“Once he told the Taliban the Koran for five hours!”: Tatarstan lost Timur Akulov. How was the staffing issue handled?

Relatives and friends spent in last way in Kazan, the founder of the Department of Foreign Relations, to whom Tatarstan owes a lot on international arena

At a memorial service for Timur Akulov, ex-deputy of the State Duma and former adviser to the President of Tatarstan on international affairs, in the theater. Kariev gathered more than 200 people, including colleagues, relatives and friends. They spoke of him as a great mentor and a real diplomat who did a lot for the republic. Many of his ideas were reflected at the federal level. Read more in the material of Realnoe Vremya.

First diplomat of Tatarstan

Close people who worked, were friends, knew Timur Akulov personally, began to gather for a civil memorial service long before the official start at ten o'clock. It was not easy for many to talk about the loss of a loved one.

He was a real diplomat, the first diplomat of Tatarstan. He is well known all over the world. He created a department (external relations of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, - approx. ed.), he manually selected us, he created the whole system. I don't remember scolding or yelling at anyone. But his slightest displeasure for us was already a signal. He created an entire school. He is my friend, - Azat Akhtareev, deputy plenipotentiary representative of the Republic of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation, said, choosing words with difficulty.

Many who came to the memorial service were professionally connected with Timur Yuryevich. Everyone noted that he was a pioneer and started something that no one had done before him.

I worked with him from 2002 to 2012, he is a teacher - and mine, and many others, he gave a ticket to the field of external relations. For many, this was an unknown area. He built relations with the Islamic world, paved the way for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we are known there. Now there are a lot of projects that are successfully developing. For example, the group of strategic vision "Russia - the Islamic world" was also created on his initiative, with his active participation, - recalls Igor Savelyev, deputy head of the RT Presidential Administration.

Close people who worked, were friends, knew Timur Akulov personally gathered for the civil memorial service

His mentor was very charming, interesting, erudite. “Like any leader, he was demanding. A versatile person, he loved life very much, he had a lot of hobbies, he treated people kindly, loved theater, music, especially Tatar music,” says Igor Savelyev.

Professional in every sense of the word

Deputy of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan Khafiz Mirgalimov considered that he had known him not so much, 10-12 years.

He was a professional in the full sense of the word, charming, humane, principled, objective and, to a certain extent, a humorist. I remember his professionalism in the field of international relations, economic. I remember when I went with him to the elections in Belarus in the same compartment, then he talked a lot about how he was in Eastern countries, about their traditions, customs, - Mirgalimov notes.

In his opinion, one of the key merits of Timur Akulov is the implementation of the first agreement on the delimitation of powers between Tatarstan and the federal center, agreements international cooperation. “Signing them takes minutes, and preparing them takes years,” the deputy of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan emphasizes the complexity of Akulov's work. He is sure that all the merits of the actually Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic will be fully appreciated later.

His merits will still be appreciated, there will be books about him, he is a large-scale person. The last two or three months he was especially energetic, no one expected that this would happen. I am sure that his contribution to the development of relations, the economy, and finance will be appreciated, - says Hafiz Mirgalimov, who consulted him on many issues.

“He was a professional in the full sense of the word, charming, humane, principled, objective and, to a certain extent, a humorist,” says Hafiz Mirgalimov

Work in the office of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan fell on the difficult 90s, it was at this time that the chairman of the Committee of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan on Economics, Investments and Entrepreneurship, Marat Galeev, met Akulov.

He started to work from the very beginning of the formation of Tatarstan as a republic. He was distinguished by direct, bold speech, he was a man capable of certain actions. The fact is that in post-Soviet Russia there were neither laws nor skills in terms of the international activities of subjects, this was all for the first time. It was necessary to decide empirically, this required a certain courage, most of the subjects had a fear of dealing with these issues, - Marat Galeev argues.

At the same time, in his words, the most stressful situation in the life of an adviser to the President of the Republic of Tatarstan on international issues - this is the resolution of the conflict in Kandahar, when our pilots were captured. “At that time I saw him every day, he disappeared there. There were many nuances. At first they wanted to arrest him and join the prisoners who were already there. But extraordinary courage, knowledge of religion, the sovereignty of the republic helped him. He positioned himself as a person delegated by Tatarstan, a region relatively independent in these matters. He was accepted there as a negotiator, although each time there was a risk of arrests. Not everyone could go to that. This is one of the brightest pages in his biography, while he did not lose his sense of humor,” recalls the chairman of the committee.

Together they discussed laws, worked on general questions, much later turned out to be adopted at the federal level.

When International activity became the norm, passed into the form of organizing agreements, it was a breakthrough of subjects in external activities, but Tatarstan was the leader. This happened with the active participation of Timur Akulov, I repeat, a certain courage was needed for this, - Marat Galeev notes.

Meeting of pilots who escaped from captivity at the Kazan airport. Photo by Mikhail Kozlovsky

Galeev met with him later, when Timur Yuryevich became a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Then Akulov admitted that this is not how he imagined today. “The work was mostly prohibitive, not generating, he experienced it in his own way, remained a romantic of the early 90s,” Marat Galeev believes.

A trace in history that goes beyond Tatarstan

Exactly at ten o'clock State Counselor of the Republic of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev, Deputy Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan Yury Kamaltynov, Head of the Office of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Asgat Safarov arrived at the memorial service.

He is the creator of the entire structure of external relations of Tatarstan, this has never happened before. It seems that little has been done, this field is huge, there is still a decision to be made. But over the years, a quarter of a century, what has been done is a deep imprint in the memory of all of us. It is difficult to console with words, but there is no other way for the living: we will remember the trace that you left in the history of the republic. And it’s necessary to be like this, where the birthday is, the day of death is also nearby (April 25, Timur Akulov turned 65 years old, - approx. ed.). You left deep traces in the history that go beyond the borders of Tatarstan, it is impossible not to remember, thanks for everything. You patience and endurance, the whole family. You did your job, - Mintimer Shaimiev turned to Timur Akulov, then to his relatives.

Yuri Kamaltynov, in his address, called the former adviser to the President of the Republic of Tatarstan on international issues a friend, colleague, comrade, with whom we worked together for many years. “We knew about a serious illness, but, as always happens, you live in hope that this time the cruel mechanism will fail. There is a lot to be said for his professionalism. Most importantly, all business qualities stemmed from his personal ones. Very charming, sincere, charismatic, which was especially felt at international meetings, where he was very convincing. It is no coincidence that the department is one of the most powerful structures of the presidential apparatus, a source of personnel for Tatarstan as well. He was terribly demanding of himself and no less demanding of his subordinates, ”Yuri Kamaltynov shared.

Mintimer Shaimiev: "He is the creator of the entire structure of external relations of Tatarstan, this has never happened"

Timur Akulov worked at Kazan Federal University for ten years, his former colleagues came to the meeting.

We at the university are very worried that he left us. For many years he was associated with our university. He was cheerful. When he came, I remember, he fit in very easily, the students also loved him, they always talked with him with pleasure, - the First Vice-Rector of KFU Riyaz Minzaripov spoke.

The official scheduled speeches came to an end, but there were also those people who knew Timur Akulov who additionally wanted to speak in memory of the departed friend and mentor.

I want to speak on behalf of the students he taught in the department scientific communism, was the curator of the group, actively participated in all student activities. He left a bright memory in the hearts of his students, we have sincere gratitude to him for being in our lives, - said Farida Ishkineyeva, a former student of Akulov.

