Evgeny Sandro (Primakov)- Russian journalist, TV presenter, historian and orientalist. The grandson of Yevgeny Primakov ... the pseudonym "Evgeny Sandro" ... is a Russian journalist, TV presenter, historian and orientalist. Grandson of Yevgeny Primakov.
Evgeny Primakov was born on April 29, 1976, in Moscow in the family of Alexander Primakov, the son of Yevgeny Primakov, an orientalist. At the age of 5, he lost his father and was raised by his grandfather. To work in the media took pseudonym "Eugene Sandro".
Graduated from the Russian State University for the Humanities - Faculty of History and Philology with a degree in history. He worked at Ekho Moskvy radio, TVS TV channel, was the head of the NTV Middle East bureau, Channel One, worked in the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Turkey and Jordan. Currently, the author and presenter of the International Review program on the Russia-24 TV channel, heads the autonomous non-profit organization Russian Humanitarian Mission.

Evgeny Primakov (Sandro)
Evgeny Alexandrovich Primakov
Occupation: journalist, radio host, TV presenter, orientalist
Date of birth: April 29, 1976
Place of birth: Moscow, USSR
Citizenship: USSR → Russia
Father: Alexander Evgenievich Primakov

Graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology with a degree in History from the Russian State University for the Humanities.

For some time he worked at the radio "Echo of Moscow", in TASS, in the magazine "Kommersant-Dengi", published in the "Obshchaya Gazeta".

He has been working in television since 2002. Initially, he worked on the TVS channel as a war correspondent for the news programs Novosti and Itogi. He was among the journalists of the TV channel covering the Iraqi war - he was a correspondent in Israel.

In May 2003, he left TVS and went to work for the NTV channel. He worked for the programs "Today", "Country and World" and "Profession - Reporter".

From 2005 to 2007 he was the chief of the NTV Middle East bureau. In his reports, he covered the Second Lebanese War. He retired from the channel in 2007.

From 2007 to 2011, he was a correspondent for the Directorate of Information Programs of Channel One (programs Novosti, Vremya).

Since 2008, he has been the head of the First Channel bureau in Israel.

He worked in the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Turkey and Jordan. Heads the autonomous non-profit organization Russian Humanitarian Mission.

Personal life
Married for the third time, has four daughters.

\Evgeny Primakov Jr.: I saw my grandfather with a cigarette only once - during his persecution in 1999
"Well, well, be Primakov"
“…I dreamed of doing a big interview with your grandfather…”
- I also.
- Yevgeny Maksimovich even once promised me, he said: call me in two months. It was about two years before his death. Unfortunately, it didn't work out.
- It would be strange if I interviewed him.
- But I made a small conversation with him on the phone. We printed, on the day of death this phonogram was played on the radio. I think most of those who watch TV in recent years know you well. But not like Yevgeny Primakov, but like Yevgeny Sandro. Let's explain why you were Sandro, and why you have now become Primakov...
- I became Yevgeny Sandro because I could not afford to be Yevgeny Primakov at that time. I was and am Yevgeny Primakov, it says so in my passport, but I started in journalism on the Ekho Moskvy radio. And there it was necessary to come up with something like that, because it sounded just idiotic - Yevgeny Primakov - at that time.
Since I am Aleksandrovich, I made a pseudonym from my middle name, (In memory of my father, who died of a heart attack in 1981 - A.G.) And our family's ties with Georgia are known, my grandfather grew up there, my father spent his childhood there , relatives are still there. So Sandro- such a normal "radio" pseudonym, a little loud sounding, really.
- No, it was normally perceived on TV, especially from such a region.
- Yes, may be. Then this story arose with the International Review. For a long time I doubted very much, consulted with my grandfather whether it was possible to allow myself to perform under my real name, since this is a kind of respect for the program that we revived, and I thought that I somehow needed to pick up the banner, as they say. And my grandfather and I decided that yes, well, so be it. I stopped being Sandro at some point.
- And earlier, when you turned from Yevgeny Primakov, a young guy into Sandro, did your grandfather object?
- I explained my reasons to him, he agreed with me.
- Are you seriously going to do an interview with your grandfather?
- Not. There was such a joke in our brigade. When we started our program, we invited Valentin Zorin to open it. And my colleagues said: let's take an interview with Yevgeny Maksimovich for a complete set. We decided it would be overkill.
"He treated me like a son"
- You said at the memorial service that Yevgeny Maksimovich replaced your father when your dad died ... Did you live in your grandfather's family, in his house?
- Not. We are talking, let's say, about some moral guidelines, about some kind of alignment with ... We somehow talk more about me in an interview.
- Let's switch.
- A father is a person to whom you can always turn for advice, who can appreciate the loyalty, infidelity of your actions better, probably, than friends, colleagues and others. It so happened that instead of such authority I had a grandfather. And it seems to me that he treated me not as a grandson, but as closer to his son. He even wrote the last book that he published when he signed it not to Zhenya, but to Sasha. Description...

Evgeny Maksimovich with his son Sasha. 1960s. More pictures are in our photo gallery.

