Russian far-rightist Zhirinovsky dies at 75, saluted by Putin

But the grievances he had been voicing since the 1990s found an echo in President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly bitter rhetoric in the run-up to the Feb. 24 invasion, when the Kremlin leader repeatedly accused the West of cheating and deceiving Russia.

“Always, in any audience, in the most heated discussions, he defended the patriotic position, the interests of Russia,” Putin said in a tribute.

Zhirinovsky was known for outrageous and headline-grabbing statements, including threats to launch nuclear weapons against various countries, seize Alaska from the United States, and expand Russia’s frontiers to the point where its soldiers could “wash their boots in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean”.