Rogozin on the moon. Rogozin spoke about the plans for the exploration of the moon and called the main problem of Roscosmos. “I hope relations with Moldova will warm up”
On the eve of the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, which are scheduled for September 18, Maxim Solopov, a journalist from the Mediazona website, went to the village of Molokovo near Moscow and recorded a story about the political kitchen of the Kremlin, one of the most influential people in Russia in the 1990s, Alexander Korzhakov, the ex-bodyguard of Boris Yeltsin, the founder of Presidential Security Services. "FACTS" invite readers to get acquainted with his memoirs
“I was one of the best officers in the KGB - a multiple champion in three sports: shooting, volleyball and orienteering,- Alexander Korzhakov tells the journalist. — Then, sorry, I was in Afghanistan. I was issued a passport for this. Few of us had a passport. They started sending me abroad. I was in France, in the Czech Republic, in England, in China. They sent me there, so they trusted me. I was fired in 1989 for what? For the fact that I was at the birthday party of Yeltsin, who was in disgrace. Wait, I was with a bandit?! Am I at Rotenberg’s (the current Russian oligarch close to Putin. — Ed.) was someone at a birthday party? I visited a man who is a minister of the USSR, a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Member of the Central Committee of the CPSU! Not the Politburo, but to hell with it. I worked for him [bodyguard] for more than two years. We found a common language. Yeltsin was a senior comrade for me. I just got fired for it.
For reference:
1969-1970 - Alexander Korzhakov is serving in the Kremlin regiment.
1970 - enters the service in the ninth department of the KGB.
1985-1987 - Works as a bodyguard for the first secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU, candidate member of the Politburo Boris Yeltsin.
October 1987 - Yeltsin speaks at the plenum of the Central Committee with sharp criticism of the party leadership. His speech is not published in the Soviet press, but diverges in samizdat.
February 1988 - Yeltsin was expelled from the list of candidates for membership in the Politburo and transferred to work in Gosstroy.
1989 - Korzhakov was fired from the KGB. Yeltsin is elected People's Deputy of the USSR.
1990 - Yeltsin becomes chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.
1991 - Yeltsin - President of the RSFSR. Korzhakov heads the Main Directorate of Security (GUO), which in 1996 was transformed into the Federal Security Service (FSO).
1996 - Korzhakov is dismissed from all posts after the scandal with the detention in the midst of Yeltsin's re-election campaign of activists from his campaign headquarters, Sergei Lisovsky and Arkady Yevstafyev. According to Korzhakov, employees of the headquarters headed by Anatoly Chubais stole campaign funds.
1997 - Korzhakov was elected to the State Duma. Until 2011, he worked on the Parliamentary Defense Committee.
It was the initiative of [Yuri] Plekhanov, head of the ninth department(a division of the KGB, which was engaged in the protection of the first persons of the USSR and their foreign guests. — Auth.). [The last KGB chairman Vladimir] Kryuchkov himself did not know me yet, but Yeltsin was being followed. I didn't think about it then. My dream was to settle here, in the village, with my mother, with a pension of 250 rubles, build a house, and give the apartment to my daughters. I have loved the countryside since childhood. I was brought here for the first time, so I fell in love with these places. I have never been to a pioneer camp. And suddenly they fired me. Wow! I began to ask how much I will receive a pension. 200 rubles, but it would be 250! 50 rubles in Soviet money is oh-oh-oh, how much in those days. My mother and father received 120 rubles each, then 132 rubles each. And they were happy.
One friend offered to work in the archive department. I refused. Now I think, maybe in vain: there, it turns out, there are very interesting things. But then I was still a sports man. I needed to move. And one of our retired ones offered me a job in the Plastic cooperative. Then there were already cooperatives. The salary is one thousand rubles. In the KGB, I received 300, and here a thousand. “What should be done? I ask. - Same". Okay, let's try. [Ex-employee of the ninth department of the KGB, later the head of the reception and Yeltsin's secretary Valentin] Mamakin took this alcoholic as his deputy. Made him a man. Then the people were recruited, the instructions were written, the schedules were drawn up. Mamakin's staff officer was very good. Together with him, they set up security. A few months later I began to receive already three thousand.
The wife was happy. With such a salary, a Zhiguli could be bought in two months. My wife said it was the best time of our lives.
I walk down the street, I see that they sell good bananas. I tell the loader: “Bring a couple of boxes into my car.” Each box cost 21 rubles, I give him 50 for two. I see cherries. Good cherries, four, five rubles a kilogram. People take 300-400 grams. There is no money. I say: "I, please, the whole box."
There were already many cooperatives then. Crime began to emerge. The Kvantrishvili brothers then became famous. It didn't affect me at all. I recruited athletes, wrestlers, boxers. I had these guys, cool! I gave them instructions at the briefing: “If they start firing, lie down on the bottom of the car to hell, stay alive. With these, to hell with them. They have money, you can see what kind.
We have already been fired, but Mamakin and I paid party dues in the "nine" for another six months. Huge, almost 500 rubles(According to the Charter of the CPSU, for party members whose monthly income exceeded 300 rubles, contributions amounted to three percent of earnings. - Auth.). We specifically chose the day of party contributions when the pay was. They called the Kremlin, they let us into the Arsenal, to our former unit. People lined up to watch us pay. Six months later, we were forcibly transferred to another party organization, to the ZhEK at the place of residence. Pensioners began to knock on my apartment: when, then, will I hand over my party dues? And I wrote them a statement that I was interrupting my membership in the CPSU until the issue of the formation of the Democratic Platform within the party was resolved. So they discussed me there, slandered me: they began to demand that I hand over my party card. You didn't give it to me! Therefore, I keep the membership card of a member of the CPSU.
I went to rallies for Yeltsin. I bought myself a special handle from a shovel and attached plywood to it with a poster: “Hands off Yeltsin!”. Yes, I came to the rallies of "Democratic Russia" as an ordinary participant. I haven't even become Yeltsin's bodyguard yet. My photographs were distributed in the ninth department: “Here he is, a traitor. That's who he became. He repainted. Major of the KGB.
*Alexander Korzhakov: "In my book" Boris Yeltsin: from dawn to dusk "only three percent of the whole truth
With Yeltsin at this time we became friends even more. Until he fell off the bridge. It is still not clear where. Then my comrades-in-arms chose me as the head of his security, but they did not fire me from Plastik for several more months. The leadership of the cooperative dreamed that I would return. I left in September 1990 and it wasn't until January 1991 that they expelled me from the state. I realized that I would not return.
Yeltsin went higher and higher. But I also needed money - two children. My wife got a job in the church, but she got used to a good salary. I asked our colleague [Sergey] Trube from "DemRussia" to make me a salary of three hundred rubles. With a pension, you can live. This guy gave me three addresses: “Every month on such and such a date, come to such and such an address, get money.” So I went to different addresses, signed and received 100 rubles in different cooperatives. In one I was registered as a foreman, in another - as a caretaker, in the third - as some kind of security guard. I felt so uncomfortable. I felt like a racketeer. I was Yeltsin's absolutely informal personal bodyguard.
I went to Tula then, bought two guns to guard Yeltsin. When we were driving in the car, I had a rocket launcher and a landing knife. With a gun, they could grab me somehow, but I brought a knife from Afghanistan, so go to hell. They wouldn't put him in jail. There were no pistols. Even when they gave me gas pistols, I later gave them away myself. He went with a rocket launcher, a hunting one. He knew that a rocket could be launched into a dangerous machine, and it would not seem enough.
You correctly said that in 1991 we saved them all - those who are still in power. But they themselves had nothing to do with the democratic revolution. The revolution is made by fanatics, and villains come to power. I can't stand our government. I know them all.
... The entire "nine" was 15 thousand people, and now the Federal Security Service (FSO) - under 50 thousand! After Yeltsin there were 13 thousand. And there were enough of them: governors, and prime ministers, and the Constitutional Court, and the Supreme Court, and dachas were guarded.
I created the presidential security service. Now they are still speculating with this name, but in fact it is just the personal bodyguard of the president inside the FSO. After the coup, I created a GDO separately from all structures(Main Security Directorate. — Auth.), which reported directly to the president instead of the first department, as it was in the "nine". I looked at the first section. We abolished the “nine” and restored, as under Stalin, a separate structure. The government guards and the enkavedeshniki, who arrested the people in the craters at night, were different people. They must have different psychology.
Why did I never condemn [Vladimir] Medvedev, who was Gorbachev's head of security, for abandoning the president in Foros? He was ordered personally by Plekhanov, who came to Gorbachev. Medvedev was his subordinate, just the head of the department: pack your things, get out. “I need to go report to Mikhail Sergeevich ...” - “Get out of here!”
I did as under [Stalin's security chief Nikolai] Vlasik: the security chief reports only to the first person. He wants to remove me - please. So that some general could not come and order to leave the post. For the rest, there is the FSO. Let them protect the Duma, the patriarch, Kudrin, Pudrin - anyone.
When the FSO was created, all our mini-presidents(heads of the republics. - Auth.), all governors created their own guards. After 1991, even more likely after 1993, there was a wave when everyone began to hire security guards. Some were afraid of the bandits, some of the communists. Whom did you recruit for security? Or former special forces, or former athletes. Their fists, for example, are good, strong, but they do not know how to handle weapons. Or they can, but they don't know any laws. It was all fraught. Then an idea came to my mind, with which I approached the president: "Let's calmly take all these guards under our wing." If you cannot stop the process, you must lead it. Have money? Do you hire security? Please. But from the state of the FSO.
What was the point? We took these people to Kupavna, where we had a wonderful camp for training. We worked with them for two weeks: they train them in shooting, they train them on the carpet, they will teach instructions along with them. At least they understand what the law is! If you have not served in the army, you will receive a junior sergeant, in two years - a junior lieutenant. These people were happy.
