Zhirinovsky Pledges to Move From Kremlin If Chosen Russian President

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Head of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and presidential hopeful Vladimir Zhirinovsky said Monday that in the event of his victory in the March election, he will move the governing bodies of the country from the Kremlin to Moscow’s remote districts.
Sputnik

"We will fulfill what [former] President [Dmitry] Medvedev promised – we will transfer the entire administration to New Moscow. The Kremlin should be a historical place, a place for excursions. And for the presidential administration it is possible to build a modern building with modern means of communication away in New Moscow," Zhirinovsky said during a presentation.

He added that he would transfer all ministries, the government and the State Duma there.

Zhirinovsky also stressed that Russia’s governing bodies now often duplicated each other's functions, and that he considered necessary to reduce their staff.

"We have several thousand in the presidential administration, several thousand in the government apparatus. They duplicate each other. The president should have a small apparatus… It is necessary to reduce it across the country, and the number of lawmakers, too," Zhirinovsky said.

The Russian presidential election is scheduled for March 18. The campaign started in December.

Earlier in February, the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) approved a presidential election ballot comprising eight candidates. The list will start with Sergey Baburin from the All-People's Union party, followed by Pavel Grudinin from the Communist Party, then by Zhirinovsky, incumbent President Vladimir Putin, Ksenia Sobchak nominated by the liberal Civic Initiative party, the Communists of Russia party chairman Maxim Suraykin, business ombudsman Boris Titov, and Grigory Yavlinsky, the co-founder of the Yabloko Party.

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