Replacing Zhirinovsky

As the Kremlin considers replacements to lead Russia’s right-wing ‘opposition,’ some strategists want to ditch the party altogether

With the death of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the Kremlin seeks someone to replace him as the leader of the political party LDPR, the nation’s loyalist right-wing alternative to United Russia. At the moment, the main candidate for Zhirinovsky’s role appears to be LDPR’s acting leader in the State Duma, Leonid Slutsky (the same politician whom multiple women journalists have accused of sexual harassment). Meanwhile, sources told Meduza special correspondent Andrey Pertsev that the Putin administration is considering a gradual “disposal” of the party altogether.

The search for a replacement to lead LDPR began immediately after Vladimir Zhirinovsky lost his battle with COVID-19 and died on April 6, 2022. Three sources close to the Kremlin told Meduza that Vladimir Putin is handling the work directly together with his chief of staff, Anton Vaino, and his domestic policy czar, Sergey Kiriyenko. The president reportedly believes it is vital that “familiar, understandable, and predictable people” lead the political parties with seats in Russia’s Parliament.

Sources also told Meduza, however, that replacing Zhirinovsky had been under discussion within the Kremlin since last year. Two individuals with knowledge of these deliberations say officials in the Putin administration believed that the LDPR leader had lost a step, noting that he’d become less active in public.

Back then, the Kremlin was considering several candidates, including Smolensk Governor Alexey Ostrovsky (once a prominent LDPR functionary), Yaroslav Nilov (who chairs the State Duma’s Committee on Labor, Social Policy, and Veterans' Affairs), and then acting (now elected) Khabarovsk Governor Mikhail Degtyarev.

When rumors spread that the billionaire Oleg Deripaska might take over at LDPR, Zhirinovsky dismissed the idea, arguing that Russia’s businessmen aren’t interested in playing politics or being public people. “They’re used to sitting in their bunkers and staying silent. This is just another bluff,” Zhirinovsky told reporters at the time.

Three sources close to the Kremlin told Meduza that the Putin administration’s leading candidate to replace Zhirinovsky is the same politician filling in for him at the State Duma since his hospitalization: International Affairs Committee Chairman Leonid Slutsky (whom three journalists accused of sexual harassment in 2018, before a parliamentary ethics committee controversially cleared him of wrongdoing). Today, Slutsky’s name appears in the news most often because he is one of the negotiators representing Russia in ceasefire talks with Ukraine.

One source told Meduza that the Putin administration considers Slutsky to be a “comfortable” replacement who has a solid relationship with the nation’s business leaders and top state officials. “He can get the job done,” the source explained. “He’s not as charismatic [as Zhirinovsky], of course, but nobody needs charismatic types right now.”

Another source pointed out that Slutsky’s role as International Affairs Committee chairman and his experience with foreign relations make him valuable to the Kremlin now. “The international agenda is crucial for the president, and Slutsky has this covered in the State Duma,” said the source. “And he’s not just coming to Putin from off the streets. The president probably doesn’t even know the last name of anybody else at LDPR.”

In fact, Slutsky owes his position on the Duma’s International Affairs Committee to Zhirinovsky directly, who lobbied for the appointment in 2016 when Vladimir Putin met with the leaders of the political parties that won seats in the next parliament. Zhirinovsky called him an “energetic specialist,” finally winning over the president, despite United Russia’s efforts to claim the chairmanship for itself.

At the time, even Putin acknowledged that Zhirinovsky’s frequently inflammatory antics raised concerns about handing over control of the committee to LDPR. But Mr. Slutsky “is a slightly different, more diplomatic person, the president said.

Leonid Slutsky did not return Meduza’s calls.

Party poopers

Meduza learned that the Kremlin is also considering other replacements for Zhirinovsky, though these candidates are long shots compared to Slutsky. According to the newspaper Vedomosti, the Putin administration has taken an interest in the television and radio host Vladimir Solovyov, but sources told Meduza that he’s likely too busy with his media projects to lead an entire political party. “The only way he’d do it is if the president asked him directly,” said one person with knowledge of the Kremlin’s deliberations.

Solovyov did not respond to Meduza’s questions.

LDPR spokesman Alexander Dyupin told Meduza that the party will need to hold a congress to determine its new leader. “Someone with authority and respect within LDPR will head the party,” said Dyupin, adding that preparations for such an event haven’t yet begun.

One of LDPR’s federal-level officials told Meduza on condition of anonymity that party members are “slightly disoriented,” knowing that their future depends on factors largely outside their control: who takes over, what that person’s politics are, whom that person promotes, and what kind of agreement that person reaches with the Kremlin. LDPR’s remaining leadership understands that the Putin administration primarily decides who replaces Zhirinovsky.

The party itself could be on its way out, however. A source close to the Kremlin told Meduza that “gradual disposal” awaits LDPR, whoever takes over as leader. The source points out that the party has lost its traditional support base to the Communist Party in Russia’s Far East, winning just 7.55 percent of the votes in last year’s national parliamentary elections (roughly half of the support it drew in 2016).

Another source argued that LDPR was completely dependent on Zhirinovsky for relevance with voters. The party’s long-time leader was so galvanizing that he could boost LDPR voter turnout even in local city council elections, to say nothing of regional assembly races. Without Zhirinovsky, the party could be reduced to a “platform for participation privilege in parliamentary elections” (meaning that LDPR would keep some number of seats in the State Duma merely to retain the capacity to nominate candidates without collecting large numbers of signatures, allowing it to serve as a pathway into politics for handpicked individuals).

“LDPR has a choice: it can either exist on the Kremlin’s terms or cease to exist altogether,” said a source. “They can disconnect them from the mass media, and they can tell the regions to kick the party to the curb. And there wouldn’t be any political damage at all. [The voters would assume] that they simply couldn’t cut it without Zhirinovsky.”

Speaking to Meduza on condition of anonymity, a political strategist who works with the Kremlin’s domestic policy team put it even more bluntly: “Without Zhirinovsky, nothing will save the party.”

Story by Andrey Pertsev

Abridged translation by Kevin Rothrock