The host of the program international review Evgeny Primakov. Death of a son and wife. "The worst curse he had was: you are a pot!"

The ex-prime minister of Russia hid his real father all his life

The ex-prime minister of Russia hid his real father all his life

Only in his last autobiographical book did Yevgeny PRIMAKOV shed light on his childhood. The former politician and intelligence officer calls a certain NEMCHENKO a father. Prior to that, other surnames were also encountered in various sources - KIRSHENBLAT and BUKHARIN. Express Gazeta conducted its own investigation.

In memoirs Evgeny Primakov wrote: “My father’s surname Nemchenko - my mother told me about it. I've never seen him. Their paths with their mother parted, in 1937 he was shot. From birth I bore my mother's surname - Primakov. "

In Tbilisi, where Yevgeny Maksimovich's childhood passed partially, his distant relatives and friends remained. They were the ones who told the truth about the "secret father" of the former prime minister and head foreign intelligence.

Committed suicide

Primakov has a dash in the “Paternity” column in his birth certificate. According to relatives, Evgeny Maksimovich's mother, Anna Yakovlevna, married an engineer in her youth Maxim Rosenberg, therefore, the son's patronymic is Maksimovich. Primakov, however, did not mention this name in his memoirs.

Because of this, a dash and many versions appeared, - says an elderly Tbilisi friend of the family Tamara Chelidze... - In one book they wrote that Evgeny Maksimovich was a son Bukharin... This was suggested after Primakov said that his biological father had been shot in 1937. Some external similarities between both confirmed this version. However, the same complete nonsense version that his father is a doctor David Kirschenblat.Kirshenblat's great-granddaughter, whose mother grew up with Yevgeny, shared her memories.“Primakov is his mother’s surname,” says Karina. - Evgeny Maksimovich writes everywhere that my mother was called Anna Yakovlevna, but her relatives called her Hanoi. And his maternal grandmother was called Berta Abramovna. Khana was a famous gynecologist in Tbilisi. For some reason, Evgeny Maksimovich also changed his place of birth: he was born not in Kiev, but in Moscow. According to relatives, Kirshenblat still had something to do with Eugene. He lost his wife early and married the governess of his two children, Faina, who had a sister, Khana, Primakov's mother. Since Zhenya's mother had only an 11-meter room in a communal apartment, he grew up in his aunt's house.

Kirshenblat treated Zhenya like a family, - says Karina. - And the mother's husband, Maxim Rosenberg, Evgeny Maksimovich does not mention for certain reasons. The fact is that Khana and Maxim did not have children for a long time. And she, as her mother said, had an affair with another man. When Zhenya was nine months old, Rosenberg committed suicide. The tragedy happened during a family dinner: Hana and Maxim had a fight, the husband got up from the table, ran down the corridor and jumped out of the window. Kirshenblat was just returning home and found Maxim's body on the street: he died in his arms. Khan after the death of Maxim never married again. But she was a bright woman ...

Beat fans of Laura

Primakov met his first wife in Tbilisi. Laura grew up in the family of her father's sister - an opera singer Haradze's hopes and her husband - conductor Alexis Dimitriadisince her parents were shot.

At the age of 14, Zhenya entered the Baku Naval School, but fell ill and returned to Tbilisi, - said Laura's cousin, professor at the Conservatory Nana Dimitriadi... - Therefore, he finished school with us. And when he entered the Institute of Oriental Languages \u200b\u200bat Moscow State University, everyone was perplexed. From Moscow he often came to Tbilisi, where he had friends. Zhenya was familiar with Laura, and became close on vacation in Gagra. They were 19 then. He often fought over Laura. Once my mother broke down and said: “Either you get married, or you, Zhenya, leave.” Laura was charming, played the piano perfectly, could turn anyone's head. She then left the Tbilisi Polytechnic, where she studied at the Faculty of Chemistry, transferred to the Institute. Mendeleev and left for Moscow. They celebrated the wedding in Moscow, in a narrow circle. She and Zhenya lived modestly: they rented a corner in the janitor's room. When the first-born son Sasha was born, he was brought to his grandmother - Anna Yakovlevna ... Laura was always close to Zhenya. I went with my beloved to Egypt, where he was sent as a correspondent. Despite a congenital heart defect and the doctors' ban on having a second child, after returning from Egypt she made her husband happy with her daughter Nana. When in 1999, eight months after Primakov's appointment as prime minister, he dismissed him, the politician as if nothing had happened went to a hockey game. But the family is another matter. He was not so worried about a single political situation as the death of his son.

“Alexander died at the age of 26,” recalls Nana Dimitriadi. - Handsome, graduated from MGIMO, completed an internship in the USA. But during the May Day demonstration he felt bad ... When the autopsy was done, it turned out that the guy had two microinfarctions. Six months before, there was dark story in Moscow. He went out with a friend to smoke, and he was beaten. Sasha then had to restore his nose ...

Another unpleasant story that happened to Sasha is the loss of his dissertation. It is possible that these events caused heart problems.

Nana, like her parents, was very worried about her brother's death. In his honor she named her eldest daughter Alexandra. “Zhenya started drinking then,” says Tamara Chelidze, a friend of the Primakov family. - I spent long hours every day at the Kuntsevo cemetery. Grief brought him even closer to his friend - the director George Danelia, whose son Nikolai almost at the same time died under strange circumstances. Their sons knew each other, and they are buried in the same cemetery ... Granddaughter Sasha became a translator and photographer, and then started breeding dachshunds. She never boasted of her grandfather: she dressed simply, almost did not make up. She married a good intelligent boy - Anton Lenin. - Grandfather spoiled his granddaughter Sasha, but not so much, - said a distant relative of the Primakovs - Karina. - But to the grandson Eugene, who was born from the son of Sasha (TV journalist Evgeny Sandro. - N. M.), bought several apartments. When the grandson got divorced, the apartment remained for his wife, and a new one was bought for him.

Daughter blessed

Distant relatives of the Primakovs remember their first wife Laura as a hospitable woman who was fond of antiques and theater.

She drove an old "Zaporozhets" and did not strive to get into an expensive car, - said her Tbilisi friend Sofiko. - I attended all the general premieres. She died when she and her husband were going to the concert Gennady Khazanov... A heart. She died six years after the death of her son, in 1986. At the Kuntsevo cemetery, Yevgeny then bought four places at once. He always insisted that he wanted to be buried next to his son and wife. We were surprised that the second wife Irina recently agreed to be buried on Novodevichy. Probably, the authorities decided so ... After Laura's death, many wanted to marry him, but for a long time nothing worked until a young blue-eyed Irina appeared in his life - his personal doctor. Because of a new love, she divorced her husband. Once Irina admitted: “He looks after so beautifully! Now they don't know how. " And what poems he dedicated to her! Irina and Evgeny Maksimovich asked Nana's blessing. She was friends with Primakov's daughter, and she did not mind. When the family found out new spouse closer, they took her into the family. Interestingly, Irina's daughter from her first marriage, Anna, took the surname of Primakov. Not only a widow, children from two marriages, grandchildren, but also illegitimate offspring can claim the inheritance of Yevgeny Primakov, if he did not leave a will.- Primakov has illegitimate daughter Anya, he officially introduced her at one of his anniversaries. He helped Anya all his life. She looks like the daughter of Yevgeny Maksimovich - Nana, - shared Karina.

AND IT'S ALL WITH HIM

Remembering Yevgeny PRIMAKOV, journalists mainly noted two of his achievements. A sensational U-turn over the Atlantic on March 24, 1999 (when the Nazis dropped bombs on peaceful Yugoslavian cities) and the rescue of Russian foreign intelligence. In the fateful 1991, Primakov saved her from large-scale purges. But for some reason, not a single media outlet appreciated the initiative of Yevgeny Maksimovich as prime minister. Our observer Elena KREMENTSOVA tried to recall what Primakov managed to do as head of government in just 8 months, when the country, after the 1998 default, needed emergency reanimation. There were many merits, and perhaps the most important are these:

* Prevented recurrence of bloody October 1993. Deputies demanded resignation Yeltsin and began impeachment proceedings. There was a threat of dissolution of parliament or rejection of market relations. Primakov through compromises, he removed the tension between the president, the liberal government and the State Duma, and calmed the people.