If I take a gun and kill someone, they will put me in jail for it. But when you are an employee of the FSO and, using weapons, you protect a protected person, this is a completely different matter. We have prepared and legalized these athletes. This is how the Federal Security Service appeared.
It was no longer the GUO, which guarded the Kremlin and state dachas around Moscow, plus one more each in Karelia and Sochi. We have expanded this GDO to the whole country. Not only instructors worked with the guys, but also the opera. Good opera, former Chekists - found an opportunity to recruit them. Consider that in the personal protection of any governor there was always our man. Something bad started there, we were the first to know about it. And Yeltsin knew for sure that there were no conspiracies.
...Our opera houses also fought against corruption, they worked in departments: department "K" - the presidential administration, department "P" - the government. We expelled 14 people from the government headed by [Alexander] Shokhin, First Deputy Prime Minister, [Head of the Presidential Administration Sergei] Filatov, a corrupt official, a scoundrel, because he worked with crooks, with thieves who gave him a mansion cooler than mine now . The cast-iron fence alone cost $400,000.
At least I had millions of copies of books, I signed many contracts with radio stations. They read my book "Boris Yeltsin: From Dawn to Dusk" on their airwaves.
In fact, only 3 percent of the whole truth is in it. Now I can say much more. I used to think that, probably, it’s not good to write this, probably it’s not worth it. And now I realized that they are getting up insolently.
Now everyone is talking about [First Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Navalny Igor involved in investigations] Shuvalov. Behind my garage is his former commandant's house. He left, he couldn't work there. When all this Skolkovo was, the money was brought to Shuvalov in trucks. In boxes, in bags, just in huge packs they dragged them into the house. Loaded into wardrobes.
[Director of the FSO in 2000-2016 Evgeny] Murov is now gone. How long could you endure it? He kicked out such a person - Demin Alexei Alexandrovich. Do not confuse with [the former bodyguard of Vladimir Putin, the governor of the Tula region Alexei] Dyumin! Lesha under Gorbachev received the Order of Lenin - the highest award. There were only two such people [in the ninth department of the KGB]. For the fact that in six months they built Gorbachev's dacha "Barvikha-4" on 66 hectares of land. Later, Yeltsin was eager to expel Gorbachev there and live on his own.
Putin came and installed Murov. I have been saying in all interviews since 1996 that he is a bribe taker and a corrupt official. Not a single publication published this, they were so afraid of the FSO. Immediately after the appointment, Murov first of all summoned Demin, his deputy for construction, whom Krapivin, who had replaced Korzhakov as head of the presidential security service, appointed to the general position. The first meeting ended: "And you, Demin, stay."
His five-minute session, which did not last less than three hours, was complete nonsense. Why should chefs be at the five-minute meeting? Why discuss things in their presence that you only learned about from the president? Only operatives should know such things. You can not do it this way. I have never had a big meeting.
Murov never led. Putin appointed him because they sat in the same office with him. Putin appointed him because he was a devotee. The first thing Murov said to his construction deputy was: “Here is the bill. From each contract, from each contract - 10 percent. Lesha almost fell off his chair. There is nowhere higher. Above is only God. If you steal here? This has never happened. He honestly plowed, worked for so long. He went and immediately wrote a report about leaving. From a general's position. When Murov began to choose one of his subordinate builders for this position, everyone refused.
*1999 year. Boris Yeltsin hands over presidential powers to Vladimir Putin
Then he took Sasha, who was my chief of staff, and made him deputy for construction. Sasha retired two years later with the rank of lieutenant general and with two heart attacks. These are the people who come to the FSO and law enforcement agencies. These are not people who work for patriotism. It's cheap, in a word. Putin fired Murov not just for corruption, but, like Yakunin, for British passports. Either with Murov himself, or with his children.
... What does it mean, I believe in Rokhlin's conspiracy(summer 1998. — Auth.)? I participated in the conspiracy of [the leader of the Movement in Support of the Army, General Lev] Rokhlin. They are still waiting for me at the Skuratovsky plant in Tula. According to his drawings, he ordered blanks so that the entire Rokhlin corps would be transferred here to Moscow from Volgograd. I was in a conspiracy. I am not ashamed of it. When Chubais was in power as regent, the Kremlin had nothing to do to take. This is ugh! One body was enough. And no one would have obeyed Yeltsin after 1993 and 1996.
After February 1, 1996, Yeltsin was a living corpse. Everything. He couldn't be chosen. I only had two hours to work. I came at nine o'clock, and at 11 - a call from Yeltsin: "Alexander Vasilyevich, will we have lunch?" Everyone, the day is over! They said that I was then the second person in the country. I am now correcting: “Do not offend, I was sometimes the first. When Yeltsin was already without anyone, who else would press the buttons? When people ask me now who you would choose as president instead of Yeltsin, I answer without even thinking - Rokhlin.
The trouble begins when you do not know who to put. As it is now with everyone: "Whom to put in place of Putin?". Yes, put any honest guy. Just an honest smart guy.
Rokhlin was the best candidate for me. Precisely because he was a man of honor. Rokhlin did not lick anyone. Because of this, he had so many enemies in the Ministry of Defense. He did all the tasks. It is necessary to take the settlement - he took. There were losses from gulkin's nose or not at all. I always thought of all the operations myself. Only myself.
But the plot failed: the chief was killed, and that was it. But his stupid wife killed him. There were no snipers there, no shooters. Absolute coincidence. I knew him well. He was at home, in the bathhouse, in the dacha, where he was killed. He told me all his life.
There were different people in the conspiracy with us. There were those who were with Khasbulatov (in 1993). They had completely different goals: to return the USSR, communism. I was against it. I did not need the USSR again. Got it. Another thing is that we really needed democracy. To have competition. So that there is no monopoly in everything. Why do I love Americans? Now they have elections. Even if they make a mistake with Trump, they will change it in four years. Yes, there is Congress. They won't let you do stupid things.
We can't do that. They made a stupid constitution. idiotic. If I had not yet been next to Yeltsin, it would have been even worse. Introducing governors to the Federation Council was my idea. I gave it to Yeltsin. He did not yet understand why. I understood why. At least there was a counterpoint. When I read this constitution, I was ashamed.
My task was to help Rokhlin so that his fighters covered the distance from the place of deployment, from Volgograd, to the Kremlin. To overcome this distance, it was necessary to attach trailers to tanks and armored personnel carriers. As a deputy from Tula, I was instructed to do this. I ordered trailers for 240 thousand dollars. They are still lying. All rusted. Because the client didn't show up. Someone had to come.
That's all. This was my task. Rokhlin planned to act as in Chechnya: to approach quietly and unexpectedly in ways known only to him. Only he knew how they would reach Moscow in two days. Whole body. How to take the Kremlin, it was also I who had to help him. Here I knew absolutely all the moves. Where, where to go, whom, where to stun. I even knew how to go and kill Yeltsin, but I did not do it. Then there were a lot of complaints about this: “Why didn’t I kill him?” How could I kill him when you chose him? "No, we didn't choose!" Whence then 70 percent for Yeltsin? Sorry, the people voted for him.
I couldn't be a traitor. I could beat him when I was already fired for detaining two thieves, when Yeltsin himself betrayed the people, put Chubais at the head of the country. After that, I was ready to nail him.
When General Rokhlin died(in July 1998. - Auth.)no one contacted me again. Although later he participated in one conspiracy, the favorite of the conspiracy also died. Good man. Just took it and died. It happens. I don't think anyone helped him.
... I do not recognize Cyril. This is not my patriarch. When he was Alexy's deputy, he came to see me in the Kremlin, and we drank cognac for four hours. The Moldavians gave good cognac to Yeltsin and me. I then had a separate instruction from the President to control the arms trade. Not to catch bandits, but to control international trade. Together with the Service we created Rosvooruzhenie. And the factories, and the people in them, at least began to receive money then. So, the current patriarch then persuaded me that we should give 10 percent of the sale of weapons to the church. They then received money from alcohol and cigarettes. I immediately told him: “More money from weapons? Don't even ask." And so he began to explain to me that we now have no ideology in the country, that the church is the only ideology.
Putin has a rating of 80 percent, but Shoigu already has 70 percent. I'm afraid that Shoigu's fate has already been decided. The first is afraid of him in black. Although Serezha is a good guy, you can't be too close to the leader of the nation. Now the Turks scared Putin.
Heard, of course, about the latest appointments. I was struck by a survey of the population on Ekho Moskvy: do these appointments of security guards mean that Putin is afraid of something, or, conversely, is he not afraid of anything? And 95 percent said they were afraid. 95 percent! To be honest, I would subscribe to that 95 percent. Every year it becomes harder and harder for him to do many things. Why create a guard? And so, after all, the internal troops, and the minister of internal affairs, and the minister of defense, and the director of the FSB are subordinate to the president.
I explained how we created the FSO. In this way, I removed Yeltsin's fear that all regions are under our control. Now security is also put not to improve the economy, but to control it. There were no conspiracies. These are unreasonable appointments. The governor should deal with the economy and a little politics, but which of them are business executives, which of them are politicians? Each of them will have their own curator from the presidential administration, who will solve economic issues. Why is this needed? They have a different profession.
They think the people are for Putin. Nevermind. I had a brother for him, an engineer. He was expelled into retirement - went out. The man plowed his whole life. As at the age of 22 they put him at the Khrunichev plant, he plowed all his life. I have never been abroad, I have never even been to a sanatorium. I rested on business trips in Baikonur. Now lives on a pension of 18 thousand. At least they gave me a diploma ... "
Header photo from www.rbc.ru
13.06.2018
Korzhakov Alexander Vasilievich
Reserve lieutenant general
Former Head of the Security Council of the President of the Russian Federation
News and Events
Chechen separatist leader Dzhokhar Dudayev killed
A special operation of the Russian special services during the First Chechen War to eliminate Dzhokhar Dudayev was carried out on April 21, 1996 in the vicinity of the village of Gekhi-Chu. The leader of the Chechen separatists, the president of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, was destroyed by a missile attack. All materials of the operation to eliminate Dzhokhar Dudayev are classified.
