These questions are asked today by everyone interested in domestic politics. One of the most popular politicians of the USSR and Russia of the 20th century has long since retired and rarely appears in public space. We will try to open the veil of secrecy in this article.
Gorbachev's fate
The politician today leads a non-public lifestyle, so journalists do not know where Gorbachev lives. Although the first and last president of the USSR willingly hosts journalists, despite his advanced age (he turned 87 this year), this happens in a variety of places and even countries.
It is worth noting that Gorbachev is one of the most controversial domestic politicians; the attitude of his compatriots towards him is extremely ambiguous.
Some believe that he is a traitor who destroyed the Soviet Union, others, on the contrary, thank him for the opportunity to live in modern democratic Russia, and also for the fact that he did not cling to power, which allowed him to avoid bloodshed.
If we briefly tell the biography of Gorbachev, we need to start with the fact that he was born in the Stavropol Territory in 1931. His childhood was quite modest; from the age of 13 he was already working on a collective farm, helping his parents. Having started as a laborer, he was soon promoted to assistant combine operator.
In 1950, he graduated from school and immediately entered the Faculty of Law of the Moscow state university. It was his studies at the capital’s university that opened up broad prospects for him, playing a decisive role in life. Here he became acquainted with the basics of politics, while still a student, he joined the CPSU.
After university, he finally made a choice in favor of politics, becoming the first secretary of the Komsomol city committee in the Stavropol Territory. While still studying at the institute, he met his future wife Raisa, with whom he spent his entire life.
At the very beginning of his political career, Gorbachev specialized in agricultural issues, received a second higher education in the field of agricultural economist.
When he turned 47 years old, he was noticed in Moscow and transferred to the capital. It is known that this decision was personally supported by Yuri Andropov. After just a few years of work in Moscow, the politician became a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, and it was under his leadership that the process of reforming government and the market economy began.
At the head of the country
Having earned a reputation as a large-scale reformer, Mikhail Sergeevich was elected general secretary Central Committee of the CPSU. From that moment on, he began to implement his main political project of democratization Soviet society who with his light hand immediately began to be called perestroika.
He managed to achieve success in certain areas. In 1990, after changes were made to the state legislation, it was he who was elected the first president of the USSR. As it soon turned out, it was also the last, because within a year such a country no longer existed.
With democracy came a number of serious problems. An economic crisis began in the country, and the position of Gorbachev’s political opponent Boris Yeltsin was strong. As a result, a coup d'état occurred and the Soviet Union collapsed.
Gorbachev did not hold on to power; he resigned, stopping for a while political activity. Instead, he became involved in research and social work.
During the Russian presidential elections in 1996, he attempted to return to politics, but took only 7th place, gaining 0.51% of the vote.
New place of residence
After his resignation as head of state, Gorbachev naturally left state residences. From time to time, information appears in the media that it can be seen on various mass events, which take place in various European cities. At the same time, for many it still remains a mystery where Gorbachev lives at the present time.
We can absolutely say that it is not in Russia, since in our country it appears much less frequently than abroad. According to the most common version, his permanent place of residence is in Germany. Most of those who claim to know where Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev lives say that his home is in the Bavarian resort town of Rottach-Egern, which is famous for its clinics for the treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular system.
According to the latest data, the ex-politician settled there with his daughter and grandchildren about eight years ago. This is where Mikhail Gorbachev lives now. The villa of the hero of our article is located about three hundred meters from the Church of St. Lawrence, in which he is considered a parishioner. Although it is not known for certain whether the former communist became a believer.
Hubertus Castle
Moreover, this is not the only property of the only president of the USSR abroad. Trying to find out where Mikhail Gorbachev currently lives, journalists learned that in 2007 he purchased another house in the same city. Locals call it Hubertus Castle. Its approximate cost is one million euros. IN old times in two small buildings there was a Bavarian Orphanage, now a Russian politician has settled there.
Around the house where Gorbachev lives there are growing tall trees. A mountain river flows nearby, where you can go fishing, for example, catch king trout. At the same time, there is information that the castle is not actually registered in his name, so it is impossible to reliably say where M. S. Gorbachev now lives.
Relations with journalists
When he was the leader of the USSR, Gorbachev willingly communicated with journalists, becoming famous as one of the most open leaders. But in recent years, he has been extremely reluctant to meet with Russian reporters, which is why many do not know where Gorbachev lives now.
He loves the German press much more. Articles about his life, leisure, health, and successes regularly appear in various major publications. It is worth noting that in Germany to Gorbachev special treatment. He is considered a politician who played a decisive role in the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the unification of the GDR and West Germany. For this he received the Nobel Peace Prize. German journalists often speak enthusiastically about him, noting that only his descendants will appreciate the merits of his work.
Relations with Putin
It is unknown whether he knows current president Vladimir Putin, where Gorbachev lives. They meet infrequently; the last time they saw each other was in the Kremlin, talking face to face. At that moment, Gorbachev supported Putin’s policies, but over time he began to be critical of them, which he repeatedly stated in interviews with foreign media.
At the same time, Vladimir Putin himself is not offended by this. It is known that he regularly congratulates him on his birthday with official telegrams. Putin himself regularly notes Gorbachev’s desire to strengthen Russia’s authority in the international arena.
Gorbachev's activities after resignation
After leaving the post of President of the USSR, Gorbachev and his wife Raisa lived and worked in Moscow for a long time. The hero of our article founded the Gorbachev Foundation; in 1993, he was one of the first founders of Novaya Gazeta.
"Gorbachev Foundation" is non-profit organization, which studies the history of perestroika, as well as problems that remain relevant today for international and Russian history. Officially, the foundation is financed by fees that Gorbachev receives from his lectures, speeches and publications. The foundation also receives donations from individuals, charitable foundations and international organizations.
Is Gorbachev working now?
Now Gorbachev is already 87 years old, but he still regularly comes to his workplace at the Gorbachev Foundation when he is in Russia. As a rule, he comes to work for a few hours from Tuesday to Friday.
At the same time, he continues to be active in research and social activities, and participates in discussions with authoritative experts regarding the development of the pestilence community.
In 2017, Gorbachev presented his memoirs at the capital’s House of Books, which were published under the title “I Remain an Optimist.” In this book, he collected his memories of life, starting from childhood, and talked about coming to power in the USSR. It is known that he is now working on a new book, which will be based on his series of lectures.
House in Russia
Of course, Gorbachev also has real estate in Russia, a house in which he permanently lives. It is located in the village of Kalchug, located near Moscow on Rublevo-Uspenskoye Highway.
People close to Gorbachev claim that one woman helps him run the household. At the same time, he is still accompanied by security as the former president.
Modern residents of Russia have different attitudes towards Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev. Someone is considered a traitor who ruined a great country. Others are grateful to him for the opportunity to live and develop in the new Russia.
Whatever one's opinion of Gorbachev, he is an iconic historical figure who changed the history of the country. Many are still interested in his fate, read latest interviews and wonder where the only chairman of the CPSU Central Committee lives, who was born after the 1917 revolution.
