MOSCOW, March 29 (RAPSI) – Moscow’s Ostankinsky District Court will examine records of a news conference of the former Turkish envoy to the U.S. Nuzhet Kandemir concerning deportation of Vladimir Zhirinovsky from Turkey in 1969 as part of the MP’s defamation dispute with a journalist of the Financial Times (FT), RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

The next hearing will be held on April 5.

Charles Clover, current correspondent of the Financial Times China and ex-Moscow FT bureau chief, called Zhirinovsky an agent for the Committee for State Security (KGB) in his book “Black Wind, White Snow”.

The journalist insists that he has confirmation of the plaintiff’s links to KGB citing the 1994 news conference of Kandemir, who told journalists that Zhirinovsky was arrested and deported from Turkey in 1969 for the communist propaganda and espionage. At that time, he also called the leader of LDPR a KGB agent.

Zhirinovsky in his lawsuit asks the court to declare this information discrediting his honor, dignity and business reputation. The lawmaker also demands 1 million rubles ($16,000) in compensation for moral harm from the defendant and refutation of the said information.