Reserve Lieutenant General. In the past, a member of the state security of the USSR,
chief of security for Boris Yeltsin, head of the presidential security service.
Candidate of Economic Sciences. Deputy of the State Duma 1997-2011.
Author of several books about Boris Yeltsin.
Alexander Korzhakov was born on January 31, 1950 in Moscow. His father, Vasily Kapitonovich, a participant in the Soviet-Finnish and World War II, worked as a foreman at the Trekhgorka workshop, and his mother, Ekaterina Nikitichna, was a weaver at the same enterprise.
The young man studied at a Moscow school on Krasnaya Presnya, was fond of sports. In 1967-1968 he worked as a mechanical assembly fitter of the second category at the Moscow Electromechanical Plant in Memory of the Revolution of 1905. He studied in absentia at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, but did not graduate from it. Alexander was called up for military service in the Soviet Army, which he served from 1969 to 1970 in the Kremlin regiment. In 1980 he graduated from the All-Union Law Correspondence Institute.
From 1970 to 1989, Alexander Korzhakov worked in the Ninth Directorate of the KGB, which guarded top party and government officials. In 1971 he joined the CPSU. He was a member of the party bureau of the unit and a member of the Komsomol Committee of the Ninth Directorate of the KGB. From 1981 to 1982 he served in Afghanistan. In 1985, he became one of the three bodyguards of the first secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU, Boris Yeltsin. In 1989, he was dismissed from the KGB for retirement "due to age and health." Then he left the CPSU.
After that, he worked as a bodyguard for the chairman of the Plastic cooperative, as well as in several other commercial structures. After B.N. Yeltsin was elected a deputy, Korzhakov went to work in the reception room of the chairman of the USSR Supreme Soviet Committee on Construction and Architecture. Then he served in Yeltsin's bodyguard. In 1990, when Yeltsin was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, Korzhakov was appointed head of the security department of the Chairman of the Armed Forces. After Yeltsin was elected president of the RSFSR in 1991, Alexander became the head of the Presidential Security Service, the first deputy head of the Main Directorate of Security of Russia.
In 1992, Korzhakov was awarded the rank of Major General. In 1993, he completed the staffing of the SBP and the GUO with highly qualified specialists. In July 1995, with the appointment of Mikhail Barsukov as director of the Federal Security Service, the Main Security Directorate, headed by the new head of the Main Directorate of Defense, Yuri Krapivin, was reassigned to the Presidential Security Service, and Korzhakov, accordingly, ceased to be the first deputy head of the Main Directorate of Defense.
He joined Boris Yeltsin's campaign headquarters on March 23, 1996, and in May he was appointed first assistant to the President of the Russian Federation - head of the Security Service of the President of the Russian Federation. But already on June 20, 1996, he was dismissed from all posts as a result of the scandal that arose in the course of the “photocopier box” case during Yeltsin’s election campaign. A few months later he entered into a political alliance. He was discharged from military service on September 15, 1998.
In February 1997, he was elected to the State Duma for the Tula constituency No. 176. Since January 2000, he has been a member of the Fatherland-All Russia parliamentary faction, deputy chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, member of the commission for consideration of federal budget expenditures aimed at ensuring defense and state security of the Russian Federation. He joined the faction of the United Russia party.
Since December 2003 - Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee from the United Russia faction. Since December 2007, he has been a member of the State Duma Defense Committee from the United Russia faction. In 2011, Alexander Korzhakov completed his deputy activities and left the party. He was a deputy of the State Duma II, III, IV, V convocations.
In addition to political activities, Alexander Korzhakov managed to succeed in the acting profession. In the cinema, he played the head of the security service of the King in the film by Alexander Abdulov "The Bremen Town Musicians & Co" in 2000 and the FSB general in Viktor Sergeyev's serial series "Heaven and Earth" in 2004. In 2004, he also starred in the TV series directed by Nana Jorjadze "Only you ...". He was a consultant for Viktor Sergeev's feature film Schizophrenia. After a lull, in 2018 Korzhakov again reminded of himself - Alexander appeared in the documentary film "The Case of Sobchak" directed by Vera Krichevskaya. The image of "Yeltsin's chief bodyguard" was actively exploited in many detective book series of the 1990s, where he was bred under the names "Korzhikov", "Gonchakov", "Korzhov" and others.
Alexander Korzhakov is a candidate of economic sciences. Full member (academician), professor and vice-president of the Academy of Security, Defense and Law Enforcement Problems, full member (academician) of the Academy of Medical and Technical Sciences. Also known as a writer - the author of the books "Boris Yeltsin: from dawn to dusk" and "Demons 2.0. And the kings are not real!
He was awarded the Order “For Personal Courage”, medals “In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of V. I. Lenin”, “60 Years of the USSR Armed Forces”, “70 Years of the USSR Armed Forces”, “For Irreproachable Service”, “Defender of the Free Russia”, a diploma of the Tula Regional Duma.
Alexander Korzhakov, whose books were sold in fairly large editions, continues to write today. He is working on another volume of memoirs about his participation in the backstage of Russian big politics, which will be called "Notes of a hobbled general."
... read more >Name: Alexander Korzhakov
Age: 69 years old
Place of Birth: Moscow
Activity: former officer of the KGB of the USSR, former chief of security for Boris Yeltsin
Family status: married
Alexander Korzhakov - biography
Born in 1950 in Moscow, in a working-class family.
Alexander Korzhakov went to school on Krasnaya Presnya.
After school he worked as a locksmith. Korzhakov served in the army in the Kremlin regiment. Since 1970 - an employee of the 9th Directorate of the KGB (protection of top party and government officials).
In 1985, Alexander Korzhakov became one of the three bodyguards of Boris Yeltsin, First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU. In 1991, he became the head of the Kremlin guard (later - the Security Service of the President of the Russian Federation).
In October 1993, Korzhakov led Group A, which took part in the storming of the White House, personally arrested Khasbulatov and Rutskoy. In 1996, during the election campaign, after the scandal related to the case of the "copier box", he was dismissed from all posts.
In the 90s, Alexander Korzhakov was one of the most influential people in the country. bodyguard of the president, his right hand, the gray cardinal. The man, without consulting with whom, Yeltsin, as they say, did not make a single decision. His possibilities were truly endless.
Everything changed after the sensational story with the “copier box”. Korzhakov lost, the competitors turned out to be stronger. But where are they now, these all-powerful ones of that world? And Alexander Vasilyevich is right there. For 15 years he sat in the State Duma, wrote books about the former boss - Boris Yeltsin. And he grumbles if he suddenly stumbles upon interviews of his sworn friends in the press. As it is now. "Everyone lies!
Alexander Vasilievich, the 90s do not leave Korzhakov in any way - there are always some reminders from the biography of that time. And what, mostly unpleasant?
Why? Different. Now, for example, we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Association of Veterans and Employees of the Presidential Security Services.
- But ten years ago it was the 2000s.
But the Association of those who worked in the 90s united. For some, they are dashing, these 90s, and for some, they are normal working years. We built the institution of presidential power, we defended it. Not Yeltsin, but the Institute. When they call me the head of the presidential security, I always correct: not security, but the Security Service. Security is only part of security. Because we had analytical units, intelligence, and wiretapping. And only real pros worked. He collected people - literally scratching them out of the organs.
- But for Korzhakov, the 90s can be divided into two almost equal halves: before and after retirement.
Yes, after my resignation, they asked me to become a deputy from the city of Tula instead of Lebed. I agreed - for me it was a new, interesting thing.
In Alexander Korzhakov's book Boris Yeltsin: From Dawn Till Dusk, many people tend to see some kind of resentment for that resignation, almost revenge on the former boss.
Who sees? Naina Iosifovna (Yeltsin's widow.)? Or her youngest daughter? If Naina Iosifovna still has at least something in her head, then Tanya has a problem with her brains. They say: a dirty book. And what is dirty? Where I praise Boris Nikolayevich, it means that everything is fine there. And where he caught the truth a little bit - “Dirt, you can’t endure this!” Wait. Are we talking about a person? Or make him a saint? For me, Yeltsin has always been a man. And I treated him like a person. With outsiders, of course: "Mr. President." And he demanded the same from everyone.
- Could Korzhakov call Yeltsin his friend?
Yeltsin appointed me as his friend. I considered myself his little brother. We were blood brothers with him: here is one cut - it was in Yakutia (Alexander Vasilyevich Korzhakov shows a mark on his arm.), Here is another - this is already in the Presidential Club. And he had the same ones - we mixed with blood.
- And why Yeltsin was so imbued with you?
He just didn't trust anyone. He believed me. Yeltsin rarely stayed for a long time, and I was with him for almost 11 years. If not for that provocation by Tatyana and Yumashev (Yeltsin's son-in-law), there would have been just as many around.
- Do you mean a history, a biography with a photocopier box?
Yes, what does the box have to do with it - everything happened before. Tanya is a narrow-minded woman. Yumashev and Berezovsky quickly understood this, they began to "spud" her, to blow into her ears. At that time, things became very bad at the National Sports Fund, in particular, with its then head Fedorov, who could have been imprisoned - this drug addict, could not speak without foam on his lips. And Berezovsky and Yumashev decided to use him for their dirty deeds.
In Boris Abramich's office, Yumashev arranges for Tatyana to meet with Fedorov. He, having taken another dose of cocaine, sold out and began to compose such tales! That, they say, Barsukov (the head of the FSB in 1995-1996 - Ed.) and Korzhakov are connected with bandits, their hands are up to the elbows in blood, they turn over billions. He called such surnames and nicknames of criminal authorities, which I, if I knew, then only from newspaper chronicles. Well, they were absolutely not interesting to me, I was engaged in the security of the president 24 hours a day, and everyone knew that I was normal, devoted, unmercenary.