Tomorrow, the Republic of Tatarstan will say goodbye to the unofficial Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic, in whose life there was a place for a feat

He stood at the origins of Tatarstan's foreign policy, opened representative offices of the Republic of Tatarstan in Turkey and other countries, helped pilots escape from captivity of the Taliban - this is an incomplete list of the merits of the non-public "foreign minister" of Tatarstan. Today, after a year of fighting cancer, Timur Akulov died at the age of 66. BUSINESS Online experts recall how Timur Yuryevich, who in the era of Saddam Hussein was predicted to be the Russian ambassador to Iraq, helped KHP and KAMAZ to get on its feet and "always was in its place."

Today, May 2, after a long illness, the deputy died State Duma 6th convocation, Assistant to the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Timur Akulov Photo: speaker.tatarstan.ru

“I FEEL LIKE A PERSON NOT ONLY PASSING A HUGE LOAD TO OTHERS, BUT ALSO WORTHON THE THRESHOLD OF A CHANGE OF DESTINY"

Today, May 2, after a long illness, a deputy of the State Duma of the 6th convocation, assistant to the president of the Republic of Tatarstan, died Timur Akulov. Exactly a week ago, on April 25, he turned 65 years old. The cause of death is oncology, for more than a year Timur Yuryevich struggled with serious illness.

Akulov was born in 1953 in the city of Yangi-Yul, Tashkent region, Uzbek SSR. After serving in the army, he worked as a ship's fitter at the Baltic Shipyard. Ordzhonikidze in Leningrad, and in 1979 he graduated with honors from the Leningrad State University with a degree in Oriental History. For three years - from 1979 to 1982 - he was a military translator in Yemen. Akulov was fluent in Arabic, English and Uzbek. After a short period of work in the scientific library for 9 years, he was an assistant at the Kazan state university, attaché of the USSR Embassy in Yemen, at the same time taught at the Institute of Social Sciences of the Yemeni Republic.

In 1991 he accepted an invitation from Mintimer Shaimiev and became an adviser to the President of the Republic of Tatarstan on international issues - in fact, he had to form this direction in Tatarstan, which was gaining independence, from scratch. In 1995, he created and headed the department of foreign relations within the presidential administration, but in 2011 he returned to the status of assistant to the president of the Republic of Tatarstan - already Rustam Minnikhanov. True, he did not work under the new president for long.

“I am grateful to the current president of the republic for understanding my request for resignation,” Akulov explained his decision to BUSINESS Online. - When I talked to him, I said that 20 years in one position is too much. There is such a thing as metal fatigue, that is, the metal gets tired. And a person, even from the point of view of psychology, must change his place of work. I couldn't afford it when Shaimiev was president. But now I asked Rustam Nurgalievich to treat my request for resignation with understanding. Now I feel like a person who has not only handed over a huge load to another, but is also on the verge of a change of fate.

Akulov thanked fate and the first president of Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev, for the opportunity to do what he loved for so long Photo: shaimiev.tatarstan.ru

Akulov thanked fate and the first president of Tatarstan for the opportunity to do what he loved for so long. “I am grateful first of all to Shaimiev Mintimer Sharipovich - for the fact that he once invited me to this particular position, for being patient with me and supporting me in all my endeavors for 19 years,” he explained. After his resignation in 2012, Timur Yuryevich was elected to the State Duma from " United Russia».

In marriage, he had two sons, he also has a granddaughter, Malika, whom he promised to pay more attention to than children.

Perhaps Akulov's health was undermined, which his son Nadir in October 2015, the Moscow District Court of Kazan ruled. The son of a State Duma deputy worked as a deputy plenipotentiary representative of Tatarstan at the trade mission of the Russian Federation in Turkmenistan. A criminal case against Akulov Jr. was initiated in 2013 under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Fraud on an especially large scale”). The initiator of the investigation was a Kazan businessman, general director of Khimpromtrade LLC Dmitry Shtin. As it was established in court, Akulov deceived the entrepreneur by almost 11 million rubles, promising to supply polypropylene produced by the Turkmen refinery, but disappeared after receiving the money. The court sentenced him to 5 years in a penal colony. As the participants in the process told a BUSINESS Online correspondent, the court's decision was unexpected for the Akulovs: they hoped that the defendant would not be taken into custody, but would be given a suspended sentence.

"ONE TIME HE IS THE TALIBAMTOORAN TALKED FOR FIVE HOURS!”

The news of the death of Akulov extremely upset the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Tatarstan Shamila Ageeva. “He was a great man, brilliant and disinterested, he did not betray his friends, he was smart, but oncology spares no one,” he said of the deceased in a conversation with a correspondent for BUSINESS Online. “I am very sorry, deeply upset. We have known him since our president's first trip abroad. In 1998, our representative office in Turkey was opened. He was great at creating all international relations, he managed to organize a lot of visits to our republic.”

Ageev notes that it was Akulov who was the ideologist of the creation of diplomatic missions of Tatarstan abroad at trade missions. “He negotiated this with the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Affairs, and Tatarstan owes much of its opportunities abroad to him,” admitted the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Tatarstan. — Don't forget, he was a pioneer, it is now welcome to travel abroad, it seems that it was easy, but then it was not. Even Yevgeny Primakov spoke very highly of him. He was offered at one time to become ambassador to Iraq, and even during the difficult period of Saddam Hussein.

“Yevgeny Primakov (left) spoke very well of Timur Akulov. He was offered at one time to become ambassador to Iraq, and even during the difficult period of Saddam Hussein. Photo: shaimiev.tatarstan.ru

The interlocutor of the publication recalled that at the beginning of the 2000s, Akulov was on the board of directors of OJSC Kazan Helicopter Plant, together with the now ex-Minister of Economy and Industry of the Republic of Tatarstan Alexey Pakhomov and then deputy CEO FSUE Rosoboronexport Sergei Chemezov. “In addition to working at Kazan Helicopter Plant and developing the plant’s external relations, which few people know about, he also helped KAMAZ,” Ageev added. “At the same time, he was non-public, but always in his place.”

Ageev also recalled the story that glorified Akulov in the 90s. In 1995, members of the Taliban hijacked an Il-76 aircraft carrying ammunition for the movement's worst enemies, the Northern Alliance. The plane belonged to the private Kazan airline "Aerostan". As the journalist said Jaudat Aminov, Akulov flew to Afghanistan 28 times, about twice a month, transported for prisoners drinking water and groceries, a radio station to communicate with families. As a result, the pilots and crew members - only 7 people - after a year of captivity, having hijacked the plane, made a desperate and successful escape, about which a film was made in 2010. According to the official version, Akulov practically agreed with the Taliban on the release of the pilots, but they fled on their own. But there is also a version that he agreed so - and the Russians were allowed to leave ...

“During one of his trips to Afghanistan, he showed great courage in negotiations with the Taliban - when they began to doubt him, Timur Yuryevich told them about the Koran for five hours,” said the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Tatarstan. - So he entered the Taliban in much more confidence and managed to establish contact with them in order to return our hijacked plane. He knew the Koran brilliantly. And for the feat with the plane, all Afghans greatly appreciated and respected him.

A memorial service for Akulov will be held on May 3 at 10:00 in the theater. Karieva ( former House officers) at st. Petersburg, 55b.

A memorial service for Akulov will be held on May 3 at 10:00 in the theater. Karieva (former House of Officers) at st. Petersburg, 55b Photo: BUSINESS Online

"ON COME TO SHAIMIEV AND SAID: “They are flying!”

At the request of BUSINESS Online, experts assessed Akulov's contribution to the development of Tatarstan and the creation of international relations of the republic.

Vasily Likhachev- Member of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Law, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation:

- I was, one might say, the godfather of Timur Akulov. When in Tatarstan, under President Mintimer Shaimiev, a department of external relations was formed at my suggestion, the question arose of who would head it. And then one day I gave a lecture at Kazan University, I leave the main building and see that Timur is sitting on our “frying pan”. I knew him well - he has an excellent education in Leningrad, knowledge of Arabic languages, experience in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, abroad. He advised him to meet with Mintimer Sharipovich and accept the offer to head the new department, which he did.

All these years, Timur showed himself as a professional, a person who very well represented the interests of the republic in the international space. He did a lot to increase the prestige of our republic abroad, to conclude various kinds of declarations, communiqués, agreements in the field of economic and cultural ties. I know that Timur Akulov was highly valued by both the President of Tatarstan and other representatives of the republic's leadership. It is a pity that Timur left us so early. Of course, we will always remember him as a person who did a lot for Tatarstan and for Russian Federation.

Fatih Sibagatullin- Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation:

— I can only say good things about Timur Akulov. Firstly, he was a very good person, and secondly, he did a lot in our so-called sovereign years. international relations in the field of politics. I then worked as a minister Agriculture, he and I represented our republic, practically as an independent state, abroad. We were with him in many countries: both in the USA and in France. He negotiated and prepared these trips. Mintimer Sharipovich loved and respected him very much. Together we were deputies of the State Duma of the 6th convocation. For people, except for good, he was not able to do anything else.

You can remember the story of Kandahar - for me and for the whole country, the release of the pilots was a miracle! And in our time, miracles are performed only through human hands, through human heads, through human hearts. And this miracle happened largely thanks to Akulov.

His departure is a great loss for Tatarstan. I can't imagine another person in his place. What he has accomplished is worthy of respect. The man was very decent and good.

Rimzil Valeev- publicist

— Timur Akulov was indeed the first diplomat of Tatarstan. He was both the head of the international department and Shaimiev's assistant. His role is very great. Timur Yuryevich could be sent as Russian ambassador somewhere, but he was not released from Kazan until the last. I am very sorry about his death, it is a huge loss. He was a very benevolent person and at the same time a diplomat with his own principles. He made a huge contribution to the rescue of pilots from Kandahar. He was the leading man in this process - he flew there 28 times! He didn’t tell me the details, but the fact that he knew how to figure it out, use some positive chances and obscure some stupid things, inconsistent, wrong actions that got in the way, is for sure. And finally, this event happened on August 16, 1996. When they took off, these pilots, it was the most stellar moment of his life. He came to Shaimiev and said: “They are flying!” He negotiated, knowing both the Muslim world and the Arab mentality, he knew how to communicate with both the Taliban and Moscow officials. Since Timur Yurievich was in the habit of somehow combining the interests of Tatarstan and the foreign policy interests of Russia, somehow harmonizing, he managed to agree. He was well treated by the Taliban and all other partners. He was able to negotiate. He was a good negotiator, so his role in the release of our pilots is huge.

After all, he could take this task coolly, like an ordinary official, take it: they were captured - that's all. No, he insisted, convinced that it was impossible to leave it like that. And if Kazan, Tatarstan, President Shaimiev with the participation of Akulov would not have entered into this business, then the plane would have remained there, and the guys would have disappeared. Because it was his happy moment. And over the years, he attached great importance to this. We somehow ended up with him in the Crimea on the day when he turned 10 years old this event. And I remember how he said in the morning: yes, this is a great day. It is surprising that in the movie "Kandahar", where all the events are described in detail, the role of Akulov, and of Tatarstan as a whole, is not shown at all. I noted this, and serious people also notice. But the facts will remain, history will put everything in its place.

There is almost nothing about Timur Akulov in Lately did not say. A few years ago, his name was mentioned in the press, but indirectly. Because of the scandal with my son.

Timur Akulov was called the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tatarstan. As befits a diplomatic official, there are many secrets in his biography

In October 2015, Nadir Akulov was sentenced to five years, and journalists accompanied the name of the convicted person with the words: “son of the former head of the department of foreign relations of Tatarstan and State Duma deputy.” Yesterday Timur Yurievich Akulov died, he was only 66 years old. In a certain sense, this is the heyday for professional politicians, but Akulov's career, in fact, ended a long time ago. Probably with the departure of his patron Mintimer Shaimiev.

On duty - to Yemen

Timur Akulov was born on April 25, 1953, almost two months after Stalin's death, in the city of Yangi-Yul, Tashkent region. Many Tatars lived in Uzbekistan at that time. They were sent to Central Asia as highly qualified specialists to help ethnically close Uzbek brothers build socialism.

The surname Akulov does not come from the word Akula, of course. Most likely, this is a derivative of the Turkic-speaking name Akkul, which was found in the past among the Bashkirs and Tatars in the meaning of "pure thoughts, pure soul." There are a lot of places in the biography of our hero that you need to be able to read between the lines. After the army, young Timur worked as a ship mechanic at the Ordzhonikidze Baltic Plant in Leningrad. Then there was a study at Leningrad University, which he graduated in 1979 with honors with a degree in Orientalist-Historian. The same university, but a different faculty, was graduated in 1975 by lawyer Vladimir Putin, with whom Akulov has much in common in the details of his biographies.

By the end of his studies with Akulov, he had an ideal track record: he served in Armed Forces, was a worker, graduated from high school with honors, represents the national staff. Such people were accepted into the CPSU, and Akulov was also accepted. The party made people professional, he recalled many years later.

Immediately after his studies, he was sent to Yemen as a military translator. Just a year after he graduated, the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen signed a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union, and thousands of Soviet specialists went to a distant Arab country.

South Yemen (there was also the Yemen Arab Republic at war with it) gradually entered the orbit of the USSR, until dependence on Moscow became total. The USSR invested enormous resources in this poorest but strategically important country in the Middle East and in return demanded complete submission from the leadership of Yemen. Akulov himself recalled the beginning of his service in Yemen somehow casually, as if he did not want to say too much: “Military translators were then trained by a special institute in Moscow, but there were not enough of them - after all, cooperation with Arab countries was intense. That is why civilian translators were also involved. They simply assigned the military rank of "lieutenant" (we had a military department), and called for two years. After two years in Yemen, I was asked to extend my contract for another year. There was an offer to work further, but the family decided that military service not for us."

A military translator is a specialty under which GRU or KGB officers almost always worked. Let's remember this.

In 1982, Akulov returned to the Union to the position of an employee of the scientific library of Kazan University, then an assistant at KSU. The position is typical for the employees of the “office” who fell into the reserve. Vladimir Putin, who is only six months older than Akulov and served as a KGB resident in socialist Germany, after returning to the USSR, was also attached to Leningrad University as an adviser to the rector.

In the mid-80s, Akulov was again sent to Yemen. In his first official biography, published in 1996, it is indicated that since 1983 he worked as an attaché of the USSR Embassy. This is usually a staff position. foreign intelligence KGB or GRU military intelligence. Our hero started as a translator of the USSR Ministry of Defense, perhaps he continued to work in the line of military intelligence, or maybe he went to work in the State Security Committee. It is impossible to check this data without special access, and Akulov himself never spoke on this topic.

