International Review Evgeny Primakov. Death of a son and wife. The last years of the life and death of Yevgeny Primakov
He was an academician, a statesman who earned a reputation as an unshakable defender of the interests of the Russian Federation, a pragmatic and respected diplomat in the state and abroad, a large-scale personality with an inner core from a unique generation of the Soviet and post-Soviet era, which became a reflection of the country's history.
Primakov's most striking and well-known political decision was the cancellation of his 1999 visit to Washington, which took place in the air during a flight over the Atlantic. Having received information about the intention of the North Atlantic military bloc to bomb Yugoslavia, he decided to return immediately.
The childhood of Evgeny Primakov
One of the most influential people of the state was born on October 29, 1929 in Kyiv, the capital of the Ukrainian SSR. His real name is Ion Finkelstein. His mother is a gynecologist. The politician did not know his father. In the thirties, he was repressed and disappeared in one of the Gulag camps. According to official data, the politician's mother is Jewish, and her father is Russian. 
The politician grew up in Tbilisi, where his mother's relatives lived, and where she moved 2 years after his birth. After graduating from seven classes, he entered the military school (BVMPU) in Baku, created on the basis of the naval special school. In 1946, the young man was expelled from the cadets due to pulmonary tuberculosis.
Returning to Georgia and graduating from school in 1948, he entered the capital's Institute of Oriental Studies. In 1953, he became a certified specialist in the Arab states and continued his education in the postgraduate course of the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University.
The beginning of the career of Yevgeny Primakov
Since 1956, he began working as a journalist for the All-Union Radio, holding posts from a correspondent to the editorial head of radio broadcasting to foreign countries of the State Committee for Cultural Relations. 
At the age of 33, Primakov began working as an international columnist for the Pravda newspaper, and from 1965 as a Middle Eastern correspondent for this tabloid. While living in Egypt, he performed responsible tasks of the Central Committee of the party, met with the leadership of Iraq (Saddam Hussein, Tariq Aziza), the Kurdish military Mustafa Barzani, the leader of Palestine Yasser Arafat, with the Syrian leader of the Arab Renaissance Party Yu. President Jafar Mohammed Nimeiri.
According to the British media, at that time Primakov was not so much engaged in journalism as he was carrying out an intelligence mission, being a KGB agent and working under the pseudonym "Maxim".
Scientific work of Evgeny Primakov
In 1969, the politician received his Ph.D. Scientific research"The Social and Economic Development of Egypt". 
At the end of 1970, head of the Institute of World Economy and international relations RAS (IMEMO) Nikolai Inozemtsev invited him to take the post of his deputy. As a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, he headed the Institute of Oriental Studies, combining this position since 1979 with teaching at the Diplomatic Academy as a professor, as well as with the post of deputy chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Peace.
Since 1985, he was the head of IMEMO for 4 years. Member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences led the study of methods for studying global political and economic issues, was engaged in the analysis of interstate conflicts and other problems in the field of international relations.
Since 1989, Primakov has become the head of the Council of the Union. In 1990-1991 he joined the Council of the country's leader Mikhail Gorbachev. 
With his direct participation, the main players in the world political arena searched for ways to solve many acute problems, regulate key interactions in international politics. So, on the eve of the conflict in the Persian Gulf, he met with Saddam Hussein, with Israeli figures - Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, as well as with Hosni Mubarak (Egypt), Hafez Assad (Syria) and others.
After the coup in August 1991, he was appointed first deputy chairman of the KGB. With education Russian Federation he was chosen as head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, serving from 1991 until 1996.
Being an adherent of “Realpolitik”: the course led by Bismarck in his time (in which political decisions are made primarily for practical reasons, without taking into account ideological or moral aspects), the head of the Foreign Ministry advocated a multi-vector foreign policy.
He was the initiator of the creation (as opposed to the United States) of the Russia-China-India strategic triangle, simultaneously with the development of relations with the West, an opponent of NATO expansion, a supporter of the end cold war. By all accounts, he returned authority and dignity to the country's diplomatic service.
During the period 1998-1999. Primakov was appointed prime minister. At the same time, he automatically became a contender for the presidency. During the 8 months of his premiership, the market economy in the Russian Federation quickly stabilized and recovered. The resignation of Yevgeny Maksimovich from office (due to the slowdown in reforms) was perceived negatively by more than 80 percent of citizens.
Since 1999, Yevgeny Maksimovich has been a State Duma deputy, led the Fatherland - All Russia party. In 2000, 2 months before the election of the leader of the country, in a televised address, he refused to participate in the presidential race and, after the election of Vladimir Putin, became his ally and adviser.
Evgeny Primakov about Vladimir Putin
Since 2001, Primakov has been head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for 10 years. Then he became chairman of the club of veterans, exchanging views and analysis of the political situation with the leadership of the state.
Personal life of Yevgeny Primakov
Yevgeny Primakov was married twice. He knew his first wife Laura Gvishiani (Kharadze) since childhood, they lived next door in Georgia. She was the adopted daughter of NKVD General Mikhail Maksimovich Gvishiani, and later became the sister of her son-in-law Alexei Kosygin. Together, young people went to enter Moscow. In 1951 they got married. 
They had two children - first-born Alexander in 1954 and daughter Nana in 1962. The politician's share in 1981 was the hardest loss - the death of his son from a heart attack. At this time, he was on duty on Red Square during the May Day festivities. His heart was weak and Ambulance couldn't come quickly.
In the summer of 1987, the wife of the politician also died of heart disease. She became ill in the elevator as they went down. They lived together for 37 years.
From his son, Primakov left his grandson Yevgeny Jr., who gave him 4 great-granddaughters. And daughter Nana gave birth to 2 girls Sasha and Maria.
The second wife of the politician was his attending physician Irina Borisovna, whom he married in 1994. She graduated from Stavropol medical institute, in residency she worked in the Fourth Main Directorate, where the leadership of the country was treated. Then she became the head of the special department of the Barvikha sanatorium, where in 1990 she met a politician. At that time, she was married to a doctor, and her daughter Anya was born in the marriage.
Yevgeny Primakov invited her to become his doctor. A year later, after the coup, Irina divorced her husband and became close to a politician. They soon got married.
The last years of the life and death of Yevgeny Primakov
AT recent times the diplomat was ranked among the so-called "seventh column" because of his statements about the need to restore relations with the West, curtail the Ukrainian campaign, implement domestic political reforms and pursue a rational foreign policy. (Recall that the “fifth column” includes the opposition public, the “sixth” - systemic liberals, the “seventh” - sane security officials who fear the aggravation of the conflict with the whole world and the negative consequences of this for the Russian Federation).In 2011, he resigned as president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and after that he finally left "big politics".
Yevgeny Primakov died in Moscow
In 2014, the politician underwent an operation in Milan, then he underwent treatment at the Blokhin Russian Cancer Center. In early June 2015, he got there again.
Primakov passed away at the age of 86 after a serious illness (according to various sources - a brain tumor or liver cancer) on June 26, 2015. He was buried with military honors at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. At the civil memorial service in the Hall of Columns, the President of Russia himself spoke, and the funeral service was given by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill.
Vladimir Putin, former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and other political figures expressed deep condolences to his relatives on the death of Primakov.
Death of Yevgeny Primakov: Vladimir Putin's speech at the farewell ceremony
Earlier, noting the outstanding services of Yevgeny Maksimovich on the eve of his 85th birthday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called him a landmark figure in the foreign policy of the Russian Federation and expressed his conviction that his progressive system of views (thanks to which, in particular, there was a turning point in the foreign policy of the Russian Federation) in the future will be studied as a special concept - "Primakov's doctrine".
Evgeny Maksimovich Primakov was born on October 29, 1929 in Kyiv - died on June 26, 2015 in Moscow. Soviet and Russian economist, orientalist-Arabist, politician and statesman, doctor of economic sciences (1969), professor (1972), ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary (1996).
