Russian Radical Gets… Radical

Talk about over-reacting.

Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, referred to by the BBC as “the single greatest eccentric in Russian politics”, has outdone himself by calling for an economic blockade on Estonia. The reason? Estonia is considering the removal of a Soviet World War II monument.

Estonia views the monument as a reminder of the Soviet occupation. Russians see it a bit differently. When Zhirinovsky attempted to make his case, he exclaimed, “Let them remember that we liberated them.” Delusions of grandeur aside, the Duma didn’t take Zhirinovsky’s suggestion too seriously, and the issue of sanctions never made it onto the agenda.