Vladimir Zhirinovsky's donkey video

File:Zhirinovsky Vladimir.jpg in 1999]]

Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, born in 1946, was a veteran of Russian politics who participated in five Russian presidential elections. He was the founder and long-standing leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Despite its name and its proclaimed centrist and reformist outlook, the party is frequently described as "neither liberal nor democratic."Timothy Colton, Yeltsin: A Life (2011), p. 282; Donald J. Raleigh, Soviet Baby Boomers: An Oral History of Russia's Cold War Generation, p. 327; The troubled birth of Russian democracy: parties, personalities, and programs. p. 244. It is usually regarded as far-right and is identified with Russian ultranationalism, right-wing populism, or national populism and conservatism.Russian Political Parties Directory (1999), p. 65.Peter H. Merkl and Leonard Weinberg, Right-wing extremism in the twenty-first century (2003). Psychology Press: p. x.Hans-Georg Betz, Radical right-wing populism in Western Europe (1994). Palgrave Macmillan: p. 23. Its ideology is based primarily on Zhirinovsky's ideas of "imperial reconquest" (a "renewed Russian Empire")Stephen E. Hanson, Post-Imperial Democracies: Ideology and Party Formation in Third Republic France, Weimar Germany, and Post-Soviet Russia (2011). Cambridge University Press. and authoritarian vision of a 'Greater Russia.'"John B. Dunlop, The Rise of Russia and the Fall of the Soviet Empire (2011). Princeton University Press, p. 167.

Zhirinovsky was "often viewed as something of a clown" and "a showman of Russian politics, blending populist and nationalist rhetoric, anti-Western invective and a brash, confrontational style".[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16750990 Profiles of Russia's 2012 presidential election candidates] BBC His campaign slogan for 2012 was "Vote Zhirinovsky, or things will get worse".

Eventually, in the 2012 Russian presidential election, Zhirinovsky was fourth with 6.22% of the votes, behind Prokhorov, who received 7.94%.[http://www.ria.ru/vybor2012_infographics/20120309/590825026.html History of Presidential Elections in Russia: Infographics] RIAN

The thirty second video was released on the Internet on 6 February 2012,{{cite web|url=http://www.newsru.com/russia/06feb2012/osel.html|script-title=ru:Воплощение идеи "Жириновский, или будет хуже": бичевание осла (ВИДЕО)|trans-title=The Implementation of the slogan "Zhirinovsky, or it will get worse": whipping a donkey (VIDEO)|publisher=newsru.com|language=ru|date=6 February 2012}} as a part of Zhirinovsky's election campaign.[http://ldpr.ru/#events/videos/three The election campaign video "Тройка" ("Troika")]. Official site of the LDPR. The video is titled "Troika" at the official site of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.

In the video, Zhirinovsky is seen wearing a black fur coat and a black ushanka hat, and sits in a sleigh harnessed with the black donkey. Zhirinovsky begins to speak, claiming that the "little wretched donkey is the symbol of Russia" and that if he, Zhirinovsky, would become the President, a "daring troika" would return as a symbol of Russia. While making the proclamation, Zhirinovsky whips the animal. As the donkey does not immediately pull, Zhirinovsky shouts "It cannot move.... The whole country got stuck...." and continually shouts "Go! Go! Go!" while furiously whipping the animal into moving across the snow-covered backyard of his dacha. A voice-over concludes the video: "Zhirinovsky – it will get better!"

The video was widely discussed on the Internet. It received mostly negative reactions from Russian users.{{cite web|last=Шалимова|first=Мария|script-title=ru:В сети представлен ролик "Жириновский и будет лучше!"|language=ru|trans-title="Zhirinovsky And It Will Get Better" advertisement appears on the web|url=http://www.profi-forex.org/news/entry1008104857.html|publisher=profi-forex.org|access-date=5 April 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415150403/http://www.profi-forex.org/news/entry1008104857.html|archive-date=15 April 2013}} The video also featured on Channel One's comedy show Yesterday Live on 17 March 2012, as part of a spoof news clip from a fictitious US-based TV channel, reporting that, in Russia, there was a shortage of gasoline, with people abandoning cars and resorting to other modes of transportation.{{cite web|url=http://www.1tv.ru/sprojects_edition/si5808/fi14207|title=Yesterday Live: Выпуск от 17 марта|trans-title=Yesterday Live: 17 March|language=ru|publisher=Channel One}}

File:Troika akron.jpg, a traditional Russian icon which Zhirinovsky has controversially replaced with a donkey in his video.]]

