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Reuters, November 23 ,2003

Russian politicians seek Zhirinovsky ban after brawl

By Andrei Shukshin

MOSCOW, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Outraged politicians vying for seats in Russia's parliament have called for nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky to be disqualified from television debates after his live appearance degenerated into a fistfight.

Passions boiled over after a Friday night talk show in what has up until now been a lacklustre campaign for the election, viewed as a pointer for President Vladimir Putin's national standing ahead of his expected bid for a second term next year.

The pro-Putin United Russia party leads polls, with the opposition Communists about six points behind in the race for 450 seats in the State Duma lower house. Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democrats, apparently aided by his voluble appearances, lies third with about eight percent of the vote -- over the five percent needed to elect members on national party lists.

On Friday, Zhirinovsky stridently accused his opponents from right and left of the country's every ill, ranging from betrayal of Russia's interests in Chechnya to a low birth rate.

After launching a particularly virulent attack on one rival -- who even got up to try to snatch the microphone -- Zhirinovsky promised to give him a pasting after the show.

According to an account afterwards by Ekho Moskvy radio, once live coverage of NTV's "Freedom of Speech" show had ended, Zhirinovsky started taunting the guest from the left-wing Rodina (Motherland) party, saying he was sure to run away.

"But he didn't," Ekho Moskvy said on Saturday.

Footage of the incident broadcast later, showed men in suits scuffling and occasionally landing punches as they left the set.

Boris Nemtsov of the pro-market Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS), said Zhirinovsky should be barred from future debates.

"Decent people feel nothing but loathing and disgust for all this," Nemtsov, who had a glass of orange juice tossed in his face by Zhirinovsky in a mid-1990s debate, told Ekho Moskvy.

Sergei Mitrokhin of Yabloko, another liberal party, was also involved in the melee and echoed calls for a ban.

Zhirinovsky dismissed the incident as unimportant.

"A lot of people were leaving, there was a big crowd, somebody probably simply pushed somebody else aside, trying to get out first," he told Ekho Moskvy.

 

See also:

State Duma elections 2003

NTV channel, "Freedom of Speech" programme, November 21, 2003. "Russian economic miracle. Will it ever happen?"

Reuters, November 23 ,2003

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