Officially, until 1991, he lived in the city of Aden and worked as a teacher of scientific communism at the Institute of Social Sciences. Akulov himself recalled this official position of his with undisguised irony: “I worked as a teacher at the Institute of Social Sciences - I taught there, excuse me, scientific communism ...” This word “sorry” says a lot about his real work. Once, however, he let it slip and called his place of work "a special institute." Akulov's real work was carried out through the International Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which was a special Soviet external intelligence service. He was attached to the general secretary of the Yemeni Socialist Party, Ali Nasser Mohammed. After the 1986 coup d'état, Ali Salem al-Beid took over as Secretary General, but did not change the environment of the deposed leader: Akulov worked for him too. Our hero accompanied both Mohammed and al-Beid during their frequent visits to the USSR.

By the collapse of the Soviet Union, Akulov is a young intelligence officer and diplomat, a military translator and Arabist by education, who has completed a special service close to the government of Yemen. In general, a high-class professional without a job, because the country for which he worked ceased to exist.

Akulov never talked about his military rank, he started as a lieutenant. Service abroad ended in 1991, when he was 38 years old, and this is taking into account the work that he performed, at least a colonel. Putin, 39, was a lieutenant colonel in 1991.

From a teacher of "scientific communism" in the country of the defeated communism to Shaimiev's advisers

From Yemen, Akulov returned to Kazan University in a dismal position teaching scientific communism, in a country that had just abandoned communism. But very quickly, our hero became an adviser to the newly elected president of Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev. “I accidentally left the main building of the university, stood with someone, talked,” Akulov recalled in an interview with the publication “ real time". - Passes by Vasily Nikolaevich Likhachev. I did not know that he was already the vice-president of Tatarstan. Well broke away from real life. And we also knew him at the university. He said hello, asks: “Are you back? Well, come to me, ”he gets into the Volga and leaves. I told my comrade, with whom I was standing, “What was that?” He says: “What are you? He's the vice president." The next day, Akulov came to see Likhachev, who escorted him to Shaimiev's office, and after an hour's conversation, the President of Tatarstan appointed Akulov as his adviser on international issues. This whole story is very much reminiscent of a fairly well-known episode, when Putin came to the post of assistant to the chairman of the Leningrad City Council and the future mayor of St. Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak, and also on international issues.

Probably, someday historians will write a book about how former employees of the Soviet special services were sent to work with the leaders of the new democratic Russia. Yeltsin had Korzhakov, Sobchak had Putin, Shaimiev had Akulov.

As an adviser to the president, Akulov worked on a grand scale. After the collapse of the Union, Tatarstan was given complete freedom of action and began to weave its own political matrix. Akulov, through old contacts in Moscow, quickly organized Shaimiev's meetings, first with the ambassadors of the Arab states, and then brought the president to the international level by organizing a meeting with Turkish leader Turgut Ozal and Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel. Of course, now it is difficult to imagine the effect of these visits. But then the meeting of the former secretary of the regional committee with the leadership of a foreign state was like a bomb explosion - there has been nothing like this in the history of Kazan since 1552.

“Shaimiev grew up before my eyes,” Akulov recalled. - At the initial stage, he was, yes, indeed, the first secretary of the regional committee. I was waiting for instructions, maybe - I don't know - instructions from Moscow, something like that. And then he had already formed his own position.”

Two Arabists: Primakov and Akulov, and connections with Saddam

In 1996, Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev was replaced by the director of the foreign intelligence service, Yevgeny Primakov. Like Akulov, he was an Arabist, and the two old acquaintances at work had a great relationship. If under Kozyrev, Akulov worked bypassing the Russian Foreign Ministry, which was simply confronted with the fact of another foreign contacts of Tatarstan, then serious work began with Primakov.

In the mid-90s, Akulov was already unofficially called the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tatarstan. He said that he called the Foreign Ministry and said: “Guys, we have made such a decision.” The only thing Primakov demanded from Akulov was: “You report what you are doing there. Don't partisan anymore." What reports Akulov made, what tasks and advice he received from Primakov, we will not know for a long time. But the strategic union of two politicians - Shaimiev and Primakov began to take shape even then and finally took shape in 1999.

It was Yevgeny Primakov who planned to appoint Akulov as Russian ambassador to Iraq five years before the American invasion there. In the mid-1990s, Tatarstan indeed developed very good relations with Saddam Hussein. Shaimiev's people, both Akulov and, for example, Ravil Muratov, had personal audiences with the Iraqi dictator. But with the work of the ambassador in Baghdad, Akulov did not work out. Boris Yeltsin dismissed Primakov in the spring of 1998 and appointed 35-year-old Sergei Kiriyenko to the government.

Tatarstan quickly got a taste. “We planned at least two years ahead. Presidential visits began to be prepared 6-8 months in advance. Every visit of the president. I lived on an airplane for almost 20 years, ”Akulov recalled after his resignation.

In 2010, Shaimiev stepped down as president. Akulov worked with Minnikhanov for only a year and left after his patron. He did not hide his disappointment that a young and little knowing Iskander Muflikhanov came to his place as head of the Department of Foreign Relations. However, Akulov's successor quickly flew out of this job.

Professional and friend of Khakimov

Akulov's position in the Tatarstan system of government was somewhat distant, which may have prevented him from making a more successful career and becoming the prime minister of Tatarstan, for example. Akulov was not part of the clans and families, and the leadership appreciated for professionalism and nothing more.

The only person with whom he had friendly relations in power was an intellectual, the son of a poet and the same as our hero, adviser to President Shaimiev Rafael Khakimov.

After his resignation, Akulov was offered to work in the State Duma. For Tatarstan, work in parliament is often the final stage of a career. Akulov did not get into the new convocation of the parliament, he was tormented by an oncological disease, which ultimately took his life.

People of Akulov's warehouse never write memoirs, we can only read between the lines about their work.

Photo: Ilnar Tukhbatov, Mikhail Kozlovsky (archive of the press service of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan)

In the 1990s, Tatarstan built external relations with foreign countries under new conditions. Activities in unusual economic and political conditions required non-standard approaches and bold decisions. One of those who stood at the origins of this direction of work in the leadership of the republic was Timur Akulov.

The young Arabist, who recently returned from a business trip to the Middle East, in 1991 became an adviser to the first President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev on international issues, and in 1995 he headed the Department of Foreign Relations of the Office of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan. Timur Akulov turns 65 today. Timur Yurievich spoke about Shaimiev's foreign visits, landmark meetings, trips to Afghanistan and negotiations with the Taliban in an interview with Tatar-inform news agency.

The more you “partisan”, the more opportunities you will have to surrender some positions

- Timur Yuryevich, how in the 90s the external relations of the Republic of Tatarstan were built. How did this process develop?

- The process, of course, was interesting. First, I'll tell you how I got into this system. I worked in Yemen, taught at the Institute of Scientific Socialism for members of the local socialist party. And in 1991 he came on vacation, they said that he would then have to go for another two years. In principle, I agreed because the working conditions were decent. I came to the Union, and then the August events began, everything fell apart. And it was not clear what to do, what to do and what would happen next. The fact that the Soviet Union would collapse was already clear, since there were all signs that it would not exist as such. But what will happen to Russia? Which path will she take? Nobody knew about this, especially since at that time I did not work here at the party work, but worked as a teacher at the university. I didn't know our party workers, I didn't know our economic workers, all the more I didn't know who Shaimiev was, not to mention Musin, Usmanov and others.

