Russia’s presidential candidate promises to get married after winning campaign
The televised debate between Russia’s presidential candidates Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) and billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov was comparatively uneventful. No fist fighting, save for Zhirinovsky’s habitual verbal attacks.
Those who watched it couldn’t fail to notice the difference between the candidates’ physique and conduct. Zhirinovsky, being noticeably smaller than Prokhorov, maintained his usual verbally offensive stance and kept it until the end of the show. Prokhorov remained coolly intellectual, so much so this attitude seemed overdramatized at times.
Zhirinovsky: “You have three options: join Khodorkovsky in prison, Gaidar in his grave, or Berezovsky as an emigre. Make your choice… Who led Yeltsin to his grave? I did. Who destroyed Gaidar? I did. Who is making Chubais’s life difficult? I am.”
Prokhorov listened to all this with a knowing smile. Zhirinovsky got carried away and asked, “Why did you come here with your sister, a singer, and an actor?” He pointed an accusing finger at Prokhorov’s sister Irina, Alla Pugacheva, and Leonid Yarmolnik in the audience. Prokhorov replied good-humoredly that an emotional statement sounds great, but that getting married and building a family, having children without falling in love in the fist place is obscene: “I won’t follow in your footsteps, I won’t buy women. I believe in true love, so when I fall in love I’ll have a normal, good family.” Prokhorov promised to get married after becoming president (earlier he had promised to pardon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, if and when, adding that he would consider his appointment as prime minister).
In the second round of the televised debate, the opponent’s supporters were to ask their questions. Alla Pugacheva was the first. After briefly describing Zhirinovsky the way she saw him, the pop star asked: “What are you trying to prove by being so rude? I’ve grown used to this kind of attitude to me, but what about your lies when speaking on television and radio channels? Why? Your manners don’t befit a presidential candidate. So far it’s your own problem. You let your hands and tongue loose. Would you reconsider your manners if you became president?”
Zhirinovsky: “I behave the way I consider proper. I need no image makers… I am who I am and that’s what makes me so attractive.” He added that Alla Pugacheva might as well get the hell out of the audience if she didn’t like what he had said.
