In a visit to Iraq last wee, Russian ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky met with President Saddam Hussein to discuss the creation of a coalition between Orthodox Christians and Muslims to combat the West.
“For three hours we discussed world and local problems very deeply” in addition to “relations between the Orthodox Russian community and the Muslim community,” Zhirinovsky reportedly told the media.
Also during his trip, he signed an agreement of cooperation between his party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and Iraq’s ruling Ba’ath Party.
He was accompanied on his three-day trip by a 50-member delegation, including 20 Russian parliamentary deputies.
Zhirinovsky, widely seen as fascist and anti-Semitic, has his eye on the Russian presidency. His new book, “The Last Train Car North,” describes some of his political views. In the prologue, he writes of his wish to send Russia’s reformist politicians to Siberia.
In recent weeks, Zhirinovsky has been one of the few politicians who has publicly supported the government’s controversial war in Chechnya.
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