Chairman of the Board of Directors of OAO RTI; President, Chairman of the Council "Mercury Club"; Head of the Center for Situational Analysis of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1979; corresponding member 1974). Laureate of the State Prize of the USSR (1980) and the State Prize of Russia (2014).
Member of the CPSU since 1959. Member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (1989-1990; candidate member of the Central Committee in 1986-1989).
Member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, member of the Presidium of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Science and Education, member of the Scientific Expert Council under the Chairman of the Federation Council Federal Assembly Russian Federation, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian International Affairs Council. Chairman of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1989-1990), Head of the Central Intelligence Service of the USSR (1991), Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (1991-1996), Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (1996-1998), Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation (1998-1999 ), President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2001-2011). Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the III convocation (2000-2001).
short biography Evgeny Maksimovich Primakov:
There is no official information about the father, according to unofficial published data, he was repressed three months after the birth of his son.
Mother - Kirshenblat Anna Yakovlevna (1896-1972), worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist. Immediately after the birth of the child, she returned to Tbilisi, where her family lived.
Primakov spent his childhood and youth in the capital of Georgia, but he studied in Marneuli, then went to study in Moscow.
After the seventh grade of the school in 1944, he entered the naval preparatory school in Baku as a cadet, he practiced on the training ship Pravda.
He graduated from the men's secondary school in Tbilisi (1948). His favorite subjects were history, literature and mathematics.
He graduated from the Arabic department of the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies (1953) with a degree in Arab countries and then postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University (1956).
In 1956, Primakov became a senior fellow at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the USSR Academy of Sciences (IMEMO).
At the invitation of the editor-in-chief of the Arabic edition of the Main Directorate of Radio Broadcasting on foreign countries Sergei Kaverin, Primakov joined this editorial office. From 1956 to 1962, he worked at the USSR State Radio and Television as a correspondent, executive editor, deputy editor-in-chief, editor-in-chief of broadcasting to Arab countries.
In 1957 he made his first trip to the East - a Mediterranean cruise.
In 1959 he defended his Ph.D. thesis "Export of capital to some Arab countries - a means of ensuring monopoly high profits", candidate of economic sciences.
From September to December 1962 - senior researcher at IMEMO. In 1962, due to a conflict with curators from the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU, he submitted a letter of resignation of his own free will.
Since 1962, he worked in the Pravda newspaper as a literary employee, columnist for the Asian and African countries department, since 1965 - Pravda's staff correspondent in the Middle East with a stay in Cairo (where he spent four years), deputy editor of the Asian and African countries department. While serving in the Middle East, he met with politicians: Zwayne, Nimeiri. In 1969, during a trip to Baghdad, he met Saddam Hussein, later he met one of his close people, Tariq Aziz, who at that time was the editor-in-chief of the Al-Thawra newspaper. During this period, he made many trips to northern Iraq, often visiting the winter residence of Kurdish rebel leader Masoud Barzani.
In 1969 he defended his thesis on the topic "Social and economic development of Egypt", becoming a doctor of economic sciences.
In 1977-1985 he was director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, since 1979 he was also a professor at the Diplomatic Academy.
In 1985-1989 - director of IMEMO of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Academician-Secretary of the Department of Economics, since 1988 - Department of Problems of the World Economy and International Relations, member of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
In February 1988 he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1989-1991 - People's Deputy of the USSR. In 1989-1990 - Chairman of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1990-1991 he was a member of the Presidential Council of the USSR. He was a member of the inner circle of M. S. Gorbachev.
Since March 1991 - Member of the Security Council of the USSR. On August 21, 1991, he flew to Gorbachev in Foros as part of a delegation led by Vice President of the RSFSR Alexander Rutskoi.
From September 30, 1991 - Head of the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR - First Deputy Chairman of the KGB. Refused the rank of general.
In September 1993, he did not support the anti-constitutional decree of President Yeltsin on the dissolution of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council.
January 9, 1996 was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia. The name of Primakov is associated with Russia's transition from Atlanticism to a course towards a multi-vector foreign policy. Diplomat Alexei Fedotov noted that, being in this post, Primakov "returned dignity to Russia's foreign policy and its diplomatic service." The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, E. M. Primakov, pursued a deliberate foreign policy, under him Russia developed partnership relations with the countries of the West and East equally.
On September 10, 1998, President Boris Yeltsin proposed Yevgeny Primakov to the post of Prime Minister of Russia. On September 11, 1998, Primakov's candidacy was approved by the State Duma, 315 out of 450 deputies voted for him, including the opposition faction of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Before being appointed prime minister, he received an offer from Viktor Chernomyrdin to become his first deputy and agreed to this, but the State Duma did not support the appointment of Viktor Chernomyrdin as prime minister. Having refused for the first time, he subsequently accepted Yeltsin's offer to head the government after the latter refused the same offer to Yuri Maslyukov, declaring that he was ready to work as first deputy for Prime Minister Primakov.
Speaking on September 16, 1998 at an enlarged meeting of the Collegium of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Primakov stated that the arguments about some kind of "red revenge", "the end of the reforms" did not have the slightest foundation.
On March 24, 1999, Primakov was on his way to Washington for an official visit. Over the Atlantic, he learned by phone from US Vice President Al Gore that a decision had been made to bomb Yugoslavia. Primakov decided to cancel the visit, ordered the plane to be deployed directly over the ocean and returned to Moscow.
May 12, 1999 Primakov was dismissed from the post of Prime Minister. Primakov's resignation was greeted sharply negatively by the population: 81% of those polled by the fund " Public opinion' declared that they did not approve of it. At the same time, the majority of respondents expressed the opinion that Primakov's government managed to achieve economic and political stabilization in Russia.
December 19, 1999 was elected to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the third convocation. Chairman of the faction "Fatherland - All Russia" (OVR) (in 2000-2001).
Two terms, from December 2001 to February 21, 2011, he served as president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
One of the leading domestic orientalists, a prominent scientist in the field of the world economy and international relations, in particular, in the field of complex development of issues of Russian foreign policy, the study of the theory and practice of international conflicts and crises, the study of the world civilizational process, global problems, socio-economic and political problems developing countries.
Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Education.
On February 21, 2011, he announced his resignation from the post of President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. During a press conference dedicated to the forthcoming regular congress of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Primakov recalled that he had already held the position of head of the chamber for two terms. “This is quite enough, I will not be re-elected at this congress,” he said. On March 4, at the VI Congress of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he officially resigned as president. S. Katyrin, Primakov's deputy, was elected the new head of the CCI.
On November 23, 2012, he was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC RTI (solutions in the field of integrated communication and security systems).
After a long illness. with state honors.
Family of Evgeny Maksimovich Primakov:
Primakov's cousin is the prominent Soviet biologist Yakov Davidovich Kirshenblat.
In 1951, Primakov married a student at the Georgian Polytechnic Institute, Laura Vasilievna Kharadze (1930-1987), the adopted daughter of NKVD General M. M. Gvishiani.
Children - son Alexander (died in 1981 from a heart attack) and daughter Nana, from whom E. M. Primakov has two granddaughters. Grandson from his son - Evgeny Alexandrovich Primakov (creative pseudonym - Evgeny Sandro, Sandro - in honor of his father (Alexander)), correspondent for Channel One and Russia24, orientalist.
Widow - Irina Borisovna, therapist, former attending physician E. M. Primakova.