* He did not succumb to pressure from the governors and the military-industrial complex, who demanded money from the government, and refused to turn on the printing press, preventing inflation from accelerating. * He forbade issuing loans to anyone who received and did not return them. And he kept the ruble from falling further. * He proved that the state has enough money and there is no need to increase debts. For the first time since the collapse of the USSR, his government drew up an honest budget in which revenues exceeded expenditures. * Although it devalued the ruble, it immediately adopted a number of tax measures, which benefited the village and small towns of Russia, where the remnants of the existing production were concentrated. * For the first time from August 1991, salaries and pensions were paid on time.

* Restored the work of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which after eight years of Yeltsin's reforms fell into extreme decline and served the "opportunistic political preferences" of the rarely sober head of state and his team. * He insisted on the development of Soviet Islamic studies and the expansion of domestic peaceful Islam in the Arab world. And in every possible way he promoted the interests of our country in the Middle East. For this alone, Evgeny Maksimovich earned a monument during his lifetime.

Estimate!

In 1975, Primakov brought billionaire David Rockefeller to Tbilisi. And I decided to invite him to visit his relatives. Calling his mother-in-law, Evgeny Maksimovich said: "We'll stop by in the evening!" The woman began to panic: the apartment was tidied up in a fire brigade, the table was laid, only the entrance was not repaired. Then the guards who had arrived ahead of time got out of the situation: they turned off the light in the entrance so that the walls were not visible. After evaluating the set table, Rockefeller went to the portrait of Ernest Hemingway on the wall. Moving the picture aside, he saw a faded stain on the wallpaper: "So it really hung ..."

Keep in mind

CPSU member Yevgeny Primakov was never a religious person, but at the end of his life he came to God and was baptized.

Primakov loved magic tricks

The politician showed children circus tricks

In 2000, Evgeny Maksimovich stayed with a politician Stepan Sitaryan in Yerevan, - said the businessman Narine Davtyan... - He had not only many friends among Georgians, but also Armenians. Stepan Sitaryan was my relative. Yevgeny Primakov saw that my 6-year-old son had squint. He immediately called the eye-seeker Svyatoslav Fedorov, and gave instructions to start treatment immediately. Doctors began to treat his son on time using the new methods of that time, and thanks to this, the operation was avoided. He loved children: he immediately began to show my children different tricks: circus tricks with falling coins from the sleeves. My daughter, who is fond of painting, then painted a portrait: Primakov is in a turban, and coins are falling from his sleeve. We handed it to him solemnly.

Evgeny Maksimovich Primakov was born on October 29, 1929 in Kiev - died on June 26, 2015 in Moscow. Soviet and Russian economist, orientalist-Arabist, politician and statesman, Doctor of Economics (1969), professor (1972), ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary (1996).

Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC RTI; President, Chairman of the Board of the "Mercury Club"; Head of the Center for Situational Analysis of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1979; Corresponding Member 1974). Laureate of the USSR State Prize (1980) and the Russian State Prize (2014).

Member of the CPSU since 1959. Member of the CPSU Central Committee (1989-1990; candidate member of the Central Committee in 1986-1989).

Member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, member of the Presidium of the Council under the President Russian Federation in science and education, member of the Scientific Expert Council under the Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Council on International Affairs. Chairman of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1989-1990), Head of the Central Intelligence Service of the USSR (1991), Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (1991-1996), Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (1996-1998), Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation (1998-1999 ), President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2001-2011). MP State Duma RF of the III convocation (2000-2001).

short biography Evgeny Maksimovich Primakov:

There is no official information about the father, according to unofficial published data, he was repressed three months after the birth of his son.

Mother - Kirshenblat Anna Yakovlevna (1896-1972), worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist. Immediately after the birth of the child, she returned to Tbilisi, where her family lived.

Primakov spent his childhood and youth in the capital of Georgia, but he studied in Marneuli, then left to study in Moscow.

After the seventh grade of school in 1944, he entered the naval preparatory school in Baku as a cadet, and did his internship on the training ship Pravda.

He graduated from the men's high school in Tbilisi (1948). His favorite subjects were history, literature and mathematics.

Graduated from the Arab department of the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies (1953) with a degree in regional studies in Arab countries and then graduated from the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University (1956).

In 1956, Primakov became a senior researcher at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the USSR Academy of Sciences (IMEMO).

At the invitation of Sergey Kaverin, editor-in-chief of the Arabic edition of the Main Directorate of Radio Broadcasting to Foreign Countries, Primakov joined this editorial office. From 1956 to 1962, he worked at the USSR State Television and Radio Broadcasting as a correspondent, executive editor, deputy editor-in-chief, editor-in-chief of broadcasting to Arab countries.

In 1957 he made his first trip to the East - a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea.

In 1959 he defended his Ph.D. thesis "Export of capital to some Arab countries - a means of ensuring monopoly high profits", candidate of economic sciences.

From September to December 1962, he was a senior researcher at IMEMO. In 1962, due to a conflict with curators from the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU, he submitted an application for dismissal of his own free will.

Since 1962, he worked in the Pravda newspaper as a literary employee, columnist for the Asia and Africa department, since 1965 - Pravda correspondent in the Middle East with a stay in Cairo (where he spent four years), deputy editor of the Asia and Africa department. While serving in the Middle East, he met with politicians: Zuein, Nimeiri. In 1969, during a trip to Baghdad, he met Saddam Hussein, and later met one of his close associates - Tariq Aziz, who at that time was the chief editor of the newspaper "Al-Thawra". During this period, he made many trips to northern Iraq, often visiting the winter residence of the leader of the Kurdish rebels, Massoud Barzani.

In 1969 he defended his dissertation on the topic "Social and economic development Egypt ”, becoming a Doctor of Economics.

In 1977-1985 - Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, since 1979 - at the same time professor of the Diplomatic Academy.

1985-1989 - Director of IMEMO of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Academician-secretary of the Department of Economics, since 1988 - Department of World Economy and International Relations, member of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

In February 1988 he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. 1989-1991 - People's Deputy of the USSR. 1989-1990 - Chairman of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. 1990-1991 - Member of the Presidential Council of the USSR. He was a member of M. S. Gorbachev's inner circle.

Since March 1991 - Member of the Security Council of the USSR. On August 21, 1991, he flew to Gorbachev in Foros as part of a delegation headed by the Vice-President of the RSFSR Alexander Rutskoi.

From September 30, 1991 - head of the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR - First Deputy Chairman of the KGB. He refused the rank of general.

In September 1993, he did not support the anti-constitutional decree of President Yeltsin on the dissolution of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet.

January 9, 1996 was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia. The name of Primakov is associated with Russia's transition from Atlanticism to a course towards a multi-vector foreign policy. Diplomat Alexei Fedotov noted that being in this post, Primakov "returned dignity to Russia's foreign policy and its diplomatic service." The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, E.M. Primakov, pursued a deliberate foreign policy, under him Russia developed partner relations with the countries of the West and the East equally.

On September 10, 1998, President Boris Yeltsin nominated Yevgeny Primakov for the post of Prime Minister of Russia. On September 11, 1998, Primakov's candidacy was approved by the State Duma, 315 out of 450 deputies voted for him, including the opposition faction of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Before being appointed prime minister, he received an offer from Viktor Chernomyrdin to become his first deputy and gave his consent, but the State Duma did not support the appointment of Viktor Chernomyrdin as prime minister. Refusing for the first time, he subsequently accepted Yeltsin's offer to head the government after the latter refused the same offer to Yuri Maslyukov, stating that he was ready to work as first deputy for Prime Minister Primakov.

Speaking on September 16, 1998 at an enlarged meeting of the Collegium of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Primakov said that the arguments about some kind of "red revenge", "the end of reforms" had no basis whatsoever.

On March 24, 1999, Primakov went to Washington on an official visit. Over the Atlantic, he learned by telephone from US Vice President Al Gore that a decision had been made to bomb Yugoslavia. Primakov decided to cancel the visit, ordered the plane to be turned right over the ocean, and returned to Moscow.

On May 12, 1999, Primakov was dismissed from the post of Prime Minister. The resignation of Primakov was greeted by the population sharply negatively: 81% of those surveyed by the foundation “ Public opinion”Said they did not approve of it. At the same time, the majority of the respondents expressed the opinion that the Primakov government had succeeded in achieving economic and political stabilization in Russia.