Once one of the high officials asked me: “Sasha, Berezovsky often comes to you, does he even give you money?” “To be honest,” I say, “once for my birthday I gave a gun, another time I gave a camera.” In general, I am probably the only one who came to Yeltsin in uniform and left in uniform - without even a knapsack. And that scoundrel, Fedorov, told such a thing ... Yumashev croaked something to him. Berezovsky kept quiet for the most part, but recorded the entire conversation on tape. Being “cunning”, on the same evening he brought it to Barsukov, saying: “Mikhail Ivanovich, I have nothing to do with this, Yumashev organized everything.”
The next day I come to the Presidential Club - Yumashev is already there. The first thing he did was throw himself at my feet and howl like a jackal. He hit his head on the floor, tried to crawl up to me on his knees. “Sasha, I’m sorry, the devil beguiled me, why did I do this! This is all Berezovsky, it was he who wove me into it ... "-" You started it, I know, you bastard! Who brought you into the President's club, creature?! Yeltsin did not give you an apartment in his house - I insisted. How much did he do to you! .. ”He was a pimply boy, nobody needed him - he squealed something in his female voice, no one saw him point-blank ... But I was kind, again I forgave the bastard. And after that, Tanya has already begun active work. With Naina Iosifovna. She told everyone that Fedorov weaved there, to the whole environment who could influence Yeltsin.
- They wanted to move you away from Yeltsin, because they had too much influence on him?
I did nothing for him. In general, when they say that Korzhakov twisted Yeltsin as he wanted, this is a complete lie. He asked me something - I answered. For example, Boris Nikolaevich asked me to select the Prosecutor General. Because Ilyushenko, who was later imprisoned, was picked up by Filatov (in 1993-1996 - the head of the presidential administration. - Ed.), And not Korzhakov, by the way.
Yeltsin said: "Alexander Vasilyevich, whom can you recommend?" I asked the prosecutor's office for files on 15 people - the best prosecutors: Ustinov and Chaika were there. But why did I like Skuratov? Because he never "hooked" with the local authorities. A scientist himself and a scientist - he worked at the Institute of the Prosecutor's Office. Ilyushin (first assistant to the president. -Ed.), having met Skuratov, I remember being surprised for a long time: “Sasha, where did you find such a good person?” And I said to Skuratov: “Yuri Ilyich, the only thing I’ll ask is that Korzhakov will call you, Ilyushin will call you, someone else will call you to let someone go, put someone in jail, don’t pay attention, act according to law". This is the only thing I asked him.
- And this is the only appointment from your filing?
The only thing, of course.
They say that it depended on the word of Alexander Korzhakov who Yeltsin would accept, who he would not accept, and it was to you that the oligarchs went to bow for access "to the body."
Nothing like this. Whom Yeltsin would accept was decided only by Filatov and Ilyushin. I could, for example, transplant someone. Ilyushin, for example, at some point became very close to Gusinsky. I don’t know where they became friends: either they drank vodka together, or champagne, but suddenly, suddenly, they had too warm a relationship.
Somehow big businessmen were gathered in the Kremlin. The journalists had already lined up, it was literally five minutes before the meeting. I arrived early, I see: on the right hand of the presidential chair - the sign "Ilyushin", on the left - "Gusinsky". It was specially made to show the whole world: everything is great with Gusinsky and Yeltsin. I call Shevchenko (chief of the presidential protocol. - Ed.). "Who planted it like that?" - “Alexander Vasilyevich, I don’t know anything, it’s all Ilyushin, this is Ilyushin ...” Ilyushin then shook, saying that it wasn’t him - they say, it happened by accident. Everyone was shaking - because Yeltsin would not be happy with such a turn of events. I went up to the table and simply changed the signs - so that Gusinsky was sitting with his back to the journalists. He was terribly nervous - I watched him: everyone was sitting, writing down quotes, guidelines, but Gusinsky did not write anything, he only drummed on the table with his thick well-groomed fingers. ..
Berezovsky, who was closer to the Family, did not have such problems? Could he open the presidential door with his foot?
During my time, Berezovsky was not at Yeltsin's. Never. He came to the Presidential Club somehow - but he didn’t even come close to Yeltsin, he sat far away and kept quiet. And he came only to see Barsukov or Korzhakov. Something all rattled, rattled - all nonsense. I was not interested in hearing about all his difficulties. He needed to break through Sibneft. Well, I don’t give a damn about it - I say: yes, you do your own business. Somehow I brought the Omsk governor Polezhaev, and the two of them tried to work me up so that I wouldn’t mind this Sibneft of theirs. “You are the governor, you decide. - I say. - What am I doing here? Take me a beer." The governor brought three mugs of beer. So, it turns out, I gave them Sibneft for a mug of beer. They were certain that I would say: 30% for me. And I never needed it.
- But it is not by chance that they turned to you.
They should be asking why. And they applied - probably because they were afraid of Korzhakov as the head of the presidential security service. The service was created really wonderful, I'm not ashamed of it. In one of the interviews, Nixon's assistant repeated the statement of his boss: they say, Korzhakov created such a service in the Kremlin, which could only be compared with the KGB - its influence was so great. Voshanov (Yeltsin's press secretary in 1991-1992 - Ed.) wrote that I had 40,000 people; and planes, and tanks, and everything that is possible. Everyone composed as he wanted.
And all of us, at the time of dispersal, there were 900 people. And this is together with cooks, with drivers, with cleaners, with gardeners, with analysts ... And all these comrades are so mixed up. But I understood that conspiracies never start somewhere far away. In Chukotka, for example, Abramovich will gather someone to overthrow Yeltsin. That doesn't happen. All conspiracies are only about, only around. Therefore, great attention was paid to the environment. Naturally, I was not shy about listening to people, sending “outdoor” for someone, if something suddenly turned out. In our country now everyone is talking about the fight against corruption, but in fact no one is fighting it, just chatter. And we, at the very least, managed to remove the head of the presidential administration. Ah, according to the Constitution, he is nobody at all, but in terms of influence, he is the second person in the country, only the president could remove him.
We saw that the man took, took, took. If Yeltsin had been informed about this, most likely he would have said: “Well, Alexander Vasilyevich, you are probably just competitors - that’s why you talk about Filatov like that.” We did it in a different way - we just published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta about all his adventures, the article was called “A House for a Kunaq”. I don't remember if it was written about his daughter. My daughter was in a gang of thieves. Rich people came to the restaurant, left their fur coats in the car. Cars were opened, fur coats were taken away. And everything was kept at Filatov's dacha.
Filatov himself built a mansion for himself, where one fence only cost about 300-400 thousand dollars ... Then we removed 14 officials from Chernomyrdin, including his manager: more than 30 million dollars were found in his accounts. I say: "Viktor Stepa-nych, I'm sorry - it's indecent." We removed Shokhin Alexander Nikolaevich (at that time - deputy chairman of the government). A man took 10 million dollars for his signature in oil contracts ... And no one was connected - neither the prosecutor nor the police. Once I had an investigation to conduct. He just showed the person the data - “Well, boy, will we continue to talk, or will you write the application yourself?” Everyone wrote...
Has Korzhakov changed his attitude towards Yeltsin over the years?
There is an expression "two-faced Janus". And he was not two-faced - nine-faced. The sample of the 85th year is one Yeltsin, the 87th - the other, the 89th - the third, the 90th - the fourth, the 91st - the fifth, the 93rd - the sixth, the 95th - the seventh, the 96th - eighth. And when he already asked for forgiveness from the people, the ninth. I didn't see him later when the grandchildren told me what a good grandfather he was. I don’t know, maybe it’s good - he slept off, in China they sucked everything superfluous from him, treated his liver ...
- Which of these nine Yeltsins is closest to you?
Probably the very first. When he was an independent man, when he wanted to turn everything upside down. And he started well - he took pictures of almost all the first secretaries of the district committees. But they were replaced by the same ones, because the system was like that. Like the Serpent Gorynych, you know? You cut off a head and a new one grows. They just ate it up. And this made him weak.
In the 87th, when Yeltsin was beaten by everyone, killed, he could shoot himself, and drown himself, and whatever you want. I just felt sorry for him - I saw that a person was suffering, well, he helped as best he could. Constantly Boris Nikolaevich visited me in Prostokvashino (as Korzhakov jokingly calls the village of Molokovo in the Orekhovo-Zuevsky district, where he has a country house. - Auth.), There he had an outlet: he took him to the forest to hunt. And Yeltsin just humanized me. He began to eat homemade food, Naina baked cutlets. He will bring simple store-bought ones, twist them again, add water - they turn out so big, juicy ...
And in 1989, when we were walking and thinking: can we really make Russia democratic, then, of course, Yeltsin was the best. Because it got worse. With Khasbulatov, he kisses passionately, then suddenly begins to claw with him. Rutskoi is another matter, already at the first banquet Boris Nikolaevich understood who Rutskoi was, and how terribly wrong he was. But it was already another Yeltsin, rushing about. He took power, but he did not really know what to do with it. And here, of course, it was extremely difficult for him. If not for us, the security forces (Korzhakov, Barsukov, Soskovets), he would have simply shot himself, he could not stand it.
What did Yeltsin doubt most of all?
He was furious, of course, that in the economy - oak oak. Before starting to work with Gaidar, Pavel Medvedev and Igor Nit, now deceased, worked with him, two remarkable economists. They spent educational program with him, every day for two or three hours they sat and explained elementary things. But the person was already over 60 - it is difficult to perceive science. He was inclined to Grisha Yavlinsky, then to Silaev (the first head of the Russian government. - Ed.). And when Burbulis brought Gaidar, whom not everyone understood, and he began to “drizzle” about macroeconomics, Yeltsin decided that that was it, stop waiting for someone, he was tired ... There was also a wonderful person - Lev Evgenievich Sukhanov, assistant president. The most sincere is simple: he played the guitar, sang beautiful songs from the yard. When it was really hard for Yeltsin, the three of us got together, drank, sang songs. And it was such an outlet for him!..