The main works of Evgeny Maksimovich Primakov:
"The countries of Arabia and colonialism" (1956);
"International Conflicts of the Sixties and Seventies" (1972, co-authored);
"Egypt: the time of President Nasser" (1974, 2nd ed. 1981; co-authored with I. P. Belyaev);
Middle East: Five Paths to Peace (1974);
"Energy crisis: the approach of Soviet scientists" (1974);
"Energy Crisis in the Capitalist World" (1975, editor);
"Anatomy of the Middle East Conflict" (1978);
"New phenomena in the energy sector of the capitalist world" (1979);
"The East after the collapse of the colonial system" (1982);
"East: the turn of the 80s" (1983);
"The Story of a Collusion: US Middle East Policy in the 1970s - early. 80s.” (1985);
"Essays on the history of Russian foreign intelligence" (in 6 vols, 1996);
"Years in big politics" (1999);
"Eight months plus ..." (2001);
The World After 9/11 (2002);
Confidential: The Middle East on Stage and Behind the Scenes (2006, 2nd ed. 2012);
"Minefield of politics" (2006);
“A world without Russia? What does political myopia lead to” (2009).
Yevgeny Primakov's books have been translated into many foreign languages. In particular, they were republished abroad in Chinese, Italian, English, Bulgarian, Turkish, Persian, Arabic, German, Japanese, Greek, Serbian, Macedonian, Romanian, French and other languages.
According to official documents, Yevgeny Primakov was born on October 29, 1929 in Kyiv. This version is contradicted by his daughter's statement that his father was born in Moscow. One way or another, the future statesman spent his childhood in Georgian Tbilisi. In 1953 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies, and three years later - postgraduate studies at Moscow State University.
Journalist and scientist
Journalism is the first area with which the professional career of an orientalist was connected. So says official biography Primakova Evgenia. The nationality of the Eastern peoples, the life of Asia and Africa - that's what interested the young specialist. He worked as a columnist and staff correspondent for Pravda. As a journalist, Primakov met with many Eastern political leaders: Yasser Arafat, Mustafa Barzani, Saddam Hussein, etc.
At the age of 40, the staff correspondent again delved into science. In 1977-1985. Primakov was the head of the Institute of Oriental Studies. At the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the scientist dealt with the problems of world politics, developed new theoretical methods. The biography of Yevgeny Primakov (whose nationality is Russian, his maternal relatives were Jews) was also connected with the economy, on which he defended his dissertation. For some time the scientist taught at the Metropolitan Diplomatic Academy. It is with this period of Primakov's life that biographers associate his first close ties with foreign intelligence and the KGB. There is no official confirmation of this, however.
Primakov wrote many monographs and memoirs. His scientific writings deal with international topics. As a scientist, the author studied the phenomenon of colonialism, the countries of Africa, Egypt of the Nasser era, the path to a peaceful settlement in the Middle East. Primakov also wrote monographs on energy. Memoirs of the former prime minister began to appear in the 2000s. The last such book, Encounters at the Crossroads, was published in 2015.
Personal life
For the first time, the future politician married in 1951. His wife was a student Laura Kharadze. They had two children. Son Alexander became a graduate student at the Institute of Oriental Studies, trained in the United States. He died in 1981 at the age of 27 due to a heart attack. This loss was hard for Yevgeny Primakov. The wife, whose photos are not replicated in the public space, died in 1987. Primakov's second wife was Irina Bokareva, who for a long time was his official personal doctor.
The beginning of a political career
The political biography of Yevgeny Primakov began in 1988, when he became close to the General Secretary of the CPSU, Mikhail Gorbachev. It is believed that it was the then head of state who insisted that a native of the academic environment take part in the elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The 1988 campaign was unique. In fact, those elections were the first elections on an alternative basis in many decades. Yevgeny Primakov was among those elected to parliament at that time. The biography of the newly minted politician was connected with international relations. He took up them as a member of the Supreme Council.
It was an extremely noisy and lively parliament, which was new to Soviet society. Primakov was not afraid to work in the new format. He became a participant in the first debate between American congressmen and Russian deputies, held in live in the form of a teleconference. In 1988, Mikhail Gorbachev made one of his most famous international visits to China. The trip was organized by Yevgeny Primakov. The biography, nationality, track record of the deputy - all this was already well known both to his colleagues around the world and to ordinary Soviet citizens. Primakov entered the galaxy of bright politicians, opened by Gorbachev's perestroika.
The General Secretary of the CPSU was extremely respectful of Yevgeny Maksimovich. The head of state consistently gave him new responsible positions. Primakov joined the Security Council of the USSR, and became chairman of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. This gradual rise was interrupted in August 1991, when the August coup broke out. Among those officials who took away the blocked Gorbachev from Foros was then Yevgeny Primakov. The biography of the politician has passed an important milestone. Now he had to demonstrate his skills and talents in a completely new environment of democratic Russia.
Head of the SVR
The relationship between Yevgeny Primakov and Boris Yeltsin was complex and contradictory. The President of Russia respected the "patriarch of domestic politics", but in fact he never trusted him. First, due to the fact that Primakov was considered a "Gorbachev man", and in the late 1990s. - already because of the dangerous popularity of the official with the electorate.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a personnel vacuum formed in Russia. The government lacked people with experience and knowledge. That is why Evgeny Primakov turned out to be so popular. The biography of the politician has been associated with international relations for many years. In this regard, in 1991 he was appointed to the position of the newly created foreign intelligence service.
The main thing that Primakov achieved in this post was that he managed to finally separate the SVR and the KGB, which was soon renamed the FSB. long overdue. Personnel Chekists and intelligence officers never particularly liked each other, and now, finally, a person was found who resolved these interdepartmental frictions. It turned out to be Evgeny Primakov. Biography, nationality, the merits of the politician - all this is now widely known thanks to his many years of efforts in various government positions. There were also scandals in the SVR under Primakov. The most noisy failure was the case of agent Aldrich Ames.
Foreign Secretary
In early 1996, Boris Yeltsin appointed Yevgeny Primakov Minister of Foreign Affairs. His predecessor followed a pro-American course. The biography of Yevgeny Primakov, his experience and previous rhetoric indicated in advance that he would lead domestic diplomacy differently. And so it happened. Primakov treated the United States with extreme restraint. During his first year as a minister, he visited 40 countries, but the States were defiantly not on this list.
It is believed that Yeltsin appointed Primakov, since anti-American rhetoric in the crisis-ridden country was extremely popular among the broad masses of the people. The change of course (at least symbolic) was all the more important because the president had a second election (which he eventually won) on the nose.
The first thing Primakov did as a minister was to reclaim the famous building on Smolenskaya Square (previously it also housed the Ministry of Foreign Trade). The new head of the department rotated personnel, changed the places of work of diplomats and forced them to travel more around the world so that they would broaden their horizons.
Prime Minister
In 1998, a default was declared in Russia, followed by the resignation of the government. The State Duma twice refused to return Viktor Chernomyrdin to the post of prime minister. In the current crisis situation, Yevgeny Primakov became the head of government. Photos of the new prime minister did not leave the front pages of newspapers. Formally, it was the pinnacle of his career.
Primakov again had to perform the functions of a "crisis manager". His government was conservative and somewhat leftist. In the end, the prime minister and ministers managed to bring the country out of an acute crisis. Gradual economic growth began. Inflation has dropped. There were active negotiations on loans with the International monetary fund. The budget for 1999 was adopted immediately in the first reading, which was unusual for the State Duma, which was fragmented and mired in internal conflicts. When the communists initiated the impeachment of Yeltsin, the prime minister opposed the idea.
U-turn over the Atlantic
As head of government, Primakov continued the multi-vector foreign policy he pursued as foreign minister. On March 24, 1999, the brightest episode of that premiership took place. Many people know the biography of Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov just for this occasion - a U-turn over the Atlantic. The Prime Minister flew to the United States on an official visit, where important documents on cooperation between the two states were to be signed. While over the Atlantic Ocean, Primakov learned that NATO had decided to start bombing Yugoslavia. Then the board turned around and returned back to Moscow.
The biography of Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov is an example of a politician who tried to talk to everyone on an equal footing - be it Americans or authoritarian Eastern leaders. At the same time, the prime minister personally managed to become an authority for everyone with whom Russia dealt.
