"Zyuganov will lie to the left of Brezhnev, and I to the right": Zhirinovsky - about mistakes, unsatisfied vanity and his own funeral

- Vladimir Volfovich, what do you miss in your life?

- Freedom. Freedom from false information. Freedom from abuse

- And if we are talking about you not as the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, but as a person?

- I wanted: a good family, warm relationships, dad, mom, two or three children. I leave for work, say goodbye to my wife, children, return, they happily greet me ... I lack warmth, family comfort. 

There are not enough good comrades. So that they are my comrades right from childhood. We would serve together, work ... We would meet with them, play football, chess, go to the bathhouse, go hunting, fishing. Just talk ... Would celebrate the New Year, birthdays. 

I don't see real friends, as well as real love. I would have at least a little bit, a C ... I don't see real examples: everyone betrays, everyone is alienated, everyone lives apart. 

There were comrades in the village. And then - those who are richer always begin to get angry with each other. And the officials - what comrades? They have a career and envy. 

I was not lucky: all possible comrades envy me. Everyone with whom I studied at the university or at school. They are nobody, and I got so high. It pisses them off. My relatives are angry with me: they are who and who I am. I was not lucky that I climbed high. It is impossible to have comrades on equal terms here. I want, and they envy. Even in the family - hidden envy. 

- Is it hard?

- Sure. 

Everything I wanted in life didn't work out. I have no good job, no warm family, no good comrades, no freedom that I would like. All I have is a three. I have lived my life for three.

We didn’t dream much in our youth: to become the head of a department - that's all. The Soviet regime ruined everything: if you are not a party member, everything is closed to you. I tried to join four times - they didn’t accept it because I criticized the party. Idiocy! They took the silent, sycophants. And it turned out to be a party of silent people and sycophants. Both the party and the country collapsed. 

- If there was an opportunity to go back? ..

- I would have done everything differently. If you can choose a place of birth, I would be born in Saratov. I would not go anywhere, I would have entered there, over the years it would have worked out with an apartment. I would marry for love and keep my friends from kindergarten, school, army ... 

I would never enter the Institute of Asian and African Studies. I would go to Saratov. At the legal, in extreme cases - at the history, philosophy faculties. Maybe even geographic. 

I lived and suffered! Everything prevented me from concentrating on my personal life, everything split, crushed ... Stressful state. 

And there, in Saratov, I would live. If he was a pensioner in Saratov, he would sit on the banks of the Volga. There is a glass factory and a rest house on the banks of the Volga. Astrakhan is not far away, watermelons, tomatoes, comrades, fishing, football, normal communication, walks, the embankment, summer, music ... 

To be in my hometown, in my native element: here is the kindergarten, here is my native school, here are my classmates, here is my university, here is my job, here are the neighbors. Everything is in front of my eyes. And now everything is scattered, everything is alien, everything is temporary. 

Why do I need four languages? I would have lived in Saratov with one Russian. I don't need these four languages. Everything is beautifully spent ... 

I would live in Saratov - my hometown. Maybe Samara would be, it doesn't matter. Well, in any case - Orenburg, where are my roots, my ancestors. I would have a vegetable garden, a garden, a shed full of pigeons, rabbits ... And here in Moscow - where will I keep a vegetable garden? 

We live like nomads. The whole country is nomads. And we have shepherds. Now Lenin, then Stalin, then Brezhnev, then Yeltsin stand with a whip and they drive us all over the country.

- And then the question: was your party career worth the garden and pigeons? 

- So unsettled life is connected with the fact that the country is unsettled. The country began to grow decrepit, began to disintegrate. I had no idea of ​​being in the party. I wanted to have a platform where I could come, where I could perform. For example, some problem arises in the life of the city - where can we discuss it? 

• The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia takes part in the picketing of the Japanese Embassy in Russia under the slogan "Kuriles - the land of Russia", 1992
• RIA News
• © Alexander Lyskin

Gorbachev announces: self-nomination, elections to local councils. I was delighted. Putting myself forward. Mir Publishing House, Dzerzhinsky District of Moscow. The labor collective nominated, and the district committee of the CPSU pushed aside. Then perestroika: they remove Article 6 - and other parties can be created. Everyone runs to create, but I just want to live. I go to Arbat. There people stop and listen. And I am listening. An unfamiliar friend says something. I say: "Wrong!" Everyone turns to me. I speak as I see fit. The second time is the same, the third. Everyone turns away from him to me. I liked it. And they ask me questions without even knowing me. I walked like that for several months. I liked being listened to. Bogachev (Vladimir Valentinovich Bogachev, songwriter, politician, one of the founders of the LDPSS-LDPRV. - RT ) sees me, comes up, asks for a phone number and says: “You know, we want to create a party, but we have no leader, no one to speak from the name of the party ". 

I finally agreed. I was persuaded! I was not torn, I did not cross anyone's path. Only the congress was held - presidential elections. And we got the right to nominate a presidential candidate. We took advantage of this - and a triumph! Six people, I'm in third place. Success! Everywhere: "Zhirinovsky, Zhirinovsky ...", everywhere my posters. That's it, I went into battle. 