In means mass media Every now and then you can see Gorbachev appearing at events held in different cities of Europe. But where Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev lives remains a mystery to many. One thing is certain – not in Russia. IN modern world Information about where Martina Stossel lives is much more accessible than where the former politician lives. New time dictates new fashion and creates modern idols who are far from world politics and economics.
House for a million in Germany
Mikhail Sergeevich’s permanent place of residence is now in Germany, or more precisely in Bavaria, in the resort town of Rottach-Egern, which is famous for the treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular system. The former politician settled there with his daughter and grandchildren about eight years ago. The first villa of a famous figure in this German town was located a few meters from the Church of St. Lawrence, where he is considered an honorary parishioner.
In 2007, Mikhail Sergeevich bought a house in the same city called “Castle Hubertus” for a million euros. Previously, two small buildings housed a Bavarian orphanage. Huge trees grow around the house beautiful trees, a mountain river flows very close by, where you can catch king trout. They say that this castle is not in his name.
Gorbachev and the modern press
They say that representatives Russian press Mikhail Sergeevich does not communicate very willingly. But he loves the German press. Every now and then, articles appear in various major German publications about how Gorbachev and his daughter visit a popular beer factory, how he successfully underwent spinal surgery, and how he received another award. Often in articles by German journalists one can find the opinion that the merits of Mikhail Gorbachev’s case in Russia will only be appreciated in the future.
This is interesting! In 1990, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev received the Nobel Peace Prize. He also has commemorative awards and medals from Yugoslavia, Poland, Bulgaria, France, Dominican Republic, Czech Republic, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Republic of Korea, San Marino, Israel, USA, Italy and the Vatican. The famous politician received his last prize in 2010 in Dresden (Germany) for nuclear disarmament.
Relations between Putin and the former head of the Russian state
Everyone knows exactly where Putin lives – in Russia, of course. The last official meeting of the modern Russian President Putin and the last Chairman of the CPSU Central Committee also took place in Russia, in the Kremlin. It was held face-to-face, and at that time Mikhail Sergeevich supported Putin’s policies. Over time, Gorbachev became increasingly critical of Putin's policies. He still holds critical views.
This is interesting! Mikhail Sergeevich Lately spent a lot of time in England. On April 8, 2013, in connection with the death of Margaret Thatcher, he was invited to London for the funeral, but refused to travel to the events for health reasons.
However, in 2013, Putin congratulated Mikhail Sergeevich on his 82nd birthday by telegram. The modern President of Russia noted the desire of the last Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee to strengthen his authority Russian Federation in modern world.
For a long time, the last chairman of the CPSU Central Committee and his now deceased wife Raisa Maksimovna lived and worked in Moscow. The only daughter Irina, according to some official data, in modern times also works in the capital of Russia. Gorbachev has two granddaughters, as well as a brother.
Probably, if very little information can be found on the Internet about where Gorbachev lives, he doesn’t really want people to know about it. Nevertheless, as an important historical figure, the former secretary will remain a popular figure, constantly remembered and interested in.
The attitude towards Gorbachev in the beloved Fatherland is different. Some people love it, some people hate it. Let's not count who there is more. It's not about quantity, but about quality. As strong feelings as well. Everyone has their own truth. And truth - it does not necessarily belong somewhere in heaven or only belong to history. And one person may have the truth. Plus one more, plus one more, and another...
There is probably no so-called objectivity at all. In any case, objectivity is not indifference and not an alternative to subjectivity, but perhaps simply the sum of subjectivities.
On the eve of the eightieth birthday of the first president of the USSR, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, I met with his daughter Irina Virganskaya-Gorbacheva.
The interview lasted two and a half hours. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, Ira said: “You know, I am always responsible for my words and actions. But as for other people, even those closest to me, I cannot be an interpreter. Raisa Maksimovna wrote a book. Just one. I also wanted to write about the years after his resignation. I didn’t have time. And Mikhail Sergeevich wrote a lot of books. And, you know, I’m at a loss here... Here dad is alive and well, and let him tell everyone about his feelings, perceptions, relationships with people. But I have no right ..." And, after a pause: "I am amazed by the enormity of today's memories, memoirs, interviews. Everyone decided everything for their hero, stated everything, thought everything..."
So: in this interview, Ira Gorbacheva is just a daughter. No more. But no less. A "close and personal" look. Or a note for yourself.
And let us also remember: what is unsaid is part of what is said, and not vice versa.
About childhood
“My parents always behaved very reservedly in front of me, without such, you know, outward manifestation of love. But there was this: mutual penetration. This is when dad comes home from work, and the whole family listens about all the sheep and about where everything burned and where he went and with whom he spoke... Mom returned from the department and began: such a student, that student... And I - to myself... Everyone lived the same life, although, of course, dad and mom had things going on in their professions and something separate, personal.
I remember the constant silence in the house. Everything is in books. And I am parallel to my parents too. She started reading at the age of four. No one taught it specifically. She asked something, some letters explained... We had a huge library, and I was chained to it at the age of four, and constantly read an insane number of books.
From living conditions I remember life in a communal apartment. I don’t remember the names of the neighbors, but I remember their faces and the number of doors: besides us, eight families lived there. I remember the kitchen with gas stoves, I remember both swearing and something good. I was then three or four years old.
My parents, out of conviction, did not send me to a special school for children of the party nomenklatura. I studied at a very ordinary school. But as soon as Mikhail Sergeevich took office as first secretary of the Stavropol city party committee, I, a ten-year-old child, became a public person. And the children's teenage environment is already difficult. There and so they fold - inside and with outside world- your tough relationships, and if this is superimposed on the fact that your dad is a party boss... Then the relationship is canalized according to different directions. First: hostility. Second: well, the desire to suck up or get used to it, or something. Did I feel it? I felt it and got burned. Back then I didn’t have such developed instincts as I do now (laughs). Well, now they want to suck up less. Thank you, Lord, I was delivered from this a long time ago.
In short, over time, my relationships with my classmates leveled out. No, they didn’t persecute me in an organized manner. I think that in order to be persecuted in an organized manner, you need to be a victim. There must be an inner feeling of victimhood. The crowd feels it. Even school ones. Since childhood, I haven’t been one of the people who are victims.”
About the "Kremlin family"
“After school I went to medical school. The choice was mine. But it was dictated by circumstances. I really wanted to go to Moscow, enter the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University. But my parents... no, they didn’t say that we forbid you... But they unobtrusively said many times: “How can it be... you are the only one with us... and you will leave?..” And in Stavropol I didn’t have much to choose from. But the doctor - good profession, and I was internally ready for it.
And just started my 4th year in medical school, Mikhail Sergeevich* was taken to work in Moscow. I was in happiness. But from my mother’s first reaction I didn’t understand whether she was happy. Mom and dad left immediately, with one suitcase, and my husband and I left a little later. And when I saw her a month and a half later, she was already somehow updated.
Mom loved Moscow very much. Memories of my student years and all that. Although she also loved Stavropol. Not so much the city itself... But this opportunity to go out of the city and walk, walk, walk, and around - mountains and fields, meadows and steppes... She loved all this beauty very much. She and her dad collected herbs high in the mountains.