Resignation
In 1999, Yeltsin and Primakov finally parted ways. On May 12, Sergei Stepashin became prime minister. In the dismissed Primakov, Yeltsin saw a growing threat to his own power. The released politician did not remain idle. The next elections to the State Duma were approaching. A new bloc "Fatherland - All Russia" appeared in the parliament. Its main figures were the mayor of Moscow, the president of Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev, and Yevgeny Primakov himself. Biography, family, photo of a politician - all this again became public.
The entire Primakov was in the center of media attention. Sergey Dorenko's program on ORT, where he openly criticized the former prime minister, became widely known throughout the country. Lobbying the financial interests of his wife, bribes from the Iraqi authorities - this is not all that Yevgeny Primakov was accused of. Photos of the family and news about his alleged hip surgery were known to all Russian television viewers.
Back in Parliament
Today, many people call the ORT information campaign a persecution against Primakov, who was rushing to the State Duma. In response to all the new reports on television, the politician publicly only joked and grinned. Many years later, from interviews with his relatives, it became clear that harassment was an extremely painful blow for a Soviet-style politician.
One way or another, both the Fatherland - All Russia bloc got into the State Duma, and Yevgeny Primakov himself, biography, personal life and other facts about which before that were chewed on a daily basis in the media. The "new old" deputy worked in the parliament for only two years. At meetings, he always sat next to Vyacheslav Volodin, who under Vladimir Putin became deputy head of the presidential administration, and later chairman of that same State Duma. The politician called Primakov his main teacher. The attitude towards Yevgeny Maksimovich as a senior mentor is typical for many representatives of the modern Russian state elite.
President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry
In the "Putin era" Yevgeny Primakov, whose biography had already gone through all stages of career growth in the public service, was noticeably less in demand at the top. First of all, the honorable age affected. Primakov began his political path as a middle-aged man, and at the turn of the century he was already over 70. In 2001-2011. He was President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Although Primakov has moved into the shadows, he never had a conflict with Vladimir Putin. The head of state himself treated the titan of domestic politics with demonstrative respect.
Primakov rarely gave advice to the authorities, his interviews appeared in the media even more rarely. The politician was generally distinguished by public impenetrability. Journalists often noted that it was almost impossible to extract something superfluous from him during an interview. In 2006, Primakov, speaking to top officials, announced the need to reorient the economy from the "raw material needle" to innovation. Such rhetoric later became the leitmotif of Dmitry Medvedev's presidency. Evgeny Maksimovich was also the chairman of the friendly "Mercury Club", where veterans of big national politics gathered. Vladimir Putin regularly got acquainted with analytical notes and reports of these meetings.
Last years
It is known that shortly before the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the President of the Russian Federation sent Primakov to him as a diplomat (they had known each other since 1969). Yevgeny Maksimovich visited Iraq with delegations at the end of the Soviet era. Then the American operation "Desert Storm" was approaching. Primakov brought Soviet specialists and their families (about five thousand people) out of Iraq, and also persuaded the country's authorities not to hide behind human shields from Western citizens.
In the highest circles, the former prime minister was informally known as "Primus", and on his last 85th birthday, he received a primus signed "Record 1" as a gift from the president. The last time Primakov appeared in public was in January 2015 at a meeting of the Mercury Club. The politician died a few months later (June 26). The cause of death was liver cancer, which Yevgeny Primakov had been suffering from for a long time. Biography, family, services to the country - all this was discussed again during the funeral and civil memorial service. The ceremony of farewell to the politician was broadcast live on state television, which once again clearly demonstrated the important place of Yevgeny Maksimovich in modern history Russia.
What only during the life did not write about Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov. But one line in the thin "Case History": "A request to convince the patient to undergo a medical examination because he has not been to a preventive examination for years" 16 years ago played an unexpected - matrimonial - role in his fate. Irina Borisovna Primakova, the wife of the former director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the country's prime minister, and now the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is giving an interview to the press for the first time and especially for Izvestia. Marina Zavada and Yuri Kulikov met with her.
Izvestia: Did you have a period when it seemed that nothing good could happen in life anymore?
Irina Primakova: Of course, like any living person. I was about forty - a crisis age, for a woman some kind of fatal date. The feeling that now everything will only go downhill did not leave. Family life was falling apart. And at the same time everything fell apart and collapsed in the country. It was the end of the 80s. I lived in one of the lanes on Chistye Prudy, and in front of my house many buildings were torn down. Imagine: a dank autumn, ruins on the site of once wonderful mansions, aunts trading on every corner ... And the bitter book read - Bunin's "Cursed Days" fell on such a mood ... What can I say, many of us were then in a state of anxious depression.
Izvestia: Yevgeny Maksimovich suffered the most severe losses: the death of his adult son, his wife Laura, with whom he lived for 36 years.
Primakov: 37, no crumbs...
Izvestia: But you too "passed the palisade of trials." Do you remember this line from Primakov's patient's poem dedicated to you?
Primakova: This is a metaphor. Or hyperbole (laughs). Because I had usual life ordinary Soviet woman.
Izvestiya: But maybe, as a person who is not indifferent to you, Evgeny Maksimovich perceived something in a sharply subjective way?
Irina Primakova: I guess what he meant. I have never worked in any other medical system other than the Fourth Directorate. The patients were people in charge. Difficult in the service and, accordingly, in everyday life, in communication with the doctor. Probably, the observant Primakov called my efforts to find contact with such a complex contingent a "palisade of trials."
Izvestia: Were you annoyed by swagger, arrogance?
Primakova: I leave that out of the brackets. Doctors shouldn't talk badly about their patients. Even without last names. A sick person does not happen with a good character. At one time, a very experienced doctor, Valentina Mikhailovna Lapenkova, said to the embarrassed doctor residents who were first brought to the clinic of the Fourth Department: "Abstract from who is in front of you. The position of the patient remains outside the hospital. Otherwise, you will be nervous and make medical mistakes." It sunk deep into my soul.
Izvestia: You were probably "enlightened" through and through before you were hired?
Primakova: I cannot say that there were special checks. Filled out detailed questionnaires, passed interviews. I studied at the Stavropol Medical Institute ...
Izvestiya: Where are Gorbachev's daughter and son-in-law?
Primakova: They were three or four years younger than me. Of course, I saw Irina. The daughter of the first secretary of the regional committee of the party could not have known at the institute. Quiet, modest girl, did a great job. I have nothing more to say about her. Soon I left Stavropol. As a graduate with honors, I was offered to enter the Moscow residency. When the distribution commission was informed that the residency was under the Fourth Main Directorate, I was frightened. For some reason I thought it had something to do with the police. The name sounded too harsh.
No, they didn’t check me up to some seventh generation. My mother is from a family of repressed people. Her father was shot as an "enemy of the people". My mother's mother, Baba Vera, spent time in the camps, then painfully searched for children who were scattered to different shelters. She showed me a piece of paper about the rehabilitation of my grandfather. All that is left of man. A terrible feeling... But I mean, people like me were already taken to the Fourth Directorate at that time.
In Moscow, she married her colleague, a radiologist. Both were assigned to the sanatorium "Barvikha". You drove by when you were driving to our dacha. A daughter was born. Nine or ten years later, I was appointed head of the special department of the sanatorium, where general secretaries, members of the Politburo, and ministers were treated. I sigh heavily because I can’t stand administrative work. I'll tell you boldly: I coped with it quite well. But I like to be responsible for myself, I was burdened by the need to command ... In general, the days went on as usual. And suddenly a patient appears, on whose medical card it is displayed: "Primakov Evgeny Maksimovich."
Izvestia: It is known what a routine meeting in a clinical sanatorium has become for the attending physician ...
