"Shut Up You F***ing Whore!" Zhirinovsky Drops Torrent of Abuse at Liberal Candidate Ksenia Sobchak
Now about the election. 400 polling stations have already been set up for those Russians voting abroad. Today, the presidential candidates met not only with voters but also with each other. The first meeting on the Russia TV channel was emotional. Perhaps, too emotional.
Pavel Zarubin will tell us about the hot start of the election campaign.
March 18, 2018, Presidential Election in Russia The most spectacular part of the election campaign. The Russia TV channel is launching the debates. Today, at 11.15 p.m., we'll be showing fierce discussions between the presidential candidates. Vladimir Solovyev is the moderator, let's watch it together.
Ksenia Sobchak: It’s bad to get so nervous at your age!
Vladimir Zhirinovsky: Shut up, you stupid ass! You came here…
- Mr. Zhirinovsky, Mr. Zhirinovsky!
- You can’t talk to me like this!
- What did she say a minute ago? Did you forget? She's from the street!
- Your health worries me.
This is a fragment of the debates that were broadcast live in the Far East. There are 11 time zones in Russia, and when it's daytime in Moscow, it’s late at night there. So, for the audience of the whole country, for everyone, even for the people from the most remote region, to have the opportunity to see the same programs, they are broadcast live in the Far East and then shown without changes in Siberia, the Urals, Central Russia. The things that happened today at the debates became one of the most discussed news of the day.
Ksenia Sobchak: Stop this! The participants of the Dom-2 TV show behave more decently!
Vladimir Zhirinovsky: Shut up, shut up, you stupid ass!
- Why are you talking to me this way?
- What can I do if she's dumb! If she has no brain!
- Mr. Zhirinovsky, Mr. Zhirinovsky!
- You see! You idiot! Take her out of here!
- Behave properly!
- Take this slut away from here!
- I can't do this, it's done by the CEC.
- Dirty you! A disgusting hag! A f--- whore!
- Mr. Zhirinovsky, you can’t use this kind of language!
- What can I do?
The people living in the Moscow time zone will see these debates at 11.15 p.m. The fact that the discussions will be difficult, to say the least, was clear today on the sidelines even before the debates began.
Ksenia Sobchak, presidential candidate: "To say the most important things about the problems of the army, about the problems of our defense, about the security problems in our country. We’ll talk about this today".
Vladimir Zhirinovsky went to the debates saying that he’d demand legislative changes for the requirements for presidential candidates to be the same as to civil servants. There’s a number of restrictions in the law on civil service.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, presidential candidate: "Existence of property abroad, foreign citizenship, money, the status of a person holding documents for temporary residence abroad. Then, we need to provide documents on the state of health, to go through military service. It turns out that the law on the presidential election doesn’t have any restrictions at all. Whoever, even some homeless person, can become a presidential candidate. Therefore, we want to make changes to the law on the presidential election so that there are grounds to refuse registration or for canceling the registration".
In addition to television, presidential candidates have time to speak on the radio every day. Yavlinsky and Baburin met in the Vesti-FM studio.
Grigory Yavlinsky, presidential candidate: "Our interests aren’t in Syria right now, they aren’t there. In terms of defense and security, our interests are now in Central Asia and Afghanistan. The threat is coming from there".
Sergey Baburin, presidential candidate: "I completely disagree with Mr. Yavlinsky. Our interests are there. It’s in our interest to eliminate any danger at distant approaches. If they move to Afghanistan, we’ll fight the bandits there to prevent them from coming to our streets. And this is geopolitics".
At the same time, some candidates continue to send their proxies to the debates, although by law, they can do so only if the candidate is very busy performing his direct official duties or is sick.
Ella Pamfilova, the CEC head: "When a candidate says that he’s sick but shows up at some event, well, it's not a nice behavior towards the voters. If, in fact, there was no reason provided for in the law, it’s reasonable, as I think the candidates themselves should make the same conclusion, to thank the person who came instead of the candidate and say goodbye. And divide the remaining time between those who came in person".