And when we became the “Kremlin family,” absolutely nothing in our internal relations hasn't changed."
Here Ira falls silent and thoughtfully, slowly, carefully choosing her words, says: “But we have such a country... You see, if I say now that we all also came home and that's all friend I told a friend, which means there will be talk again that Politburo decisions were made in the family by Raisa Maksimovna or, God forbid, they will drag me in... But this is a joke! Those decisions that were political were not discussed in the family. Emotions, reactions, sensations, experiences were discussed. Here at the level: tired - not tired, it torments, then worries... A person always needs to talk to someone, he needs an interlocutor.
But everything can be taken out of context and immediately vulgarized. So they vulgarized it and made it a myth, and this myth is still alive, still walking around - about Raisa Maksimovna. She decided! She ruled! She commanded! But my mother didn’t have this.
Yes, I already have a commanding voice. However, when? When dad eats his fifth bun. Well, you understand: you can’t give in here. What to do if dad drinks coffee and eats the fifth bun?.. I say: “Dad, this is the fifth bun!” And he: “What do you think?!” And it proves that the first..."
Raisa Maksimovna's grandfather was an honest, hardworking peasant. He was arrested as an "enemy of the people." And the neighbors drove out the grandmother. In front of the entire village, she was dying of hunger and grief, and no one helped her.
Grandfather was shot on August 20, 1937. And exactly fifty-four years later, on the coup, August 20, 1991, as Olga Zdravomyslova recalls,* Raisa Maksimovna was struck and frightened by the coincidence of these dates. At night, there, in Foros, she could not fall asleep, and when the doctor offered her sleeping pills, she refused: “I’m afraid that I’ll fall asleep, then I’ll wake up somewhere else, far from here, and everyone is killed, including the girls.”
Mikhail Sergeevich’s grandfather was also repressed. From the memoirs of Raisa Maksimovna, it is clear that the Gorbachevs were formed during the years of the “Khrushchev Thaw” and belonged to the generation of “children of the 20th Congress”, to the “sixties” who fought the legacy of Stalinism. For them, Stalin was a tyrant. All! Dot! Solid point. No commas or "buts". There are things where even grammar protests. And not just grammar
Recently in America, the wonderful Russian poet Naum Korzhavin told me about perestroika and Gorbachev: " Great importance for us was liberation from the oppression of Stalinism. And then there was liberation from communism. And often those people who reached the next stage despised those who were stuck on the previous one. By the time Gorbachev appeared, I had already freed myself from communism. And he began to free himself and free others from torpor and Stalinism. Therefore, some considered Gorbachev's attitude towards life insufficient. And I am grateful to him. Because the country, in order to move on, had to free itself from torpor and Stalinism. And Gorbachev’s activity in this direction was very necessary.”
About resignation
“After my father’s resignation, yes, our telephones went silent. Well, they fell silent and fell silent... Some people just cut themselves off, including those close to us. But, you see, what’s the matter? New people appear, new friends. And those remain , who has not been cut off in any way. It is always like this: someone is cut off, cut off, and someone remains... Until the end, no one and nothing is cut off. And what is not cut off is already your special value and joy.. .
Although the resignation, however, was very difficult. Especially in the early nineties. All these courts, all this persecution, evictions of the fund. Mom is sick... After Foros, she had such problems... Not only did her arm become paralyzed, she also became blind..." - "Can this be written?" I ask. Ira, sighing: "It is possible. Now everything is possible. Well, in general, there were a lot of problems, including financial ones. Mikhail Sergeevich’s pension, I don’t remember exactly, is either one dollar translated into rubles, or two... What is the situation in the country? Everything is bad, and Gorbachev is to blame for everything. But! The degree of freedom that I felt after my father’s resignation is incomparable to anything! Freedom from constant pressure... Be there, do this, do that... I didn’t have any positions, but this terrible moral responsibility for the fact that somewhere something exploded, something happened... and it weighs on you , and presses, and presses... And here is freedom... No matter what they do to you, no matter what they write, no matter how they destroy you - you are free!
About mom's death
“Mom’s death is a black failure. Wild dreams are still haunting me. Terrible, incredible dreams... I dream about my mother and the horror of these dreams is that my mother appears alive in my dreams, as if nothing had happened to her, and begins to tell me something about today's affairs... And I cannot understand who we buried? Who do we go to the cemetery to? And I’ve been going through this nightmare all eleven years since my mother died. Today I have these dreams a little less often, but when it first happened, it continued continuously.”
Before the death of Raisa Maksimovna, Ira lived in Moscow, in an apartment. She divorced her husband and raised her daughters on her own. The older one has to be taken to one school, the younger one to another, to work herself, in short, living outside the city with her parents means wasting a lot of time.
After graduation, Ira defended her dissertation, worked at the Cardiology Research Center, and in 1994 Mikhail Sergeevich told his daughter: let’s think about how we will work with the foundation. Ira thought and thought and realized that she was a pure scientist and had absolutely no understanding of economics, business, or management.
She was thirty-seven years old. But she made up her mind: she left work and sat down at her desk at the business school of the Academy of National Economy. And only after graduation she began to work at the Gorbachev Foundation.
“And in 1999, my mother ended up in Munster,* in a clinic. And we hoped until the very end that she would get better. Even though she would need long-term care and rehabilitation, we believed that she would recover. And Mikhail Sergeevich of his own free will then made a decision: he appointed me "Vice-president of the foundation with all the powers of the president. Well, he will be inseparable from his mother, and probably for a long time... But the foundation is an organization, people work there, you can’t be interrupted. That’s how I became vice-president."
About a family without a mother
When Raisa Maksimovna died, Ira packed up her apartment one day, took her daughters and moved to Mikhail Sergeevich’s dacha.
“Yes, it was a long drive, it took a lot of time and effort, but I understood that he shouldn’t be left alone. He just shouldn’t. And you can’t think of or do anything else. Either you are a family, or you are not a family.
The first two years after my mother’s death, my father and I lived without interruption from each other. Absolutely uninterrupted. We worked together, on business trips - together, at home - together...
But two years later, when Ksyusha was already twenty-one years old, and Nastya was fourteen, it became more difficult: they couldn’t invite friends, it was somehow inconvenient, they were afraid of grandfather, at nine in the evening they had to stand at attention, grandfather was worried...
And a family is all family members without exception. And maintaining balance in the family is a whole story...
So I sold my apartment in Moscow and bought a very small house in Zhukovka. What did it give? Relative freedom of movement for my girls, because I am an extremely loyal parent. And it’s five minutes from our house to see dad. Well, we still live in accordance with this paradigm."
After the divorce, Ira quite seriously made a promise to herself: no more men and no more marriages. But then I met Andrei Trukhachev. And it was also very difficult. Behind each was a trail of personal problems, a trail of one’s own life; there was a lot that had to be solved, understood, comprehended, both together and alone. They even separated for a year to understand everything. They understood and got married in 2006. Since then we have been happy.
About Father's Day
“Dad’s working day is different. Sometimes it’s relatively calm. And sometimes: lectures at American universities and in twelve days we fly from place to place ten times to different parts of the country.