Primakova: You know, neither I nor, obviously, he had any kind of shock at the beginning. Another doctor, another patient ... The only thing that stood out from the series was his peculiar "medical history" with meager records of the same type: "Invited for medical examination. Didn't show up", "Please come for a physical examination. Didn't show up." Apparently, the doctors were reproached for the fact that the patient categorically did not visit the polyclinic: “During his stay in the Barvikha sanatorium, please convince the patient to undergo a medical examination because he has not been to a preventive examination for years.”
Izvestia: Was Yevgeny Maksimovich's indifference to his health connected with recent losses?
Primakova: And this. And the fact that what kind of busy person, a healthy, normal man would run around, check himself? In my opinion, normal people that's how they behave. They go to the doctor when they get sick.
I don't know what prompted Primakov to come to Barvikha. Probably, someone told him: there is an opportunity to live in a sanatorium and be examined without stopping work. But I assume so, because he was not going to examine himself. In the morning Evgeny Maksimovich swam in the pool. I think this is the main thing that kept him in Barvikha. He loves to sail like a failed sailor. Then he immediately left for work. We allowed it, it was only necessary to notify the staff on duty. Returned late, God knows when. Dinner and went to bed. Actually, he behaved like in a hotel during a business trip. And since he was a widow, he probably solved some of his own problems along the way. everyday problems. Roughly speaking, a glass of tea, a hot meal...
Despite his busy schedule, I firmly decided to convince Primakov to undergo medical examination. He denied for a long time and reluctantly gave in under the onslaught of the main argument: banal examinations would take no more than half an hour a day.
Izvestia: Did the nurse drive by the hand?
Primakova: I led by the hand. Joint trips were accompanied by playful conversations, so imperceptibly the entire medical examination was carried out. Yevgeny Maksimovich stayed at Barvikha for a week at most. Well, how did you stay? Overnight stay. Leaving, he asked for my work phone: "If there are any questions, can I contact you?" - "You are welcome". A few days later - a call: "Irina Borisovna, in my current position (he was elected a candidate member of the Politburo during these few days. - Izvestia"), a personal doctor is supposed to. Do you want to become one?
I quickly replied, "Yes." - "Thank you. All the best," - and hung up. And I was left to sit almost dumbfounded: "Lord, why did I, without weighing anything, immediately agreed?" Maybe the whole point is that it was already more than seven in the evening and I was very tired? During the day, a lot of unpleasant situations have accumulated: a leaky pipe, a scandal between nurses, a call "on the carpet" to the head doctor ... And a whole stack of "case histories" in front of me. Or was it something else, as yet unconscious, that prompted me to agree so readily? In any case, I immediately regretted what I had done.
But it was too late. The next morning I was informed that a call had come in from the Office. In 24 hours I changed my status: I became the personal doctor of Primakov and his family.
Izvestia: Do you think Yevgeny Maksimovich offered you to become his attending physician, because something had already stirred in his soul?
Primakova: I asked him about this later. Yes, he says, he felt sympathy. Perhaps trust. But he is not like me, headlong, made a decision. I consulted with my doctor friends. A very close friend of Primakov, Academician Vladimir Ivanovich Burakovsky, was then alive. I spoke with him, with another academician - Armen Bunatyan, he is an anesthesiologist-resuscitator. With David Iosifovich Ioseliani, now chief cardiologist in Moscow, director of the Institute of Interventional Cardiology. Now these are my close friends, but then they seemed to be celestials. Two candidates were rejected: a sanitary doctor (from the medical reserve for such cases) and a resuscitator. Burakovsky joked: "It's too early to revive you. We need a good therapist." And then it dawned on Primakov: a good therapist was at Barvikha. Called. And I became his shadow. Like a guard. Only the guards work in shifts, and the doctor must be ready 24 hours a day at any time of the day or night (pause).
news: Well?
Primakova: Yes, actually, that's all (laughs).
News: And then?
Primakova: Are you interested in how the novel began (laughs)? Somehow it gradually began ... By that time, there was already a crack in my personal life. The marriage was slowly dying. We got married for love. But they turned out to be very different - in character, in temperament. He - good man and hopefully happier in his second marriage than with me. We did not arrange scandals, we spared the child. They lived like two strangers - each with his own life. He is on duty, I am at home; I'm on duty, he's at home.
And literally a month after I was transferred to Primakov as a personal doctor, a delegation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR traveled to several states of America. The group included Sobchak, academician Yablokov, the famous violinist Liana Isakadze and other completely non-standard people. Evgeny Maksimovich did not need my medical assistance, so I did not feel like a doctor on a business trip. In fact, she turned out to be a bewitched spectator and for the first time looked at Primakov through the eyes of a woman. He performed brilliantly, especially when he was in the mood. He lit up, spoke recklessly, witty. I was delighted by something that delighted the Americans too: they probably discovered for the first time that a Soviet party leader can be free, liberated, superbly educated, and convincing.
Izvestiya: Remember, in "The Master and Margarita" the heroine begins to flirt with Azazello after he, turning away, accurately shoots through the seven of spades? "She had a passion for all people who do something first class," writes Bulgakov. Do you, too?
Primakova: A little differently. First of all, the mind conquers me. Whatever a man is, if he is not smart, that's all. In America, in our delegation, Primakov was, of course, the most striking personality.
Izvestia: And Sobchak?
Primakov: No. Not at all. A very peculiar person, a clear mind, but - narcissism ... We have an expression (and in my parental family they used to say so, and in the family of Evgeny Maksimovich): a person is not of my blood type. Here Sobchak is not a person of my blood type. And Primakov is mine. And even (laughs) my Rh factor.
Izvestiya: When Yevgeny Maksimovich wrote you these verses:
Doctor, it's good to have you around
It's not even about medicine.
Maybe an order of magnitude more important
That your eyes are blue-blue?
Primakova: It was - now I'll strain - 1991. The second year of our acquaintance. Egypt. Cairo. In the evening, at the hotel, Primakov gathered almost the entire team - assistants, security officers, a doctor ... Something like summing up the day. It usually ends with tea. And in one of these relaxed gatherings, Yevgeny Maksimovich says: "In my opinion, I wrote a wonderful poem. Let me read it?" And he reads these lines in front of everyone.
I was stunned, embarrassed - I don't know how to formulate my feelings more precisely. But, believe me, I didn’t take it at all as a declaration of love. Firstly, because it was read in front of everyone, and secondly, no matter what happens in our souls, no words on this subject have ever been said.
Izvestia: And no hints?
Primakov: No, no.
Izvestiya: Gallant invitations? For example, to the theatre?
Primakov: What are you?! Save and have mercy. I don't know if it crossed his mind, but I would refuse. No, no and NO.
Izvestia: But Evgeny Maksimovich did not accidentally read the poem in public, did he?
Primakov: I think so. Tête-à-tête would have been more tense for him. It would look like an explanation.
Izvestiya: But still I wanted to say something ...
Primakova: Apparently, he wanted to say something. But I did not ask ... After a while, as if in passing, I dropped: "Will you give me a poem to remember?" He replied: "I have it in a draft, everything is crossed out. I will rewrite it for you." - "No need to rewrite. Let it be as it is. It's even more pleasant." He says, "Good." And gave. Since then, of course, I have kept it.
Izvestiya: You must have experienced a special uplift all this time?
Primakova: I would not say that I flew. I was married. It may seem funny to someone, but since I'm married, everything else is impossible. Or you need to change your life radically, leave your husband and get closer to your loved one. Or continue to live with your husband, but do not bring the one you like closer. And this painful responsibility for the child! Anya was ten then. I set myself a lot of restrictions: it is impossible, unacceptable, sinful. Only the doctor is the patient, the patient is the doctor. Everything.