- Did Yeltsin open up to you often in life?
The more strength he had, the less contact he had with his family. When he weakened, fell ill, - such pressure went on him there! Naina is now saying: what a wonderful husband ... When he was sick, he was wonderful. And when he was in good health, and she got him, he could bark so much that at least endure the saints. Everyone ran away! And he could give in the eye ... When he came in a good mood, he stood up at the door like that, stretched: "How tired I am." And the family ran to him: a tie, a shirt, they pulled everything off him, he remained in his shorts. He wraps himself in his cotton robe, which he once brought from Japan, puts on slippers, flops into an armchair: “Weary-a-al ... Well, Alexander Vasilyevich, go.” - "Tomorrow what time?" - "Well, tomorrow at eight."
And open - did not open. .. What should I tell about women? When he ran into Skuratov, I told reporters: “Tell Boris Nikolayevich: if he opens his mouth at the Prosecutor General again, then I won’t be silent either. Whose cow would moo, but not his. So don't talk about women...
- Was Korzhakov devoted to Yeltsin as a person?
Certainly. Everyone knows this. I am still devoted. Only I was devoted to them ...
- What did you experience when Tatyana Yumasheva and others accused you of betrayal?
What am I to do with her, sue? Back in the fall of 1993, I heard enough of this from them! When I stormed the White House, Yeltsin went to his dacha. And Tanya and Naina Iosifovna suddenly ran into the guards: “Where is Korzhakov ?! Now the crowd will sweep us away: we are sitting here alone in the country, shaking. And he hid there behind a stone wall in the Kremlin, such a scoundrel - he abandoned Boris Nikolaevich, abandoned us! ... "And when they saw on TV how I was taking Khasbulatov and Rutskoi out, they stopped short, they felt ashamed. Now, they probably forgot. And in general, we should only be grateful for not revealing a single dirty family secret...
Interviewed by Dmitry Tulchinsky
– Alexander Vasilyevich, after reading your book, I got the impression that you still have a lot of compromising information hidden on all Russian leaders. And they all know that if, God forbid, something happens to you, it will all come out. Is that why you're so bold as to say all this?
– Everyone knows that there are only criminals around Putin. More will be said about someone, less about someone, but this is such nonsense for the current ones. Everything is tied. There are no real courts. There is no real investigative committee. I wrote about such a "Princess Tarakanova" that they were already tormented by reform: either the police, or the anti-drug police. We've been through all this before. Everyone has forgotten that August 8 is exactly 19 years since the current President Putin has been in power. Initially, he was prime minister. When Yeltsin introduced him as prime minister, he said that this was his successor. That is, he gave him carte blanche: recruit a team and get ready to correct what I did. They sometimes say that he has not yet reached Brezhnev. Yes, he already surpassed Brezhnev by a year! Few people remember Brezhnev badly. Stagnation? What about stagnation? Those who made the current stagnation call what was under Brezhnev stagnation. Then it was just very calm. The people had a future. And today Russia has no future...
“People who know him personally have repeatedly told me that Putin divides his opponents into enemies and traitors. He does not touch enemies, but he tries to deal harshly with traitors. What category are you in?
“Probably an enemy, according to your theory.”
- When we called up before the broadcast, I mentioned one last name - and the connection abruptly broke off, and then just as suddenly restored. You said: "Understood, you named the key word, which means they are listening." What is most interesting is that the surname was not Putin, but Zolotov. Viktor Vasilievich Zolotov - in the past, your student, ward, one of the people closest to you. He was Vladimir Putin's head of security, today he commands the Russian Guard, which is called Putin's personal army. In the famous photo, where Boris Yeltsin is standing on a tank, you are next to Yeltsin, and Viktor Zolotov is behind you. How powerful is he today in Russia?
- For someone - powerful, for someone - none. I was asked a lot of questions about him when his last name began to sound: "How is it? This is your friend!" They almost came to ask me to call him, and he would decide everything. In fact, he was never my friend. They say to me: "You took him to work." - Yes, I did. You forget that at that time Gorbachev was in charge of the country. They thought he was here forever. Just like Putin is leading today, and everyone thinks that he is forever. He has already surpassed Gorbachev five times. Let's see what happens next. So, I took Zolotov to me, because there was no one. Only pensioners from the former came to me. Athletes or someone brought their own. They were afraid to go to Yeltsin. They thought it was someone like Navalny today. You go to him, and then they will quickly take you to the jail - and you will sit there. And for participating in the rally three years soldered. Or "kopeck piece", as our president likes to say. Zolotov came to me as an AZLK mechanic, twisting nuts on a screwdriver assembly of machines. But there weren't enough people. I had to guard both Yeltsin's dacha, and the apartment, and the place of work, and the events to which he traveled, and mobile personal security. People plowed. So I took any. Zolotov introduced himself and said that he wanted to work for Yeltsin. I asked him if he understood who Yeltsin was. "Yes," he says, "I love him." Then I called Misha Marzhanov, I had such a karateka. I say: "Mish, let's look at him in the gym. Maybe at least he will stand under the gate or under the fungus." That is, there were simply no people for a summer residence and an apartment.
How capable was he?
- Yes, he forgot the letters! Guys wrote reports for him, he gave them a bottle. At one time, I studied well in law, I also studied forensic psychiatry. As for me, with his data, he pulled on an oligophrenic. It's been a long time. He trained in St. Petersburg, here, he became cool. Recently gave an interview to Sobchachka. She, however, asked him questions slowly, slowly. A deaf-mute person is spoken to so slowly that he understands by his lips. She asked him questions so that, God forbid, he would not make a mistake when answering. And I realized that he pulled already on the imbecile. Here is my impression of it. Our president needs such people, he only loves such people. Now he has all the best personnel in Russia. So also a decree is being prepared, another great decree, to transfer prisons and colonies to him. It turns out that it’s not enough for him, let’s protect him here, so that he can still be his man here, lackey.
- National Guard - how strong is it today? Why does Vladimir Putin need it?
- Probably, in old age, any padishah is afraid of a conspiracy or that the people will go against him and demolish along with the palace. That's why he creates his guard. Just personal protection is not enough.
“From whom does she have to protect him in such numbers?”
- From the people. First, the "People's Front" was created. When they came from Patrushev to our association (Association of Veterans and Security Service Officers of the Russian Federation. - GORDON) and said "join the People's Front urgently", I immediately asked the first question: "Who is the front against? Against the people?" They answered: "Well, we were ordered." We never joined it. It is still not clear what kind of "People's Front" it is.
- Watching the appointments to key positions in the Russian elite, I don’t quite understand why Vladimir Putin places either his former personal guards, or cooks, or other people from the staff or inner circle. Are there no professionals?
How does he know what professionals are? He is also not a professional. He was asked back in 1989 from there. Let's not dig deeper. As for appointments... In the 18 and a half years that he has been officially at the helm, how many defense ministers has he changed? Five or six?
– I could do more.
- Could. Thank God that he changed his beloved Serdyukov, to whom he gave the Hero and hides somewhere, saves his position for him, for Shoigu. And he guessed right with Shoigu, he was on the spot. I am always happy for Sergei. I remember how we worked and talked in the 90s. He is really a man of action, very decent. I know the second such person, then he was still working at the UN. This is Sergey Lavrov. A wonderful person. Putin guessed right with them. Rest? How do we say in fairy tales? The older one was a smart kid, the middle one was this way and that. So he has everything either this way or that. Take Oreshkin (Minister of Economic Development of Russia Maxim Oreshkin. - "GORDON"). Well, you're an idiot. I'm not talking about the prime minister.
– Do you not like Dmitry Medvedev?
- Putin selects everyone for himself ...
- Who is the closest figure to the president today?
- He himself. He has no one close.
Doesn't trust anyone? Total loneliness?
- I think yes. He is a lone wolf. Or rather, a lone dragon. Dragon.
- What about advice?
- He has such a Patrushev. When he was director of the FSB, he was called "Nikolai Podonych".
- Oh my God!
- Yes. He is the chief advisor. Heads the Security Council. We are often shown these meetings.
– Western economists say that Vladimir Putin is the richest man on the planet. They even give figures: $200-250 billion is his fortune. Do you think they're lying?
- I think they are not lying, because in our country the scheme of power is arranged like a Christmas tree. Down to the very top. Vertical. Each branch must carry its suitcase up there. This I know. Of course, they lose something along the way, they leave someone. But a lot goes there. So it was before. Maybe you remember the wonderful cartoon "Golden Antelope"? She said that when there is too much gold, you have to say "enough!" - and it will turn into shards. Everyone laughed, especially the chief rich man: "How can it be that there is too much gold ?!" Here we have too, I think, too much.
- A person is the president of such a large country as Russia. How can one physically manage to manage even such great wealth? How not to lose it? Again, should there be trusted people to whom you delegate this? And still you need to control it so that it is not stolen?
- And Gaddafi ruled, and Marcos ruled, and Iraqi Hussein ruled. Everyone was in control. The main thing is to appoint a manager or managers.
- Or the manager of managers ...
- Yes. If what they say is true, then there are managers. For example, I know who Shuvalov's manager was (First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation in 2008-2018 Igor Shuvalov. - GORDON). There, Zakharchenko (Colonel of the Russian police Dmitry Zakharchenko, who was charged with corruption and abuse of power in 2016. - GORDON) shows money for an entire apartment. In the same way, he transported money by trucks to his dacha in Zarechye. I gave an interview about it. They told me: oh, he will sue. He won’t give it, because those who transported live next to me. And there are many such stories.
- In your book, you describe the schemes in detail and name specific amounts of embezzlement under Yeltsin. We are talking about millions of dollars. But you notice that in comparison with today's corruption, these are "childish" numbers. How do you know about it?
- Yumashev was very close to me, we even played tennis with him. He told me a lot.
