LDPR Offers Lugovoi Immunity in Duma

Analysts said Zhirinovsky's offer to Lugovoi should play well with the LDPR constituency. Even if Lugovoi does not make it on the list, the publicity will give the party a boost for December's vote.

"It is a successful tactical maneuver from Zhirinovsky. It will bring him new votes," said Vladimir Pribylovsky, head of the Panorama think tank.

Lugovoi is a perfect fit because LDPR voters enjoy the showmanship and bravado of the move. They are also more likely to see Lugovoi as a hero for allegedly killing someone they see as a traitor, Pribylovsky said.

The move could be a PR coup for Zhirinovsky, a showman who combines ultranationalist bombast with a reputation as a politician ready to do the Kremlin's bidding.

"If he doesn't wake up his voters, they won't vote, so he needs to give his electorate a carrot to get it to vote," Pribylovsky said.

Sergei Mitrokhin, head of Yabloko's party list in the Moscow district, chuckled when informed of the move.

"This is simply Zhirinovsky working according to his own style," he said. "The party has replaced one scandalous figure [Mitrofanov] with another to maintain the nationalist hysteria that gets the party votes."

"I do not comment on the behavior of Zhirinovsky or others of his kind," Berezovsky said in a telephone interview from Britain.