Medvedev asked to investigate governor's alien encounter

Posted By Joshua Keating Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - 1:06 PM Share

I thought this story might be another hoax from those wiseguys at the Moscow Times, but it seems to have been reported elsewhere and is just way too good to check: 

The aliens came for him on September 18, 1997.  Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was at home in his Moscow apartment when they came in and abducted him, taking him to their space ship where they communicated with him telepathically.

That's the tale Ilyumzhinov told a popular Russian television host in a program that aired last week.  

But Ilyumzhinov isn't simply one of the thousands who claim to have been abducted by aliens, he's also the governor of the Russian republic of Kalmykia and a former president of the World Chess Federation.

Now a Russian parliamentarian wants Ilyumzhinov questioned, fearing he may have given the aliens "secret information," according to the Echo of Moscow radio station.

And not just interrogated by anybody, but by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

State Duma Deputy Andrei Lebedev apparently wants to know what the governor found out from the aliens, what he told them, and whether his close encounter will affect his job performance. 

Ilyumzhinov was already known as a pretty eccentric guy for his ongoing campaign to turn his impoverished republic in into the world capital of chess, including a $30 million "chess palace."

DMITRY ASTAKHOV/AFP/Getty Images

EXPLORE:RUSSIA
 

SINGINGMOUNTAINS

4:38 PM ET

May 8, 2010

Diversion

This story is a humorous diversion from the destruction of progress on Europe's Eastern wing, and Russia's Western and CIS near-abroad. Putin is taking it back, and stories like this one, and photo-ops with polar bears soften their governing actions. Look, they are so compassionate, they even tolerate a mentally disordered governor.

Here he was, essentially appointed. What is the purpose for elections and investigations at the Putin Centre? Analyst Bluepapers blog has a recent post on that subject, synthesizing some interesting insights about pre and post- Soviet investigations by Virginie Coulloudon, now spokesperson at the OSCE, and a piece on elections in Russia from the Monitor. Analyst Bluepapers is at analystblues.com.

 

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