Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky was born inAlma-Ata, the capital of theKazakh SSR (modern-day Almaty,Kazakhstan). His father, Volf Isaakovich Eidelshtein, was aUkrainian Jew fromKostopil in westernUkraine, and his mother, Alexandra Pavlovna (née Makarova), was an ethnic Russian fromMordovia.[6][7][8][9] Zhirinovsky inherited his surname through Andrei Vasilievich Zhirinovsky, Alexandra's first husband. His paternal grandfather was a wealthy industrialist in Kostopil,[10] who owned the largest sawmill in modern Ukraine and was head of the local Jewish community.[11] His grandfather's mill has an income of $32 million a year as of 2015, and over the years Zhirinovsky demanded that successive Ukrainian governments return it to him.[12]
Although he participated in some reformist groups, Zhirinovsky was not well known in Soviet political developments during the 1980s. While he contemplated a role in politics, a nomination attempt for a seat as a People's Deputy in 1989 was quickly abandoned.[13] In 1989, he served as a director of Shalom, a Jewish cultural organization; unknown in Jewish circles before, he is thought to have been invited to join by theAnti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public, but subsequently forcefully opposed its influence in the group.[14]
Four of Zhirinovsky's relatives were murdered duringthe Holocaust. Zhirinovsky's parents separated while he was still an infant. Abandoning the family, Zhirinovsky's father, Volf Eidelshtein, immigrated to Israel in 1949 (together with his new wife Bella and his brother), where he worked as an agronomist inTel Aviv. Zhirinovsky's father was a member of the right-wing nationalistHerut party in Israel, and died in 1983 when he was run over by a bus nearDizengoff Street in Tel Aviv.[10]
Zhirinovsky did not find out the details of his father's life in Israel, or even the fact that he had died until many years later.[10][11] Zhirinovsky said that he was an Orthodox Christian.[15] In 1994, Zhirinovsky was presented with a birth certificate indicating his original name as Eidelshtein; he claimed that the document was faked.[16]
Zhirinovsky denied his father's Jewish origins untilIvan Close Your Soul, published in July 2001, in which he described how his father, Volf Isaakovich Eidelshtein, changed his surname from Eidelshtein to Zhirinovsky. He then wrote, "Why should I reject Russian blood, Russian culture, Russian land, and fall in love with the Jewish people only because of that single drop of blood that my father left in my mother's body?"[6]
According to Zhirinovsky, "[His] mother was Russian and [His] father was a lawyer". Zhirinovsky later retracted the statement after researching his father's life in Israel. Discussing the statement, Zhirinovsky says: "Journalists mocked me: for saying I was the son of a lawyer. And I am really the son of an agronomist."[10]
Discussing his father, Zhirinovsky said with tears in his eyes, "All my life I was looking for him. I believed that he was alive. I believed that someday he would find me... But there is a silver lining. I tried to imitate him... And I was able to achieve a certain position in life even without the support of my father."[10]
Founding of the Liberal Democratic Party and 1991 presidential campaign
Yakovlev wrote in his memoirs that KGB directorVladimir Kryuchkov presented the project of the puppet LDPSU party at a meeting withMikhail Gorbachev and informed him about the selection of the LDPR leader. According to Yakovlev, the name of the party was chosen by KGB GeneralPhilipp Bobkov. Bobkov, however, stated that he was against the creation of "Zubatov's pseudo-party under KGB control that would direct the interests and sentiments of certain social groups".[19]
Zhirinovsky's first political breakthrough came in June 1991, when he came third in Russia'sfirst presidential election, gathering more than six million votes (7.81% of the vote).[20][21] Zhirinovsky'spopulist platform included promises to voters that if he elected, freevodka would be distributed to all. Similarly, he once remarked that if he were made president,underwear would be freely available during a political rally inside a Moscow department store.[22]
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the party was renamed as theLiberal Democratic Party of Russia. In 1992, Zhirinovsky made contact withJean-Marie Le Pen, the then-leader of France'sFront National (FN).Eduard Limonov of theNational-Bolshevik Party introduced the two men to each other and the FN later "provided logistical support [to the LDPR], including computers and fax machines". Zhirinovsky suggested establishing the International Centre of Right-wing Parties in Moscow and invited Le Pen to visit Moscow.[23]
The Liberal Democratic Party was a significant force inRussian politics, particularly in the early 1990s. At the height of its success, the LDPR gathered 23% of the vote in the1993 Duma elections[1] and achieved a broad representation throughout Russia – it gained the most votes in 64 out of 87 regions. It encouraged Zhirinovsky to once again run for president, this time against incumbentBoris Yeltsin. Yeltsin's candidacy seemed seriously challenged by Russian nationalist groups and a rejuvenated Communist Party alarmed many outside observers, particularly in the Western world, who expressed concern that such developments posed a serious threat to the survival of Russian democracy, which was already in a very fragile state.[24][25] During the 1990s, commentators described Zhirinovsky asfascist, having fascist tendencies, and aneo-fascist.[26][27][28]
During a visit to France in 1994, he said: "It's all over for you once you're Americanized and Zionized", and threw stones and dirt at Jewish protesters.Michael Specter, in a piece forThe New York Times published in the same year, said Zhirinovsky's "party is not liberal, not democratic, and these days not much of a party".[29] A 1995BBC documentary showed Zhirinovsky telling the crowd at a campaign rally: "Help us, and you'll never have to vote again! I'm not saying, 'Vote for us and maybe in 20 years' time somebody will do something.' No, these will be the last elections! The last ones!"[30]
While some observers believed that Zhirinovsky's controversial statements were efforts to drum up nationalist support as an electoral fodder meant for domestic consumption, there was considerable dismay when in February 1996 (months beforea presidential election), Zhirinovsky placed second in opinion polls, behind the Communist Party'sGennady Zyuganov and ahead of Yeltsin. In the election, Zhirinovsky placed fifth, with a 5.7% share in the first voting round.[24][25]
In the1999 legislative election, his party (running as the "Zhirinovsky Bloc") fared worse than it had in the previous election.
On 12 September 2014, Zhirinovsky was sanctioned by theUK government in relation to actively supporting the use ofRussian Armed Forces in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.[36]
Buchanan strongly rejected this endorsement, saying that he would provide safe haven to persecuted minorities if Zhirinovsky were ever elected Russia's president, which elicited a harsh response by Zhirinovsky: "You soiled your pants as soon as you got my congratulations. Who are you afraid of,Zionists?"[37]
Scholars of Russia consider him to have aneo-Eurasianist outlook.[38] In addition to expressing his concern forTurks andCaucasians displacing the Russian population from their settled territory,[39] Zhirinovsky also advocated for allChinese andJapanese people to be deported from theRussian Far East.[40] During his 1992 visit to the United States, Zhirinovsky called for "the preservation of thewhite race" on television and warned that the white Americans were in danger of turning their country over toBlack andHispanic people.[29]
In 2004, Zhirinovsky spoke at the City Court ofSaint Petersburg, in reference to the assassination ofGalina Starovoytova. After accusing Starovoytova of having worked for foreign intelligence, he said: "I have always said openly that for democrats of pro-Western orientation there are only three roads: prison, the grave, and emigration."[41]
On 23 August 2014, Zhirinovsky said Russia should abolish political parties, instead favouring anautocratic system in which the leader would be chosen by the "five to six thousand wisest people" in the country. He also proposed returning to the Imperial flag andanthem.[42][43][44] The proposals were rejected byVladimir Putin.[45]
In September 2016, inspired byDonald Trump's signatureborder wall proposal, Zhirinovsky proposed building a border wall and banning Muslims from entering Russia.[46]
InThe Last Break Southward (1995), Zhirinovsky described his worldview, which is as follows: "Since the 1980s, I have elaborated a geopolitical conception—the last break southward, Russia's reach to the shores of theIndian Ocean and the Mediterranean." This is "really the solution for the salvation of the Russian nation ... It solves all problems and we gain tranquility."[47] Russia would rule the space "from Kabul to Istanbul,"[48] and the United States would feel safer with the Russian rule in the region because wars would cease. Perhaps some people in Kabul, Teheran, or Ankara would not like it, but many people would feel better. "The Persians and Turks would suffer a bit but all the rest would gain."[49]
The "bells of the Orthodox Church must bell from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean," andJerusalem becomes close. It is necessary that "the Christian world reunifies in Jerusalem," and the Palestinian problem can be solved by partial transfer of the Palestinian population to the former territories of Turkey and Iran.[50] The great Russian language and Russian ruble would wield Near Eastern and Central Asian peoples into one Russian citizenship.[51]
Along the Russia southern sphere from India to Bosporus, other spheres of influence will stretch from north to south in the forthcoming world order, Latin America would be in the American sphere, Africa in the European sphere.[52] and Japan and China will ruleSoutheast Asia,Indonesia, and Australia. Everywhere "the direction is the same—north-south."[53] Geopolitically, he saw his position as logical: "Hence, the distribution along such a geopolitical formula would be very beneficent for the whole of humanity, and all over the planet would be established warm and clear political climate."[54]