December 19, 1999 was elected to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the third convocation. Chairman of the Fatherland - All Russia faction (OVR) (2000-2001).

For two terms, from December 2001 to February 21, 2011 he served as President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

One of the leading Russian orientalists, a prominent scientist in the field of world economy and international relations, in particular, in the field of complex development of issues foreign policy Russia, studying theory and practice international conflicts and crises, studies of the world civilization process, global problems, socio-economic and political problems of developing countries.

Honorary member of the Russian Academy of Education.

On February 21, 2011, he announced his resignation from the post of President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. During a press conference on the upcoming regular congress of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Primakov recalled that he has already held the post of head of the chamber for two terms. “This is quite enough, at this congress I will not be re-elected,” he said. On March 4, at the VI Congress of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he officially resigned as president. Primakov's deputy S. Katyrin was elected the new head of the CCI.

On November 23, 2012, he was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC RTI (solutions in the field of integrated communication and security systems).

After a long illness. with state honors.

Family of Evgeny Maksimovich Primakov:

Primakov's cousin is the prominent Soviet biologist Yakov Davidovich Kirshenblat.

In 1951, Primakov married a student of the Georgian Polytechnic Institute Laura Vasilievna Kharadze (1930-1987), the adopted daughter of the NKVD general M.M. Gvishiani.

Children - son Alexander (died in 1981 of a heart attack) and daughter Nana, from whom E.M. Primakov has two granddaughters. Grandson from son - Evgeny Alexandrovich Primakov ( creative pseudonym - Evgeny Sandro, Sandro - in honor of his father (Alexander)), correspondent for Channel One and Russia24, orientalist.

Widow - Irina Borisovna, therapist, formerly the attending physician E.M. Primakova.

The main works of Evgeny Maksimovich Primakov:

"The Countries of Arabia and Colonialism" (1956);
“International conflicts of the sixties and seventies” (1972, et al.);
"Egypt: The Time of President Nasser" (1974, 2nd ed. 1981; in collaboration with IP Belyaev);
The Middle East: Five Paths to Peace (1974);
Energy Crisis: The Approach of Soviet Scientists (1974);
Energy Crisis in the Capitalist World (1975, editor);
Anatomy of the Middle East Conflict (1978);
"New Phenomena in the Energy Sector of the Capitalist World" (1979);
"East after the collapse of the colonial system" (1982);
"East: the turn of the 80s" (1983);
“The story of one conspiracy: US Middle East policy in the 70s - early. 80s. " (1985);
"Essays on the history of Russian foreign intelligence" (in 6 vols, 1996);
Years in Big Politics (1999);
"Eight months plus ..." (2001);
The World After 9/11 (2002);
Confidential: The Middle East on Stage and Behind the Scenes (2006, 2nd ed. 2012);
Politics Minefield (2006);
“A world without Russia? Where does political myopia lead ”(2009).

Yevgeny Primakov's books have been translated into many foreign languages... In particular, they were republished abroad in Chinese, Italian, English, Bulgarian, Turkish, Persian, Arabic, German, Japanese, Greek, Serbian, Macedonian, Romanian, French and other languages.

The ex-prime minister of Russia hid his real father all his life

Only in his last autobiographical book did Yevgeny PRIMAKOV shed light on his childhood. The former politician and intelligence officer calls a certain NEMCHENKO a father. Before that, in various sources, there were other surnames - KIRSHENBLAT and BUKHARIN. Express Gazeta conducted its own investigation.

In his memoirs, Yevgeny Primakov wrote: “My father's surname is Nemchenko - my mother told me about it. I've never seen him. Their paths with their mother parted, in 1937 he was shot. From birth I bore my mother's surname - Primakov. "
In Tbilisi, where Yevgeny Maksimovich's childhood passed partially, his distant relatives and friends remained. It was they who told the truth about the "secret father" of the former prime minister and head of foreign intelligence.

Committed suicide

Primakov has a dash in the “Paternity” column in his birth certificate. According to relatives, Yevgeny Maksimovich's mother, Anna Yakovlevna, in her youth, married an engineer Maksim Rosenberg, therefore the son's patronymic is Maksimovich. Primakov, however, did not mention this name in his memoirs.
- Because of this, a dash and many versions have appeared, - says an elderly Tbilisi friend of the family Tamara Chelidze. - In one book they wrote that Evgeny Maksimovich was Bukharin's son. This was suggested after Primakov said that his biological father had been shot in 1937. Some external similarities between both confirmed this version. However, the same complete nonsense version is that his father is the doctor David Kirshenblat.
Kirshenblat's great-granddaughter, whose mother grew up with Yevgeny, shared her memories.
“Primakov is his mother’s surname,” says Karina. - Evgeny Maksimovich writes everywhere that my mother was called Anna Yakovlevna, but her relatives called her Hanoi. And his maternal grandmother was called Berta Abramovna. Khana was a famous gynecologist in Tbilisi. For some reason, Evgeny Maksimovich also changed his place of birth: he was born not in Kiev, but in Moscow.
According to relatives, Kirshenblat still had something to do with Eugene. He lost his wife early and married the governess of his two children, Faina, who had a sister, Khana, Primakov's mother. Since Zhenya's mother had only an 11-meter room in a communal apartment, he grew up in his aunt's house.

Kirshenblat treated Zhenya like his own, - assures Karina. - And the mother's husband, Maxim Rosenberg, Evgeny Maksimovich does not mention for certain reasons. The fact is that Khana and Maxim did not have children for a long time. And she, as her mother said, had an affair with another man. When Zhenya was nine months old, Rosenberg committed suicide. The tragedy happened during a family dinner: Hana and Maxim had a fight, the husband got up from the table, ran down the corridor and jumped out of the window. Kirshenblat was just returning home and found Maxim's body on the street: he died in his arms. Khan after the death of Maxim never married again. But she was a bright woman ...

The "Jewish trace" pursued Primakov. During the years of perestroika, denunciations were written against him more than once. So, at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Yevgeny Maksimovich was accused of involvement in the Zionist conspiracy. “Anti-Semitism has always been a tool for persecuting stupid party officials,” wrote Yevgeny Maksimovich. - I have always been alien to both chauvinism and nationalism. I still do not believe that God chose any nation to the detriment of others. He chose us all, whom he created in his own image and likeness ... "
Evgeny Maksimovich did not spread about his relatives who emigrated to Israel, but after the end of his political career he visited and supported.

Beat fans of Laura

Primakov met his first wife in Tbilisi. Laura grew up in the family of her father's sister, the opera singer Nadezhda Kharadze, and her husband, conductor Alexis Dimitriadi, since her parents were shot.
“At the age of 14, Zhenya entered the Baku Naval School, but fell ill and returned to Tbilisi,” said Laura's cousin, professor at the conservatory Nana Dimitriadi. - Therefore, he finished school with us. And when he entered the Institute of Oriental Languages \u200b\u200bat Moscow State University, everyone was perplexed. From Moscow he often came to Tbilisi, where he had friends. Zhenya was familiar with Laura, and became close on vacation in Gagra. They were 19 then. He often fought over Laura. Once my mother could not stand it and said: "Either you get married, or you, Zhenya, are leaving."
Laura was charming, played the piano beautifully, could turn anyone's head. She then left the Tbilisi Polytechnic, where she studied at the Faculty of Chemistry, transferred to the Institute. Mendeleev and left for Moscow. They celebrated the wedding in Moscow, in a narrow circle. She and Zhenya lived modestly: they rented a corner in the janitor's room. When the first-born son Sasha was born, he was brought to his grandmother - Anna Yakovlevna ...
Laura was always close to Zhenya. I went with my beloved to Egypt, where he was sent as a correspondent. Despite a congenital heart defect and the prohibition of doctors to give birth to a second child, after returning from Egypt, she made her husband happy with her daughter Nana.
When Boris Yeltsin dismissed him in 1999, eight months after Primakov's appointment as prime minister, the politician went to a hockey game as if nothing had happened. But family is another matter. He was not so worried about a single political situation as the death of his son.

