The Accidental Russophile

In a further development of the Litvinenko murder and the farce that surrounds it, Andrei Lugovoi is running for parliament and possibly the Presidency of the Russian Federation.

Sure. Anyone who dresses so sharp should be president. And Alexander Pichushkin can be his Prime Minister. Vladimir Zhirinovsky for foreign minister, perhaps. He’d be a real hit around the world.

Of course, this is all about parliamentary politics and showmanship as Zhirinovsky and the LDPR are using Lugovoi in hopes of garnering enough votes to get above the 7% vote limit to be included as part of parliament. The same sorts of people that ask Lugovoi for an autograph might be persuaded to vote LDPR.

Then again, they likely already vote for crazy Zhirinovsky and his circle.

Update: Today, we have Lugovoi disavowing that he would like to be president, and citing Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky as having all the credentials for the job.

Uh huh.

From Zhirinovsky’s gaping hole, we also have the following:

Minutes later Zhirinovsky — known for his flamboyant and sometimes violent rhetoric — flew into a temper when a Western journalist mentioned the murder of Litvinenko.

“Britain, you keep the whole world soaked in blood, the whole world will hate you,” yelled Zhirinovsky, who is also a deputy speaker of the Duma lower house of Russia’s parliament.

Zhirinovsky said London could not prosecute Lugovoy because Britain itself was providing a safe haven for Kremlin opponents such as tycoon Boris Berezovsky. “You cover cheats, extremists and criminals,” he said.

“You are all accomplices, all of you are similar bandits and criminals, your whole government, together with your Queen,” he said, adding his party was “most loved by ordinary Russians” and would score a fifth of all seats in the next Duma.

He blamed Britain for backing Bolsheviks during the 1917 Russian revolution, financing Chechen rebels and opening the second front too late during World War Two.

“Half of your embassy should be thrown out of Moscow,” he barked at the reporter representing a U.S. media outlet. “They are not diplomats, all of them are spies … You in Britain are good-for-nothing, you only plundered Europe.”

He said if parties like his win in the election, “new Russia will be alright, all will be calm and quiet.”

“Britain will disappear under the water one day,” he said. “And it will serve you right … Even your sheep die every day and every hour due to your sickening British policies.”

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