Vladimir Zhirinovsky (Source: Ria.ru)
In an interview with the well-known Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the ultranationalist politician, who heads the "Liberal-Democratic" party in the Russian Duma (a party that he founded a few months prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union that has been called neither liberal nor democratic) made the following prediction: "It will be the end of America. It will be the end of Europe. Russian will rule the world because we have the strongest army in the world. We can flatten half the planet and you will not understand anything. If you fall asleep in the evening, you will not be around in the morning. And, the Americans will not understand what happened. They too will not be around. Do you not understand that this is the 21st century? Infantry is not needed, two-three rockets and that is all."[1]
Zhirinovsky may be considered a loose cannon, who makes outlandish outbursts, possibly with a view to keeping himself in the public's eye. However, complacency with a nuclear war that would destroy America occasionally crops up elsewhere in Russia. On February 23, 2019, the St. Petersburg concert choir, performing at the prestigious St. Isaac's Cathedral performed a song celebrating a Russian submarine laden with 100 megaton nuclear weapons. Washington was targeted, and the submariners were exhorted to "burn in half the land of the adversary" to the accompaniment of a merry troo-lah-lah.[2]
[1] Ukraina.ru, July 10, 2020)
[2] See MEMRI Special Dispatch 7920, St. Petersburg Concert Choir Sings Of Bombing U.S.: 'On A Submarine With A Nuclear Motor, Yes, With A Dozen 100-Megaton Bombs... I Called To The Gunner, Set The Target On Washington', March 1, 2019.