Chapter 18
How Yeltsin was guarded
Until 1985, when M. Gorbachev transferred B. Yeltsin to Moscow to the post of head of the construction department of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Yeltsin was guarded by Sverdlovsk security officers (from November 1976 to April 1985, Yeltsin worked as the first secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional committee). It should be noted that Yeltsin's security in Sverdlovsk was rather modest, unlike some other secretaries of the regional party committees. However, in Moscow, at a different level of power, everything has changed. In the book “Confession on a given topic”, Yeltsin, in particular, wrote: “Communism creates the Ninth Directorate of the KGB. Omnipotent control that can do anything. And the life of the party leader is under his vigilant eye, every whim is fulfilled.
At the October plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1987, Yeltsin allowed himself to criticize the Politburo and Gorbachev personally. He was removed from the post of first secretary of the CPSU MGK, and all privileges, including security, were immediately canceled.
In early 1988, when Yeltsin recovered from the illness that had struck him after the Plenum of the Moscow City Committee, Gorbachev informed him that the Politburo had decided to appoint him deputy chairman of the Gosstroy of the USSR (this post was specially invented for Yeltsin). Then he still retained the status of a candidate member of the Politburo, so his first working day in Gosstroy passed with special fanfare. Yeltsin's future assistant L. Sukhanov recalls:
“Imagine the situation: on the morning of January 8, 1988, on Pushkinskaya Street (where Gosstroy is located) and Moskvin Street adjoining it, all traffic is interrupted in an instant. A "green light" is given for the government cortege. All the nearest entrances and lanes are taken under the control of protection. In Gosstroy itself, there is also a terrible commotion - a candidate member of the Politburo arrives at work. And not one of the "old men", but the troublemaker Yeltsin himself.
The cars drove up to the government entrance of the Gosstroy, Boris Nikolaevich got out of the ZIL and, accompanied by guards, went up to the fourth floor. Bodyguards first entered the reception room, followed by Yeltsin. Tight, in an elegant navy blue suit, snow-white shirt and stylishly matched tie. And then he had much less gray hair ...
N. G. Pavlov opened the office, and the distinguished guest, already with the rights of the owner, entered it.
I note that Yuri Kozhukhov was still Yeltsin's head of security at that time. But his deputy was Major Alexander Korzhakov. At that time he was 38 years old, he went through Afghanistan, and Yeltsin began to guard since 1985, having worked in the "nine" for 15 years.
However, in February 1988, at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Yeltsin was removed from the list of candidates for membership in the Politburo, and he again lost most of his privileges, including security. But, apparently, he was not especially discouraged. In his book, he wrote: “I began to walk down the street more often. When I worked, I completely forgot what it is - just walk and take a walk. Without guards, assistants, like an ordinary Muscovite, the same as everyone else ... "
On February 1, 1989, B. Yeltsin turned 58 years old. And the most unexpected thing for him that day was that three of his former bodyguards, led by Alexander Korzhakov, came to congratulate him. Sukhanov recalls it this way:
“On February 1, 1989, on the birthday of Boris Nikolaevich, Sasha Korzhakov, with two former bodyguards of B. N. Yeltsin, came to us at Gosstroy. I met them in the reception room, then escorted them to the relaxation room (behind Yeltsin's office), where the solemn "saluting" of champagne took place. We drank a little, remembered the past and dispersed. After all, this is an elementary matter, former colleagues came to congratulate their senior comrade. Former of his boss ... But no matter how. After some time, all three were fired from the KGB. Sasha was then 38 years old, a man in his prime, and they told him: that's it, dear comrade, draw up a pension ... And he has a family: a wife, two daughters. Well, this, you see, is the life of a bodyguard: serve the one who is ordered to serve. And emotions, personal sympathies or antipathies are useless ...
Alexander Vasilyevich went to guard the chairman of the "Plastic" cooperative. He worked, received about two thousand a month. After Afghan, he bought himself a Niva and worked on it, for which they still paid a certain amount. In other words, he didn't need it financially. Once he came to me and said: “Lev Evgenievich, take me to your team, I can no longer plow for cooperatives. I do not need their money, there is no joy from them. And by that time, Boris Nikolayevich and I had moved to work at 27 Kalinina Ave., where the Committee for Architecture and Construction of the USSR Armed Forces was located on the seventh floor (autumn 1989).
Sasha came to us and first worked in the reception room of Boris Nikolayevich, and then for some time he was in his personal security ... When B. Yeltsin refused an official car, Sasha Korzhakov drove him in his Niva. This car was probably the only "unofficial" car in the Kremlin, in which the most popular people's deputy in the country drove around.
The first assassination attempt on Yeltsin dates back to the summer of 1989. However, it became known about him only in December 1992, when a former KGB colonel, a direct participant in the assassination, spoke about him on the pages of the newspaper of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan "Adolat". On this occasion, the Moscow News newspaper wrote:
“Boris Yeltsin was supposed to be killed in the summer of 1989 while staying at the Sangtuda hydroelectric power station under construction in Tajikistan” - a former KGB colonel made such a sensational confession ...
Two months ago, he was rehabilitated by the Supreme Court of Tajikistan. The KGB officer, who at that time worked in the central apparatus, received the task of shooting Yeltsin personally from the KGB chief Kryuchkov, and Petkel, the chairman of the Tajik Security Committee, was to assist him. The code name for the operation is "Oriental Dance". Yeltsin went under the nickname Bespaly. The newspaper keeps the name of the KGB officer secret, but assumes that he will soon identify himself and apply to the relevant Russian authorities with a demand to initiate a criminal case against Kryuchkov and Petkel, who now lives in Moscow.”
Let me remind you that V. Kryuchkov was already in prison in those days in the case of the State Emergency Committee, but no charges were brought against him, according to the statement of the KGB colonel. It is possible that the colonel's statement was just a "duck" to complicate the fate of the former chairman of the KGB of the USSR.
The next assassination attempt on Yeltsin was dated September 28, 1989. Then unidentified people in the area of the Assumption Dachas pushed him off the bridge into the river, after which Yeltsin caught a cold and lay at home for two weeks. The incident was very curious, and Yeltsin, realizing this, asked the policemen who saw him wet at the checkpoint of the holiday village not to officially declare this. However, the information leak still occurred, and the incident thundered throughout the country. And this was facilitated by the Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR Vadim Bakatin, who spoke on this occasion on October 16 at a session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. This speech was broadcast on television, and the next day a transcript of the speech of the Minister of the Interior appeared in the newspaper Izvestia.
The essence of Bakatin's speech was as follows. On September 28, two guard police officers who were on duty at the dachas in Uspensky reported to the authorities that Yeltsin, soaking wet, came to their duty room and said that an attempt had been made on him. That a few minutes ago, some unknown people threw a bag over his head, pushed him into a car, brought him to the bridge across the Moscow River and threw him into the water. When his wife and daughter came for him, Yeltsin asked the policemen not to tell anyone about the incident, and when this case did come to light, he generally began to deny the fact of the attempt.
It can be assumed that Bakatin made such a statement not on his own, but at the behest. And many were inclined then to the fact that M. Gorbachev himself gave instructions to him, who, by divulging this story, wanted to once again humiliate Yeltsin. Once again, however, the campaign against him failed. Even despite all the curiosity and absurdity of what happened, the people did not lose faith in their idol.
But what actually happened that day to Yeltsin in Uspensky? There are several versions of this. One of them was voiced in their book "Boris Yeltsin" by V. Solovyov and E. Klepikova:
“It was the birthday of Prime Minister Ryzhkov, celebrated at the dacha - proceed from this, an indisputable fact. Naturally, such a birthday cannot pass without Gorbachev - after all, the Secretary General and the Prime Minister. Yeltsin, I think, was not invited, he was already on the sidelines, a stranger in such a company, clearly did not fit into the festive evening.
On the other hand, he was an old friend of Ryzhkov, from Sverdlovsk times, and he remembered his birthday very well. So I decided to drop in on Ryzhkov without an invitation ... He is actually a surprise person, he has a playful streak in him ...
So his appearance for everyone was an extreme surprise. Don't forget, Pravda just printed a fake against him, and there was also such a mounted TV show where Yeltsin's tongue is slurred and he seems to be tipsy. So he was then wound up, all boiled - internally, of course. And there, at the birthday party, they collided. It came to handshake. And they (Yeltsin and Gorbachev), as you know, in different weight categories ... So Gorbachev took revenge on him, sending the guys from his bodyguard after him. So Boris Nikolaevich bathed.
According to another version, everything looked much more banal. Yeltsin that ill-fated evening was tipsy and went to a certain woman "for a light." But in the end, he fell off the bridge and ended up in the river.
The next incident with Yeltsin, classified as an assassination attempt, took place on April 25, 1990 in Spain, where Yeltsin arrived at the invitation of the mayor of the city of Cordoba. People's Deputy of the USSR V. Yaroshenko, who accompanied Yeltsin on this trip, later recalled:
“The fall of our plane, which was flying from Córdoba to Barcelona, began from a height of about 3500 meters at 10.25 minutes local time, 25 minutes after taking off from the small airport of the Spanish city of Córdoba. Unexpectedly, the power supply system of the six-seater taxi plane, in the cockpit of which B. N. Yeltsin, Boris Nikolaevich’s assistant Lev Sukhanov, translator Galina Gonzalez and I were flying, completely failed. The navigator said something in his heart, and since Spanish and French have common roots, and I know French, I realized that he said "bastards." These words were addressed, obviously, to those “mechanics” who either forgot something superfluous on the plane, or seized something important.
But the plane crashed. Looking out the window, I vividly imagined what a dive bomber was. Obviously, as a result of the failure of the electrical system, the mechanical and hydraulic drives of the control mechanisms stopped working. At some distance from the rocks, the pilot managed to level the car. He turned to face us and said that he had to abort the flight and try to make an emergency landing.
Please fasten your seat belts.