"On this occasion, we need a man with at least planetary thinking," who would realise "the geopolitical formula, guaranteeing the interests of the majority on the planet ... This is the fate of Russia. It is destination, fate ... We must do it, for we have no choice ... This is geopolitics."[55] We would do it, assured Zhirinovsky alluding to himself, by the efforts of an "honest, perseverant, patriotically inspired President."[56]
Protests against the extradition and pardon ofRamil Safarov, Azerbaijani military officer, who murdered Armenian officerGurgen Margaryan during a NATO Partnership for Peace program, December 2012Zhirinovsky speaking in front of the State Duma, 2018
Zhirinovsky was known for his boasts pertaining to other countries, having expressed a desire to reunite countries of the ex-Soviet "near abroad" with Russia to within the Russia's borders of 1900 (including Finland and Poland). He advocated forcibly retakingAlaska from the United States (which would then become "a great place to put theUkrainians"), turning Kazakhstan into "Russia's back yard", and provoking wars between the clans and the nations of the former Soviet Union and occupying what would remain of it after the wars.[57] Zhirinovsky, who encouragedseparatism within the Russianminority in theBaltic countries,[18] endorsed the forcible re-occupation of these countries and said thatnuclear waste should be dumped there.[57][58]
Zhirinovsky supported Israel-Russia relations, but said that Israel had to make Russian its official language. He also believed Israel has to pay more attention to theRussian Orthodox Church,[59] and that Russians are endangered in Israel and should come under the protection of the Russian police.[60] Zhirinovsky led several official Russian delegations to Israel, on behalf of the Russian government. Visiting Israel, he said that he was concerned mainly about the economic situation for the more than one millionRussians living in Israel. He also stated that "Russia will never allow any violence against Israel."[10]
In the early 1990s, Zhirinovsky proposed setting up large fans on the Russian border to blow airborne radioactive waste into the Baltic states.[61] To eradicate thebird flu, he proposed arming all of Russia's population and ordering them and the troops to shoot down migrating birds returning to Russia fromwintering.[62]
Also in the 1990s, Zhirinovsky threatened to remove restrictions on arms sales toIran and proposed selling the disputedKuril Islands to Japan for US$50 billion.[64]
In 1999, at the start of theSecond Chechen War, Zhirinovsky, an ardent supporter ofthe first war in Chechnya in the mid-1990s, advocated hitting someChechen villages withtactical nuclear weapons.[65] He also advocated usingnuclear weapons and navalblockade-imposed starvation in the event of a Russian war against Japan.[57] In 2008, during the resulting political row between the United Kingdom and Russia, he suggested dropping nuclear bombs over the Atlantic Ocean in an effort to flood Britain.[18]
Zhirinovsky hailed what he described as "the democratic process" inIraq under Saddam Hussein, whom he supported strongly. The friendship dated from at least thePersian Gulf War in 1991, during which time Zhirinovsky sent several armed volunteers from the "Falcons of Zhirinovsky" group to support the Iraqi president. Allegations dogged Zhirinovsky after thefall of Baghdad asserting that he personally profited from illicit oil sales as part of theOil-for Food scandal, a charge investigated in 2005 by the Independent Inquiry Committee into the Oil-for-Food Programme (Volcker Commission) and theU.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI).[66] He was also close to the Serbian nationalist leaderVojislav Šešelj.[57]
In a 2002 video,[67] a drunken Zhirinovsky, hugging two young men, threatenedGeorge W. Bush using offensive language against awar in Iraq, promised him a cell in theButyrka pre-detention facility, and suggested to strike onTbilisi, or some other targets instead in coalition with Russia. He called the United States a "flea market" filled with "cocksuckers, jerkers, and faggots", and claimed that Russian scientists were able to change thegravitational field of the Earth and sink the entire country andelect a President in the US loyal to Russia.[68] He mentionedBill Clinton,Monica Lewinsky, andCondoleezza Rice in the video. Zhirinovsky called Rice "a black whore who needs a good cock. Send her here, one of our divisions will make her happy in the barracks one night. She will choke on Russian sperm as it will be leaking out of her ears ... until she crawls to the US embassy in Moscow on her knees."[68]
Zhirinovsky said he dreamt of the day "when Russian soldiers can wash their boots in the warm waters of theIndian Ocean and switch to year-round summer uniforms"[69] following Russia's conquest of Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey and occupation of thePersian Gulf and theMediterranean.[39] He also declared that Bulgaria shouldannex theRepublic of Macedonia, and said that Romania is an artificial state supposedly created by ItalianGypsies who seized territory from Russia, Bulgaria, and Hungary.[70]
The country of Georgia was another frequent target of Zhirinovsky's rhetoric. AfterAslan Abashidze was ousted from his position as leader of Ajara, an autonomous Georgian region power, in 2004, Zhirinovsky worried that similar revolutions would occur inAbkhazia andSouth Ossetia.[71] Highly critical of Georgia's pro-Western line,[72] he was an energetic supporter of the republic of Abkhazia that broke away from the Republic of Georgia. In a high-profile incident in August 2004, he departed on a campaign to promote a tourist season in Abkhazia aboard a cruise ship which was briefly intercepted by a Georgian coast guard vessel.[73]
Zhirinovsky was expelled from Bulgaria for insulting its president and barred from entry in Germany.[64] In 2005, Kazakhstan declared Zhirinovskypersona non grata on the territory of his historical homeland, due to his controversial speech about the change of the Russia-Kazakhstan border, in which he questioned theKazakhs' place in history.[74]
In 2006, Zhirinovsky becamepersona non grata in Ukraine as well, following his statements regarding the January 2006Russia–Ukraine gas dispute. His ban was revoked in 2007. In reaction to U.S. Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice's criticism ofRussian foreign policy during the dispute, Zhirinovsky stated, "Condoleezza Rice needs a company of soldiers [and] needs to be taken tobarracks where she would be satisfied."[75]
Zhirinovsky with South Korean PresidentMoon Jae-in in June 2018
After the November 2006death by poisoning of RussiandefectorAlexander Litvinenko inLondon, Zhirinovsky said: "Any traitor must be eliminated using any methods. If you have joined the special services to work, then you should work, but to betray, to run away abroad, to give up the secrets you learned while working – all of this looks bad."[76][77]Sergei Abeltsev, Zhirinovsky's formerbodyguard andState Duma member from the LDPR, added: "The deserved punishment reached the traitor. I am sure his terrible death will be a warning to all the traitors that in Russia treason is not to be forgiven. I would recommend to citizenBerezovsky to avoid any food at the commemoration for his criminal accomplice Litvinenko."[78]
At the premiere of the filmTaras Bulba in 2009, Zhirinovsky stated: "Everyone who sees the film will understand that Russians and Ukrainians are one people – and that the enemy is from the West".[82]
Zhirinovsky meeting with Chinese Vice PresidentXi Jinping in 2010 during his visit to Russia
Writing aboutMarine Le Pen, Zhirinovsky in 2011 said that she could out do her father because "Instead of saying that Islam is terrorism, she simply insists that France is a secular nation that will not stand for hundreds of thousands of Muslims practicing their religious traditions. With this argument, Marine has cleverly defended the French people's right to a secular nation." In that vein, Zhirinovsky said that she has the "chance to represent the French majority."[83]
In 2013, when asked about former Ukrainian prime ministerYulia Tymoshenko, Zhirinovsky said, "Yulia Tymoshenko, I'm sorry, is a woman. I don't like them, as it's easier to persuade a woman. [...] Women are more compliant, and it's dangerous."[84]
In the wake of the February 2013Chelyabinsk meteor, Zhirinovsky was quoted by theRussian International News Agency as claiming "It's not meteors falling, it's the test of a new weapon by the Americans."[85] At the same time, he derided theRussian Academy of Sciences foranarchism and having scientists so old that their brains and reproductive organs no longer worked, telling the "elders" to go home and collect their pensions.[86]
On 4 April 2014, in the wake of theannexation of Crimea,McDonald's fast-food restaurant franchises in Russia were unable to continue operating after being cut off by their Ukrainian franchisor. Zhirinovsky suggested that McDonald's "should be evicted from Russia" for the affront.[87] On 25 July, amidst thewar in Donbas,[88] theUkrainian Interior Ministry launched criminal proceedings against Zhirinovsky andCommunist Party of the Russian Federation leaderGennady Zyuganov for "financing actions aimed at changing the boundaries of the territory and the state border of Ukraine".[89] In August, Zhirinovsky threatenedPoland and the Baltic states withcarpet bombing, dooming them all to be wiped out.[90] He also sent letters to the governments of Poland,Romania andHungary suggesting that Ukraine be divided between Russia and these three countries.[91][92]
"What will remain of the Baltics? Nothing will remain of them.NATO airplanes are stationed there. There's an anti-missile defense system. In Poland – the Baltics – they are on the whole doomed. They'll be wiped out.
There will be nothing left. Let them re-think this, these leaders of these little dwarf states. How they are leaving themselves vulnerable.
Nothing threatens America, it's far away. But Eastern Europe countries will place themselves under the threat of total annihilation. Only they themselves will be to blame. Because we cannot allow missiles and planes to be aimed at Russia from their territories. We have to destroy them half an hour before they launch. And then we have to do carpet bombing so that not a single launch pad remains or even one plane. So – no Baltics, no Poland. Let NATO immediately ask for negotiations with our Foreign Ministry. Then we'll stop. Otherwise well have to teach them the lessons of May 1945."
In May 2015, Zhirinovsky stated that former President of Georgia and then-Odessa governorMikheil Saakashvili should be killed. "We will shoot all of your governors, starting with Saakashvili, then they'll be afraid. And there will be a different situation in Europe and Ukraine. ... Let's aim at Berlin, Brussels, London, and Washington." He then said Ukrainian political prisonerNadiya Savchenko should be shot and hanged inBelgrade.[93]
In November 2015, after a Turkish F-16 fightershot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M jet near the Syria–Turkey border, Zhirinovsky said in a speech to the Duma that Russia must detonate a nuclear bomb on theBosphorus to create a 10-meter-hightsunami wave to wipe out at least 9 million Istanbul residents.[94][95]
In August 2016, Zhirinovsky prayed for the RepublicanU.S. presidential election nominee,Donald Trump to defeatHillary Clinton, whom he considered dangerous, in order to take his party's ideology global. He also expressed his desire to test his DNA to determine whether he and Trump were related.[96] In September 2016, inspired byDonald Trump's border wall policy, Zhirinovsky proposed building a border wall and banning Muslims from entering Russia.[46] In October, Zhirinovsky in an interview said that a vote for Hillary Clinton in theU.S. presidential election was a vote fora third World War, leading to Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere. In contrast, he stated, Trump wouldn't care about Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Ukraine, and thus represented a more peaceful alternative.[97]
In April 2017, Zhirinovsky promised to drink champagne if Donald Trump wereimpeached, saying: "A half of Americans voted for different foreign policies. Trump breaks his promises, and if he continues breaking them, his impeachment is inevitable."[98] Following the2021 United States Capitol attack, Zhirinovsky praised Trump andtweeted: "Be brave Donald. We're with you, you'll get help from abroad."[99]
In a speech on 27 December 2021, Zhirinovsky appeared to almost predict the day of theRussian invasion of Ukraine of 24 February 2022, stating: "We shouldn't saber rattle, [we] need to say: let's comply [with the conditions demanded by Russia], and if you refuse, then we can apply another agenda. And which one — you will feel it, at 4 o'clock in the morning, on February 22. I would wish 2022 to be a peaceful year, but I love the truth, for 75 years I have been telling the truth. It will not be a peaceful year. It will be a year when Russia eventually becomes a great country, and everyone must shut up and respect our country, otherwise they shut our mouth and start exterminate Russians first in Donbass and then in western Russia, so let's in this way appreciate a new direction of foreign policy of Russia."[100][101]
Zhirinovsky had a history of personal violence in political contexts. In his debate withBoris Nemtsov in 1995, Zhirinovsky threw a glass of orange juice at him on live television.[102] In 2003, he engaged in a fistfight following a television debate withMikhail Delyagin.[103] In 2005, Zhirinovsky igniteda brawl in parliament by spitting atRodina party legislatorAndrei Saveliyev.[104] In 2008, he showed himself shooting a rifle at targets representing his political rivals.[18]
