Russian bearClose Putin ally: If Americans fail to vote for Trump, they risk nuclear attack

Published 14 October 2016

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a nationalist Russian politicians who is one of Vladimir Putin’s staunchest allies, said Americans should vote for Donald Trump or risk a nuclear war. Zhirinovsky said that electing Trump would be a “gift to humanity,” while electing Hillary Clinton would likely start a third world war. Zhirinovsky is a flamboyant and colorful individual typically offering brazen, even outrageous, comments, which appeal to the nationalist segment of the Russian electorate. As a close ally of Putin, Zhirinovsky has regularly been used to float policy ideas.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a nationalist Russian politicians who is one of Vladimir Putin’s staunchest allies, said Americans should vote for Donald Trump or risk a nuclear war.

Zhirinovsky said that electing Trump would be a “gift to humanity,” while electing Hillary Clinton would likely start a third world war.

Zhirinovsky is a flamboyant and colorful individual typically offering brazen, even outrageous, comments, which appeal to the nationalist segment of the Russian electorate. His pro-Putin Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) came third in Russia’s parliamentary elections last month.

He is a long-time political insider who has had a seat in the Duma for more than two decades, and is especially close to Putin.

The Daily Express notes that as a close ally of Putin, Zhirinovsky has regularly been used to float policy ideas.

Relations between Russia and the United States can’t get any worse,” Zhirinovsky told Reuters, “the only way they can get worse is if a war starts.”

Americans voting for a president on 8 November must realize that they are voting for peace on Planet Earth if they vote for Trump. But if they vote for Hillary it’s war. It will be a short movie. There will be Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere.”

Zhirinovsky said he thought Trump would keep the United States out of foreign conflicts such as those currently going on in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, and Iraq. He added that Trump could even win a Nobel peace prize.

Trump will have a brilliant chance to make relations more peaceful,” Zhirinovsky said. “He’s the only one who can do this.”

The Express notes that in 2013, Zhirinovsky vigorously campaigned for a proposal intriguingly similar to one of Trump’s main campaign ideas: a border wall. Zhirinovsky three years ago called for building a defensive system – consisting of a barbed wire fence, watch towers, and even mine-fields — to better control the movement of people from the majority Muslim North Caucasus region into Russia.

Zhirinovsky has also been dogged by allegations of crude misogyny. In 2014 he was threatened with criminal charges he ordered one of his aides to rape a reporter, but the Kremlin interfered and the case was dropped.

Vice reports that Zhirinovsky found an especially inviting target in former U.S. secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, unleashing a stream of ugly racist and deeply offensive comments against her.

Zhirinovsky first won a seat in the Duma in the elections of 1993, promising voters that if his party won power, Russian men would get cheaper vodka and Russian women would get sexier lingerie.

During the interview with Reuters, Zhirinovsky described Clinton as “an evil mother-in law” and said it was too great a risk for a powerful country to be led by a woman.

Zhirinovsky said that Trump reminds him of himself — and urged Reuters to arrange for DNA testing to be carried out to see whether he and Trump are related.