Mikhail Sergeevich is forced to give lectures because this is our main source of income. Audiences range from five hundred to twelve thousand people. Such public lectures are a huge physical and intellectual strain. Here in Russia, dad also gives lectures at Moscow State University or at the Russian State University for the Humanities, but less often and for free.”
After the death of Raisa Maksimovna, Gorbachev became wildly busy with work. Ira believes that he does this on purpose so as not to think about his mother every second.
About memory and charity
It was Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva, as the First Lady, who revived charity in the Soviet Union. Before her, this word was a dirty word in the beloved Fatherland.
First project: she opened a department for the treatment of childhood leukemia at the Republican Children's Clinical Hospital No. 20. Raisa Maksimovna's first contribution was a fee for her book "I hope..." All Nobel Prize Gorbachev (almost one million dollars) was distributed among several hospitals, including the Republican Children's Hospital. Raisa Maksimovna supported the museums of Rublev and Tsvetaeva, museums of personal collections, helped restore churches and architectural monuments. Thanks to her, manuscripts of Russian classics returned to their homeland.
Having already ceased to be the First Lady, she was tirelessly involved in charity work. In the spring of 1999, she helped two children from remote villages with leukemia, whose mothers turned to her through the newspaper.
She saved the babies, but she herself died four months later from this very disease.
In 2007, with the support of the state and businessman Alexander Lebedev, the Institute of Pediatric Hematology and Transplantology named after Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva was opened in St. Petersburg. Children from all over Russia and the CIS countries are treated here. This institute is a state institution, but the Gorbachev family helps it very significantly. And the results are amazing: if in the eighties of the last century the five-year survival rate of children with leukemia in the USSR was 7-10 percent, while in European clinics more than 70 percent of sick children were completely cured, today the results of treatment of sick children at the Institute of Pediatric Hematology and Transplantation named after Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva - at the level of leading hematological centers in Europe.
In total, the Gorbachev Foundation spent eleven million dollars on charity. Ira says that the figure is very conditional and approximate, without taking into account two recent years and not counting the humanitarian aid that in the nineties, under the auspices of the fund, went to Chechnya and other “hot spots”. And this despite the fact that the Gorbachev Foundation is not Charitable organization, and International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Science Research. That is, they might not be involved in charity at all. And no one could judge.
Just as Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was not at all obliged to make a charity event out of his birthday... But Ira suggested this very idea of a charity anniversary evening to her father... With one single goal: to once again help children with leukemia.
About the anniversary celebration
“And just as preparations for my dad’s anniversary began, the myth jumped in again... Either on the Internet, then on the radio, or even in the “perestroika” publications... Aha!!! London!!! Now we have everything there !!!And Gorbachev - there too!
Meanwhile, Mikhail Sergeevich’s birthday has already begun. Exhibition "Mikhail Gorbachev.PERESTROIKA".
Actually, there is little Gorbachev at the exhibition. And this is understandable: a country is bigger... The main concept of the exhibition immediately took shape in my first conversation with the director of the Moscow House of Photography, Olga Sviblova. This exhibition is not only about Mikhail Sergeevich, but this is him, Mikhail Sergeevich, against the backdrop of the country. And where is this exhibition? In Moscow! On Manezhnaya Square! But no one is discussing this. Everyone is talking about London.
On February 24, the exhibition opened in Berlin. Why Berlin? Because Berlin has become a symbol of the end of the Cold War.
And on March 2, on my birthday, we take a walk in Moscow. With your closest ones. With a party of Gorbachev's friends. There will be both student friends and friends of his entire life...
On March 15-16, at the Gorbachev Foundation, there will be a conference, which will be held with Memorial, about the “sixties”.
Now - about London. For the past five years, the Lebedev family has been organizing charity balls there every year. Well, we are with them. Money is collected and goes to the Raisa Gorbacheva Foundation. And this time it is another event organized by the Gorbachev Foundation and the Gorbi-80 company in honor of the anniversary of Mikhail Sergeevich.
Why London? Great Britain as a country and London as a city are geared towards such events. There you don’t have to overcome a thousand obstacles and endlessly prove something to someone. The same "Albert Hall" is coming to meet us in all directions... For example, personalized boxes. These boxes belong to individual families and companies and are purchased for years in advance, so people give up their boxes that evening in our favor...
We do not have administrative resources. And I’ll tell you: it’s hard to raise money for this concert. It took a lot of strength out of me. Ksenia, my eldest daughter, helps me a lot, and my youngest, Nastya, is involved. I can’t tell you how many meetings and conversations... And when they tell me: here Russian business not ready for charity... Maybe not ready. But Western business is not ready either. Business, in its essence, is initially aimed only at making, at acquiring profit. But there, in the West, society has long put business in its place, within a certain framework, and doing charity has become a duty for business. For now, for us, this is a matter of the goodwill of individual people. Therefore, everything looks like this: you go and ask... Some respond, some don’t... But Russian business also helps. I won’t say that on a massive scale and in such a way that it solves all the problems, but it helps.”
The English press names the amount: five million pounds are planned to be raised at a charity ball in London in connection with Gorbachev's anniversary. The money, I repeat, will be used to treat children with leukemia.
About admiration
At the end of the conversation, I ask Ira Gorbachev what admires her most about her father.
“We were with him in some, I don’t remember which country, we were driving a car, he looked out the window, and there were people walking down the street, both dark-skinned, and narrow-eyed, and all sorts of different ones, and he said : “Daughter, look how much God has created... This means everything is needed. And that means everyone must be loved...
He knows people. Knows their weaknesses, quirks, shortcomings and even those shortcomings that are very negative. And he still loves. And stupid, and evil, and funny people. Any!
This is what admires me most about my father: absolute unparalleled decency and absolute philanthropy."
* Ira calls her parents either dad or mom, or by their first name and patronymic, I left it in the text and didn’t edit it.
*Olga Zdravomyslova - Executive Director Gorbachev Foundation.
*Münster - Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva spent the last eight weeks of her life in a clinic in this German city.
USSR USSR: M. S. Gorbachev A. T. Alimzhanov G. I. Yanaev A. I. Lukyanov N. I. Ryzhkov
RSFSR RSFSR: B. N. Yeltsin R. I. Khasbulatov A. V. Rutskoy G. E. Burbulis
Ukrainian SSR Ukrainian SSR: L. M. Kravchuk V. P. Fokin
Byelorussian SSR Byelorussian SSR: S.S. Shushkevich V.F. Kebich
Interregional deputy group
His wife, Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva (née Titarenko), died in 1999 from leukemia. She lived and worked in Moscow for more than 30 years. As Mikhail Sergeevich said in a press interview in September 2014, Raisa Maksimovna’s first pregnancy in 1954 back in Moscow due to heart complications after suffering from rheumatism, doctors, with his consent, were forced to terminate artificially; The student spouses lost a boy whom Gorbachev wanted to name Sergei. In 1955, the Gorbachevs, having completed their studies, moved to the Stavropol region, where, with a change in climate, Raisa felt better, and soon the couple had a daughter.