I turned around and looked at B. N. Yeltsin - he and Lev Sukhanov were sitting in the tail section of the plane. To my silent question, he positively nodded his head and closed his eyes.
I refuse to buckle up, - he said categorically, - whoever is destined to be hanged will not drown.
Sukhanov also looked out the window and pressed his lips tightly, he also, obviously, became a fatalist.
While the pilot turned the plane with difficulty, the navigator, not getting tired, repeated: “Oh, bastards, bastards ...” The plane was almost uncontrollable, ascending air currents, side wind and lack of radio communication did their job - at first we did not find the airfield and left to some valley. The pilot spotted a small piece of plowed land and decided to land the plane. At the moment of contact with the ground, we were advised to group. However, at the last moment it turned out that not only electrical equipment, instruments, but also hydraulics were not working - it was not possible to release the chassis. The pilot tried to release the landing gear from the impact effect, sharply changing the flight altitude. After such maneuvers, one of the seats, which was opposite Yeltsin B.N., fell off the mounts. The chassis finally jammed, and we began to have a pronounced "seasickness" ...
The pilot made one more, last, attempt to land on the surface of some small river, but then, after consulting with the navigator and taking into account our condition, he left the valley and again went in search of an airfield ... "
I note that in the end, after several minutes of desperate maneuvers, the plane nevertheless landed on a small mountainous airfield near Cordoba. Moreover, the landing was very hard, the plane literally crashed onto the runway, and the blow fell on the part of the plane where Yeltsin was sitting. As a result, one of his vertebrae was crushed.
On April 29, Yeltsin became ill and was immediately taken to a local hospital. A consultation of doctors found that the crushed vertebra had crumbled and small fragments of the bone tissue of the spine injure the nerve with every movement. Yeltsin was already 80 percent paralyzed. It was decided to urgently operate on the patient. And as the same V. Yaroshenko recalls: “The operation was carried out masterfully. It is not difficult to imagine all the drama of the situation - after all, only three weeks remained before the first Russian congress, at which Boris Nikolayevich would be elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.
Yeltsin was sewn a special corset, and on the third day, to the amazement of all medical personnel, he got back on his feet - for the first time in his life, after another blow of "fate" that has so persistently pursued him in recent years.
A little less than four months have passed since the day of this aviation accident, as already a new one, this time a traffic accident, fell on the head of B. Yeltsin. Here is what Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote about this incident:
“September 21, 1990 at 8:25 am at the intersection of Gorky Street with Alexander Nevsky Lane, a driver, born in 1930 (driving experience 27 years, pensioner), driving a personal VAZ-2102 car, following in the direction of the center in the extreme right lane, I passed on the forbidding gesture of the traffic controller and collided with the GAZ-3102 car, which was leaving Gorky Street, in which B. Yeltsin was.
Boris Nikolaevich went to work in a backup car. TASS reports that after the accident, he feels fine and is undergoing a preventive medical examination.”
The head of his security, A. Korzhakov, who was next to B. Yeltsin at the time of the accident, said in the same issue of Komsomolskaya Pravda:
“At the moment of the collision, Boris Nikolayevich was in the front seat and took the brunt of the blow: the Zhiguli crashed right into the right front door. The side stand hit the head plus a strong blow to the thigh. The rear door was jammed too, and I had a hard time getting out of the car. He immediately helped Boris Nikolaevich to evacuate, he is a strong man: he did not lose consciousness or self-control. We moved into the spare car following us, and Boris Nikolayevich ordered not to change the route - to go to work. But on the way, his condition worsened, and we decided to take him home. Doctors were urgently called. After the examination, they advised Boris Nikolaevich to undergo a more detailed examination in the hospital. Now he is in the Central Kuntsevo hospital, bruises, it seems, are not dangerous.
Correspondent: How could this accident happen at all? Were you traveling unaccompanied?
We always travel unaccompanied. Boris Nikolayevich does not allow all these escorts with sirens, traffic lights turning off, etc. We drive like all normal people.”
Meanwhile, the owner of the ill-fated Zhiguli that rammed B. Yeltsin's car was sixty-year-old retired major Yuri Yerin, who that day was heading out of town with his daughter. He himself was not injured in that accident, but his daughter severely smashed her forehead on the instrument panel. This indicated that there was no malicious intent in the actions of Yu. Erin.
Meanwhile, another incident with the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR forced the Russian deputies to raise the issue of Yeltsin's safety at one of the meetings. As a result, at the beginning of October 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR instructed the First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council to do this, albeit contrary to the opinion of B. Yeltsin himself on this matter. A few days later, at a regular meeting of the Supreme Council, R. Khasbulatov told the deputies that the leadership of the Gorky Automobile Plant had refused to allocate four armored cars to the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR and the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, referring to the fact that a completely different department distributes these cars (meaning the KGB THE USSR). “This is how Russian authorities are perceived in some places,” Khasbulatov summed up.
A. Korzhakov described this situation most fully then in an interview with the Chimes newspaper:
“The KGB of the USSR does not help us (the protection of the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR). We work completely blind. For the time being, we hope for the Russian security structures that will be created here…
Shortly after the accident with B. Yeltsin, the Russian parliament instructed the Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR Ruslan Khasbulatov to supervise our security department. Through him, we sent a letter to the Security Directorate of the KGB of the USSR with a request to transfer to our balance two armored vehicles of the Mercedes company (one of them is a reserve one) for Yeltsin.
According to our data, the Security Department of the KGB of the USSR has 13 armored Mercedes, which were purchased back in the days of Brezhnev and Andropov. One of them was given to the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, the other - to the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia, the rest are idle.
Recently, a response letter was received from the KGB of the USSR, signed by its chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov, with a refusal on the grounds that the visits of heads of state to whom these Mercedes are provided have become more frequent. Although, since the accident, only the President of the Republic of Korea, Ro Dae-woo, has visited the country, who was transported in a ZIL car.
So technically we are very poorly equipped. And everything rests on the leadership of the KGB of the USSR. In particular, for more than two months we have been unable to receive several walkie-talkies, which were donated to us by one of the Austrian firms and which were detained by customs control workers. About a week ago, when we finally got permission from the USSR Ministry of Communications to use a certain frequency range and went to customs to get the radios, it turned out that literally the day before we arrived, they were arrested by Pogorelov, an investigator for especially important cases of the USSR Prosecutor's Office. And so far we have not received any explanation about this. Thus, imagine our department has been without a radio station for half a year. Where else is this possible?
So everywhere and in everything we are obstructed. The Kremlin is the territory of Russia, however, in order for the accompanying person to travel with Boris Nikolayevich to the Kremlin, each time you need to sign an application with several generals.
It is a little easier with weapons, since they are domestic, for rubles. So if Gorbachev is guarded by several thousand people, then Yeltsin, frankly, by several dozen.
It was after the September accident that Korzhakov suggested that Yeltsin take a professional driver on his staff. He agreed. Since then, 51-year-old Igor Vasilyev has become one of the main drivers of the future president of Russia. A. Korzhakov knew him for a long time, from his work in the "nine" in the 70s. (I. Vasiliev joined the 9th Directorate in 1969, having a ten-year driving experience behind him) In 1985, I. Vasilyev was considered as a candidate for work with Yeltsin, who had just arrived in Moscow. However, the leadership of the "nine" instead of Vasilyev then preferred another driver. As Vasiliev himself later explains: “They didn’t take me because of my obstinacy.” It was because of her that he was fired three years after that from the "nine" (like A. Korzhakov). And at the end of 1990, Korzhakov remembered his former comrade in the "nine" and offered him a job as a driver for Yeltsin. And although Vasilyev was then retired, he agreed. By 1993, he had already become the senior driver of the President of Russia.
The next danger to the life of B. Yeltsin was created during the days of the so-called "August coup" in 1991. In those days, the KGB of the USSR, as they say, “overlaid” the President of Russia from all sides, the Chekists eavesdropped not only on the phone, but also on the telephone conversations of his daughters and even his tennis coach. Yeltsin was monitored everywhere, even in the sauna, where he usually took a steam bath. On August 19, Yeltsin was to be arrested by members of the Alfa anti-terror group. Yeltsin in those days lived in a dacha in Usovo, near Moscow, and was guarded by eight bodyguards armed with machine guns. Thus, arresting Yeltsin was not difficult for professionals from Alfa, but for some reason they did not do this (apparently because the “putsch” was just a clever imitation of a coup) and were “late” to arrive at the Russian president’s dacha on time. According to the then commander of Alpha, Major General V. Karpukhin: "I did everything to do nothing."
On August 21, an action was being prepared in Belbek to capture, and in extreme cases, destroy Yeltsin. A special reconnaissance battalion of the marines was sent to the airfield, where a plane with B. Yeltsin was expected from Moscow, who intended to meet with M. Gorbachev. On that day, there were about three hundred people at the airfield, a platoon of grenade launchers, 12 armored vehicles. All fighters were given 180 rounds of ammunition. 20 boxes of grenades were delivered. The fire should have been started at the command "Shark". Moreover, the officers and warrant officers were warned that in case of failure to comply with the order, they would be treated according to the laws of war.
However, the Supreme Soviet of Russia did not let its president go to the Crimea, and a delegation headed by A. Rutskoi and I. Silaev flew there. With them were 40 military men armed with machine guns. By that time, it became clear that the putsch had failed, and the operation to capture Yeltsin was cancelled.
In 1992, after the collapse of the USSR, the Security Service (the former "nine") was reorganized into the Main Directorate for the Protection of Russia. 45-year-old General Mikhail Barsukov was appointed his chief.
M. Barsukov came to the Kremlin guard in 1967 and went from a platoon commander of the Kremlin regiment (he was a company commander, deputy commandant, and then commandant of the government building in the Kremlin) to deputy commandant of the Kremlin, Lieutenant General Bashkin (already under M. Gorbachev). In 1992, thanks to good relations with Korzhakov, Barsukov replaced Bashkin, and after the merger of the Kremlin commandant's office with the Presidential Security Administration, on the initiative of the then head of the presidential administration of Russia, Yuri Petrov, he became the head of the newly created Main Security Administration of Russia (GUO), which was personally subordinate to the President of Russia.