It turned out as follows. I went back to the department and asked the head of the department to give me a month to prepare a new series of lectures. Because those lectures with which I worked in Yemen would not have passed here. I began to prepare and at that time, quite by chance, I met Vasily Nikolaevich Likhachev, who was the vice president of the Republic of Tatarstan at that time. He came up to me, so sternly asked: “Are you back?” I say yes, I'm back. “Well, come to me,” he replied. I was a little surprised: the same teacher as me, only at the Faculty of Law, and not at the Faculty of History, and suddenly - "Come to me." Then I see how he gets into the Volga and leaves. I ask (the guys were standing nearby): “What is this?” “What are you talking about, he is the vice president,” they told me.

Okay, the next day I came to him, and he began to tell me: "The situation is changing, we will be engaged in international activities." I say: “Vasily Nikolaevich, what kind of international activity?” In the Soviet Union, in addition to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine were members of the UN, but none of these republics could take a single step without the USSR Foreign Ministry. All of them performed only protocol functions. “No,” he says, “now the situation has changed, let's think about it. Let's write what you think is possible. I wrote on two pages, brought it, gave it away. Three days later, he calls me and says: "Everything is fine, you will be my referent on international issues." I say: “Vasya, what are we going to do?” He says: "Let's figure it out, go to Shaimiev first."

To be honest, I was afraid of the first secretary of the regional committee, because I had a period of time when I worked in the international department of the Central Committee of the CPSU and accompanied the delegations of Arab communists in our regions. I saw many of our regional committee secretaries and understood what it was and who it was. A little upset, I went. And you know what surprised me? I saw another person: it was not a typical regional committee secretary. It was a normal person who spoke like a human being. And so we talked for about forty minutes, probably - I don’t even remember what.

The next day, Vasily Nikolaevich came and said: "Go to the personnel department, write a statement." I went to the personnel department, wrote a statement that I asked to be accepted as an assistant on international issues to the vice president. I give it to the head of the personnel department, and he says that it is written incorrectly. I got a little scared: I taught in Arabic for three years, I thought that I forgot Russian and, probably, made mistakes. They tell me: "Go, go to Likhachev." I came to him, and he says: “Of course, it is written incorrectly. Shaimiev said that you would go to him as an adviser. And that's how it started for me.

And it started very interesting. Because indeed the subject of the Federation did not have any scope of work, nor any powers, nor any duties in international activities at that time. And I never called our work diplomacy. You can call it paradiplomacy, you can call it people's diplomacy, but rather, it is the international activity of the subjects of the Federation. Because diplomacy is too big a range of issues that are resolved at the center, for which it is responsible and for which the subjects of the Federation are not responsible.

- How did the first working days in new position?

- I wrote a statement, came, sat in the office, I sit for a day, two, read literature and I can’t understand anything. And then there’s another moment – ​​I don’t know what’s going on in Russia in general. What will be the next steps for the federal government? What will be the next steps of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation? What will be the further steps of foreign states that want to cooperate with us? We can enter into cooperation with a foreign state, but with what powers? What we can? In the cultural field - yes, of course, it is possible, in education it is possible. But the most important thing in the economy - do we have the right to engage in foreign economic activity? No one has yet regulated this, there is no legislative base, there is nothing.

In general, I sat for two weeks and then left for Moscow. Because I had comrades there with whom I worked in the international department. They still acted in some way, the Union still existed. I came, I said: "Seryozha, like this and like that." He says: “Do what you want, now it’s not clear what will happen, so the more you do, the better. The more you "partisan", the more opportunities you will have to give up some positions" . And this, by the way, helped me a lot. But how can we lure some foreigners at least? There were no foreigners. He says: “You know, no one will go. Because everyone is afraid of Tatarstan: the "island of communism", and separatism in general, and in general everything is bad in Tatarstan. Therefore, I do not think that any ambassador will agree to go.” And then he said that the day before yesterday the new ambassador of the League of Arab States, Mr. Muhanna Dorro, arrived. I went to him, we sat down with him, drank tea, I told him about Tatarstan: what is happening, how it is happening, what we think, and in general - how we will continue to live. He says: "Listen, I'm interested, I'll come to you." I understand that if I don’t take him tomorrow, then in a week he won’t come, because he will be told that there is nothing to do in Tatarstan. I say: "Let's go tomorrow?" He says, "How's tomorrow?" And I say: "I'll wait one day, and we'll go together." And let's go.

And so we came together, showed him Tatarstan, showed him what was happening. Mintimer Sharipovich spoke in general about the position taken by the republic in relation to what is happening in the country. To be honest, he liked it. A week after his departure, he called me and said: "Come, I'm gathering all the Arab ambassadors at my place, tell me about Tatarstan." And so he gathered all the Arab ambassadors there. I talked for about forty minutes, and in the end it turned out that many of them, in principle, do not mind working with Tatarstan. However, the old school continued to play its role - it was necessary to obtain permission from the Foreign Ministry.

“Over these 20 years, we have visited a large number of countries, and there was not a single country where the President of our Republic was not met by the first persons”

- How did the relationship develop? federal structures, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation?

- Unfortunately, Andrey Kozyrev was the Minister of Foreign Affairs at that time. I would say that this was a person who did a lot of harm to the Russian Federation. He gave away almost all the real estate that belonged to the Soviet Union. Now we are forced to buy the same buildings that he once gave away simply for free.

The question after all consisted in what at the first stage? We had to explain that we are not going to leave the Russian Federation and we do not have any separatism. It was necessary to explain that the most important task that the Republic of Tatarstan sets itself is to establish economic ties that were broken after the collapse of the Soviet Union. And you understand very well that all our large enterprises - KAMAZ, an aircraft plant, a helicopter plant - after all, they are highly dependent on components that come from other countries of the former Soviet Union. Something had to be done, and Shaimiev set the task - we need to restore ties so that we can directly go out with our machine-building enterprises without any Soviet ministerial structures - enterprise for enterprise. This is where diplomacy started.

We began to travel and establish relations with all states - with Ukraine, in order to supply components to our helicopter plant, and with the Baltic States, and with Uzbekistan, and with all our other former republics Soviet Union. Honestly, I can say that there was a period when they also did not understand well what was happening, and therefore everyone went forward. That is, I did not feel any resistance. After we have established economic ties, the task of establishing international ties has already arisen. That is, connections with international organizations– both with UNESCO and the UN. There was even such a moment - the delegation was gathered and went to NATO. Then the commander of NATO forces in Europe was General Shalikashvili. And when we arrived there, everyone looked at us and did not understand anything - who are we, where are we from and what kind of Tatars? In general, there were many things that were obscure.

- With whom did you manage to build relationships at first?

- The first and, I think, a breakthrough visit, which was made at the diplomatic level by the President of our republic, was a visit to Turkey. This also happened completely spontaneously: someone advised Mintimer Sharipovich to go to Turkey, maybe something will work out, at least we will establish some kind of relationship with them. There I met an adviser to the President of Turkey. After all, I was also an adviser to the president, and therefore, when I arrived in Turkey, I asked for a person of equal rank to work with me. He turned out to be a very decent person, we sat and talked with him for two days. Then he says: “Okay, sit down, I don’t guarantee that Ozal (the President of Turkey) will receive, but Demirel, this is the Prime Minister, I will ask him to receive the President of Tatarstan.”

And all this was done secretly, because I understood very well that if the ambassador of the Russian Federation knew about this, then, of course, there would be objections from him. Wrong level: the president of the country and the head of the subject are not equivalent. Therefore, from Chernyshev, who was the ambassador, we hid this matter.

- What year was it?

