MOSCOW, October 27 (Itar-Tass) - Leaders of the Chechnya branch of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) have declared their intention to quit the party and to dissolve its regional branch in Chechnya over harsh pronouncements by the party leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, in respect of North Caucasian republics, according to an official statement by the branch coordinator Adlan Shamsadov, the copy of which is available to Itar-Tass.
In the Poedinok programme on Russia 1 television channel on October 24, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky spoke in a harsh manner about in-country migration from the North Caucasian republics. He called to impose population control measures in the North Caucasus and to “fence off the North Caucasus with barbed wire.” Zhirinovsky’s position provoked severe criticism from Head of the Republic of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov and other politicians.
“We believe that not a single person with a great deal of common sense, not a single real citizen and patriot of Russia can voice support to slogans that breed interethnic hatred, infringe upon the rights of millions of Russia citizens living in the Caucasus,” the document says.
According to Shamsadov, Zhirinovsky’s words “are geared to call for ethnic, territorial and religious hatred.” “They are fraught with the collapse of our country. They are an attack on democratic principles that constitute the Russian statehood,” the statement stresses.
In the mean time, LDPR leaders say they have received no statement from the Chechen branch. “As of now, we have no information about the voluntary dissolution of the party’s branch in Chechnya,” deputy speaker of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house with LDPR, Igor Lebedev, told Itar-Tass on Sunday. “This is not the first time when these or those nationality issues arise and such statements come from Chechnya. I think it is another hoax of certain structures.”