Several weeks ago, it was announced that UFC veteran Jeff Monson had become the first American to ever receive citizenship for the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) in occupied Ukraine. Now it appears that the fighter has more ambitious plans on his political agenda.
Sources close to Monson informed Sports Politika that the UFC veteran is angling for a posterboy position in president Vladimir Putin’s Far East Initiative.
Back in May, Putin signed a law offering 2.5 acres land plots to Russians and naturalized citizens for free. The aim is to boost land development and economic gains in the region by convincing citizens to resettle to the Far East. Russian also hopes to stem an influx from China Applications are currently being offered for land in the Kamchatka, Primorye, Khabarovsk, Amur, Magadan and Sakhalin regions, the republic of Sakha, and the Jewish and Chukotka autonomous districts.
According to sources, Monson is interested in becoming the the official face of the program and has already applied for a plot of land. The goal is for Monson to eventually launch an information campaign with a federal TV channel to seek volunteers to join him in building an MMA training and farming community in the Far East. The process would be filmed as a reality TV show, and the community branded as a modern patriotic “kolkhoz.”
Monson’s request was discussed at the Eastern Economic Forum, where the below clip was played.
Sports Politika also obtained the letter Monson received from Putin’s advisor, Anton Kobyakov, who invited Monson to the Forum to discuss the initiative.
While Monson plans to complete is yet to complete his professional career, his transformation from fighter to politician is an ongoing one. Though currently in the process of obtaining Russian citizenship, Monson was also recently named the sports ambassador for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF). The Communist Party sent Monson to Luhansk several months ago as part of a new “sports programme”, which is designed to improve the party’s image both on the international stage and at home. Given that American support is rarely encountered, the KPRF jumped at the opportunity to enlist a willing American communist’s support