Alexander died at the age of 26, Nana Dimitriadi recalls. - Handsome, graduated from MGIMO, completed an internship in the USA. But during the May Day demonstration he felt bad ... When the autopsy was done, it turned out that the guy had two microinfarctions. Six months earlier, a dark story had taken place in Moscow. He went out with a friend to smoke, and he was beaten. Sasha then had to restore his nose ...

Another unpleasant story that happened to Sasha is the loss of his dissertation. It is possible that these events caused heart problems.
Nana, like her parents, was very worried about her brother's death. In his honor, she named her eldest daughter Alexandra.
“Zhenya started drinking then,” says Tamara Chelidze, a friend of the Primakov family. - I spent long hours every day at the Kuntsevo cemetery. Grief brought him even closer to his friend - director Georgy Danelia, whose son Nikolai died almost at the same time under strange circumstances. Their sons knew each other, and they are buried in the same cemetery ...
Granddaughter Sasha became a translator and photographer, and then started breeding dachshunds. She never boasted of her grandfather: she dressed simply, almost did not make up. She married a good intelligent boy - Anton Lenin.
- Grandfather spoiled his granddaughter Sasha, but not so much, - said a distant relative of the Primakovs - Karina. - But the grandson Eugene, who was born from the son of Sasha (TV journalist Eugene Sandro. - NM), bought several apartments. When the grandson got divorced, the apartment remained for his wife, and a new one was bought for him.

Daughter blessed

Distant relatives of the Primakovs remember their first wife Laura as a hospitable woman who was fond of antiques and theater.
“She drove an old Zaporozhets car and didn’t try to get into an expensive car,” said her Tbilisi friend Sofiko. - I attended all the general premieres. She died when she and her husband were going to go to the concert of Gennady Khazanov. A heart. She died six years after the death of her son, in 1986. At the Kuntsevo cemetery, Evgeny then bought four places at once. He always insisted that he wanted to be buried next to his son and wife. We were surprised that the second wife Irina recently agreed to be buried on Novodevichy. Probably, the authorities decided so ...
After Laura's death, many wanted to marry him, but for a long time nothing worked, until the young blue-eyed Irina appeared in his life - his personal doctor. Because of a new love, she divorced her husband. Once Irina admitted: “He looks after so beautifully! Now they don't know how. " And what poems he dedicated to her! Irina and Evgeniy Maksimovich asked Nana's blessing. She was friends with Primakov's daughter, and she did not mind. When the relatives got to know the new spouse closer, they took her into the family. Interestingly, Irina's daughter from her first marriage, Anna, took the surname Primakov.
In the event that he did not leave a will, Yevgeny Primakov's inheritance can be claimed not only by a widow, children from two marriages, grandchildren, but also illegitimate offspring.
- Primakov has an illegitimate daughter, Anya, he officially introduced her at one of his anniversaries. He helped Anya all his life. She looks like the daughter of Yevgeny Maksimovich - Nana, - shared Karina.

AND IT'S ALL WITH HIM

Remembering Yevgeny PRIMAKOV, journalists mainly noted two of his achievements. A sensational U-turn over the Atlantic on March 24, 1999 (when the Nazis dropped bombs on peaceful Yugoslav cities) and the rescue of Russian foreign intelligence. In the fateful 1991, Primakov saved her from large-scale purges. But for some reason not a single media outlet appreciated the initiative of Yevgeny Maksimovich as prime minister. Our observer Elena KREMENTSOVA tried to recall what Primakov managed to do as head of government in just 8 months, when the country, after the 1998 default, needed emergency resuscitation. There were many merits, and perhaps the most important are these:

* Prevented recurrence of bloody October 1993. The deputies demanded Yeltsin's resignation and began impeachment proceedings. There was a threat of dissolution of parliament or rejection of market relations. Primakov, through compromises, relieved the tension between the president, the liberal government and the State Duma, and calmed the people.
* He resisted the pressure of the governors and the military-industrial complex, who demanded money from the government, and refused to turn on the printing press, preventing inflation from accelerating.
* Forbidden to issue loans to anyone who received them and did not return. And he kept the ruble from falling further.
* He proved that the state has enough money and there is no need to increase debts. For the first time since the collapse of the USSR, his government drew up an honest budget in which revenues exceeded expenditures.
* Although he devalued the ruble, he immediately took a number of tax measures, which benefited the village and small towns of Russia, where the remnants of the existing production were concentrated.
* For the first time since August 1991, salaries and pensions have been paid on time.
* Restored the work of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia, which after eight years of Yeltsin's reforms fell into extreme decline and served the "opportunistic political preferences" of the rarely sober head of state and his team.
* He insisted on the development of Soviet Islamic studies and the expansion of domestic peaceful Islam to the countries of the Arab world. And in every possible way he promoted the interests of our country in the Middle East.
For this alone, Evgeny Maksimovich earned a monument during his lifetime.

Estimate!
In 1975, Primakov brought billionaire David Rockefeller to Tbilisi. And I decided to invite him to visit his relatives. Calling his mother-in-law, Evgeny Maksimovich said: "We'll stop by in the evening!" The woman began to panic: the apartment was tidied up in a fire brigade, the table was laid, only the entrance was not repaired. Then the guards who had arrived ahead of time got out of the situation: they turned off the light in the entrance so that the walls were not visible. After evaluating the set table, Rockefeller went to the portrait of Ernest Hemingway on the wall. Moving the picture aside, he saw a faded stain on the wallpaper: "So it really hung ..."

Keep in mind
CPSU member Yevgeny Primakov was never a religious person, but at the end of his life he came to God and was baptized.

Primakov loved magic tricks

The politician showed children circus tricks

In 2000, Yevgeny Maksimovich stayed with the politician Stepan Sitaryan in Yerevan, ”said businessman Narine Davtyan. - Stepan Sitaryan was my relative. Yevgeny Primakov saw that my 6-year-old son had squint. He immediately called the eye doctor Svyatoslav Fedorov and gave instructions to start treatment immediately. Doctors began to treat his son on time using the new methods of that time, and thanks to this, the operation was avoided. He loved children: he immediately began to show my children different tricks: circus tricks with falling coins from the sleeves. My daughter, who is fond of painting, then painted a portrait: Primakov is in a turban, and coins are falling from his sleeve. We handed it to him solemnly.

Yevgeny Primakov is a well-known Russian statesman and political figure, an orientalist, an economist who has made a disproportionate contribution to the economic, political and scientific sectors of the Russian Federation. From 1991 to 1996, he headed the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, from 1996 to 1998 he served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, in 1998-99 he was the Chairman of the Russian Government. Over the next ten years, from 2001 to 2011, he was President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Childhood and youth

Primakov Yevgeny Maksimovich was born on October 29, 1929 in Kiev, but after three months after birth, together with his mother Anna Yakovlevna Kirshenblat became a "victim" of Stalinist repressions, in connection with which they had to leave hometown and move to Tbilisi to stay with relatives.

Young Eugene never saw his father and knew nothing about him; he was brought up by a single mother who lived only for her son. It is known that the mother of the future Prime Minister of the Russian Federation was a professional obstetrician-gynecologist and devoted her whole life to this profession.

Primakov's childhood passed in a 14-meter communal apartment without basic amenities, but the boy was always well-fed and dressed, despite the difficult war time - the mother worked two jobs to provide her son with everything he needed.

Due to the full employment of his mother, young Zhenya was left to himself, walking on the street with the guys all day, but this did not prevent him from reaching colossal heights in the political firmament in the future. modern Russia and become a worthy citizen of your country.

After graduating from 7 classes high school, the future head of the Russian Foreign Ministry decided to enter the naval preparatory school in Baku, but after two courses of study he was expelled from the ranks of cadets for health reasons - then Primakov was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis. In this regard, the guy had to return to the school desk to get a complete secondary education.

Thanks to the tireless efforts and care of his mother, Eugene managed to overcome a terrible illness. In 1948, the young man successfully graduated from male school No. 14 in Tbilisi. In view of the fact that he was a good and diligent student at school, he was able to enter the prestigious Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies “without cronyism”.

After graduation, Yevgeny Primakov continued his studies and in 1956 graduated from the Faculty of Economics, postgraduate study at Moscow State University. In 1959 he defended his thesis and became a candidate of economic sciences.

