THE SOFTER SIDE OF VLAD

In front of the TV cameras, he's a flambuoyant ultranationalist who punches out rival members of parliament and would rearrange the borders of Europe if he wins Russia's presidential election next June. At home, it seems, Vladimir Zhirinovsky is just plain cuddly. "He is very quiet and peaceful," his wife, Galina Lebedeva, told reporters at a rare press conference in Helsinki Tuesday. Other revelations: Zhirinovsky "asks others before changing the television channel" and pampers his wife with roses and trips to the theater, opera and ballet. He's also "crazy about his work." So crazy, in fact, that Lebedeva admitted that Baltic nationalists should "get in boats and start rowing" if her husband moves into the Kremlin this year.