U.S. Ready if Russian Extremist Tries to Crash Party

As if President Clinton’s trip to Moscow lacks for potential drama, U.S. officials say they will summon Marines to bar the door if extremist leader Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky tries to crash the President’s diplomatic reception for Russian opinion makers later this week.

Zhirinovsky, leader of the ultranationalist (and misleadingly named) Liberal Democratic Party, has vowed to arrive uninvited at the party planned for Thursday evening in Moscow. The gathering at Spaso House, the U.S. ambassador’s residence, is intended to introduce Clinton to a variety of prominent Russians from politics, the arts, business and other spheres.

But Zhirinovsky, whose far-right party won the second-largest number of parliamentary seats in the December elections, is not on the invitation list. He has said that he will crash the event to protest his exclusion and the invitations to leaders of other legislative factions.

He can try but he won’t make it inside, U.S. officials say.

“You’ve got to have an invitation to get in,” said a senior official.

The officials acknowledge the risk that a swarm of TV cameras could turn any such attempt into a highly publicized encounter.

Although the White House clearly hopes to avoid a nasty fight with the vitriolic nationalist, hostile words have already been flying. At a news conference Monday, Clinton said of Zhirinovsky that “his, thank goodness, is not the governing voice of Russia.”