Career

Yevgeny Primakov's career began in the Arabic edition of the Main Directorate of Radio Broadcasting to foreign countries, in which he rose from an ordinary correspondent to editor-in-chief. In journalism, the future prime minister of the Russian Federation worked until 1970, after which Primakov's biography changed its direction towards science.

Then Evgeny Maksimovich took the post of Deputy Director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, and 7 years later he headed the Institute of Oriental Studies, while being a professor at the Diplomatic Academy and academician-secretary of the Department of Economics and the Department of World Economy and International Relations.

In 1989, the first political star appeared on the horizon of Primakov's career, and he rapidly entered global world politics. At the beginning, he was elected a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, and literally a year later he became a member of the Presidential Council, where, with his participation, many serious issues related to the development of dangerous events, situations, and conflicts were resolved.

After the 1991 coup, Yevgeny Primakov became chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Council, first of the USSR and then of Russia, while he served as the first deputy chairman of the KGB of the USSR. In 1996, Yevgeny Maksimovich was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, which brought him tremendous success in the political arena.

Then he managed to conduct successful negotiations with the countries of the Middle East and receive many incoherent loans in the amount of $ 3 billion, which were very necessary for the country at that time.

In 1996, Primakov became the prime minister of the Russian Federation under the then current president. In this position, Evgeny Maksimovich also clearly showed his professionalism, since he had a lot of receptions, meetings and negotiations with high-ranking representatives european countries, which due to Yeltsin's illness he had to carry out on his own.

In 2001, at an extraordinary congress of the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Primakov was elected its president. Until 2011, Primakov remained the unchanged head of the RF CCI. In this field, Evgeny Maksimovich focused all his vast experience and scientific potential.

Thanks to his colossal achievements, he was considered the world authority of the state and public figure, contributing to the implementation of large programs of federal significance.

In 2008, the ex-minister of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation became a member of the RAS Presidium and became an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Education. Evgeny Maksimovich is one of the leading Russian orientalists, a prominent scholar in the field of international relations, foreign policy and the economy of Russia.

Personal life

Yevgeny Primakov's personal life, like his career, has sharp turns and unpleasant events. He was married twice, has a daughter, two granddaughters and a grandson. His first wife was Laura Kharadze, the adopted daughter of an NKVD general. Yevgeny Maksimovich married her in 1951 while still a graduate student. The famous politician lived 36 happy years with his first wife, but in 1987 Primakov became a widower.

From his first marriage, Yevgeny Maksimovich had a son, Alexander, who died suddenly at a young age from a heart attack, and a daughter, Nana. Primakov's son was left with his only grandson, Yevgeny, who works under the pseudonym Sandro (in honor of his father) as a correspondent for Channel One, and his daughter gave politics to two charming granddaughters.

7 years after the death of his first wife, the politician's heart opened up again towards love, and he married his doctor Irina Borisovna a second time, with whom he walked hand in hand along a difficult career path until the end of his days.

In addition to politics and science, Primakov showed himself brightly in literature. He is the author of numerous articles and books on political and economic topics. In addition, Evgeny Maksimovich was fond of poetry and wrote poetry himself.

Death

On June 26, 2015, a prominent politician Yevgeny Primakov at the age of 85. According to media reports, the former Russian Foreign Minister died of cancer. The entire Russian elite mourns for the largest political figure who has devoted his entire life to the development of society and the economy of the Russian Federation.

According to friends and associates of the former Prime Minister of Russia, with the death of Primakov, “the era of conscience, honesty and statehood in new Russia". The President of Russia and the Prime Minister personally expressed condolences to the relatives of the deceased politician who created the history of the Russian Federation.

According to leading scientific and statesmen Russia all the criteria and goals scientific creativity Yevgenia Primakov will continue to be guidelines for the development of various sectors of our state.

What has not been written about Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov during his life. But one line in the thin "Case history": "The request to convince the patient to undergo medical examination because he has not been for a preventive examination for years" 16 years ago played an unexpected - matrimonial - role in his fate. The wife of the former director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister of the country, and now President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Irina Borisovna Primakova is giving an interview to the press for the first time and especially for Izvestia. Marina Zavada and Yuri Kulikov met with her.

izvestia: Did you have a period when it seemed that nothing good in life could be anymore?

Irina Primakova: Of course, like any living person. I was about forty - a crisis age, for a woman some fateful date. The feeling that now everything would only go downhill did not leave. Family life falling apart. And at the same time everything fell apart and collapsed in the country. It was the end of the 80s. I lived in one of the alleys on Chistye Prudy, and in front of my house many buildings were broken. Imagine: chilly autumn, ruins on the site of once wonderful mansions, aunts trading on every corner ... And the bitter book I read - Bunin's "Cursed Days" fell into such a mood ... What can I say, many of us were then in a state of anxious depression.

izvestia: Evgeny Maksimovich suffered heavy losses: the death of an adult son, his wife Laura, with whom he lived for 36 years.

Primakov: 37, no crumbs ...

izvestia: But you, too, "passed the palisade of tests." Remember this line from the poem dedicated to you by the patient Primakov?

Primakova: This is a metaphor. Or hyperbole (laughs). Because I had an ordinary life of an ordinary Soviet woman.

izvestia: But maybe, as a person who is not indifferent to you, Evgeny Maksimovich perceived something sharply subjectively?

Irina Primakova: I guess what he meant. I have never worked in any other medical system besides the Fourth Directorate. The patients were commanding people. Difficult in the service and, accordingly, in everyday life, in communication with the doctor. Probably, the observant Primakov called my efforts to find contact with such a complex contingent "the palisade of trials."

izvestia: Did you annoy the arrogance, arrogance?

Primakova: I'll leave that out of brackets. A doctor should not speak ill of patients. Even without surnames. A sick person does not have a good character. At one time, a very experienced doctor, Valentina Mikhailovna Lapenkova, said to the embarrassed resident doctors who were first brought to the clinic of the Fourth Directorate: "Get away from who is in front of you. The patient's position remains outside the hospital's doorstep. Otherwise, you will be nervous and make medical mistakes." It really sunk into my soul.

izvestia: You were probably "enlightened" through and through before hiring?

Primakova: I cannot say that there were special checks. Filled out detailed questionnaires, passed interviews. I studied at the Stavropol Medical Institute ...

izvestia: Where is Gorbachev's daughter and son-in-law?

Primakova: They were three or four years younger than me. Of course, I saw Irina. The daughter of the first secretary of the regional party committee could not not know at the institute. A quiet, modest girl, she did an excellent job. I have nothing more to say about her. Soon I left Stavropol. As a university graduate with honors, I was offered to enter the Moscow residency. When the distribution commission was informed that the residency was at the Fourth Main Directorate, I was frightened. For some reason I decided that it was connected with the police. The name sounded too harsh.

No, up to some seventh knees I was not tested. My mother comes from a family of repressed people. Her father was shot as an "enemy of the people". Mother's mother, Baba Vera, served time in the camps, then painfully searched for children, who were scattered to various orphanages. She showed me a piece of paper about my grandfather's rehabilitation. All that is left of a person. A terrible feeling ... But I mean that people like me were already taken to the Fourth Directorate at that time.

In Moscow, she married her colleague, a radiologist. Both were sent to the Barvikha sanatorium. You passed by when you were driving to our dacha. A daughter was born. Nine or ten years later, I was appointed head of the special department of the sanatorium, where general secretaries, members of the Politburo, and ministers were treated. I sigh heavily because I hate administrative work. I'll say impudently: I coped well with her. But I love to be responsible for myself, I was burdened by the need to command ... In general, the days went on as usual. And suddenly a patient appears on whose medical record is written: "Primakov Evgeny Maksimovich."

izvestia: It is known what a routine meeting in a clinical sanatorium has become for the attending physician ...

Primakova: You know, at the beginning, neither me, nor, obviously, he had any kind of shock. Another doctor, another patient ... The only thing that stood out from the ranks was his kind of "medical history" with meager records of the same type: "Invited for prophylactic medical examination. Did not appear", "Request to come for a prophylactic examination. Did not appear." Apparently, the doctors were reprimanded for the fact that the patient categorically did not visit the polyclinic: "While staying at the Barvikha sanatorium, please convince the patient to undergo medical examination, since he has not been for a routine examination for years."

izvestia: Was Yevgeny Maksimovich's indifference to his health related to recent losses?