The CEC calls unprecedented the interest of observers in this election. According to rough estimates, taking into account missions from different countries and organizations, a thousand observers will come to Russia. The CEC continues to receive letters from those wishing to come.
Observers from the National Public Monitoring said today that they processed around 500 reports of violations, 280 complaints were resolved, and about 100, according to activists, were posted on the Golos movement map and are fake.
Roman Kolomoytsev, federal coordinator of National Public Monitoring: "We saw some really strange facts, but the main thing, you know, that many public presidential election observers and I didn't like was that they gave themselves the right to say that only they can tell the truth, only they have such a right, only they are a civil society. That is, all those hundreds of thousands of people who’re working are nobody, some second-grade people".
Tonight, the Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin met with scientists at the Institute of Oceanology in Moscow. He told them what he’d like to add to his program and what it already includes.
Pavel Grudinin, presidential candidate: "Nationalization of national wealth, free education and healthcare, pensions that are paid not from the pension fund but from the budget. Therefore, I believe that the program is good, but we still need to work a lot on it, because it lacks many things. For example, we didn’t say anything about migration processes, relations with other countries, foreign policy issues. This should also be mentioned in this program".
"Karjakin is approaching the board! "
Dmitry Guberniev's loud comments are heard today at Putin's election headquarters. Putin’s proxy, chess grandmaster Sergey Karjakin holds a simultaneous game with volunteers and another Putin’s proxy, Guberniev.
- You can’t do this.
- How come? It's castling!
- Check! Where?
- Here.
- You can’t do castling now.
- I should have learned the rules!
In recent years, the popularity of chess in Russia has grown dramatically, Karjakin says, and the popularity of sports in general.
Sergey Karjakin, Putin’s proxy: "I believe that a lot of useful things are being done. And I believe that it’s my duty to support the President in this election. In fact, I can express myself just in a few words: I’m from the Crimea. And, and... I can finish my comment on this".
On the wish board, Karjakin also writes about the peninsula: "Тhe Crimea supports Putin".
Sergey Sobyanin met with Moscow veterans today.
Sergey Sobyanin, Moscow mayor: ”The presidential election is different, it's the most important election in our country. The President's role in our country is enormous. He truly determines the fate of both the country and, in fact, every person. I believe that those people who have their own civil position can’t stay home on this day. We must vote.”
Vladimir Zhirinovsky: Some stood up, some remained seated. They have the right.
- Everyone, stand up! Let's greet Mr. Zhirinovsky.
Today, Vladimir Zhirinovsky gave a lecture at Moscow State University, in the school of Sociology, where he's a professor. It was about education, relations with the West, and about where there’s more freedom.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, presidential candidate: "We can talk about everything in our country. In the West, you can’t. They regulate the press, they've set a program there and lie about Russia. If you’re against Russia, you’re allowed to speak. For Russia? Goodbye. This is a sign of the fact that that Western press isn’t free anymore".
Maxim Suraykin: You can't see the beard.
Maxim Suraykin is at a karting club today. He’s fully equipped.
- Like a knight!
The candidate liked the drive very much. As Suraykin believes, there should be more such clubs in the country. If people get more adrenaline here, there’ll be less left for dangerous violations on the roads.
Maxim Suraykin, presidential candidate: "It's really such a healthy sport, a healthy competition, I feel different, it feels like I was reborn. I drove 10 circles at a high speed. And it's a safe sport, it’s much better than, as I've said, when young people, due to the lack of other possibilities, drive too fast on the roads".
Medicines and products should be sent to hard-to-reach regions during early voting trips. The Central Election Commission head presented this initiative today. According to Ella Pamfilova, in conditions when helicopters arrive in some regions only once a month, it’s clear that one should take advantage of the opportunity and, along with the ballots, deliver something useful there.
March 18, 2018 Presidential Election in Russia