– It was 1993. And a day later he returned from Ankara (I was in Istanbul) and said that Demirel would take me for 15 minutes. I came home joyful, and we were just setting up the Taturos joint venture, and we needed to get the blessing of the Turkish leadership. It turned out like this - we flew to Turkey, Chernyshev met us, went to Demirel's, instead of 15 minutes we sat for an hour and talked. Then we leave the hall: Shaimiev, Demirel, Chernyshev are walking in front, the adviser and I are walking behind. Suddenly he pulls my jacket and says: “Tomorrow you fly to Istanbul, Ozal will fly there, he wants to meet too, just don’t tell anyone.” It so happened that during this trip we had two meetings with the leaders of the Turkish state, and then, remember, we have very good relations with Turkey. We worked closely together for a long time, and we continue to work together now. That was the first breakthrough trip.

Then it was easier for me, because when I came to any country, the same Egypt, I said that the President of Tatarstan should meet with Hosni Mubarak. They told me: "What are you?" And I said, “So what? Ozal met, why can't Mubarak meet?" This argument has since gone downhill. Practically over the 20 years that I worked in Shaimiev, we visited a large number of countries, and there was not a single country where the president of our republic was not met by the first persons.

There was a comical case - we flew from Iran after the meeting and flew to Azerbaijan. We sit down on the runway, Shaimiev says: "Look what's going on!" And there it stands guard of honor three types of troops. They stopped, Heydar Aliyev came up, they hugged, went, got into the car. Foreign Minister Hasan Hasanov says to follow him, and Blokhin (Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan) began to object: “You have no right, this is an abuse of authority, why the guard of honor? And please tell Aliyev that the Russian side is protesting.” Hasanov approached the President of Azerbaijan and told what the ambassador had said. Aliyev replied: “Tell Blokhin that I am the host, he is my guest. I take it the way I want it."

How was that meeting?

- This visit was quite successful. And we have the only interstate document - this is an agreement between Tatarstan and Azerbaijan. Because we have no right to sign such agreements with other states. And it turned out this way. We have prepared a document. Usually I did what I did: I prepared an agreement or treaty and sent it to the Foreign Ministry. And then decent people already appeared in the Foreign Ministry - Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko, Igor Sergeevich Ivanov, then the late Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov. Pretty decent people, treated with understanding.

As a rule, I took these documents to Valentina Matvienko. I bring it to her - she endorses. And here were the signatures of the Deputy Prime Minister of Tatarstan (Ravil Muratov then held this position with us) and the Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, Abbas Abbasov. And an amazing thing: I show Blokhin, I say that we will sign this document. He says we have no right to do so. I say that there are Matvienko's signatures here, this is the permission. You are the ambassador, she is the leader, you must obey. No, he says that we have no right and that if we sign, he will stand up and protest in the hall.

We went back to our leaders. We come, and they are standing, talking. Well, they have old memories of the communist past. “Mintimer, remember, I came to you, there was a bad traffic cop who stopped all traffic, I asked you to take it off, did you take it off?” Aliyev said. These are the conversations. And Gasan Gasanov comes in, all shaking, explains that the Russian ambassador is making claims, Shaimiev turned to me right away: “But you didn’t agree, or what?” I say that I agreed, but the ambassador objects. Geidar Alievich looked at Shaimiev and asked why the vice-premiers were signing: “You and I are not people, or what? Let's sign it." Here I objected that we have no right to do so. This is a violation of all international norms in general, it turns out to be an interstate agreement. In practice, it turns out that you recognize Tatarstan as a sovereign state. Aliyev asked why I was afraid - I replied that I was not afraid of anything. He asked if I was afraid that they might be removed from work. He replied that he did not know, but it could be. He asked who would remove me from work, and I answered: "Shaimiev." Aliyev asked Shaimiev if he would fire me from work, and he replied that he would not. Then Aliyev told us to go and rewrite the document. Come on, rewrite. After that it was necessary to see the ambassador.

That's stupidity - sometimes diplomats make such mistakes that cannot be allowed. Basically, diplomacy is the art of making your thoughts become the thoughts of the person you are talking to. That is, gradually you need to turn the conversation so that he comes to this thought. You did not impose this idea, but he himself came to it.

Sanctions give Tatarstan a chance to reach a higher level compared to other subjects

- Has any form of agreement between a subject of the Federation and another state been worked out yet?

- No, everything is already there. There are already laws: there are both ours and federal laws that regulate the signing of documents. And I gave documents to the Foreign Ministry for another reason. Okay, we will sign some paper, some document with some country, but at the same time, we don’t know - the Russian Federation, like federal state there may be other obligations to that country or third countries that may conflict with our agreement. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary (as in Marxism-Leninism - “three sources, three components”) to look in all directions and protect yourself from all sides. Otherwise, you can make so many mistakes that you will have to correct for a long, long time and apologize for a long, long time.

– What is the role of the region in smoothing out conflicts with other regions?

- I have some doubts about the term "region". A region is something more than a subject of the Federation. We still have subjects of the Federation. And then, as Zhirinovsky suggested, we will combine seven subjects into one region and then we will talk about the regions. Especially in the current conditions, the subjects of the Federation play a very important role, because investors who are prohibited from working with the Russian Federation as a whole, in principle, have the right to work with the subjects of the Russian Federation. Therefore, it is now necessary to use this moment as intensively as possible and attract investors.

I am very happy for our Tatarstan, every time I watch TV and every time I rejoice: enterprises are opening, the Yelabuga special economic zone is working, the Mendeleev plant is working - everything works, everything is charged. And while these sanctions are in place - of course, it is a sin to say so, but what to do - I think that this gives Tatarstan a chance to reach a higher level compared to other subjects. But for this, I repeat, it is necessary to prepare very competent feasibility studies for any project. If we cook incorrectly, it is immediately evident.

Sometimes it happened - some potential investor comes and they begin to say to him: "Let's do it like this, like that, like that." He studies, and in the morning I come for breakfast, he says: “Okay, I won’t do anything, I went.” I ask why. And therefore, he explains that in our project it is written that we will steal everything. That is, they see everything. And therefore, any wrong movement, any inaccuracy, even a confused word can have an effect.

There was such a case. The Soviet Union received a military delegation from Kuwait. Including showed them the zoo. Then our people went to them, and the Minister of Defense of Kuwait said: “Listen, I would buy polar bear". And in Arabic, “deb” is a bear, “dobaba” is a tank. The translator, apparently, was either tired or something else, and translated that they wanted to buy white tanks. Our people are wondering why they need white tanks. He says he doesn't know, and they ask him to ask again. The military from Kuwait again says that he would buy a polar bear. The translator repeated: “You see, white tanks.” Much depends on the translation.

I have remembered for the rest of my life how much the work of a translator means. When Shaimiev was visiting America, at the Kennedy School at Stanford University, there students came to his lecture. The translator was so great that he did not translate the words, but translated the meaning of what Shaimiev wanted to say. And when, ten minutes later, students began to sit on the stairs and listen to him, it was for me the triumph of human reason. I watch how the translator tells, he does not carry a gag, but simply translates cleanly and beautifully in American English with an understanding of the American mentality what Shaimiev says. And the applause after the performance was the biggest pride for me. I remember this translator for the rest of my life - it's very cool.

– Did you act as an interpreter during Shaimiev's visits to Arab countries?

- When there was no one around, I translated Shaimiev, but usually there was an interpreter.

“All my life I was scolded by the heads of the apparatus, why I don’t hold meetings”

- Tell us about the structure of the department you led. And how different is the corresponding activity now?