Structurally, the GDO also included: the Security Service of the President of Russia (headed by A. Korzhakov), the Alpha anti-terror group, withdrawn from the KGB, the Kremlin Regiment and services that supported the security regime in the Kremlin.
In addition to the GUO in Russia, there was also the Directorate for the Protection of Objects of the Highest Bodies of State Power and Administration of Russia. It was subordinate to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Russia (Chairman of the Presidium - Ruslan Khasbulatov). And if the competence of the GDO was the protection of the Kremlin, the Parliament, the House of Soviets and the Arkhangelskoye dacha complex, then the Directorate for the Protection of Objects of the Highest Bodies of State Power was responsible for the protection of the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Supreme Arbitration Court, the Central Bank and a number of other institutions. General Ivan Boyko led this department.
In the autumn of 1992, after a series of scandals related to the murder of one of the employees of this department and the seizure of the Izvestia publishing complex by employees of the department, Yeltsin disbanded the Department for the Protection of Objects of the Highest Bodies of State Power and transferred its functions to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, in which it had previously formally been located, but subordinated to R. Khasbulatov.
As soon as Yeltsin issued an order to resubordinate control, Khasbulatov immediately held a closed meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, at which a resolution was adopted restoring the previous position: the five thousandth "Khasbulatov guard" was left in operational subordination of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of Russia, although the right to appoint a commander I still had to give it to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia. This state of affairs lasted until the well-known events in October 1993. However, we are getting a little ahead of ourselves.
On Saturday, January 27, 1993, the news of the first television channel Ostankino at 21 o'clock reported ITAR-TASS that at 7.30 am a man had been detained who allegedly intended to kill Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Details of the assassination were not reported. They became known a little later.
Since 1980, 33-year-old Major Ivan Kislov served in one of the construction military units of Khabarovsk. He served, I must say, not bad, and in December 1992 he held the position of senior assistant to the head of the department for troop service and combat training. I. Kislov had a family: a wife, a philologist, who, however, worked in a kindergarten, and a six-year-old son.
And suddenly, quite suddenly for relatives and colleagues, Ivan Kislov disappears from the military unit on December 25, 1992. And, when in the following days he did not show up, the officer's concerned colleague told the law enforcement agencies. The forces of the local police and the Ministry of Security were thrown in search of the missing person. A photograph of I. Kislov was even shown on local television. However, at the time when the residents of Khabarovsk gazed intently at the unfamiliar features of the 33-year-old major, he was already far away. On January 1, 1993, he arrived in Moscow. The purpose of his visit was one: to kill Russian President Boris Yeltsin. As a weapon of crime, the major chose detonating-type explosive packages, inside of which he placed steel balls. With these packages, he wandered around Moscow, looking for the house where the president lived.
Finally, the house on 2nd Tverskaya-Yamskaya was installed, and the daily “hunt” for its influential occupant began. However, the days passed, and Kislov did not see Yeltsin. “Apparently, Yeltsin is coming to the house through an underground tunnel,” Kislov thought to himself and decided to take the president by surprise at his workplace. (I will note that since 1992, B. Yeltsin mainly lived in the village of Arkhangelskoye near Moscow.) Meanwhile, Yeltsin had two jobs: in the Kremlin and on Staraya Square. But, knowing that the Kremlin was heavily guarded, Kisloye chose Staraya Square. And then a series of failures awaited him. First, Yeltsin mostly works in the Kremlin, and visits Staraya Square two or three times a month. Secondly, on January 15, during the rain, Kisloye did not save the explosives, and they got wet and became unusable. Therefore, the only weapon of the unfortunate terrorist now remains a knife.
On the night of January 26, 1993 (when Yeltsin was on a visit to India!) I. Kisloye came to Staraya Square and climbed the scaffolding to the roof of the building being renovated, adjacent to the complex of buildings of the former Central Committee of the CPSU, where the Russian government now worked. There he hid in the attic, waiting for the workers to come for the morning shift. With them, he was going to penetrate government territory.
However, at 7 am, Kislov was discovered by a security guard who was walking around the building. The guard did not believe Kislov that he was a snow remover, demanded his documents, and then called reinforcements on the radio. During the arrest, Kislov offered no resistance and did not try to escape. Having learned that he was a military man, he was immediately sent to the Moscow military commandant's office. And it was from there that the "information leak" about the arrest of the "terrorist" took place.
And on January 30, during another interrogation, he himself confessed that he intended to assassinate Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
On February 2, 1993, referring to this mysterious assassination attempt, the Izvestia newspaper wrote: “Co-workers who knew I. Kislov closely say that the major, an orthodox communist, was dissatisfied with the current leadership of Russia, his policy. But is this really a reason to arrange an assassination attempt on the president, and then, if Kislov had conceived a bad deed, being in his right mind, why would he desert the army, run away from his family, drawing everyone's attention to his person, including the attention of law enforcement agencies ? After all, he could legally go on another vacation or, say, arrange an emergency trip to visit relatives in the western regions of the country, and not “scourge” for more than a month in the capital, spending the night in attics.
Undoubtedly, the identity of the suspect deserves the attention of not only investigators, but also psychiatrists. In turn, the fuss and haste with which the Russian law enforcement agencies decided to “issue” the Kislov case to the world deserves public attention. Skeptics claim that many dozens of such sours are recruited every year.
And on February 4, the Kommersant-Daily newspaper informed its readers: “On February 3, the materials of the criminal case against Major Ivan Kislov, suspected (mostly on the basis of his confession) of an attempt on the life of the President of Russia, were transferred from the military prosecutor’s office of the Moscow garrison to the investigation Directorate of the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia. Kislov was charged under three articles of the Russian Criminal Code (Art. 15 - preparation for murder, Art. 66, part 1 - terrorist act and Art. 246, point "B" - unauthorized abandonment of a military unit for a period of more than a month).
The same publication reported that Kislov would soon go for an inpatient examination at the Serbsky Institute of General and Forensic Psychiatry. When this happened, the survey showed that the unlucky terrorist was insane. Just like Viktor Ilyin, who attempted on L. Brezhnev's life in 1969, and Alexander Shmonov, who attempted on M. Gorbachev in 1990. Here is such a "continuity".
Another "assault" on the life of the President of Russia was in April 1993 the driver of a watering machine from Izhevsk Mitrokhin. On April 22, when B. Yeltsin was on a visit to the capital of Udmurtia, Mitrokhin threw a stone at the presidential motorcade and landed right in the president's car. The stone thrower was immediately arrested.
In August of the same year, the court sentenced Mitrokhin for hooligan actions to two years in prison (by the way, he had already been brought to court for hooliganism once). At the trial, Mitrokhin stated that he did not know who was in the car, and the stone was launched simply out of anger.
In the autumn of 1993, the situation around the President of Russia escalated, one might say, to the limit. He entered into a clinch with the Supreme Council and, in order to maintain his power, was ready for the most extreme measures, up to and including the dispersal of the Armed Forces with the help of the army. On September 30, the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper reported:
“The protection of high-ranking statesmen has been strengthened.
As the correspondent of "MK" was told in the Main Directorate of Security of the Russian Federation, additional security measures were taken after the statement of a certain "Union of Stalin's Falcons", in which the falcons promised to assassinate the president and someone from his inner circle if Stanislav Terekhov was not released.
The chairman of the Union of Officers was not released. The security of Boris Yeltsin, Viktor Chernomyrdin, all vice-premiers and some employees of the presidential apparatus has been strengthened. Additional measures have also been taken to protect holiday villages, apartments and official residences of the highest officials of the state.”
The events of October 3–4 became the climax. On October 3, when the situation around the White House escalated, Yeltsin was at his dacha in Barvikha. Remembering those hours, he writes in his memoirs-.
“Mikhail Barsukov called via special communications and reported a sharp aggravation of the situation at the White House. He reported on the details - about the crumpled police cordons, about the storming of the city hall building going on in those seconds, about the fact that the ring around the "White House" no longer exists and all armed formations in large detachments threaten to fall on the city. I listened to him, my heart sank in my chest, I thought to myself: “Lord, has it really begun ...”
I phoned Barsukov again. I asked him to send a helicopter to Barvikha. Just in case. It's twenty minutes by car to work. But if the bandits blocked the center, the roads to the Kremlin, I didn't want to be left literally without control levers, without the Kremlin in such a situation. Half an hour later there was a rumble of helicopters, cars flew in from Vnukovo.
At that moment, I didn’t think that I really would have to fly a helicopter. But Chernomyrdin, Erin, Grachev called, then Barsukov and Korzhakov called me again, who at that moment were already in the Kremlin. The latest information was depressing: the militants were storming the Ostankino. There is a fight going on...
I consulted with Korzhakov about the best way for me to go, and decided that it would be faster by helicopter…
So that we would not be completely slammed with a “stinger” or something like that, we made a small detour, and at 19.15 the helicopters landed on Ivanovskaya Square in the Kremlin ... "
And on October 4, 1993, the "White House" fell, and the immediate threat to the life of the President of Russia disappeared.
On November 11, 1993, B. Yeltsin signed a secret Decree "On the Creation of the Security Service of the President of the Russian Federation." According to this Decree, the Security Service, headed by Major General A. Korzhakov, received the status of a federal body and was separated from the Main Security Directorate of the Russian Federation.
In conclusion of this chapter, I note that, according to the head of the GUO M. Barsukov, in 1993 the GUO prevented 6 attempts on B. Yeltsin. Most of the threats came from the North Caucasus. Formed and specially trained militant groups of 10 and 13 people were never able to reach Moscow due to the vigilance of the GDO. Three more attempts were prevented on the outskirts of Moscow, when the terrorists were arrested right at the station.
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