Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 17, 1994 TAG: 9402170153
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
One of the defectors, Viktor Kobelev, accused Zhirinovsky of extremism, alienating Russia's allies and usurping power in the Liberal Democratic Party, which got the most votes in the December parliamentary elections.
The defections appear to mark the emergence of a rift between Zhirinovsky and moderate members of the party opposed to his reliance on extreme nationalism and heavy-handed approach to Russia's problems.
Late last year, Andrei Zavidia, Zhirinovsky's running mate in the 1991 presidential elections who helped finance his campaigns, also broke away, saying he did not agree with Zhirinovsky's "fascist views" or attempts to "impose dictatorship" within the party.
Kobelev and his associate, LDP lawmaker Alexander Pronin, appeared to be deserting Zhirinovsky on similar grounds.
"We are quitting for purely ideological reasons," said Kobelev, the organizer of Zhirinovsky's election campaign and until now the No. 2 man in the Liberal Democratic Party.
"I oppose the policy our leader has pursued over the past few months. We ought to stick by the platform that gained us nearly 12.5 million votes," Kobelev said in an interview.
In the Dec. 12 elections, Russia's voters cast more ballots for Zhirinovsky's misleadingly named Liberal Democratic Party than for any other party or coalition. The vote is largely seen as a protest against painful economic policies by President Boris Yeltsin's government.
Kobelev blasted Zhirinovsky's "extremism, interference in the internal affairs of some countries and irresponsible statements unauthorized by the party."
He also criticized Zhirinovsky for saying Russia had a secret weapon it might use against the West should the West decide to bomb positions held by the Bosnian Serbs.
Zhirinovsky's nationalist zealotry has provoked anger and worry in former Soviet satellites from the Baltics to the Balkans and has made him a persona non grata in many foreign lands.
Zhirinovsky seemed undaunted by the defections.
"These deputies are leaving for personal reasons. I don't fear the party will lose its members, who now number 150,000 nationwide," Zhirinovsky told The Associated Press.
"On the contrary, we're gaining more members every day," he said.
The LDP faction coordinator, Andrei Losev, said the party leadership had forestalled the defections by expelling Kobelev and Pronin from the faction and the party. "This is a normal process of cleansing our ranks," he said.
But Kobelev said he believed he and Pronin could not be expelled, except by a party congress.
Reformist lawmakers believe there will be more defections from Zhirinovsky's party.
"It seems that some LDP members are beginning to feel ashamed of their leader, and this is good: these people have conscience, after all," said Sergei Kovalev of the pro-reform Russia's Choice faction.
by CNB