vladimir putin, a ranking member of his party, started this gun rights group in russia. they didn't actually do much to promote gun rights in russia, at all. they also named themselves the right to bear arms, which has a lot more resonance in the english language than they did in russian, they started making lots and lots of connections to the american nra. alexander, w torshin started cultivating ties with russia and attending nra yearly conferences in the u.s., they met can top u.s. officials, cultivated friendships, they sought out republican party introductions whenever they could and they twice got senior nra officials and nra-affiliated celebrities to come visit russia, all expenses paid as guests of this