). Alla is an artist, designer, fashion designer, was the owner of clothing stores in the UAE, Germany, South Africa and Russia. Viktor Bout met his future wife in the late 1980s in Mozambique, where he worked as a translator from Portuguese in the Soviet military mission. This was Alla's second marriage. His daughter was born in 1994 in the UAE. Elder brother and former partner Sergey Anatolyevich Bout continues to conduct an aviation business in United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) and Bulgaria. Viktor Bout is a vegetarian. He claims that he is not a follower of any religion, but considers Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Ilyin to be his spiritual leaders and "shares the views" of Jesus Christ, Buddha, Zarathustra and Krishna. Bout speaks many languages, including English, French, Portuguese, Tajik, Farsi, Dari, Zulu, Xhosa and Esperanto, most of which he learned while in prison. In popular culture The third chapter "Merchant of Death" of the 2005 book The Washing Machine by Nick Kochan is written about Bout. The 2005 film Lord of War is purportedly based on allegations about Bout's personal history and black-market activities. In 2007, Stephen Braun and Douglas Farah published a book about Bout: Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible. A documentary about Bout, The Notorious Mr. Bout, from Market Road Films and directed by Tony