It is impossible not to say that Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev made the irreversibility of changes in Russia an axiom, and for this the current officials, oligarchs, their children and wives, mistresses and lovers, as well as proud and freedom-loving representatives of national outskirts and republics. He made them the rulers of Russian souls and minds; from farm laborers in the Soviet system, Mikhail Sergeevich created successful businessmen - oligarchs, who in a matter of years privatized all the people's property and placed it in foreign offshore accounts. Yesterday's junior scientists, salesmen and engineers in provincial factories, took the helm of the financial and political system, shaped by the instructions of American advisers. This was impossible during the Soviet era, but it became possible thanks to the tireless work of the ascetic and silver-free Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev.
Where does Mikhail Gorbachev live now? All latest information as of 01/06/2018.
Saying goodbye to a great man who devoted his entire life to serving foreign intelligence services and supranational financial institutions, we remember with tears in our eyes the betrayal and meanness that constituted the breadth of his soul and truly universal scope unique person, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev.
managed, with his energy and gift of persuasion, to captivate millions of our fellow citizens who believed in the bright liberal-democratic future that the American financial system brings us. Many millions of Russian people who did not live to see today, we are sure, they would have come to say goodbye to Mikhail Sergeevich, to say heartfelt words on his grave, to carry out in last way the one to whom they owe their untimely death.
The administrative department of the CPSU Central Committee proposed Gorbachev for the post of Prosecutor General of the USSR instead of Roman Rudenko, but his candidacy for the future General Secretary was rejected by Politburo member, Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Andrei Kirilenko.
In November 2009, in an interview with Euronews, Gorbachev again expressed disagreement with opinions that his plan “failed”, on the contrary, he argued that then “democratic reforms began” and that perestroika won.
From October 21, 1980 to November 1991 - member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, from December 9, 1989 to June 19, 1990 - Chairman of the Russian Bureau of the CPSU Central Committee, from March 11, 1985 to August 24, 1991 - General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
The post of Secretary General Gorbachev after the death of K. U. Chernenko was nominated at a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee on March 11, 1985 by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A. A. Gromyko, and Andrei Andreevich attributed this to his personal initiative. In the memoirs of the former first deputy chairman of the KGB of the USSR F.D. Bobkov, it is mentioned that back in early 1985, due to Chernenko’s illness, Gorbachev chaired the Politburo, from which the author concludes that Mikhail Sergeevich was already the second person in the state and the successor to post of Secretary General.
Information that appeared on Wednesday evening about the death of former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev turned out to be false.
On November 20, 2014, Gorbachev complained that he could not meet with Putin for a year and a half now: despite Mikhail Sergeevich’s wishes, the assistants to the head of state categorically object that the president is busy. According to Gorbachev, Putin began to suffer from the same disease that he himself once had - self-confidence: “He considers himself God’s deputy, I don’t know, though, for what reasons...”.
From the age of 13, he combined his studies at school with periodic work at MTS and on a collective farm. From the age of 15 he worked as an assistant to an MTS combine operator. In 1949, schoolboy Gorbachev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for his hard work harvesting grain.
tenth grade, at the age of 19 he became a candidate member of the CPSU, recommendations were given by the school director and teachers. In 1950, he graduated from school with a silver medal and entered the Lomonosov Moscow State University without exams, this opportunity was provided by a government award. In 1952 he was admitted to the CPSU. After graduating with honors from the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University in 1955, he was sent to Stavropol to the regional prosecutor's office, and was assigned to work for 10 days - from August 5 to August 15, 1955. On his own initiative, he was invited to the vacated Komsomol work, became deputy head of the Agitation and Propaganda Department of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the Komsomol, from 1956 - the first secretary of the Stavropol City Komsomol Committee, then from 1958 - the second and in 1961-1962 - the first secretary of the regional committee of the Komsomol.
According to the publicist A. A. Zinoviev, one of the first to perceive perestroika negatively, who nicknamed it “Catastroika” and published a book with that title in 1988, “Gorbachev’s leadership actually stood on path of betrayal and capitulation to the West."
Very few are given such a fate - in a few years to turn blooming garden the state of working people into the dump of the Fatherland, where crows peck at carrion and the people eke out a miserable state. But this task, impossible for many, was a great success for Mikhail Sergeevich, a man of a loving and compassionate soul.
only Mikhail Sergeevich could take on this matter with all honesty and courage, without fear of future condemnation and misunderstanding on the part of those whom he truly made free people. Free from creative work, from moral and moral values, from family and children, from great Motherland. And many generations of our people will forever imprint in their hearts the memory of the achievements that Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev brought to the altar of the US State Department. Such individuals do not leave. They commit suicide, preferring the Judgment of God to the judgment of the people. Mikhail Sergeevich sincerely tried to do everything so that the lives of millions of Russians would never be illuminated with light again great country, great people, great achievements and victories.
Mikhail Gorbachev is alive or not video. Latest information.
Read also:
In June 2013, Gorbachev was hospitalized at the Central Clinical Hospital, as reported by the press service of the Gorbachev Foundation. For a number of years, Forbes points out, Gorbachev has suffered from severe diabetes and has undergone several operations.
According to the list approved in 2011 by Margaret Thatcher, Gorbachev, along with other major politicians, was personally invited to participate in her funeral, but in April 2013 he refused to travel to the funeral ceremony in London due to his health condition and the need to undergo medical procedures.
From October 21, 1980 to November 1991 - member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, from December 9, 1989 to June 19, 1990 - Chairman of the Russian Bureau of the CPSU Central Committee, from March 11, 1985 to August 24, 1991 - General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. After the death of K. U. Chernenko, Gorbachev was nominated to the post of Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee at a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee on March 11, 1985 by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A. A. Gromyko, and Andrei Andreevich attributed this to his personal initiative. In the memoirs of the former first deputy chairman of the KGB of the USSR F.D. Bobkov, it is mentioned that back in early 1985, due to Chernenko’s illness, Gorbachev chaired the Politburo, from which the author concludes that Mikhail Sergeevich was already the second person in the state and the successor to post of Secretary General.
On August 17, 2011, at a large press conference at the Interfax agency dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the events of August 1991, Gorbachev admitted that he knew in advance about the plans of the State Emergency Committee, he was repeatedly warned about this, but he believed that it was more important to prevent bloodshed and, especially, civil war:
His wife, Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva (née Titarenko), died in 1999 from leukemia. She lived and worked in Moscow for more than 30 years. As Mikhail Sergeevich said in a press interview in September 2014, Raisa Maksimovna’s first pregnancy in 1954 back in Moscow due to heart complications after suffering from rheumatism, doctors, with his consent, were forced to interrupt artificially; The student spouses lost a boy whom Gorbachev wanted to name Sergei. In 1955, the Gorbachevs, having completed their studies, moved to the Stavropol region, where, with a change in climate, Raisa felt better, and soon the couple had a daughter.
Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, at the cost of incredible efforts, achieved the abolition of the guideline communist party, created a democratic institution of elections, elevated freedom of speech and conscience to the rank of law, but at the same time did not forget to take away hope for a bright future, social guarantees and creative work, turning the people - builders into the people - managers. A descendant of exiled members of the Trotskyist underground in the USSR, Mikhail Sergeevich remained faithful to the end to the behests of L. Trotsky to destroy the role of the state in modern society. The courageous and decisive leader of the USSR realized his lifelong dream - to destroy communism and its manifestation in the life of the Russian people - socialism. Mikhail Sergeevich tirelessly, boldly and consistently, as befits a national leader, implemented the long-standing idea of the CIA to turn Russia into an American colony. In this matter, he has no equal, and there will be no equal, and the memory of this great act of Americanization of the Russian State will forever remain with us - the descendants of the soldiers and workers who created the USSR.
Party history
October Revolution (1917)
War communism (1918-1921)
New economic policy (1921-1928)
Lenin's call (1924)
Intra-party struggle (1926-1933)
Stalinism (1933-1953)
Khrushchev Thaw (1953-1964)
Period of stagnation (1964-1985)
Perestroika (1985-1991)
Brother - Alexander Sergeevich Gorbachev (September 7, 1947 - December 15, 2001) - military man, graduated from higher education military school in Leningrad. Served in missile forces strategic purpose, retired with the rank of colonel.
Gorbachev’s wife, R. M. Gorbacheva, in 1991 personally agreed with the American publisher R. Murdoch to publish her book of “reflections” with a fee of $3 million. Publicist S. Kara-Murza suggested that this was a disguised bribe, since the income from the publication of the book was unlikely to cover the fee.
Paternal grandfather, Andrei Moiseevich Gorbachev (1890-1962), individual peasant; for failure to fulfill the sowing plan in 1934 he was sent into exile in Irkutsk region, released two years later, returned to his homeland and joined a collective farm, where he worked until the end of his life..
Biography of Mikhail Gorbachev's political path. All news.
On September 27, 1990, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the USSR began a criminal investigation into the murders in Katyn, which received serial number 159. The investigation started by the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the USSR was continued by the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation and was conducted until the end of 2004; during his were interrogated witnesses and participants in the massacres of Poles. On September 21, 2004, the GVP announced the termination of the Katyn case. One of the results of the investigation begun under Gorbachev was the creation of a memorial complex in Katyn in memory of the victims of the tragedy.
Among his shortcomings, which made it difficult to communicate directly with Western leaders, Mikhail Sergeevich attributed his lack of knowledge English language. Raisa Maksimovna communicated with Margret Thatcher in English, but “I couldn’t,” Gorbachev self-critically noted in September 2014. Of the generation of senior party functionaries who worked under Gorbachev, “almost no one knew foreign languages».
According to the last chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, Nikolai Ryzhkov, one of Gorbachev’s main mistakes was combining economic restructuring with the restructuring of the political system, although painful reforms can only be successful if there is a strong government, as in China.
He was elected as a delegate to the XXII (1961), XXIV (1971) and all subsequent (1976, 1981, 1986, 1990) congresses of the CPSU.
1970 to 1989 - deputy Supreme Council THE USSR. Member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from July 2, 1985 to October 1, 1988. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (October 1, 1988 - May 25, 1989). Chairman of the Commission on Youth Affairs of the Union Council of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1974-79); Chairman of the Commission for Legislative Proposals of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1979-84); People's Deputy of the USSR from the CPSU - 1989 (March) - 1990 (March); Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (formed by the Congress of People's Deputies) - 1989 (May) - 1990 (March); Deputy of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR (1980-1990).
In January 1991, events occurred in Vilnius and Riga, accompanied by the use military force. During the events in Vilnius, units of the Soviet army stormed the television center and other public buildings (so-called “party property”) in Vilnius, Alytus, and Siauliai.
After his resignation, he complained that he was “blocked in everything,” that his family was constantly “under the surveillance” of the FSB, that his phones were constantly tapped, that he could only publish his books in Russia “underground”, in small editions.
During the war, when Mikhail was more than 10 years old, his father went to the front. After some time they entered the village German troops, the family spent more than five months under occupation. On January 21-22, 1943, these areas were liberated Soviet troops with a blow from under Ordzhonikidze. After his release, news came that his father had died. And a few days later a letter arrived from my father, it turned out that he was alive, the funeral was sent by mistake. Sergei Andreevich Gorbachev was awarded two Orders of the Red Star and the medal “For Courage”. In difficult moments of his life, his father supported Mikhail more than once.
Having come to power, Gorbachev tried to improve relations with the United States and Western Europe. One of the reasons for this was the desire to reduce military spending (about 25% of the USSR state budget). The USSR was unable to withstand the arms race with the USA and NATO.
Where does Mikhail Gorbachev live now? All the latest information.
The first president of the USSR, who with his own hands destroyed his own throne, so that along with him his foot, the great Power of the working people, would be destroyed, is prospering and reaping the fruits of his labor. But due to his advanced years and health undermined in the behind-the-scenes struggle, he will certainly die, to the joy of some and the alarm of others. No, and there will be no grief over the death of the one who betrayed many, but the cliques at the grave of M.S. Gorbachev will again say: “It’s either good or nothing about the deceased,” deliberately forgetting famous saying De mortuis atque viv1s neque bene, neque male, solum vere - About the dead, as well as about the living, neither good nor bad, but only the truth. Therefore, anticipating the flow of lies and vile maxims about the life of M.S. Gorbachev, we present an obituary (a word about the dead) on the day of the untimely death of the last General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and President of the USSR.
The last General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (1985-1991). The last Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1988-1989), then the first Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1989-1990). The first and only President of the USSR (1990-1991).
Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, the first President of the USSR, has died. With this title, he forever entered the history of the country and the whole world. A man has passed away thanks to a whole era of betrayal, theft, contract killings, national crime and moral degradation began. Through the tireless labors of Mikhail Sergeevich, in three days of August 1991, the great heritage of our ancestors, created by many generations of workers, was destroyed and trampled. From the fetid pit of the August coup, a new Russia was created: with a financial system owned by the US Federal Reserve, with industry in the hands of overseas businessmen, with agriculture ruined by foreign lobbies in the highest echelons of the Kremlin power.
Mikhail Gorbachev is alive or not video. (updated).
Have you read it? Share with your friends. Thank you!
Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeevich: short biography
On March 2, 1931, the future and only president of the USSR was born in the village of Privolnoye, Stavropol Territory. It is difficult to imagine that a boy born into an ordinary peasant family would be given such an important destiny, but fate decreed otherwise.
Gorbachev's childhood passed without luxury and frills: his parents could not afford much financially. Young Mikhail from the age of 13 he was forced to help his mother and father, combining schooling with everyday work on the collective farm. At first he was a laborer at a mechanical and tractor station, but for his perseverance and hard work, already in his teenage years he was promoted to assistant combine operator. For this work, at the age of 18, Gorbachev was first rewarded by the Order for exceeding the grain harvest plan.
In 1950, Mikhail graduated from school with high academic performance and easily entered the Faculty of Law at Moscow State University. It is the university and student life played a decisive role in his life, opening up opportunities for him social activities, the fundamentals of politics, introducing the ideas of the Komsomol. As a student, he was accepted into the ranks of the CPSU, and after graduation he became the first secretary of the city committee of the Komsomol of the Stavropol Territory, finally making a choice between law and politics in favor of the latter. While studying at Moscow State University, M.S. Gorbachev’s personal life also developed. At a dance, he met a modest girl, Raisa Titarenko, who soon became his faithful and only wife for life.
