Did Vladimir Zhirinovsky say that his mother is Russian, and his father is a lawyer?

For many years, the LDPR leader is attributed an unusual phrase about the origin of their own parents. We checked whether he actually pronounced it.

According to numerous publications in the media and social networks, during one of the public speeches, politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky said: "My mother is Russian, father is a lawyer." This quote in one form or another is cited, in particular, the authors of articles on BBC and in The New Times, Valentina Sklyarenko in the book "50 famous scandals"as well as a blogger and politician Maxim Katz in his Video About Zhirinovsky. Moreover, there is a mention of such a statement by the leader of the LDPR site Nizhny Novgorod branch of his party.

Interest in the origin of Zhirinovsky, in all likelihood, is due to the fact that from the very beginning of his political career in his rhetoric, statements about the protection of ethnic Russians regularly appeared. In 1991, he talked about this in interview Alexander Nevzorov for the program "600 seconds" and on press conferences Before the presidential election. Similar statements were in the program of Zhirinovsky before the election of the head of state in 1996 And 2000 years. At common In the early 1990s, anti-Semitism of such statements from a politician whose father was called Wolf Isaakovich Eidelstein sounded contradictory.

The authors of many publications, where a refutation of the politician’s words about their parents gives, refer to an interview that Zhirinovsky gave Dmitry Gordon. On the website of the Ukrainian journalist conversation Dated February 8, 2005, on his YouTube channel-2004. Even then, Gordon called the phrase Zhirinovsky “winged” and asked about her origin. The politician replied: “It was June 10, 1991. The last round table and the last questions [before the elections]. They brought me questions. To save time, since I have a minute for every question-answer, I did not call questions. The girl brings me the question: "Who is your mother by nationality?" I answer: "Mom is Russian." At this time, another girl brings the question: "Who is your father by profession?" I am without a pause: "Dad is a lawyer." The journalists present decided that this was an answer to the same question ... ”A few years before that Zhirinovsky set out The same version of events in an interview with Echo of Moscow.

The discussion, about which Zhirinovsky speaks in his answer, really took place. On June 10, 1991, on the air of Central Television, five candidates for the President of the RSFSR (with the exception of Boris Yeltsin, who did not come to the studio) communicated with each other and the leading Igor Fesunenko. The viewers had the opportunity to send their questions, which were brought to candidates on the cards, and they answered voters. Although the entire program was not found entirely, YouTube has been available from a cut of fragments involving Zhirinovsky (apparently, quite complete). There are no questions about the origin of the father and mother of a politician.

It is possible that Zhirinovsky in his answer to Gordon mixed up the broadcast in which these questions were asked. In 1994, Sergey Plekhanov published the book “Zhirinovsky: Who is he?”, Where there is a story about a television broadcast a few days earlier, May 31. How Writes The author, "it was in this conversation that the words became winged:" Mother - Russian, father - lawyer. " True, the two parts of this phrase were uttered as answers to two different questions, but the agile reporters brought them together and the new aphorism instantly became an unusable lab. ” We have not yet been able to find a record of this broadcast.

Despite the fact that in his stories about the origin of the phrase the phrase, Zhirinovsky shows a sequence and changes only minor details, he usually refers to the air in which there are no answers and answers. It is very likely that the politician is really mistaken with the date of that conversation on the air, but there is no video in the public domain that would formally confirm his words. However, we also failed to find any reliable evidence that contradicts the version of Zhirinovsky.

Photo: press service of the State Duma of the Russian Federation

This is not for sure

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Interview Dmitry Gordon (2005)
2. Interview Andrei Cherkizov (2001)
3. Interview with Vladimir Pozner (2010)