In 2005, at one of the meetings of theState Duma of the fourth convocation, Zhirinovsky publicly expressed disagreement with the result of the parliamentary elections in theYamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, whereUnited Russia won, and demonstratively left the meeting room. Passing by theRodina faction, he got into an argument withIvan Viktorov. Viktorov's colleagueAndrey Savelyev, commenting on the dispute between Zhirinovsky and Viktorov, noted that "spittle is flying": in response to this, Zhirinovsky spat at Savelyev, and a fight immediately broke out with the participation of members of the LDPR (includingSergey Abeltsev). AsNTV channel reporterAlexey Pivovarov reported, some time ago, Savelyev had already had a fight with Zhirinovsky on television during a discussion of a national issue. The then-head of the Rodina faction,Dmitry Rogozin, demanded that Zhirinovsky be deprived of his post as vice-speaker of the State Duma and that a criminal case be opened against him, and Savelyev filed a statement with the prosecutor's office.[105]
During the 2008 televised presidential debate, Zhirinovsky threatened Nikolai Gotsa, representative ofDemocratic Party of Russia candidateAndrei Bogdanov, with violence, saying he was going to "smash his head" and ordering his bodyguard to "shoot that bastard over there in the corridor". Gotsa sued Zhirinovsky in civil court for 1 million rubles (approximately US$38,000) in damages and was eventually awarded 30,000 rubles (approximately US$1,150).[106]
At an April 2014 press conference in the Duma, Zhirinovsky made violent verbal threats against Stella Dubovitskaya, a pregnantRossiya Segodnya journalist, who asked him about possible sanctions against Ukraine in the wake of Russia'sCrimean annexation.[107] When asked whether Russians should reciprocate in kind after Ukrainians initiated asex strike against Russian men,[108] Zhirinovsky replied that all Ukrainian women were "nymphomaniacs", and that Dubovitskaya was as well.[109] He then ordered two of his aides to "violently rape" the journalist, who had to be briefly hospitalized forshock.[110] He later apologized, adding that he "spoke a bit rudely when I replied to a young woman".[109]
In March 2018, male journalist Renat Davletgildeyev accused Zhirinovsky of sexual harassment,[111][112][113] despite his public expression ofhomophobic positions.[114]
Zhirinovsky married Galina Lebedeva, a lawyer and daughter of a retired general in the early 1970s. The couple had three children: two sons and a daughter.[115]
Ilya Ponomarev had alleged Zhirinovsky was gay in a 2017 interview given in Ukraine.[116] In 1996, openly gay journalistYaroslav Mogutin suggested it was "a foregone conclusion" that Zhirinovsky was gay, according to Russia's gay intelligentsia (university-educated people) inThe Advocate.[117]
On 25 March 2022, Zhirinovsky was reported to have died in a hospital. Despite confirmation from several sources, including his own political party, the news was quickly denied by family members.[125] On 6 April 2022,Vyacheslav Volodin, theSpeaker of the Duma, announced that Zhirinovsky had died following a long illness. He was 75.[126][127] In a statement after Zhirinovsky died, presidentVladimir Putin said he "always defended his patriotic position and Russia's interests before any audience and in the fiercest of debates".[2]
^Alexander Nikolaevich YakovlevTime of Darkness, Moscow, 2003,ISBN5-85646-097-9, page 574 (Russian:Яковлев А. Сумерки. Москва: Материк 2003 г.). The book provides an official copy of a document providing the initial LDPR funding (3 million rubles) from the CPSU money.
^"Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian politician".Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 22 April 2023.This success caused Western observers to scrutinize his boorish, bullying behaviour and to take more seriously his rhetoric and views, which included a promise to create a dictatorship when elected president and threats to expand the borders of Russia to include Alaska and Finland, to use large fans to blow radioactive waste into the Baltic states, and to reduce crime by instituting summary executions.
^Teresa Whitfield (2007), Friends Indeed?: The United Nations, Groups of Friends, and the Resolution of Conflict, p. 155. US Institute of Peace Press,ISBN1-60127-005-4
^"Putin's ultranationalist ally and clown Zhirinovsky dies at 75".BBC News. 6 April 2022. Retrieved8 April 2022.At 04:00 on 22 February you'll feel [our new policy]. I'd like 2022 to be peaceful. But I love the truth, for 70 years I've said the truth. It won't be peaceful. It will be a year when Russia once again becomes great.
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