Russian Ultranationalist Tells S.F. Audience He’s a Dove : Speech: In address to World Affairs Council, Vladimir Zhirinovsky says he has been the victim of lies. Unconvinced demonstrators denounce him as a bigot.

Never has a man been so woefully misquoted.

Russian ultranationalist legislator Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky, a flamboyant demagogue on his first visit to the United States, delivered a fiery speech Monday before the nonprofit World Affairs Council with one simple message: None of it is true.

The vow to annex Alaska? Slander. The accusations of anti-Semitism? Lies. The threats to create a dictatorship, shoot 100,000 citizens, deploy nuclear weapons? Bald falsehoods.

Before a disbelieving audience, including scores of Russian immigrants, Zhirinovsky described himself as a moderate, a dove, a friend to all ethnic groups.

“I stand here before you to tell the world that our party believes in multi-party democracy. We support no discrimination on ethnic, social, racial or religious grounds.”

Unconvinced, several hundred demonstrators gathered outside to distribute some of his most shocking quotes and denounce him as a bigot. “We want to expose the real Zhirinovsky--his virulent anti-Semitism, his fascism,” said Rabbi Douglas Kahn, who helped organize the demonstration. “We want to make him understand how repugnant the people of San Francisco find his message.”

Or, as Russian immigrant Yelena Bilyak said: “He’s the monster of the century.”

Zhirinovsky first railed his way to prominence in 1991, when his harangues and pandering promises of cheap vodka helped him snatch nearly 8% of the votes in Russia’s first presidential election.

His raw confidence in Russia’s prowess and his visions of military triumph and economic dominance gained further appeal over the next few years, as Russia slipped swiftly from superpower status.

Zhirinovsky’s misleadingly named Liberal Democratic Party captured an astounding 25% of the votes in the December, 1993, parliamentary election. Zhirinovsky entered the lower house of Parliament in triumph--already brazenly preparing a run for the presidency in 1996.

Perhaps in preparation for that campaign, Zhirinovsky on Monday tested a stump speech that could have passed muster in most American districts: He promised to fight crime, banish ethnic conflict and boost the economy through tax reform. He even pledged goodies for the local audience: strong trade links between San Francisco and Russia’s eastern towns.

Zhirinovsky repeatedly warned that unless his party captures the presidency, Russia will collapse into anarchic civil war.

“The worsening of conditions in Russia would bring big conflict over the entire Eurasian continent. It would come close to the United States,” he said.

As an indication of his country’s instability, Zhirinovsky asserted that Russian soldiers educated at Harvard University are poised to overthrow their military command as part of an ongoing American attempt to meddle in Russian politics.

A master conspiracy theorist who has blamed the AIDS epidemic on the United States, Zhirinovsky said he believes that the U.S. media are attempting to discredit him by misquoting his inflammatory rhetoric.

“Again--lies, false information,” he said. And later he added, “Please listen to me, not to those papers that make special reports on me to diminish my popularity.”

Zhirinovsky even sought to distance himself from the bombastic jingoism of his autobiography, “The Last Dash to the South.”

His vision of Russian soldiers bathing their feet in the Indian Ocean--interpreted as a call to conquest--represents merely a “prediction,” Zhirinovsky said, and not a goal. “Why does this book always interest you?” he asked reporters with evident irritation.

Zhirinovsky’s antics appear to have cost him some support in Russia. But polls show that he maintains a core backing of 5% to 10%--not enough, perhaps, to win the presidency, but an indication that his hard-line views appeal to millions of voters.

Showcasing the deep frustration that Zhirinovsky taps into, thousands of demonstrators in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other Russian cities marched Monday in nostalgic commemoration of the 77th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. While the mostly elderly demonstrators would probably not back Zhirinovsky--who has blasted communism at every opportunity--many held anti-reform placards that echo some of his platforms.

Like the demonstrators, Zhirinovsky has harshly criticized Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin’s reformist government. On Monday, he called it “100% Communist,” accused it of establishing a “totalitarian regime” and said it had “given property to the former Communists, the mafia and criminal elements.”

Clearly aware that his denunciation of Yeltsin did not sway many audience members his way, Zhirinovsky sought to spin the hostility to his advantage.

“I do not need your support,” he said, predicting that his party will sweep 90% of the vote in Russia’s next presidential election.

“Please do not praise our party,” he exhorted. “We would like you and your press to describe us with the worst words--then we will get a lot of votes.”

Zhirinovsky’s two-week tour of the United States will take him to New York and Miami.