MOSCOW, April 23 (RIA Novosti) – Populist Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the nationalist LDPR party, called on the media on Tuesday to stop covering mass killings in order to avoid sparking copycat incidents.
Zhirinovsky’s appeal comes a day after an armed man in the southwest city of Belgorod shot at least six people dead. The killers has since gone on the run, and the incident has been headline news in the Russian media.
“I’ve always said: close this information. You are spreading mass murder,” Zhirinovsky told reporters on Tuesday.
“They [criminals] see that the whole world is in a fuss, and they want to be part of this process,” said Zhirinovsky, who has a history of making controversial remarks.
He cited last week’s bombings at the Boston Marathon which left three people dead and almost 200 injured.
“We will never stop such crimes, because there is an unhealthy vanity to die in a way that would make everyone talk about you for a week, two or three,” he said.
People get killed every day, he said, but only incidents where many people die at once are covered by the media in detail.