"Zhirinovsky is an evil caricature of a Russian patriot. It's as if someone wanted to use this figure to show Russian patriotism to the world as a repulsive monster. Apart from the financial support he received, the reason Zhirinovsky had so much success in the elections is that by that time all the democratic parties, groups and leaders had completely abandoned Russia's national interests. They remained indifferent to the cruel poverty and hopelessness which has afflicted the majority of the population as a result of Yegor Gaidar's technocratic reform--after so many years of communism, yet another heartless experiment performed on the unfortunate people of Russia."