It was only after the coup, when the Institute of Personal Physicians was abolished, that a turning point occurred in our relations. He began to call: "Let's go to the theater." Why not? "Would you like to go to the concert?" With pleasure. "I have been invited to visit Burakovsky. He would like to see you too." Thank you. This "accompaniment" quietly grew into a closer relationship.
Izvestia: Judging by the significant time gap between writing a heartfelt poem and a solid decision to get married (three years - we calculated), it was difficult. Who had more doubts? Which of you, excuse me, was more cowardly?
Primakova: I think they are equal. Only the reasons for cowardice each had their own. Evgeny Maksimovich was very much stopped by the big, as he then imagined, age difference. I was frightened that his relatives and friends might come up with the idea: I do not need a person, but what is behind this person. Position, position ... Between the words of Evgeny Maksimovich: "Why are you leaving me? Stay" and my answer: "Yes, I'm staying" - years of doubt lay. But, as time has shown, both his and my fears were in vain.
Izvestia: Perhaps you will consider it indelicate (then don't answer), but with what words does the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service propose a hand and heart to a woman?
Primakova: When I had to return home, I usually sighed: "I don't want to leave." In one of those moments, he said: "And don't. Stay forever." This is, in fact, what the proposal that Yevgeny Maksimovich made to me two years before the wedding looked like.
I don't know how long all this would have dragged on, but we were pushed (rather by me than Primakov) by his close friend Grigory Iosifovich Morozov. A fantastic personality, scientist, professor, head of the IMEMO department, he was the first husband of Svetlana Stalina.
I thought that the first marriage should be ended first. And in what capacity Evgeny Maksimovich wants to prolong our relationship, this is his business. I told him that I was leaving my family. "Where?" She explained: I’ll stay with friends for now, and then we’ll exchange an apartment. He reacted instantly and unambiguously: "Come with your daughter to me."
Izvestiya: A beautiful novel.
Primakov: Yes? (Pause.) Never thought about it.
Izvestia: Joining a large, close-knit clan, especially in situations like yours, requires not only scrupulousness, but also a reserve of patience and common sense. After all, closely closed ranks should not under pressure, but respectfully open. How it was?
Primakova: Well, when the conversation turned to living together, Yevgeny Maksimovich said: "Nanka must be informed. She will be glad." I have a very warm relationship with the daughter of Evgeny Maksimovich. Nana knew everything, understood everything, and I saw that she was not against our romance.
But it’s one thing when dad has, let’s say, a woman, and quite another when this woman becomes his wife (she won’t take the mother’s place, it’s impossible, but nevertheless she will turn out to be a stepmother, if we call things in Russian by their proper names). I asked: "Can I talk to Nana myself?" He was surprised: "Why?" But I needed to see her reaction in person. If Nana is happy or even indifferent to the news, this is one option. And if I feel that she does not accept me as my father's wife, then everything is over. Just as if my Anya had not accepted Yevgeny Maksimovich, I would not have been able to get over it.
It seems that neither before nor after I experienced greater excitement than on the day when I went to "confess" to Nana. She said: "Nan, Yevgeny Maksimovich and I decided to live together." And I look at her. In general, Nanka's eyes are very sly, but here her face is frowning and stern. Everything broke for me. And suddenly she burst out laughing: "Fool! I'm playing a trick on you. It's time for you and dad to get married. I can't wait for this moment!" What do women do next in such situations? They begin to roar ... My Anya also treated Yevgeny Maksimovich as if she were her own. No one had to cut the soul.
Izvestiya: Irina Borisovna, we cannot but ask the most difficult question. Did you feel that Laura Vasilievna still occupies a place in the heart of Yevgeny Maksimovich?
Primakova: And it continues to borrow, believe me. Some people have a question, how do I feel about the fact that the family celebrates Laura Vasilievna's memorial day, Laura Vasilievna's birthday, her presence is felt in the house, a photograph hangs. Why not? Why not? The man lived with a woman for 37 years, they had two children, a common grief - Sasha, his son, was buried. Lived half a lifetime together. If a man crosses out everything that was before her for the sake of the next woman, he can cross out me too.
And actually, why is it necessary to cross out? Here are her continuations - daughter, grandchildren, how can this be crossed out? The fact that Yevgeny Maksimovich honors the memory of his first wife does not offend me at all. Moreover, he has reservations, he may accidentally turn to me: "Laur!" And I, honestly, I swear whatever you want, it's nice. This means that I am so organic for him that the boundaries are erased, where I am, where she is ... I visit my mother's grave as often as the graves of Laura and Sashenka. This all is mine. Evgeny Maksimovich equally accepted what is connected with me.
Izvestia: After your mother died two years ago, the three of you began to live together - with your father. Even go on vacation together. This small friendly group is like the top of a branched tree. In general, who is your family today?
Primakova: Before my dad moved in with us, my parents had been living in Moscow for several years. It was the initiative of Evgeny Maksimovich - to transport them from Stavropol. Mom was sick, and I was just torn. And my husband immediately suggested: we need to persuade my parents to move here. They bought a small apartment not far from us. At first, my mother seemed to feel better, but - cancer. God took pity on her - she did not suffer for long. On the day of the funeral, Yevgeny Maksimovich said: "Dad must live with us."
Who else is in our family? Oh, the clan is very big. Two daughters - Nana and Anya. Nan's husband, his parents. Unfortunately, in June we buried the son-in-law's father. Vladimir Ivanovich Bakhutashvili was an academician, immunologist, director of an institute in Tbilisi... Also oncology. Last months life was sick and dying with us. Farther. My brother with all his. Nana has two daughters: the eldest Sasha - she is 23, and the youngest - eight-year-old Maruska. She was a tender favorite of my mother. Then the eldest grandson - the son of the late Sasha: Zhenya Primakov Jr. He has a pseudonym Evgeny Sandro, now he is a staff correspondent for NTV in the Middle East. Zhenya also has a wife and also two daughters: from her first marriage Nika, Nikush, and the second snot - Ksenia, she turned one year old on November 28.
Izvestia: How often and on what occasions do you gather as a whole clan?
Primakova: Once a month is a must, we rarely consider it. And so, it happens, and more often - especially in summer. Celebrations when a full collection is announced do not count. Usually we just call each other: we haven’t seen each other for a long time. We always gather at our dacha. It happens that someone jumps in parts. Here, for example, Nanina's family arrived. Or little Zhenya pulls himself up with all his friends. They call: "We're nearby. We'll stop by for lunch." - "We wait". Sometimes they all come at once, up to friends and girlfriends. They sit down at a long, long table...
Izvestiya: Aren't you tired of a too open house?
Primakov: No. I'm used to. My parents' house was also hospitable and welcoming. Here Evgeny Maksimovich and I strongly coincided. Only I have roots from Ciscaucasia, and he is from Transcaucasia. The people there are even more hospitable (laughs). It rarely happens that both I and he get tired of the abundance of people.
Izvestiya: At least two world celebrities - Mikhail Gorbachev and Mstislav Rostropovich - almost flaunt that they are "henpecked". But Primakov, as a person with Tbilisi roots, probably amuses such confessions? What is the generally recognized political heavyweight in "private domains"?
Primakova: No one will even call him henpecked as a joke. In general, Evgeny Maksimovich is not at all what he seems on the TV screen. In life, he is sociable and warm person. Returns from work late. We are waiting for him with dinner. Everyone sits together at the table: he, the security officer on duty, the driver (“attached” under Yevgeny Maksimovich for fifteen years. During this time, they became essentially family members), my dad and I. We have a long, thorough dinner.
Another evening ritual before Yevgeny Maksimovich went up to the office and worked for two hours was the TV. They watch news programs with dad, boxing, football, tennis ...
Izvestia: Are you sitting next to me?
Primakov: God forbid! I can not stand. My favorite channel is "Culture".
Izvestia: Do they get sick noisily?
Primakova: Well, they somehow react.
Izvestia: Are you angry: "Make it quieter"?
