On 6 February 2012, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the former far-right populist[1] leader of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, released a 30-second election video on the Internet that featured him on a sleigh which was harnessed with a black donkey. Zhirinovsky later claimed he owned the animal and that the animal was named Proshka (Russian: Прошка, diminutive from Prokhor), after Mikhail Prokhorov, another candidate in the 2012 Russian presidential election. The video was named "Troika" at the official site of the LDPR,[2] but was distributed on YouTube under the title: "Zhirinovsky beats donkey!".[3]
In the video, Zhirinovsky claimed that the "little wretched donkey" is the symbol of Russia and that if he would become President a "daring troika" would return as a symbol of the country, which "got stuck" at one place just as the donkey. After this, Zhirinovsky whipped the animal to move the sleigh across the snow-covered backyard of his dacha.
Animal welfare and rights organizations accused Zhirinovsky of cruelty to animals in relation to this advertisement.[4] Zhirinovsky was also accused of disdain towards the people of Russia.[5] The video became a subject of wide discussion in the Runet and the Russian media,[3] including presidential TV debates[5] and comedy shows involving Zhirinovsky.
- ^ Russia parliament elections: How the parties line up BBC
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nr2-20120208was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Выборы – 2012. Владимир Жириновский и Наталья Нарочницкая [The 2012 elections. Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Natalya Narochnitskaya] (in Russian). Channel One.
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