Vladimir Zhirinovsky, one of the most visible and well-known figures in Russian politics over the past three decades, capturing domestic and international headlines with his xenophobic comments and outlandish public behavior, has died at the age of 75. Zhirinovsky, like Putin, attached importance to the issue of ethnic Russians who found themselves living outside the country after the fall of the Soviet Union.

"The difference was that, until 2014, Putin had always claimed that talk of ‘bringing back’ these lands with lots of Russians in the so-called ‘near abroad’ was not politically realistic," says Professor Brian Taylor. Since 2014, when Putin sent the military to seize control of Crimea, the president's rhetoric with respect to Russians and Russian speakers in Ukraine "has become more strident, which rhetorically moved him closer to Zhirinovsky, although usually without the extreme flourishes that Zhirinovsky was famous for," Taylor says. Read more in the Voice of America article, "Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian Firebrand Politician Whose Career Spanned Yeltsin, Putin Eras, Dies At 75."