Primakova: Even if it's loud, I don't care. We don't have the same taste in movies. For me, melodrama is better, but Yevgeny Maksimovich prefers action films ... If a husband needs to prepare a book or an article, it's all at the expense of night time or on weekends. We have mountains, blockages of drafts. Recently, when they got rid of old folders, I say: "Well, at least leave something." Laughs: "Are you afraid that they will challenge what he wrote himself?"
It's good that we live in the country - all year round we sleep with the window open, and some share of oxygen falls to him. It's hard to get to go for a walk. Despite the fact that I am a doctor, I can not adapt anyone to a healthy lifestyle. It can be seen because it is not adapted itself. I always somehow feel sorry for the time, seemingly aimlessly spent walking back and forth. But here I am absolutely wrong. Walking is helpful.
Izvestiya: Is the food in your house a priority - tasty or, as it is fashionable now, healthy?
Primakova: Rather tasty. We are trying (especially young people, young ladies) to take care of ourselves. But these are timid attempts. I'm generally skeptical about separate meals. Mankind before us for so many centuries ate everything together and for some reason did not die out. Harmful excess.
Izvestiya: Every person needs from time to time what the famous English writer called "my starry solitude". Star loneliness, total solitude. What do you do when you're all alone?
Primakova: This is such a blissful time. I'll explain why. Good book alone, when you can not be distracted, deepen, concentrate - a refined pleasure. I read according to my mood. More often - classics. For example, from French - Zola. This subtle connoisseur of human souls was well versed in medicine. Zola has a classic description of a gouty attack, when a person ate a foie gras, drank red wine, got incredible pleasure from it and woke up the next day with terribly swollen joints.
Izvestiya: How do you react to the fact that women like your husband? More than that - "trying to please them," which he jokingly admitted to us a year and a half ago in an interview?
Primakova: Why - jokingly? At the sight of a young beautiful woman Yevgeny Maksimovich is changing. And he does it unconsciously. I realized that it is pointless to be offended.
Izvestia: Is he jealous himself?
Primakova: Jealousy manifested itself most peculiarly at the beginning of our life together. I wanted to keep my old name. She complained: "Can you imagine how many documents I will have to fill out again?" He interrupted harshly: "Either you take my last name, or return the maiden one." Could not spare himself, had to run around the offices.
Izvestia: Yevgeny Maksimovich told us that "he does not consider it possible to act in a way that is not masculine." What content, according to your observations, does he put into this concept?
Primakova: Betraying in friendship is not a man's act. Leaving a family in trouble is not a man's thing. Dishonest and poor quality work - too. To do something to the detriment of the country (do not take it as arrogance) - from the same area. Everything to the max. Primakov does not put any petty, everyday meaning into this phrase. He will not give offense to himself, his relatives, or his friends. Protect - you can be sure. He is not aggressive, not vengeful person. Never attack first. But he will give back. Up to the point that he turns around and punches him with his fist. Honestly.
news: Yes! Seen?
Primakova: I didn’t see it myself, but they told me that somehow they hurt his family, they tried to offend Laura, and he, being already a mature person, gave, excuse me, in the face. Yes Yes. It was.
Izvestiya: Representatives of the world elite visit you. Here Madeleine Albright stopped by with her deputy Strobe Talbot...
Primakova: At that time, very difficult negotiations were going on regarding the expansion of NATO to the East. The moment came when they reached a dead end. Albright was supposed to fly out the next day. Evgeny Maksimovich called me: "Let's call them to our house in the evening." According to protocol, the Minister of Foreign Affairs usually invites distinguished guests to the residence. During lunch they are served by waiters. But the husband decided to arrange a purely home reception with Russian cuisine.
My friend and I quickly sat down to make dumplings. Everything turned out very spiritually. The guests ate dumplings, seasoning them with caviar instead of sour cream (try it somehow - it's terrible, but for some reason they liked it). Strobe Talbot softened, remembered that I was a doctor, and began consulting about his wife's health. In short, everyone loosened up. That evening, Evgeny Maksimovich and Madeleine Albright agreed.
Izvestia: Tell me, are there people for whom the doors of your house were closed for any reason?
Primakova: There are very few of them, but, unfortunately, they exist. These are those who behaved unworthily or even betrayed.
Izvestia: Did they try to somehow explain themselves to Yevgeny Maksimovich?
Primakova: We tried to apologize, to step over what had happened, to turn over a bad page. But we are both intolerant of meanness. For God's sake, let these people be alive, healthy, prosperous. But without us.
Izvestiya: It is generally known what Yevgeny Maksimovich experienced when he encountered the intrigues of Yeltsin's inner circle during his short term premiership. One can only guess about the emotions of the Prime Minister's wife. How did you live, Irina Borisovna, during these difficult eight months?
Primakova: It's tense. I was against the new appointment of my husband, on which strings I could play. But I understood: if he accepts the offer, it is not in my power to prevent. It is impossible to manage Yevgeny Maksimovich. This is a person who makes decisions himself. Pulling his strings is useless. However, I was sure: having headed the government in that terrible situation, he would be loaded 24 hours a day. And it is doubly destructive to deal with such a president as we had ... When Primakov said that he should be imprisoned for economic crimes, and those with a stigma in the cannon, led by Berezovsky, perceived this as a personal threat, it became clear to me : will eat soon. There were even fears for the physical existence of her husband.
Recently, Yevgeny Maksimovich and I recalled that time, and I say: "Remember, when we lived in the prime minister's residence ..." He thought: "Believe me, I don't remember anything there."
This is an amazing detail. A huge, awkward building, a strange and cold house, to which he came after midnight, not noticing the surroundings, the furniture, the garden, what he eats. The husband was so absorbed in work, and it was so psychologically difficult for him that the unloved house was perceived only as a place to spend the night ...
Shortly before the New Year, I told him: "Zhenya, you will be filmed." He objected: "You are thinking illogically. The change of cabinet is a serious shake-up. The country does not need it, especially since the economy has begun to rise." But I felt that logical reasoning had nothing to do with it. He interferes with them, does not fit in ... This was especially felt at very narrow pre-holiday gatherings.
Izvestia: At Boris Nikolayevich's dacha?
Primakov: What are you?! There were no rapprochements with the Yeltsin family and there could not be. We are talking about private dinners for members of the government, the presidential administration in the Kremlin or in the Reception House on the Lenin Hills. And by spring, my last illusions were dispelled. So when on May 12 Yevgeny Maksimovich called and said: "I was removed," I sincerely shouted: "Hurrah!"
Izvestiya: Offensive attacks against a loved one are often perceived much more painfully than against one's own address. It is unlikely that the television war of 1999 has been erased from memory. Dorenko was then called a "telekiller". You didn't want to tear him apart?
Primakov: Definitely. I never thought that I could feel such hatred for someone. My husband was returning home late, and I was sitting alone, seething in front of the screen with a feeling of complete helplessness. Yevgeny Maksimovich, in principle, treated this more restrainedly, without hysterics.
Izvestia: Doctors usually do not undertake to treat their family members. And what do you do if Yevgeny Maksimovich is ill? Does he obey you, or is there no prophet in his own house?
Primakova: Naturally, my husband recognizes me as a doctor, because that's how it happened historically (laughs). Luckily, he never catches a cold. You don't even have to knock on wood. The fact is that in the morning he takes an ice shower.
Izvestiya: Is he able to cook something out of food?
Primakova: Theoretically, probably. Practically - I have never seen (laughs).
Izvestia: How about making, repairing?
Primakova: As for the electrical part, it seems to be possible.
Izvestia: Understand?
Primakova: Well, he's thinking something. But there were at most one or two such precedents in our life.
Izvestia: Your husband always looks smart. Whose merit is this?
Primakova: I think it's a joint one. Although he buys things for himself, as a rule, himself.
Izvestiya: Abroad or in Moscow?
