A Moscow city council staffer doused Russian presidential candidate and socialite Ksenia Sobchak with water in sub-zero temperatures

Ben A. Pruchnie/Stringer via Getty Images

Ksenia Sobchak

• Russian presidential candidate and socialite Ksenia Sobchak was doused with water in Moscow on Sunday by an aide to a Moscow city council member.
• The attack came after Sobchak poured water on a political rival during a debate when the man called her an "idiot" and a number of sexist slurs.
• Sobchak's attacker yelled the political rival's name as he dumped a bottle of water on her.

The campaign office of Russian presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak says she was doused with water and knocked to the ground in an assault on Sunday.

While the water attack took place in the entrance of a hotel, it came on a day when temperatures were well below freezing in Moscow, with the high hovering around 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

The incident came several days after Sobchak threw water on nationalist presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky during a televised debate. Zhirinovsky had reportedly repeatedly called her an "idiot" during the debate, and Sobchak responded by tossing a glass of water at the candidate.

In response, Zhirinovsky called Sobchak, among other things, a "f------ w---e," according to Sputnik News.

In statements after the incident, Sobchak said she simply wanted to "cool down" Zhirinovsky's hot head during the debate.

According to a statement on Sobchak's campaign website, the man who threw water on her said, "This is for Zhirinovsky."

The statement said police detained the man and identified him as an aide of Moscow city council member Aleksey Shaposhnikov, according to Unian Information Agency.

Sobchak, who rose to fame hosting a TV reality show, casts herself as the candidate for Russians fed up with current politics, but has largely avoided personal criticism of President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian presidential election will take place on March 18. Putin is expected to win in a landslide.

Watch videos of both water-throwing incidents below: