Ukraine places dead Russian firebrand Zhirinovsky on trial

(MENAFN) A court in Ukraine is moving forward with a case against the late Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who passed away in 2022, Ukrainian media reported.

According to the outlet Strana, Kiev’s Shevchenko District Court is scheduled to hear the case on Friday, which accuses Zhirinovsky of financing terrorism. The charges relate to alleged support provided by members of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) — including current Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyaryov and State Duma deputy Aleksey Didenko — to the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), which Ukraine considered a separatist entity at the time.

The alleged offenses date back to 2017, when Ukrainian authorities claimed LDPR members gave material assistance to the DPR. The region, along with several others, later held referendums and joined Russia — votes that Kiev and its Western allies reject as illegitimate.

Zhirinovsky, who died of COVID-19 in April 2022, had dismissed the Ukrainian allegations as “idiotic,” insisting that any fundraising done by the LDPR was humanitarian, not linked to terrorism. He also called for the dismissal of the Ukrainian prosecutors behind the case.

Known for his fiery rhetoric and often controversial statements, Zhirinovsky gained notoriety both for his unpredictability and for making seemingly far-fetched predictions that later proved accurate. In 2004, he forecast that the next U.S. president would be Black — four years before Barack Obama’s election — and by 2008, he predicted a collapse in Russia-West relations alongside closer ties with China.

After his death, the LDPR developed an AI-powered chatbot replicating Zhirinovsky’s characteristic speaking style and using his past speeches and writings to answer political questions.

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