Primakova: In any convenient place. The only problem is choosing the time.
Izvestia: Does your family attach importance to the thoroughbredness of a dog, the popularity of a clothing brand, watches?
Primakova: The pedigree of a dog is absolutely irrelevant. We had wonderful mongrels, no problem. The last dog - a Labrador - the eldest grandson took because he wanted a large, smooth-haired and good-natured dog. Labradors are like that. And then ours turned out to be a little bit married. When the guys took the puppy, we told them: "You can't handle it." A baby was born, Zhenya has frequent business trips, and Sveta (daughter-in-law) will be physically hard with a dog and a baby. "No, we can." Well you can, you can. Although it was clear that they were being tortured. Then Zhenya calls: "It's so difficult with the dog, we don't know what to do." - "Well, bring it."
Here is the clock, yes. Many years ago, Evgeny Maksimovich was presented with an Omega, and since then he has not changed his watch. True, it is believed that the respectability of a man is determined by an expensive watch, but Yevgeny Maksimovich would have worn Glory with the same constancy if he had liked it.
Izvestiya: And the suit from Brioni, Cavalli, Ermenegildo Zegna?
Primakova: I'm afraid Evgeny Maksimovich doesn't even know these stamps. It's just that Primakov has a peculiarity - the ability to wear things. We bought two suits made by "Bolshevichka". Don't believe? Do you want me to show you? In our family, even young people do not show off. Little Zhenya - Evgeny Sandro - in general, the older he gets, the more character traits his grandfather acquires. Evgeny Maksimovich is pleased that his grandson has taken up the Middle East.
Izvestia: There is an Indian parable about ten blind men who, holding hands, forded a stormy river. Having got out on land, the blind decided to count. They did this many times, but each of them always came out with only nine. The old man sitting on the shore was terribly amused and finally could not stand it: "Start counting with yourself!" Man, paradoxically, tends to forget himself. He thinks about others, but does not remember himself. Do you think this setting is wrong? Should it be different?
Primakov: No. The only way. In any case, starting counting with myself is not my option.
Yevgeny Primakov is a well-known Russian statesman and politician, orientalist, economist who has made an incommensurable contribution to the economic, political and scientific sectors of the Russian Federation. From 1991 to 1996 he headed the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia, from 1996 to 1998 he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, in 1998-99 he was Chairman of the Russian Government. Over the next ten years, from 2001 to 2011, he was President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.
Childhood and youth
Primakov Yevgeny Maksimovich was born on October 29, 1929 in Kyiv, but three months after his birth, together with his mother Anna Yakovlevna, Kirshenblat became a “victim” of Stalinist repressions, in connection with which they had to leave their hometown and move to Tbilisi to relatives.
Young Eugene never saw his father and did not know anything about him, he was brought up by one mother who lived only for the sake of her son. It is known that the mother of the future Prime Minister of the Russian Federation was a professional obstetrician-gynecologist and devoted her whole life to this profession.
Primakov's childhood passed in a 14-meter communal apartment without basic amenities, but the boy was always well-fed and dressed, despite the difficult war time The mother worked two jobs to provide her son with everything he needed.
Due to the full employment of his mother, young Zhenya was left to himself, walking all day on the street with the guys, but this did not prevent him from reaching colossal heights in the political firmament in the future. modern Russia and become a worthy citizen of your country.
After graduating from 7 classes of secondary school, the future head of the Russian Foreign Ministry decided to enter the Naval Preparatory School in Baku, but after two courses of study he was expelled from the ranks of cadets for health reasons - then Primakov was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis. In this regard, the guy had to return to school to get a complete secondary education.
Thanks to the tireless efforts and care of his mother, Eugene managed to overcome a terrible illness. In 1948, the young man successfully graduated from the men's school No. 14 in Tbilisi. In view of the fact that he was a good and diligent student at school, he was able to enter the prestigious Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies “without blat”.
After graduating from the university, Yevgeny Primakov continued his studies and in 1956 graduated from the Moscow State University postgraduate department of economics. In 1959 he defended his thesis and became a candidate of economic sciences.
Career
Yevgeny Primakov's career began in the Arabic edition of the Main Directorate of Radio Broadcasting to Foreign Countries, in which he rose from an ordinary correspondent to the editor-in-chief. In journalism, the future Prime Minister of the Russian Federation worked until 1970, after which Primakov's biography changed its direction towards science.
Then Evgeny Maksimovich took the post of deputy director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, and after 7 years he headed the Institute of Oriental Studies, while being a professor at the Diplomatic Academy and Academician-Secretary of the Department of Economics and the Department of World Economy and International Relations.
In 1989, the first political star appeared on the horizon of Primakov's career, and he rapidly entered global world politics. At the beginning, he was elected a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and literally a year later he became a member of the Presidential Council, where many serious issues related to the development of dangerous events, situations, conflicts were resolved with his participation.
After the putsch of 1991, Yevgeny Primakov became the chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Council, first of the USSR, and then of Russia, while he served as the first deputy chairman of the KGB of the USSR. In 1996, Evgeny Maksimovich was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, which brought him tremendous success in the political arena.
Then he managed to conduct successful negotiations with the countries of the Middle East and get a lot of incoherent loans in the amount of $ 3 billion, which were very necessary for the country at that moment.
In 1996, Primakov became Prime Minister of the Russian Federation under the then incumbent president. In this position, Yevgeny Maksimovich also clearly showed his professionalism, since he had a lot of receptions, meetings and negotiations with high-ranking representatives of European countries, which, due to Yeltsin's illness, he had to conduct on his own.
In 2001, at an extraordinary congress of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, Primakov was elected its president. Until 2011, Primakov remained the unchanging head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. In this field, Evgeny Maksimovich focused all his vast experience and scientific potential.
Thanks to his colossal achievements, he was considered the world authority of the state and public figure facilitating the implementation of major federal programs.
In 2008, the ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation joined the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences and became an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Education. Evgeny Maksimovich is one of the leading Russian orientalists, the largest scholar in the field of international relations, foreign policy and economics of Russia.
Personal life
The personal life of Yevgeny Primakov, like his career, has sharp turns and unpleasant events. He has been married twice and has a daughter, two granddaughters and a grandson. His first wife was Laura Kharadze, the adopted daughter of an NKVD general. Yevgeny Maksimovich married her in 1951 while still a graduate student. With his first wife, the famous politician lived 36 happy years, but in 1987 Primakov became a widower.
From his first marriage, Yevgeny Maksimovich had a son, Alexander, who died suddenly in young age from a heart attack, and daughter Nana. From his son, Primakov left the only grandson, Yevgeny, who works under the pseudonym Sandro (in honor of his father) as a correspondent for Channel One, and his daughter gave politics two charming granddaughters.
7 years after the death of his first wife, the heart of the politician again opened to love, and he married a second time to his attending physician Irina Borisovna, with whom he walked hand in hand along a difficult career path until the end of his days.
In addition to politics and science, Primakov clearly distinguished himself in literature. He is the author of numerous articles and books on political and economic topics. In addition, Evgeny Maksimovich was fond of poetry and wrote poetry himself.
Death
June 26, 2015 bright politician Yevgeny Primakov at the age of 85. According to media reports, the former head of the Russian Foreign Ministry died of cancer. The entire Russian elite mourns the biggest politician, who devoted his whole life to the development of society and the economy of the Russian Federation.
Yevgeny Primakov in recent years According to friends and associates of the former Prime Minister of Russia, with the death of Primakov, “the era of conscience, honesty and statehood in new Russia". The President of Russia and the Prime Minister personally expressed their condolences to the relatives of the deceased politician who created the history of the Russian Federation.
According to leading scientists and statesmen In Russia, all the criteria and goals of the scientific creativity of Yevgeny Primakov will continue to be guidelines in the work on the development of various branches of our state.
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