Zhirinovsky referred to an explanation of the origin of troika in a televised election debate with Natalya Narochnitskaya. The Troika has become a cultural icon of Russia, especially after it was featured in a scene of Nikolay Gogol's novel Dead Souls, where a "troika-bird" rides through the vast expanses of Russia.Translation taken from the "[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1081/1081-h/1081-h.htm Dead Souls]" by Nikolai Gogol. Gutenberg.org Narochnitskaya accused Zhirinovsky of disdain towards the people of Russia, as well as projecting pessimism and aggression through this video.{{cite web|url=http://www.km.ru/v-rossii/2012/02/08/vybory-2011-2012/zhirinovskii-otvetil-za-osla|script-title=ru:Жириновский ответил за осла (ВИДЕО)|trans-title=Zhirinovsky takes account for the donkey (VIDEO)|language=ru|publisher=km.ru |date=2012 }} Zhirinovsky replied that the video is an allegory of what the rulers of Russia had made with the country in the last hundred years.

Zhirinovsky stated during a televised election debate with Gennady Zyuganov, another presidential candidate, that the animal seen in the video is called Proshka.{{cite web|url=http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1872571/print|script-title=ru:ТВ не место для дебатов|trans-title=TV is not a place for debates|language=ru|publisher=Kommersant|date=20 February 2012}} Proshka is the diminutive form of the Greek and Slavic name Prokhor; Zhirinovsky stated that the animal is named after Russian presidential candidate, Mikhail Prokhorov.{{cite web|url=http://www.vokrug.tv/article/show/vredina_33677/|script-title=ru:Владимир Жириновский рассказал про осла Прошку|language=ru|trans-title=Vladimir Zhirinovsky told about Proshka the donkey|publisher=vokrug.tv |date=15 August 2023 }} Later Zhirinovsky confirmed the donkey's name as "Proshka, Prokhor" when he participated as a guest in the comedy talk show Prozhektorperiskhilton on Channel One TV.

This incident did not mark the first time Zhirinovsky named a domestic animal after a rival politician. In the same Prozhektorperiskhilton show, Zhirinovsky also said that he once owned a male sheep called "Ben", which was named after the initials of Russian politician, Boris Efimovich Nemtsov, another political opponent.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/667745.stm Zhirinovsky: Russia's political eccentric] BBC

According to Zhirinovsky, the animal featured in the video was his own – a present given to him on his 60th birthday. He said that it is kept on his dacha land, and has not been used for any work for the last five years. The animal is claimed by Zhirinovsky to be well-fed, to have separate lodgings, and to live in conditions found "nowhere in the world".{{cite web|url=http://www.regnum.ru/news/polit/1496769.html|script-title=ru:Жириновский признался, что любит животных|language=ru|trans-title=Zhirinovsky confessed that he loves animals|publisher=regnum.ru}}

International organizations People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and World Society for the Protection of Animals (Now known as World Animal Protection), as well as Russian animal rights activists, have accused Zhirinovsky of cruelty to animals. Zhirinovsky responded to criticism, saying that similar treatment is commonplace in the Arab world, and that in fact, the animal has been treated "better than many people".{{cite web|url=https://newdaynews.ru/election/371706.html|language=ru|title=WSPA и PETA обвинили Жириновского в жестоком обращении с ослом|date=8 February 2012|trans-title=WSPA and PETA accused Zhirinovsky in crueltu to the donkey|publisher=NewDayNews.Ru}}

The Central Electoral Commission of Russia commented that there is no regulation on whether and how presidential candidates could use animals in propaganda, but that if the candidates do so, they should take all the risks connected with that.

{{reflist}}

• [http://ldpr.ru/#events/videos/three Zhirinovsky's donkey video on the official site]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEfF6inQbDY Zhirinovsky's donkey video on Youtube]

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donkey video

Category:Animals in politics

Category:Cruelty to animals

Category:Individual donkeys

Category:Liberal Democratic Party of Russia

Category:National personifications

Category:Russian humour

Category:Political controversies in Russia