– Time is running, everything changes, realities change, life changes, attitudes towards this or that event change, approaches change. And to say that one department, created in 1996, should remain so, I think, is not entirely correct. The department was created to ensure the activities of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan. When it was created, we practically ensured the activities of the president, and the prime minister, and the mayor, and all the rest. Then there really was such a need: there were no specialists - one, two - no one knew what the tasks were and how to solve them, it was necessary not to make mistakes here. And in order not to be mistaken, we, of course, took the path that created the Department of External Relations.

Until 1996, I was an adviser, and then I felt that I simply couldn’t pull it out physically. Once I counted, it turned out that I was on a business trip for 176 days a year - what kind of work is this? Therefore, they consulted and decided to create a Department of External Relations. There was an assumption - let's create the Ministry of Foreign Relations. I say - you know, the Americans have a department, and let us also have a department. Why should we annoy, why should we cause displeasure or give an opportunity for speculation to someone in Moscow - they have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they are engaged in foreign affairs ... Everything must be taken into account. And so, modestly - the Department of External Relations. And everyone understood perfectly. And when traveling abroad, no one called me the director of the department, they called me the minister.

- How was the personnel issue solved?

– I consider this to be my biggest successful work. Because I've never hired anyone. They recommend: “Uh, eybet malay. Soilesh Tatar? Ruscha soileshe? Soileshe English? Yuk, kiryage yuk!” And that's it. And that was it. How did I usually do it? A man came, I talked to him and then set conditions: he works for six months, and if it doesn’t work out, then we part with him without offense. And out of many candidates, I believe, I managed to recruit the most professional 26 people who could close everything: protocol, diplomatic activity, and economics, and they could accompany, and anything. Well, it's a lot of work.

All my life I was scolded by the heads of the apparatus, why I do not hold meetings. I have never had a meeting. I have always said that I cannot hold meetings for two reasons. Firstly, I felt sorry for the people's time. Twenty-six people are sitting, and I am talking with Rustem and setting a task for only one Rustem. What are the rest to do? Secondly, if I want to scold someone and in front of the whole team I start to run into him - it seems to me that this is not entirely correct.

Therefore, I preferred to do this: I would come, write down the amount of work that needed to be done, and call the employees I needed. And then he told one of them that the three of them should get together and that what was being discussed was ready by tomorrow. And when they came to me and said that it was impossible to do it, I said: “It is impossible to do it, because you do not want to do it. There are no things that cannot be done. All the tasks that are put before a person are feasible and can be solved. You just need to decide for yourself that you should do it. And so, of course, it is easier to say that this is not there, this one has left. Nobody cares. Have a task? Decide. Can't decide? Let's help." It happens that a person does not want to do, then you need to help him. But there are no such things that cannot be done in diplomacy.

Relations with the Foreign Ministry and memories of Primakov

– You have already spoken about Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov, who headed the Foreign Ministry for a considerable time. They said that before that there were difficulties in relations with the Foreign Ministry, but later relations improved. Could you tell us more about this? After all, today it turned out that the Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group, which was created under you and under Primakov, is working.

- This group is, of course, needed. It is necessary for people to come, exchange opinions and then give out some things to the mountain. As for the relationship with the Foreign Ministry, I want to correct: I had a bad relationship in the Foreign Ministry with Kozyrev. Because I did not understand this person and did not perceive him. Once he gave an interview, and he was asked the question: what is the diplomatic line of the international behavior of the Russian Federation? And he replied that we are going in the fairway international politics United States of America. I took it and somewhere blurted out in an interview that I don’t understand how the foreign minister of a sovereign state can say that his state is following in the footsteps of another state. After that, an order was given not to let me into the Foreign Ministry, and I met with the Foreign Ministry on the Arbat: we sat in an Uzbek cafe, drank tea and talked.

The second time he let me down very badly, when there were events in Kandahar. In 1995, I met with the leader of the Taliban movement (recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia and many other countries. – Runits). Mullah Omar told me that New Year our guys will meet at home. He was a man of honor, so I believed him. I arrived joyful and reported. Andrey Kozyrev, without thinking twice, said in an interview that we had agreed that our guys would celebrate the New Year at home and he would personally go after them. I arrive in Afghanistan, and such an attitude towards me became as if a stranger had arrived, and before that there was a very good attitude. And I ask the head of the garrison what happened. He replied: "You know, Mullah Omar said that since the Minister of Foreign Affairs promised to come for the pilots, then when he arrives, then they will be given away." A month later, Kozyrev was removed.

I digress, we were talking about Yevgeny Maksimovich. I studied at the Oriental Faculty of the Leningrad University, and I did my internship on the radio in Moscow. Evgeny Maksimovich was then the director of the Institute of Oriental Studies, and I was writing my thesis on a rather scandalous topic about the situation in Palestine in 1948. And it turned out for me (according to all the documents that I raised) that Israel as a state was created by the Soviet Union. When I came to the head and said how I was doing, he replied that I should write like this if I want to get a deuce. And then the Soviet policy was such that Israel is an aggressive state created by the United States of America. What to do?

I arrived in Moscow, and the editor of the Arabic edition, Belyaev, said: "Go to Maksimych, ask for advice." I came to him: I am a fifth-year student, and he is an academician. I thought that he would now say: "Yes, you go." And he accepted, you know? And we talked for a long time, he told me that he would even give one book for English language, only for three days. It says how many guns we have installed, how many howitzers, how many Soviet officers who went through the war, went to Israel to fight against the Arabs. So he told me to write. I replied that I would get two. And he: "If you get a deuce, you will come to work for me." He was an amazing person, we then talked with him several times. You need to have the courage in uncertain conditions - in this country, with such a president - to turn around a plane flying to the United States when Yugoslavia began to be bombed. He turned the plane at his own risk and flew away in protest against the bombing.

- In fact, this was a change in the vector in our foreign policy. This has already been going on.

- No, it did not go to this, because the majority remained the same Yeltsin's henchmen. But the fact that he took such courage upon himself was, of course, a great blow to the entire international life. Especially for Americans.

“It seems to me that the Americans destroyed Libya on purpose to undermine Europe”

“We have moved so smoothly from the region to the larger issues of international politics. Considering that you are primarily an Arabist, I would like to know your assessment of the situation in the Middle East and Syria, the activities of our country in this region?

I'll try to be more intelligent. Wherever the Americans go, war starts everywhere, victims appear everywhere, murders begin everywhere, disorder begins everywhere. I understand that they just need all this. What prevented them from Saddam Hussein? There were no weapons there. I have been to Iraq three times, there were neither chemical weapons nor any serious threat. But he kept the country and the tribes, he calmed them down. What about Muammar Gaddafi? In Arabic, there is an expression "al Qaeda" - leader or commander. When we met with him, I turned to him “al Qaeda”, and he looked at me and said: “La ana mush kaed, ana moufakker” - “I am not a leader, I am a thinker.”

The worst thing is that it seems to me that the Americans destroyed Libya on purpose to undermine Europe. Because Libya served as a shield between Black Africa and Europe. Muammar Gaddafi held back Nigerians, Sudanese, Algerians and everyone else. He fed, because he had money, and he gave some kind of subsidies. The borders were fortified. And now it even seems that the Americans deliberately bombed Libya in order to undermine Europe, and they succeeded.

And why shake Europe? To say that the Europeans can't do without them and to offer them protection for a fee. Americans don't do anything for free. Kuwait was liberated from Iraqi aggression more than 20 years ago, but it still pays its debts to the United States of America. The same will happen with Syria, the same will happen with Iraq. Iraq had an oil-for-food program after the first war. I go there, and the Iraqis tell me that this is a robbery. The Americans push their tankers, load free oil and take it away. Robbers! Americans are terrible.

