The ultra-nationalist Russian LDPR party chose Friday, May 27 its new leader, MP Leonid Sloutski, a month and a half after the death of its historic and emblematic leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
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On its Telegram account, the training indicated that Leonid Sloutski, 54, had been elected "
unanimously
" at a congress in Moscow.
He was the only candidate.
Leonid Sloutski is the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.
He was part of Moscow's delegation during the recent peace talks with Kyiv, talks stalled since March.
An economist by training, he has been a Duma deputy since 2000. After his election on Friday, he promised to "
strengthen
" his party's social program, according to the TASS agency.
In 2018, Leonid Sloutsky was accused of sexual harassment by several Russian journalists, charges that are rare in Russia, a country lagging far behind in the fight against gender-based violence.
A Commission of the Duma had not followed up on these accusations, rejected outright by the person concerned.
Façade opposition role
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) was founded in 1992 by Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
He won 7.55% of the vote in the 2021 legislative elections, behind the Communists (18.93%) and Vladimir Putin's party (49.82%).
Classified on the far right, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who died in April at the age of 74, had participated in almost all the presidential elections in modern Russia.
His party has always been represented and clearly visible in local and national bodies.
However, the LDPR is accused of playing the role of front opposition which, in the end, always lines up behind Vladimir Putin's major decisions.
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The anti-Western ideas of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, obsessed with the greatness of Russia, and which seemed extreme in the 1990s, have gradually imposed themselves in Russian public life, including in the Kremlin.
At the end of 2021, Vladimir Zhirinovsky predicted that the year 2022 "
will not be a peaceful year, it will be the year when Russia will once again become a power
", thus announcing the military intervention in Ukraine.
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