• Vladimir Zhirinovsky with Russian miners near the building of the Federation Council, 1998
• Reuters

Then - 1992, privatization, crisis, no products, civil war. And elections. We are winning. Then I became the leader of the party that won the elections. Where? In Russia, where there are thousands of years of monarchy, thousands of years of despotism. Of course I liked it. And it also made me responsible for myself, for people, for voters. 13 million voters voted for me! I was not in my thoughts. 

I had to remain the leader of the party. I could not give up everything and work somewhere in a publishing house - there was no point. I got a higher position. You can't betray voters.

I was squeezed out of all my jobs, because I was engaged in social and political activities. Since November 1, 1990, I have been at party work. We didn't have any status at that time. We were not given a headquarters, there was no money. Just a party - that's all. 

The Central Election Commission gave me funds for the presidential elections - $ 200 thousand. I spent only $ 80 thousand, I did not have time for the rest. They made the first capital of the party - $ 120 thousand. I didn’t have a penny before, but now there are millions.

Then the elections to the State Duma. I am already a faction leader. The dacha is laid, the service apartment, the car, the apparatus. I can already develop the party. I am not saying that it was a joy for me, that I was happy. I didn't dream about it. 

- What do you want to leave behind?

- I planted a thousand trees, built dozens of houses, mostly the headquarters of the party. I have three children and nine grandchildren. Everyone has education, position, everything is in order. In a word, some part of the life attitudes is fulfilled. 

As a human being, I did not steal anything, I did not take bribes, I did not borrow money, I did not insult anyone. At political debates, there could be some unflattering statements on my part, but humanly I never wanted to quarrel with anyone ... 

I want to leave a memory, some kind of trace.

- In what sense? To enter the history books?

- No no! Just so that people can appreciate what I have done, what benefits I have brought. 

• Vladimir Zhirinovsky enters his office in the State Duma, 1996
• Reuters

- What are your feelings? Was it useful?

- If we take the overall result of political activity, then, probably, by four.

Humanly - I did everything I could. Maybe I had to worry less about some events in my life ... I just had to do a lot of extra work: Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan - left, Georgia, Tbilisi - left, moved in Moscow three times ... This all creates problems, problems, problems. And it's all up to me. 

My family gave me nothing. I started at eighteen - all by myself. Until now, all by myself. It's hard. I tried to create everything, earn money, build - it requires a lot of effort of all spiritual and physical forces. The family has four apartments, but why is that? There should be one, but I did four. The mother-in-law, Tyoply Stan, Otradnoye and Sokolniki live in Bereznikovskaya. Why waste so much energy? 

I would live in Alma-Ata, where I was born, and that's it. Native things there: a cinema theater for young people, a shop that I know, a clinic, a stadium. Everything, everything is native. Stasik lives here, Olya lives here, we know each other, the city is green, Gorky Park, trams ... Everything is dear, close. 

I am deprived of everything. I worry about something all the time, do something that is not mine, not for me. I don't like a lot of things, but I endure ... 

- And for what do you endure?

- For life. How is life? Life is not at will - according to calculation. And I want for love. Love marriage, love work, love city, love friends. None of this happened. Nothing! 

I would now go back to the hospital, in another city, from other parents. A normal apartment so that I don't go anywhere, a normal, good education. So they would ask me: “Who do you want to be, where are you going? Which Institute for Asia and Africa? You don't like languages. Why do you need Asia? You do not like these Turkic-speaking peoples. Why are you going there? " And nobody asked me. When I realized that I was in the fourth year, why quit. 

There was never a person who could advise. Never. Now, too, not, because I broke away. Everyone is already afraid to advise me, because they can see my negative reaction. 

Loneliness in all this is the worst thing. One of his own among strangers, a stranger among his own. I do not have anyone to talk to. It somehow slipped in Putin's mind that there is no Mahatma Gandhi - there is no one to talk to. I no longer ask about Gandhi, a simple school friend would be enough for me. But they are all not the same. I want to talk to them, but they want a selfie with me: “How do you say? What do you think?"

I'm like a dummy. I can't go to the bathhouse, I can't go to the store, to the theater. Everywhere people: "oh-oh-oh, Zhirinovsky!", Selfies, "and you tell me ...".

I just want to take a walk in the park, I don't want to say hello to everyone, I want to distract myself from everything, listen to the birds, look at the lilacs ... But no - someone will definitely come up, casually stand nearby and say: "Oh, what a large lilac." I don't want to hear you - it doesn't matter whether it is large or small! 

- What traits do you dislike the most about yourself?

- Excessive kindness. People don't appreciate it. You need to be less kind, less gentle, less accommodating. Do not rush. Sometimes I made decisions too quickly, and this is a definite minus.

We nominate someone as a candidate for deputy, and then it turns out that he has black spots in his biography. Why do we need this? It was necessary first to check, to choose the purest out of five people. It is better to do it slower, especially in personnel decisions, and in political decisions too. Slower is more good

- What are you ashamed of the most in your life?