At the beginning of his political career, Gorbachev was involved in agricultural issues and even, wanting to become more competent in this area, received a second higher education in absentia as an agronomist.
At the age of 47, the successful Stavropol expert politician was noticed in Moscow. His transfer to the capital was personally supported by Yuri Andropov. Here Gorbachev was appointed secretary of the Central Committee (Central Committee), and a couple of years later became a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, where the process of reforming the market economy and power structures came under his leadership.
Having earned a reputation as a global reformer, Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and from that moment began to implement his main political project - the process of democratization of Soviet society, later called “perestroika.”
Despite variable successes in reforms, Gorbachev, according to amendments to the country's legislation, was elected the first president of the USSR in 1990.
But the victory did not last long: democratization, along with freedom, brought a number of problems to society - an economic crisis, dual power and, as a result, the “August putsch” and collapse Soviet Union. Mikhail Sergeevich was forced to resign and stop his political activities, replacing them with social work and research. Three months to seven - that’s how many years Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev led the country.
Where does Gorbachev live currently?
The life of the first president of the USSR interests journalists to this day. Where Gorbachev lives today, what and how much he earns, how he analyzes his past are the main questions that arouse curiosity among his contemporaries.
Back in the 1990s. after the end of his political career Gorbachev most spent time abroad. His permanent place of residence was considered to be Germany (Bavaria) - the small town of Rottach-Egern, famous for its success in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
Here he settled with only daughter and grandchildren after his wife Raisa passed away in 1999 - the woman died from acute form leukemia.
First home former politician there was a villa near the Church of St. Lawrence, within the walls of which he has the status of an honorary parishioner. In 2007, in the same town, Gorbachev purchased a house called “Castle Hubertus” worth 1 million euros. The building is surrounded by a picturesque garden, and a clear mountain river flows nearby, filled with king trout. Despite the local beauty and well-appointed mansion local residents Mikhail Sergeevich has not been seen here for a long time. The last time he walked along the paths of a Bavarian park was in 2014, and shortly before his 86th birthday he put his property in Germany up for sale.
Despite his impressive age, ex-president The USSR is trying to lead active life and periodically appears at various European events, but it is impossible to accurately answer the question, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, where he lives now in 2017. It is known that in Russia he was given a government dacha on Rublevo-Uspenskoe Highway (Kolchuga) for lifelong use, he has a car, servants, a personal driver and several FSO guards. Considering these facts, it is quite possible to believe that Mikhail Sergeevich is constantly in Russia, especially since his daughter Irina now lives here.
How old is Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev?
On March 2, 2017, Mikhail Sergeevich celebrated his 86th birthday. Of course, age takes its toll, and now the politician can no longer boast of good health. He has been suffering for many years diabetes mellitus and is forced to undergo a thorough medical examination every month. Recently, specialists from the Central Clinical Hospital have been doing this. Gorbachev regularly undergoes massages and other wellness treatments there.
Despite careful monitoring of his health, since 2015 there has been some negative dynamics in his well-being - crises and emergency hospitalizations to the clinic have become more frequent. While his wife was alive, she carefully monitored not only his image, but also his diet. Mikhail Sergeevich loves baking and sweets, which aggravates his endocrine disease and adds to his problems in the form of excess weight. By the way, with his wife he never weighed more than 85 kg.
But Mikhail Sergeevich, even with difficulties with his health, tries to remain active. When time and health permit, he visits various events, reads 12 printed publications daily so as not to miss a single one an important event in Russia and the world.
Until recently, he traveled around the country and the world with his own lectures, loved to visit the country's universities, communicating with the younger generation. Now, due to his unstable health, he is forced to stop traveling, but willingly talks with students of higher education. educational institutions Moscow, where Gorbachev now lives.
It is worth mentioning separately his creative activity: Gorbachev regularly publishes his scientific works and writes memoirs in which he describes not only the love of his life, his family relationships And political career, but also shares thoughts about modern Russia, mainly criticizing the state of affairs in the political and social spheres of the country.
The Gorbachev couple during their visit to India. 1988
Photo: Boris Yurchenko/AP
Change text size: A A
Speaking about the activities of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, one cannot help but recall his wife Raisa Maksimovna. After all, he was associated with her long years tender love and touching friendship. Before her, the wives of the country's leaders remained in the shadows - many citizens did not even know what they looked like. Raisa Gorbacheva broke this unspoken tradition. “The only Kremlin wife who weighs less than her husband,” “A communist lady with Parisian chic,” foreign newspapers wrote about her. In her homeland, the people did not like Raisa Maksimovna for a long time...
In 2014, 15 years after the death of the first lady of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev shared with Komsomolskaya Pravda his family secret, which even his closest friends did not know.
Wedding in a dietary canteen
September is a special month for me,” says Mikhail Sergeevich. - And not only because Raisa Maksimovna left (she died of leukemia in one of the clinics in Germany. - Ed.), On September 25, 1953, we registered with her.
Frank confession of Mikhail Gorbachev: Raisa and I lost our son
Times were difficult, post-war, we were both students at Moscow State University, I was at the law department, she was at the philosophy department. I don’t have much money, so I had to earn extra money for the wedding: I harvested potatoes on a combine. There was enough for a white dress for the bride, made of chiffon, sewn in the studio. And Raisa had to borrow shoes from a friend. They didn’t even exchange rings at the registry office - I gave her the ring years later.
And the wedding was celebrated only in November. We organized an evening in the dietary canteen on Stromynka, where our hostel is. It turned out to be a student table - vodka, vinaigrette, cutlets.
At first, when we got married, Raisa couldn’t cook at all. I couldn’t even cook noodle soup! Her mother was a housewife, and Raisa was all about her studies: she graduated from school with a gold medal.
- They say that Raisa Maksimovna had a boyfriend before you?
Not just a boyfriend, they were getting ready to get married! There was such a Tolya Zaretsky, a physicist, good guy. His father worked as the director of the Baltic railway. The mother specially came in a special carriage to evaluate the bride - and spoke out against Raisa. She did not allow her son to get married. So we should thank her. But Raisa and I somehow managed to do it all easily. And for life.
For example, we loved to dance. Once we were invited to a New Year's ball for young people. A waltz started playing. We were so carried away by the dance that the orchestra had already fallen silent, and we were all spinning. We stopped: everyone was looking at us. We lived a fun, happy life!
“They came up with a name for the child: Seryozha”
It so happened, we just got married, and suddenly the news was that Raisa became pregnant,” continues Mikhail Gorbachev. - But the doctors forbade giving birth. The fact is that a year before, Raisa fell ill and found herself literally on the verge of life and death. A terrible attack of rheumatism, she became all swollen, as if from cotton wool. She couldn’t walk - we carried her on a stretcher with the guys to the hospital. The disease caused a serious complication on the heart.