Primakova: And this. And what kind of busy person, healthy, normal man will run, check himself? In my opinion, normal people behave this way. They go to the doctor when they get sick.

I don't know what prompted Primakov to come to "Barvikha". Probably, someone told him: there is an opportunity to live in a sanatorium and be examined without stopping work. But I guess so, because he was not going to examine himself. In the morning Evgeny Maksimovich was swimming in the pool. I think this is the main thing that kept him at Barvikha. He loves to sail like a frustrated sailor. Then he immediately left for work. We were allowed to do this, it was only necessary to inform the staff on duty. Came back late, God knows when. I had supper and went to bed. Actually, he behaved like in a hotel during a business trip. And since he was a widow, he was probably solving some of his everyday problems along the way. Roughly speaking, a glass of tea, hot food ...

Despite his busy schedule, I firmly decided to convince Primakov to undergo a medical examination. He rejected for a long time and reluctantly gave up under the onslaught of the main argument: banal examinations would take no more than half an hour a day.

izvestia: Did the nurse take the handle?

Primakova: I took the handle. Joint trips were accompanied by humorous conversations, so the entire medical examination was carried out imperceptibly. Evgeny Maksimovich stayed at Barvikha for a week at most. Well, did you stay? I spent the night. Leaving, he asked for my work phone number: "If you have any questions, can I contact you?" - "You are welcome". A few days later - a call: "Irina Borisovna, in my current position (he was elected a candidate member of the Politburo - Izvestia), I am entitled to a personal doctor. Would you like to become one?"

I answered with lightning speed: "Yes". - "Thank you. All the best," - and hung up. And I was left to sit almost dumbfounded: "Lord, why did I, without weighing anything, immediately give my consent?" Maybe the whole point is that it was already more than seven in the evening and I was very tired? During the day, a lot of unpleasant situations accumulated: a leaking pipe, a scandal between nurses, a call "on the carpet" to the chief doctor ... And a whole stack of "case histories" in front of me. Or something else, while the unconscious prompted me to agree so readily? In any case, I immediately regretted what I had done.

But it was too late. The next morning I was informed that a call came from the Office. At 24 hours I changed my status: I became the personal doctor of Primakov and his family.

izvestia: Do you think Evgeny Maksimovich offered you to become his attending physician, because something had already stirred in his soul?

Primakova: I asked him about this later. Yes, he says, he felt sympathy. Perhaps trust. But he is not like me, headlong, made a decision. I consulted with my doctor friends. Then a very close friend of Primakov, Academician Vladimir Ivanovich Burakovsky, was alive. I talked with him, with another academician - Armen Bunatyan, he is an anesthesiologist-resuscitator. With David Iosifovich Ioseliani, now the chief cardiologist of Moscow, director of the Institute of Interventional Cardiology. Now they are my close friends, but then they seemed like celestials. Two candidates were rejected: a sanitary doctor (from the medical reserve for such cases) and a resuscitator. Burakovsky joked: "It's too early to resuscitate you. We need a good therapist." And then it dawned on Primakov: a good therapist was at Barvikha. I called. And I became like a shadow. Like a guard. Only the guards have shift work, and the doctor must be ready 24 hours a day at any time of the day or night (pause).

izvestia: Well?

Primakova: Yes, actually, that's all (laughs).

izvestia: And then?

Primakova: Are you interested in how the novel began (laughs)? Somehow it gradually began ... By that time, there was already a crack in my personal life. The marriage was quietly dying. We got married for love. But they turned out to be very different - in character, in temperament. He is a good man and, I hope, happier in his second marriage than with me. We did not arrange scandals, we spared the child. We lived like two strangers - each with his own life. He's on duty, I'm at home; I'm on duty, he's at home.

And literally a month after I was transferred to Primakov as a personal doctor, a delegation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR made a trip to several American states. The group included Sobchak, academician Yablokov, the famous violinist Liana Isakadze and other completely non-standard people. Evgeny Maksimovich did not need my medical help, so I did not feel like a doctor on a business trip. In fact, she turned out to be mesmerized by the viewer and for the first time looked at Primakov through the eyes of a woman. He performed brilliantly, especially when he was in the mood. He lit up, spoke recklessly, witty. I was fascinated by what the Americans were also delighted with: they were probably the first to discover that a Soviet party leader could be free, liberated, superbly educated and convincing.

izvestia: Do you remember that in The Master and Margarita the heroine begins to flirt with Azazello after he turns away and accurately shoots the seven of spades? "She had a passion for all people who do something great," Bulgakov writes. You too?

Primakova: A little differently. First of all, the mind conquers me. Whatever man is, if he is not smart - that's all. In America, Primakov was undoubtedly the brightest person in our delegation.

izvestia: And Sobchak?

Primakova: No. Not at all. A very peculiar person, a clear mind, but narcissism ... We have an expression (both in my parental family and in the family of Yevgeny Maksimovich): a person is not of my blood type. Sobchak is not a person of my blood type. And Primakov is mine. And even (laughs) my Rh factor.

izvestia: When Evgeny Maksimovich wrote these verses for you:

Doctor, it's good that you are near
It's not even about medicine
Maybe more important by an order of magnitude
That your eyes are blue-blue?

Primakova: It was - now I'm going to strain - 1991. The second year of our acquaintance. Egypt. Cairo. In the evening Primakov gathered almost the entire team at the hotel - assistants, security officers, a doctor ... Something like summing up the day. Usually it all ended with a tea party. And in one of these relaxed gatherings, Evgeny Maksimovich says: "In my opinion, I wrote a wonderful poem. Let me read it?" And he reads these lines in front of everyone.

I was stunned, embarrassed - I don't know how to formulate my feelings more precisely. But, believe me, I didn't take it at all as a declaration of love. Firstly, because it was read in front of everyone, and secondly, no matter what happens in our souls, no words on this score have ever been said.

izvestia: And no hints?

Primakova: No, no.

izvestia: Gallant invitations? For example, to the theater?

Primakova: What are you ?! Save and have mercy. I don't know if it crossed his mind, but I would refuse. No, no and NO.

izvestia: But Yevgeny Maksimovich did not accidentally read the poem in public?

Primakova: I think so. Tête-à-tête he would have been more stressed. That would definitely look like an explanation.

izvestia: Still, I wanted to say something ...

Primakova: Apparently I wanted to say something. But I did not ask ... After a while, as if in passing, she dropped: "Will you give me a poem as a keepsake?" He replied: "It is in my draft, everything is crossed out. I will rewrite it for you." - "No need to rewrite. Let it be as it is. It's even more pleasant." He says, "Good." And he gave it away. Since then, of course, I have kept it.

izvestia: You probably experienced a special upsurge all this time?

Primakova: I would not say that I flew. I was married. This may seem ridiculous to some, but since I'm married, everything else is impossible. Or you need to change your life radically, leave your husband and get closer to your loved one. Or continue to live with your husband, but not bring someone you like closer. And this painful responsibility for the child! Anya was ten then. I set myself a lot of restrictions: it is impossible, unacceptable, sinful. Only a doctor is a patient, a patient is a doctor. Everything.

It was only after the putsch, when the institution of personal doctors was abolished, that a turning point came in our relations. He began to call: "Let's go to the theater." Why not? "Would you like to go to a concert?" With pleasure. "I have been invited to visit Burakovsky. He would like to see you too." Thanks. This kind of "accompaniment" quietly developed into a closer relationship.

izvestia: Judging by the significant time gap between writing a heartfelt poem and a solid decision to get married (three years - we calculated), it was difficult. Who was more in doubt? Which of you, excuse me, was more cowardly?

Primakova: I think it's on an equal footing. Only the reasons for cowardice each had their own. Evgeny Maksimovich was very much stopped by the big, as he then imagined, age difference. I was scared that his family and friends might come up with a thought: I do not need a person, but what is behind this person. Position, position ... Between the words of Yevgeny Maksimovich: "Why are you leaving me? Stay" and my answer: "Yes, I will" - there were years of doubt. But, as time has shown, both his and my fears were in vain.

izvestia: Maybe you will find it indelicate (then do not answer), but with what words does the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service offer a woman a hand and a heart?

