Bulgaria Orders Zhirinovsky to Leave After Insult to President
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SOFIA, Bulgaria — The Bulgarian government ordered Russian ultranationalist Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky to leave within 24 hours, saying Tuesday that he had meddled in the country’s affairs and insulted its president.
State TV quoted Zhirinovsky as saying he will “leave Bulgaria (today) but will return to this country as president” of Russia.
In Austria last week, Zhirinovsky met with rightists but government leaders were silent. He called off a three-day visit to Germany after a wave of criticism there but met with a right-wing German publisher on a brief stop in Munich.
Zhirinovsky arrived in Bulgaria on Saturday.
He said in interviews with Bulgarian news media that Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev should be replaced and that it was time for new leadership in this country, which in Soviet times was Moscow’s most loyal Eastern European ally. He also suggested that Bulgarian territory could include neighboring Macedonia.
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