Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the controversial and charismatic leader of the far-right Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), may be investigated under laws against extremism, following a scandal over his recent remarks about the Caucasus region.
On October 24, Zhirinovsky told the Poedinok program on Russia’s Rossiya 1 television channel that Moscow should “block off the North Caucasus with barbed wire”. The LDPR leader also said that he proposed reducing the birth rate in North Caucasus republics by introducing a fine for women who gave birth to their third child.
On Monday, Gajimet Safaraliev, the head of the Nationalities Committee of the State Duma, threatened to initiate an investigation by the Prosecutor General against Zhirinovsky.
Safaraliev, an ethnic Lezgin, told the Interfax news agency that if Zhirinovsky could not be held accountable under the law on extremism, then MPs would initiate amendments to the existing legislation such that Zhirinovsky would be held accountable for his comments.
Safaraliev added that he was collecting signatures from MPs for a petition to the Prosecutor General, and that signatories so far included MPs from North Caucasian republics as well as from other parts of the Russian Federation.
Monday’s developments came after the regional branch of the LDPR in Chechnya announced Sunday that it was breaking away from the national organization, in protest against Zhirinovsky’s comments.
Adlan Shamsadov, the representative of the LDPR in Chechnya said in a statement that Zhirinovsky’s comments amounted to “a call for hatred on national, territorial and religious lines.”
“(The statements) will lead to the collapse of our country. This is an attempt on the democratic principles that lie at the heart of the Russian state. In this regard, we pledge to withdraw from the Liberal Democratic Party and the cessation of activities of the party in the territory of the Chechen Republic. We find it impossible to continue to be in a party that is led by a politician who compromised himself as a bearer of fascist ideology,” the statement continued.
Following Shamsadov, MPs from other parties accused Zhirinovsky of fascism. The leader of the social-liberal opposition party, the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko (“Apple”), Sergei Mitrokhin, said that Zhirinovsky’s comments had a “Nazi character” and appealed to the Investigation Committee to instigate criminal proceedings against him.
Meanwhile, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov accused Zhirinovsky of “inciting hatred” in Russia, and said he had tried to prove that “all of Russia’s problems were linked to the North Caucasus”.
Zhirinovsky should be “held accountable”, Kadyrov said in a statement on his popular Instagram account, illustrated by a Photoshopped image of Zhirinovsky wearing a clown’s wig.
MPs from Chechnya on Sunday also called on the lower house to respond to the LDPR leader’s remarks.