Primakova: When I had to return home, I usually sighed: "I really don't want to leave." At one of these minutes, he said: "And don't. Stay forever." That, in fact, looked like the proposal that Evgeny Maksimovich made me two years before the wedding.

I don’t know how long it would have dragged on, but we were pushed (more likely by me than by Primakov) by his close friend Grigory Iosifovich Morozov. A fantastic personality, scientist, professor, head of the IMEMO department, he was the first husband of Svetlana Stalina.

I thought that the first marriage should end first. And in what capacity Evgeny Maksimovich wants to prolong our relationship, that is his business. I told him that I was leaving the family. "Where to?" She explained: while I’ll stay with friends, and then we’ll change the apartment. He reacted instantly and unequivocally: "Come with your daughter to me."

izvestia: A beautiful novel.

Primakova: Yes? (Pause.) I never thought about it.

news: Joining a large, close-knit clan, especially in situations like yours, requires not only scrupulousness, but also a margin of patience, common sense... After all, closely closed ranks should not under pressure, but respectfully open. How it was?

Primakova: Well, when the conversation turned to living together, Yevgeny Maksimovich said: "We need to inform Nanku. She will be glad." I have a very warm relationship with Evgeny Maksimovich's daughter. Nana knew everything, understood, and I saw: she was not against our romance.

But it's one thing when a dad has, let's say, a woman, and quite another when this woman becomes his wife (she won't take the mother's place, it's impossible, but nevertheless she will turn out to be a stepmother, if you call things by their proper names in Russian). I asked: "Can I talk to Nana myself?" He was surprised: "Why?" But I needed to personally see her reaction. If Nana is happy or even indifferent to the news, this is one option. And if I feel that she does not accept me as my father's wife, then everything is over. Just as if my Anya had not accepted Yevgeny Maksimovich, I would not have been able to overstep it.

It seems that neither before nor after I experienced more excitement than on the day when I went to "confess" to Nana. She said: "Nan, Evgeny Maksimovich and I decided to live together." And I look at her. In general, Nanki's eyes are very sly, but here the face is stern and stern. Everything was cut short for me. And suddenly she burst out laughing: "Fool! I'm kidding you. It's high time for you and your dad to get married. I can't wait for this moment!" What do women do next in such situations? They begin to roar ... My Anya also treated Yevgeny Maksimovich as her own. Nobody had to cut the soul.

izvestia: Irina Borisovna, we cannot but ask the most difficult question. Did you feel that Laura Vasilievna still takes a place in Yevgeny Maksimovich's heart?

Primakova: And it continues to do so, believe me. Some people wonder how I feel about the fact that the family celebrates the day of memory of Laura Vasilievna, Laura Vasilievna's birthday, her presence is felt in the house, a photograph hangs. Why not? Why not? The man lived with a woman for 37 years, they had two children, common grief - they buried Sasha, their son. We lived half our lives together. If a man crosses out everything that came before her for the next woman, he can cross out me too.

But actually, why should we cross it out? Here are its sequels - daughter, grandchildren, how can you cross it out? The fact that Evgeny Maksimovich honors the memory of his first wife does not bother me in the least. Moreover, he has reservations, he may inadvertently turn to me: "Laur!" And I, honestly, I swear what you want, it's nice. This means that I am so organic for him that the edges are erased where I am, where she is ... I visit my mother's grave as often as the graves of Laura and Sasha. This all is mine. Equally, Evgeny Maksimovich accepted what was associated with me.

izvestiya: After your mother died two years ago, the three of you began to live with your father. Even go on vacation together. This small friendly group is like the top of a branched tree. In general, who is your family today?

Primakova: Before my dad moved in with us, my parents had already lived in Moscow for several years. It was Yevgeny Maksimovich's initiative to transport them from Stavropol. Mom was sick and I was just torn. And my husband immediately suggested: we need to persuade the parents to move here. They bought a small apartment near us. At first, it seemed like my mother felt better, but - cancer. God took pity on her - she did not suffer for long. On the day of the funeral, Yevgeny Maksimovich said: "Dad must live with us."

Who else is in our family? Oh, the clan is very large. Two daughters - Nana and Anya. Nan's husband, his parents. Unfortunately, in June we buried our son-in-law's father. Vladimir Ivanovich Bakhutashvili was an academician, immunologist, director of an institute in Tbilisi ... Also oncology. The last months of his life he was ill and died with us. Further. My brother is with all his own. Nana has two daughters: the eldest Sasha - she is 23, and the youngest - eight-year-old Maruska. She was my mother's tender darling. Then the eldest grandson - the son of the late Sasha: Zhenya Primakov Jr. His pseudonym is Yevgeny Sandro, now he is a correspondent for NTV in the Middle East. Zhenya also has a wife and also two daughters: from Nick's first marriage, Nikusha, and the second snotty - Ksenia, she turned one year old on November 28.

izvestiya: How often and for what reasons do you gather with the whole clan?

Primakova: Once a month is a must, we rarely consider it. And so, it happens, and more often - especially in summer. Celebrations when full collection is announced do not count. Usually we just call each other: we haven't seen something for a long time. We always gather at our dacha. It happens that someone jumps in parts. Let's say Nan's family has arrived. Or Zhenya the little one pulls up with all of his. They call: "We are nearby. We'll stop by for lunch." - "We wait". Sometimes everyone comes at once, up to friends and girlfriends. They sit down at a long, long table ...

izvestia: Aren't you tired of a too open house?

Primakova: No. I'm used to it. My parents' house was also hospitable and welcoming. Here Evgeny Maksimovich and I coincided strongly. Only I have roots from the Ciscaucasia, and he is from the Transcaucasia. The people there are even more hospitable (laughs). It is very rare that both I and he get tired of the abundance of people.

izvestia: At least two world celebrities - Mikhail Gorbachev and Mstislav Rostropovich - almost flaunt the fact that they are henpecked. But Primakov, as a person with Tbilisi roots, is it likely that such confessions amuse? What is the widely recognized political heavyweight in "private estates"?

Primakov: Nobody even jokingly calls him "henpecked". In general, Evgeny Maksimovich is not at all what it seems on the TV screen. In life, he is a sociable and warm person. Returns from work late. We are waiting for him with dinner. All amicably sit down at the table: he, the security officer on duty, the driver ("attached" under Evgeny Maksimovich for fifteen years. During this time, they became essentially family members), my dad and I. We have a long, thorough dinner.

Another evening ritual before Evgeny Maksimovich goes up to his office and works for two hours is the TV. Watching news programs with dad, boxing, football, tennis ...

izvestia: Do you sit down next to me?

Primakova: God forbid! Hate. My favorite channel is Culture.

izvestia: Are they getting noisy?

Primakova: Well, they react somehow.

izvestia: Are you angry: "Make it quieter"?

Primakova: Even if it's loud, I don't care. Our tastes do not coincide with films either. For me, melodrama is better, and Evgeny Maksimovich prefers action films ... If a husband needs to prepare a book or an article, it's all at the expense of night time or on weekends. We have mountains, rubble of drafts. Recently, when getting rid of old folders, I say: "Well, at least leave something." Laughs: "Are you afraid they will dispute what you wrote yourself?"

It's good that we live in the country - all year round we sleep with the window open, and some of the oxygen gets to him. It's hard to get people to go for a walk. Despite the fact that I am a doctor, I cannot adapt anyone to healthy way life. It can be seen because it is not adapted itself. I always somehow feel sorry for the time, seemingly wasted aimlessly walking back and forth. But here I am absolutely wrong. Walking is useful.

izvestia: Is the food in your house a priority, tasty or, as is fashionable now, healthy?

Primakova: Rather tasty. We try (especially young people, young ladies) to take care of ourselves. But these are timid attempts. TO separate food I am generally skeptical. Humanity before us for so many centuries ate everything together and for some reason did not die out. Excessiveness is harmful.

izvestia: Every person from time to time needs what the famous English writer called "my starry solitude". Star loneliness, total solitude. What do you do when all alone?