“Every time I, like Scheherazade, came and told them parables about Pashtuns”

- You have already said that you went to negotiate with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Can you elaborate on this? What should be considered during negotiations and simple communication with the people of Central Asia and the Middle East?

- In this case, I am glad that I am an orientalist, that I was born in the East and lived in the East almost all my life, this also affected my mentality. When Shaimiev told me that our guys were in trouble and asked if I would go, my first thought was - that's all, I will come, they will arrest me there and throw me in the same place as the captured pilots. We went, Zamir Kabulov, a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also went, Gabdulla hazrat [Galiullin] also went.

So we arrived, the shura (council) gathered. At the meeting of the shura, we were immediately told that they (pilots. - Runits) criminals, they brought bullets to kill their people and therefore they deserve the death penalty. Kabulov tried to say something (and he speaks Pashto well), they don't even listen to him. That's all, the conversation is over, thank you, goodbye. I told Kabulov to give me the floor. Kabulov says: "The minister of foreign affairs of Tatarstan is here, give him the floor to speak." I started speaking Russian, but they don't listen. I switched to Arabic and say: "You are all Taliban, you are all studying the Holy Quran, let's speak the language of the great Quran." And I absolutely knew that they do not know the Arabic language, they know what is written in the suras, but they do not understand the meaning.

They sat for a while. Then they called the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who knew Arabic, and I told everything about Tatarstan. He talked for forty minutes. He said that Tatarstan is an Islamic republic. Then he recalled the hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). He said that I was a haji, everyone immediately came up and touched me.

But then I killed them with one thing: “Now,” I say, “I will tell you the stories of the Pashtuns.” And the Pashtuns have a code of honor that they didn’t even know about (“Pashtunvalai.” – Ed.). I found it in the library and studied it before I went. He told them a story. They asked for more. And I say that the next one is on the second visit. And every time I, like Scheherazade, came and told them parables about the Pashtuns. When I came, they even invited the guys to the table, slaughtered a sheep.

Diplomacy is such a thing that when you go to negotiations, you can never go empty. The conversation comes to a dead end: neither you can move, nor he can move. If you start to reap, it means that he is staked here. If he starts to reap, then we will stand like two bulls and get nothing. I always had a good moment - I started talking on a different topic. Each person with whom you communicate or are going to communicate has their own hobbies. Someone collects stamps, someone collects wildflowers, someone is fond of falconry, someone is fond of fishing, someone is horses, someone else is something else. It is impossible to know all this in detail. But in order to get a person to talk about his favorite topic, it is enough to know very little.

And when he came to a dead end and felt that everything - if it continues like this, then nothing will work out, he offered a break and began to talk on another topic. They look at me in surprise, and then they say. And the interlocutor is boiling, his tongue is loosened, he has a completely different attitude towards you, he has a completely different attitude to what you say. And gradually then you can already ask: “A break or will we still agree?” He chooses to negotiate. And that's it.

Why did you choose Arabic? What was the reason for the young man's choice?

“The young man is a strange person in general. I went from Uzbekistan to Leningrad, because both my sisters studied there. Mom was evacuated from Leningrad with a hospital to Uzbekistan and wanted to return. Therefore, she returned the sisters, and then she told me: you will finish your service in the army and also go to Leningrad.

I came. I have emergency service I went well and quite successfully, I was the foreman of the division, and I arrived in uniform, just a good soldier Schweik, to my elder sister. We met, hugged, she asked me what I would do next. I say that's it, I'll go to a military school. And before that, I had already entered the Oriental Faculty of Leningrad University twice and could not enter, because I did not know anything. Even more languages. What languages ​​are in the village school? And I told her: "That's it, to hell with your oriental faculty, I'm gone." The sister says: "I don't want my brother to be in the military." I say: “Look, the newspapers write how good I am, and they promised to support me, there is a referral from a part, a part will be paid.” The next morning she took me and took me to the Oriental Faculty. I came there.

And why Arabic - I can say. In the eighth grade, my mother gave me Borisov's Russian-Arabic dictionary. Why did she give it to me, for what purpose? Without saying anything, I just brought it - here you are. And from now on, it's gone.

- Today, from what you "partizan", much is left?

- You know, even today you can "partisan", but with the mind. If you do not harm the general line, then "partisan". I remember that Valentina Matvienko was the director of the Department of Public Relations and Parliamentary Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I came to introduce myself. She looked at me and said: “So, I know that you are a partisan. Do what you want, but if you get caught, I'll hang you."

Discuss()

Alumni 2013 Timur Akulov

Timur Akulov

Gallop through life. From Europe to Asia

Timur Akulov graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of the Russian State University for the Humanities in 2013. Currently, he is an employee of the Lenta.ru online publication.

- What are you doing now?

I work for the online publication Lenta.ru. I do news and prepare longreads. This is what we call big materials. I have a theme from life. Interesting stories and events. This is fundamentally different from what I did before. Before that, I was in business journalism: I worked at the Rumedia holding: business portal BFM.ru, Radio Chocolate and Business FM. He dealt with real estate. Prepared large materials, interviews, analytics of both the Russian and European markets. There was also a program about real estate on the radio "Chocolate", but more "light" in style.

- How do you find material "from life"?

First of all, communication with people. You are in constant search. Somewhere I heard something, read about it in more detail. We work with a very large amount of foreign content.

- Have you tried yourself in TV journalism?

I tried it, but I felt that it was not for me. I had experience working on the Rossiya and Moscow 24 TV channels. I started, then I realized: “okay, this doesn’t really suit me.” It didn't work for various reasons. I'm generally such a person. I try to find what interests me. I can't do things that don't interest me.

I had a dream during university: to travel the world. When I graduated from university, the roads opened. There was a lot, a lot of time. You don't even know what to do. September is coming and you don't have to go anywhere. I traveled around Europe, America, looked into Africa, then went to work in Indonesia under the program. A lot of smart girls and boys decided to take advantage of such programs and go to work abroad. It happens like this: you sign a contract, you come to the country of your choice, you are paid a salary, they give you housing. The most important thing is a new experience, the practice of English. It was a very cool time!

- Did you start practicing journalism during your studies or after graduation?

Of course, I worked in my student years. Student years were very fun: parties, walks. Even starting from the second year, you can work twice a week in absolutely any publication, on any TV channel. Or just get yourself an internship. This will give you two things: practice and experience. The higher the salary will be when you graduate from the university. When you come to a company or somewhere else and they see your work experience (no matter what you did), you are more likely to be hired.

- Tell us about the teachers: who helped or liked you the most?

I had two favorite subjects. I can't say exactly what they are called. The first is "Sound to Cinema", I think. There was an insanely interesting teacher from the Kultura TV channel. The second subject is "History of Cinema". It was taught by a very good teacher. She flew over different countries, knew the work of all directors.

- Have you worked for STK?

Yes, at first I filmed scenes. But then I had to choose: to study or to shoot, and I chose to study. And before entering the university, I was engaged in a children's television studio: there we shot reports, made short films on different topics, mostly social. One of the films, the author of which I was, somehow won the Grand Prix at the Stalker festival in Moscow. I advise you to devote more time to practice - nothing can replace it.

- Do you think that RSUH is a worthy university?

Of course I do. If you take, for example, MGIMO, then there is a label. But the quality of education, in any case, at the Faculty of Journalism at the RSUH is an order of magnitude higher.

Chrysantou Alexandra

Fedorova Svetlana