The leader of the Russian Liberal-Democrats has been declared persona non grata in Kyrgyzstan after claiming the Central Asian country’s treasured alpine lake as repayment for Russia forgiving a $500 million national debt.
The parliament of Kyrgyzstan has ruled in favor of banning the
controversial Vladimir Zhirinovsky from the country.
The head of the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS affairs
Leonid Slutsky called on to the Kyrgyz deputies “to be more
restrained.”
However, Zhirinovsky himself considers the ruling of Kyrgyz
parliament an “error and delusion” and doubts that the
Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry will “pursue this path.”
“I think I was misunderstood. I made no official statement
whatsoever. I just expressed a proposal on how to develop
cooperation between our countries so that Russia could continue to
help Kyrgyzstan with credits, and Kyrgyzstan in turn has means to
repay the loans,” he said.
“Of course, I have not spoken in the literal sense that Lake
Issyk-Kul must become a gift [to Russia] – I suggested options.
More specifically, we were talking about the possibility of leasing
the lake for 49 years in order to develop tourism more
actively,” he added.
Zhirinovsky noted that he knows Kyrgyzstan very well, having
lived there, and has relatives there. The last time he visited
Kyrgyzstan was seven years ago, he mentioned.
“I have only good feelings towards this country and its
people,” Zhirinovsky insisted.
The ‘Issyk-Kul incident’ emerged after Zhirinovsky commented on
Russia recently writing off the $500 million national debt of
Kyrgyzstan. He said that in return for forgiving the debt, Russia
should claim huge lake, believed to be Kyrgyzstan’s main tourist
attraction.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky has had a solid reputation as the enfant
terrible of Russian politics for nearly a quarter of a century now
and somehow managed to disentangle himself from countless
unpleasant situations, created mostly by his controversial
utterances. This time, though, his trip of the tongue has fallen on
the wrong ears.
Was it a traditional Zhirinovsky-style joke or not, the Kyrgyz
lawmakers gave the ‘demand’ some serious thought and decided to be
offended for real. The opposition immediately used the situation to
its profit, insisting the remark was a public offense to all Kyrgyz
people and encroachment on Kyrgyzstan’s sovereignty.
The initiative to ban Zhirinovsky came from opposition
parliamentary fraction Ata-Zhurt. Its delegate Zhyldyzkan
Djoldoshova insists that after this controversial comment,
Zhirinovsky “has no moral right to come to Kyrgyzstan.”
The initiative found immediate support in the Kyrgyz parliament
and on May 15 Vladimir Zhirinovsky was proclaimed persona non
grata, Interfax reports.
This article originally appeared on : RT