On Friday November 2, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon received a group of members of the State Duma (Russia’s lower house of parliament) led by leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
According to the Tajik president’s official website, the parties discussed state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and the Russian Federation.
They reportedly expressed satisfaction with the current level of economic, security, scientific and educational cooperation between the two countries.
Zhirinovsky reportedly called Tajik leader a wise and far-sighted politician. He stressed that it was Emomali Rahmon that saved Tajik people from annihilation and Tajik nation from dissolution.
On November 1, Zhirinovsky met with Tajik Foreign Minister Muhriddin Sirojiddin. The two reportedly discussed bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Russia in the fields of energy, agriculture, industry, science, education and culture, according to the Tajik MFA information department.
Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky (born April 25, 1946) is a Russian ultranationalist politician and leader of the LDPR party (formerly Liberal Democratic Party of Russia). He is fiercely nationalist and has been described as “a showman of Russian politics, blending populist and nationalist rhetoric, anti-Western invective and a brash, confrontational style.” His views have sometimes been described by western media as fascist.
The Liberal Democratic Party was founded in April 1991, becoming the second registered party in the Soviet Union and therefore the first officially sanctioned opposition party.
Zhirinovsky's first political breakthrough came in June 1991 when he came third in Russia's first presidential election, gathering more than six million votes or 7.81%. Afterwards, the LDPR garnered a reputation as an ineffective vehicle for opposition against the government, and one that lacked either credibility or authenticity.
The LDPR gathered 23% of the vote in the 1993 Duma elections and achieved a broad representation throughout the country – the LDPR being the top vote-getter in 64 out of 87 regions.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky is member of the State Duma (1993–present); he was Deputy Chairman of the State Duma (2000–2011) and Liberal Democratic presidential candidate 1991, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012 and 2018.