The doctors told me: “Make a choice: the child may or may not be born, but you will lose your wife. Her heart may not be able to bear it." The pregnancy was terminated. We were told it was a boy.
How Raisa worried and suffered! I reassured him as best I could. But we had already discussed the name: I persuaded him to name his son Sergei, in honor of my father. Sergei Mikhailovich - it would be nice...
Only after a while, when we left for the Stavropol Territory, Raisa felt better. They say climate change has a positive effect. We moved in 1955, and two years later our daughter Irishka was born.
- Who was Raisa herself named after?
When her father took the baby in his arms after birth, he said: “So pink, like an apple from heaven. There will be Paradise." By the way, my father and mother named me Victor. But a few weeks later my grandfather took me to a neighboring village for a christening. The priest asked: “What should we call it?” Grandfather answered: “Mikhail.” They left it that way.
“Perestroika took my beloved from me”
- There were crises in family life, serious quarrels?
Just minor disagreements. But when we argued about something, she said: “Keep quiet. You only have a silver medal!” (Laughs.)
- Were you jealous of her?
It happened, although she tried not to let it happen. There is no love without jealousy. Amazing woman: father is an employee of the organization that built railways. Simple family, lived hard, sometimes in carriages, changed nine schools, always on the road. But her behavior, manners, attitude to life, style are from a princess! She remained a mystery to me all my life. And how she loved to dress beautifully.
- It was her idea to open the Burda Fashion house in Moscow?
Yes, she met Madame Anne Burda in Germany. She invited her to the opening of the House in Moscow, which Raisa patronized. She wanted to instill taste in our women.
- They say it was personally upholstered by Yves Saint Laurent...
This is a legend. She was dressed by female craftsmen from the studio on Kuznetsky Most.
- Margaret Thatcher speaks flatteringly about Raisa Maksimovna in her memoirs. They say that she herself would be happy to wear a suit like the one Gorbacheva was wearing.
Well, for a woman this is the most important thing (with irony). They were friends. Although Raisa Maksimovna did not get along with people so easily. But if you get together, then the relationship is forever. She was very demanding of herself and her friends.
They communicated with Thatcher in English. But I couldn't. Almost no one from our generation knew foreign languages. Raisa was very educated.
I remember at meetings people often asked: “Raisa Maksimovna, what do you do to look so good?” I immediately said: “She and her husband are lucky!” In response, she usually retorted: “We still need to figure out who was luckier!”
She is a very decent person, vulnerable - she could not stand the injustice. There was so much gossip and absurdity spread around our family... I stopped paying attention to them. And she took everything to heart. It was perestroika that took my wife away from me: experiences shortened Raisa’s life...
I still have her purse
Raisa Maksimovna began to write a book. She wanted to tell the truth about us, how we live. I told her: “This is politics, you will never prove anything.” She asked: “Will you help me write?” Her purse is still intact, containing letters, sheets, and notes. After she left, I began to sort through the notes. I came across a sheet, and on it was written diagonally in red ink: “What does your heart hurt about?” Ready title... I myself recently finished another book, called “After the Kremlin.” Will be released late this fall.
- Did Raisa Maksimovna help you edit your first books?
This is our tradition: the closest relatives read the text first. Now my daughter has read mine new book before submitting it to the publisher.
- But there is an opinion that you were the conductor of your wife’s ideas, to take your famous phrase: “We need to consult with Raisa Maksimovna.”
No, I made the decisions myself.
- And if you started again, would you like a simple life?
I wouldn't trade my life. But I could have done a lot better, ahead of schedule. It’s a pity that perestroika was not completed; many correct things were planned. But everything I did played its role. The country changed, glasnost appeared.
- Is it a shame that you are criticized in your own country?
Well, what do you think? Certainly. But I still receive a lot of good letters. I have friends. Most of them are women. I don't feel lonely or forgotten. Lonely only in one respect - that there is no Raisa.
TOUGH QUESTION
About his wife's brother and prohibition
- What happened to Raisa Maksimovna’s younger brother Evgeniy Titarenko?
It was big drama, Raisa has been doing it for almost 40 years. He is alive, but, in fact, is turned off from life - alcoholism destroys a person. He did not accept all of Raisa’s attempts to help him. But what a guy he was! Things weren’t going well for my parents in the family, so at the age of 14 he went to naval school. Later he graduated from the literary institute, wrote, and quite talentedly, for teenagers. But I tried to take on something serious - and completely failed. When he came to visit us, the drinking bouts began. I was already the secretary of the Central Committee, and suddenly we were informed that her brother was sitting drunk in a public garden nearby. He came from Voronezh to Moscow and is looking for us.
They sent him to a special hospital, but nothing worked there either. I think the situation with Raisa’s brother also weakened him in many ways. I was very worried about him.
- They say it was because of his drunkenness that you came up with prohibition?
No need to exaggerate. Booze drove many people crazy in those years. They drank everywhere. Even at the department at the university: Raisa was an assistant professor, and she was instructed to go buy sausages for a snack! The Central Committee and the government were inundated with indignant letters “do something.” Leonid Ilyich, who himself loved to drink, gave instructions to find a way out of how to save society from continuous drunkenness.
It got to the point that there were up to 17 liters of pure alcohol per capita (including children). There is a scientific conclusion: a society where they drink 18 or more liters per capita is destroying itself! I became secretary general. And this report comes to me. We were going to introduce measures: to regulate prices, assortment - everyone drank only vodka, and there were almost no dry wines, even beer... Yegor Kuzmich (Ligachev, then secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. - Ed.) and Mikhail Sergeevich Solomentsev (member of the Politburo) were responsible for the implementation of the plan . - Ed.). They screwed up! The discussion was about replacing wine varieties with table varieties. But they turned everything inside out and brought it to the point of stupidity. I did not give the go-ahead to cut down the vineyards!
BY THE WAY
What did the wife of the President of the USSR do?
Together with academician Dmitry Likhachev, she founded the Soviet Cultural Foundation in the late 1980s and contributed to the return of Russian cultural property from abroad.
She initiated the opening of museums, including Andrei Rublev, Nicholas Roerich, Marina Tsvetaeva. She oversaw projects for the restoration of churches destroyed during the years of Soviet power.
Helped children who survived the accident Chernobyl nuclear power plant, patronized the Central Children's Hospital in Moscow, was an honorary chairman international association“Hematologists of the world for children.” The Institute of Pediatric Hematology and Transplantology today bears the name of R. M. Gorbacheva.
The British magazine Woman’s Own named Raisa Maksimovna “Woman of the Year” (1987). In 1988, Raisa Gorbacheva was awarded the "Women of the World" award, and in 1991 - the "Lady of the Year" award.
FROM THE HOURS
Mikhail Gorbachev: “To marry Raisa, I worked all summer on a combine harvester”
In reflections on life, Mikhail Sergeevich returns to his roots, then talks about how he studied at the Law Faculty of Moscow State University, how his views were formed, remembers fellow students, his work in his native Stavropol region, then “goes through” again all the circles and stages of the Soviet apparatus system with its secret springs, nooks and traps. In short, the book provides answers to many questions that the “Gorbachev phenomenon” raises in us ()
Loading...