- I do not know.

Why did I enter this university? Mistake. Didn't show the proper courage. Smear! I entered - and you study for six years. Ugh! I ruined my best years with unnecessary knowledge. Six years of studying not what is useful for you in life is impossible.

The second mistake is marriage. There was no bright love. And many do not. So what to do? Where is this love? Complicated. 

It is impossible to correct my mistakes because of my age. I cannot go to study again. Everything is already. I cannot marry again - it will already be a marriage of convenience. Therefore, nothing can be returned. The forces are spent. 

You do everything in your youth: profession, companion-wife, friends. I have nothing to be ashamed of, but I was not persistent enough in solving the main issues: profession, family. And here and there I worked for a three. This created a negative basis for all subsequent life. 

What can I do now? I 'm sitting here (in the State Duma - RT ). Where should I fall in love? I'll go to a restaurant - who will meet me there, how? Where else? On the street? Still, they will laugh: "Zhirinovsky invites you on a date." It's impossible. The heat of youth, as at twenty-five, at thirty, cannot be returned.

Politically, it doesn't depend on me either. I am leading a party that Russia needs. I am not a communist or a radical. I never liked government status, so I have nothing to be ashamed of. 

For myself, I say that I had no experience and there was no one to prompt. This is called fatherlessness. If there were a father, he would have suggested. I'm sure he would have said, “Go legal or philosophical. There is no need to rush to get married. For now, pick another one. He would have helped me somehow with housing. And so - all myself, myself, myself. 

Outcome of life: disappointment, loneliness and dissatisfaction. On the other hand, of course, position, fame, material wealth. But this is not what I dreamed of. 

- It turns out that if nothing is fixed, the only thing left is not to spoil the obituary?

- Well, I will insist that they bury me in Red Square, to the right of Brezhnev. Zyuganov will lie to the left of Brezhnev, and I to the right - as a man of more right-wing views than Brezhnev.

• Zhirinovsky and the head of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov
• RIA News
• © Ruslan Krivobok

It is ironic that all the leaders in our country dream of a good funeral: so that the Hall of Columns is sure to be carried on a carriage somewhere ...

What remains for them? All medals, orders received, position - everything is there. Everything, there is nothing higher there. Tenth floor.

- What kind of funeral do you dream about?

- Also about lush. It's contagious. What is left? Let me, too, on a gun carriage from the Column Hall to Red Square, near Brezhnev. As the last satisfaction of unsatisfied vanity. Since I didn’t get what I wanted, then maybe at least after death ... And so - all people are being taken to Mitino. Where our Chernobyl victims are buried. It is still harmful to live there. 

What else hangs over me - millions of people are unhappy with me. I have been telling them for 30 years how it could be done, but I cannot do it. They say: “We vote for you. We want". But they do not understand that I do not have sufficient authority. "We always vote for you!" - thank. But to win, I need 40-50 million votes, and the maximum 13 million voted for us. And in the presidential elections we are left with 4-5 million. Ten times less than we need to win. In this regard, I feel, of course, disadvantaged. 

• RIA News
• © Evgeny Biyatov

It is very pressing that people expect something from you. If you are an engineer, a new car is expected from you. And here - millions are waiting for the improvement of life. I would like to help them, I try, but so far I have been little successful.

- What is more important to you: mercy or justice?

- Mercy. Because justice is impossible.

Everyone can show mercy. And justice is impossible because all people want different things. We have Governor Degtyarev, but we wanted five more people to replace him. But as? It's impossible. Everyone will never be governor. 

The slogan of the French Revolution is "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." Freedom is not enough (I started with this), I want brotherhood, but it does not work, and equality is impossible. Better is mercy. What you have extra - give to others, and you will experience joy.

- If you had 24 hours to live, what would you do?

- Will is urgent. Dyupin (Alexander Dupin, press secretary of Zhirinovsky. -  RT ), all my books, manuscripts for you. Something for our operator. My awards are archived. All I have is to distribute so that nothing is lost anywhere. The money that I have can be transferred little by little to all regions of the country. So that in each of our regional centers they would set a table and arrange a commemoration. 50 thousand rubles for the regional center, I think, is enough - this is 1 thousand rubles per person. 50 people sit down - and for 1 thousand rubles: salad, first, second and twice 50 grams for the peace of my soul. 50 thousand rubles multiplied by 2400 regional organizations - 120 million? I will give this money in advance. Dupine had already heard this. 

At the same time, at 12 o'clock on the day of the funeral, let the beeps ring on all party cars, and whoever wants to join. And at 2 o'clock, let everyone sit down for a memorial dinner. 

In 24 hours I will have time to give all these instructions, I will call everyone I need, I will say goodbye, I will tell them not to be remembered dashingly, that if I was guilty to someone, I am ready to apologize again. I must tell everyone that they are good, smart, that they have many, many years ahead of them. And to make them happier.