Primakova: This is such a blissful time. Let me explain why. Good book in solitude, when you can not be distracted, deepen, concentrate - a refined pleasure. I read different things according to my mood. More often - classics. For example, from French - Zola. This subtle connoisseur of human souls was well versed in medicine. Zola has a classically described gouty attack, when a person ate goose liver pate, drank red wine, got incredible pleasure from it, and the next day woke up with terribly swollen joints.

izvestia: How do you react to the fact that women like your husband? Moreover - "trying to please them", which he jokingly admitted to us a year and a half ago in an interview?

Primakova: Why - jokingly? At the sight of a young beautiful woman, Evgeny Maksimovich is transformed. And he does it unconsciously. I realized that it is pointless to be offended.

izvestia: Is he jealous himself?

Primakova: Jealousy manifested itself most peculiarly at the beginning of our life together. I wanted to keep my old name. She complained: "Can you imagine how many documents I will have to fill out again?" He interrupted harshly: "Either you take my last name, or you return my maiden name." I could not spare myself, I had to run around the offices.

izvestia: Yevgeny Maksimovich told us that "he does not consider it possible to act unmanly." What content, according to your observations, does he put into this concept?

Primakova: To betray in friendship is not a man's act. Leaving a family in trouble is not like a man. It is also dishonest and poor-quality work. To do something to the detriment of the country (do not consider it pompous) - from the same area. All to the maximum. Primakov does not put any small, everyday meaning into this phrase. He will not give offense to himself, to relatives, or friends. Protect - you can be sure. He is not aggressive, not vindictive. Will never attack first. But he will give back. Up to the point that he turns around and hits with his fist. Fair.

izvestia: Oh well! Have you seen?

Primakova: I haven't seen it myself, but they told me that they somehow hurt his family, tried to offend Laura, and he, being already a mature person, gave, excuse me, in the face. Yes Yes. It was.

izvestia: Representatives of the world elite come to visit you. Madeleine Albright stopped by with her deputy, Strobe Talbot ...

Primakova: At that time very difficult negotiations were going on about NATO's eastward expansion. The moment came when they reached a dead end. And the next day Albright was supposed to fly away. Evgeny Maksimovich called me: "Let's call them in the evening to our house." By protocol, the Minister of Foreign Affairs usually invites distinguished guests to the residence. During lunch they are served by waiters. But my husband decided to arrange a purely home reception with Russian cuisine.

My friend and I quickly sat down to make dumplings. Everything turned out very mentally. The guests ate dumplings, seasoning them with caviar instead of sour cream (try it somehow - it's horror, but for some reason they liked it). Strobe Talbot became soft, remembered that I was a doctor, and began to consult about the health of his wife. In short, everyone was liberated. That evening Evgeny Maksimovich and Madeleine Albright agreed.

izvestia: Tell me, are there people for whom the doors of your house were closed for any reason?

Primakova: There are very few of them, but, unfortunately, they exist. These are those who behaved unworthily or even betrayed.

izvestia: Did they try to somehow communicate with Yevgeny Maksimovich?

Primakova: We tried to apologize, step over what had happened, turn a bad page. But we both do not tolerate meanness. For God's sake, may these people be alive, healthy, prosperous. But without us.

izvestia: It is generally known what Yevgeny Maksimovich felt when he faced the intrigues of Yeltsin's inner circle during his long-term premiership. One can only guess about the emotions of the wife of the Prime Minister. How was your life, Irina Borisovna, these difficult eight months?

Primakova: It's tense. I was against the new appointment of my husband, on what strings I could play. But I understood: if he accepts the offer, it is not in my power to prevent. It is impossible to manage Evgeny Maksimovich. This is a person who makes decisions for himself. Pulling his strings is useless. However, I was sure: having headed the government in that dire situation, he would be busy 24 hours a day. And it is doubly destructive to deal with such a president as we had ... When Primakov announced that it was necessary to imprison for economic crimes, and those who had a stigma in the gun, led by Berezovsky, took it as a personal threat, it became clear to me : will be eaten soon. There were even fears for the physical existence of her husband.

Recently, Evgeny Maksimovich and I recalled that time, and I say: "Do you remember when we lived in the prime minister's residence ..." He thought: "Believe me, I don't remember anything there."

This is an amazing detail. A huge, awkward building, a stranger and cold house, in which he came after midnight, not noticing the surroundings, furniture, garden that he eats. The husband was so absorbed in work, and it was so psychologically difficult for him that the unloved house was perceived only as a place to spend the night ...

Shortly before the New Year, I told him: "Zhenya, you will be removed." He objected: "You are thinking illogically. The change of cabinet is a serious shake-up. The country does not need it, especially since the economy has begun to grow." But I felt that logical reasoning had nothing to do with it. He interferes with them, does not fit in ... This was especially felt at very narrow pre-holiday gatherings.

izvestia: At Boris Nikolaevich's dacha?

Primakova: What are you ?! There was and could not be any rapprochement with the Yeltsin family. We are talking about private dinners for members of the government, the presidential administration in the Kremlin or at the Reception House on the Lenin Hills. And by the spring, my last illusions were dispelled. So when on May 12 Evgeny Maksimovich called and said: "I was removed," I sincerely shouted: "Hurray!"

izvestia: Offensive attacks against a loved one are often perceived as much more painful than against their own address. The 1999 television war is hardly erased from memory. Dorenko was then called a "telekiller". Didn't you want to tear him to pieces?

Primakova: Definitely. I never thought that I could feel such hatred for someone. My husband came home late, and I sat alone, seething in front of the screen with a feeling of complete helplessness. Evgeny Maksimovich, in principle, treated this with restraint, without hysterics.

izvestia: Doctors usually do not undertake to treat their families. What do you do if Evgeny Maksimovich is ill? Does he listen to you, or is there no prophet in his own house?

Primakova: Naturally, my husband recognizes me as a doctor, since it has happened so historically (laughs). Fortunately, he never gets cold. You don't even need to knock on wood. The fact is that in the morning he takes an ice shower.

izvestia: Is he able to cook something from food?

Primakova: Theoretically - probably. Practically - I have never seen it (laughs).

izvestia: How about making, repairing?

Primakova: On the electrical side, it seems to be possible.

izvestia: Understands?

Primakova: Well, she's thinking about something. But there have been only one or two such precedents in our life.

izvestia: Your husband always looks dapper. Whose merit is it more?

Primakova: I think it is joint. Although he buys things for himself, as a rule, himself.

izvestia: Abroad or in Moscow?

Primakova: Any convenient place. The only problem is timing.

izvestia: Does your family attach importance to the pedigree of the dog, the popularity of the brand of clothing, watches?

Primakova: The breed of a dog is absolutely irrelevant. We had wonderful mongrels, no problem. The last dog, a Labrador, was taken by the eldest grandson because he wanted a large, smooth-haired and good-natured dog. Labradors are just that. And then ours turned out to be a little with marriage. When the guys took the puppy, we told them: "You can't handle it." A baby was born, Zhenya has frequent business trips, and Sveta (daughter-in-law) will be physically difficult with a dog and a baby. "No, we can." Well, you can, you can. Although it was clear that they would be tortured. Then Zhenya calls: "It's so difficult with the dog, we don't know what to do." - "Well, bring it."

Here's a clock, perhaps yes. Many years ago, Evgeny Maksimovich was presented with "Omega", and since then he has not changed his watch. True, it is believed that a man's respectability is determined by an expensive watch, but Yevgeny Maksimovich would wear "Glory" with the same consistency if he liked it.

izvestia: And what about a suit from Brioni, Cavalli, Ermenegildo Zegna?

Primakova: I'm afraid Evgeny Maksimovich doesn't even know these stamps. It's just that Primakov has a peculiarity - the ability to wear things. We bought two suits from Bolshevichka. Don't believe me? Want to show me? In our family, even young people do not show off. Zhenya-little - Eugene Sandro - in general, the older he gets, the more character traits his grandfather acquires. Evgeny Maksimovich is pleased that his grandson has taken up the Middle East.

news: There is an Indian parable about ten blind men who, holding hands, wade a stormy river. Having got out on land, the blind decided to count. They did it many times, but each of them only ever got nine. The old man sitting on the shore was terribly amused and finally could not resist: "Start counting with yourself!" A person, paradoxically, tends to forget himself. He thinks about others, but does not remember himself. In your opinion, is this attitude wrong? Should it be different?

Primakova: No. The only way. Anyway, starting with yourself is not my option.