- And then he didn’t get better?
- I said nothing.
- So it remains?
- Yes. He sometimes made a reservation - that's what he called me.
- You also became a journalist, an orientalist. This, apparently, is not accidental, did Evgeny Maksimovich somehow guide you? Maybe he hooked you up?
- It was always valuable to me that he did not attach me anywhere. It was important to me, and I think he appreciated it too. About the orientalist. It sounds loud. It's just how life turned out, it was interesting to me, I got there, stayed there. Of course, books in the house, conversations and so on - all this influenced me. I will not hide that it was sometimes easier for me to work in the East, perhaps than for my colleagues, because there is some recognition.
- I remember an episode in Palestine… You were doing a report there, and Sergei Stepashin told the head of the Palestinian autonomy, Mahmoud Abbas: here is Yevgeny Primakov, the grandson of Yevgeny Primakov. And Dr. Abbas immediately beamed.
- In principle, I interviewed President Abbas before.
So he knew you?
- Yes. But a person has many different activities and concerns, so I think it is unlikely that he is fixed so strongly.
- But I would have fixed on Yevgeny Primakov.
- On the grandfather, naturally. Hardly a grandson.
“I was joking in Baghdad. And they kicked me out of there."
- How did your grandfather raise you, maybe he scolded you for something, instructed you somehow, put you in a corner, punished you?
- No, my grandfather never punished me.
- Not for what it was, or what?
- No, he was just a very patient person. In terms of instructions? He cured me of categoricalness. You know, there is such a feature, mostly in young men, when all judgments are given very simply, they are emotional, not everything is thought out. Here he taught me for a long, long time, gradually that it was not necessary to chop with a saber.
- Can you think of a specific example?
- I have many examples. But since those judgments of mine were wrong...
- On the contrary, I wonder how you got out of the wrong one.
- Listen, I was very emotional about many events in the Middle East, I was inclined to this when I worked in Iraq, for example, in Palestine, in Israel ... war, killing people...
- Recall a specific episode. Just a picture, as they say. What, did you call him or come?
- No, he could call me.

Yevgeny Primakov with his family. More pictures are in our photo gallery.
Photo: E. Primakov's personal archive.
Or did he see your report?
- Most often, this is a reportage, I wrote something on a blog or something like that. He could tell me: why are you so sharp?
- For instance?
- Just two weeks before the start of the war in Iraq, I was in Baghdad. This is 2003. I think it was in February. There was a funny situation. The Iraqis really wanted to show the world how they would defeat America when the war started. And in order to show their power and strength, they decided: let's hold a big military parade on Tahrir Square in Baghdad. Then they decided that no, this is fraught with a big parade, all of a sudden something like that, let's hold a demonstration. Then they refused to demonstrate.
As a result, they staged an exhibition of civil defense achievements, which looked absolutely rogue. There was a carpeted tent, where fire extinguishers, shovels, a carious tooth from the nearest dental clinic and a cutaway plastic baby were displayed. They gathered everything they could and stuffed it in there. And a brass band.
And since it was all so helpless, mediocre and stupid, in the report that I issued from there, I frankly mocked them. And it was wrong. And then my grandfather told me.
- Did he call you?
- It was after. We never had any censorship in our family.
- He called and what did he say?
- Didn't call. I have already returned. They kicked me out.
- Kicked out the Iraqi authorities?
- Yes, they did not renew my visa.
- This is despite the fact that this is Yevgeny Primakov?
- Yes. He told me that I was doing stupid things in vain. You know, this was his general attitude to our modern journalism.
- Did you try to convince him?
- Of course, I tried. In this he was unshakable. This even applies to our current program. He was very critical and negative about all sorts of fun on the air, did not understand why this was at all. This is a man, as they say, from an earlier time. Information must be meaningful. And my attempts to explain to him that now it is impossible to present information the way we used to present it, now the viewer must somehow be captivated and entertained ...
- Or the reader.
- Yes, or the reader. He formally agreed with this, but, of course, he did not agree with this. We did one of the programs, there was an episode about Britain. And we called the head of the ensemble of Moscow pipers. Then my grandfather also said to me: what kind of big top is this, why did you do it, why? I tell him: this is an illustration. This is nonsense, not an illustration. It lacked meaning and content. Not only in a specific program, but in general in life, in what he saw around. He carefully watched the news, read newspapers, read the Internet. He was technically savvy in that sense. We even talked on Skype with him when I was leaving somewhere. My last Skype call from him is April 27th. Usually grandfather sat down, called all his relatives and friends, if someone has Skype. He wasn't mossy like that, you know. Technically savvy.
- Did Yevgeny Maksimovich read our newspaper?
- He read your newspaper. I can't say that he...
- Strongly scolded?
- Well no. He agreed with something, disagreed with something, argued with something. Your newspaper is very popular in the country, it is one of the leaders of public opinion, let's say. Naturally, he read it.
So he didn't treat her with disdain?
- Why? He was squeamish, as in general, in principle, to the "yellowing" of the press ...
- No, we have normal paper.
- Do you understand what I'm talking about.
- Yes... Why didn't he give us interviews, he never said anything about it?
- You know, for the past few years, and especially the last year, in general - due to illness - he has sharply reduced his communication with journalists. He had not been particularly sociable with them before, let's say so. This is not because he did not like journalists, he himself was originally a journalist. It was for exactly the same reason that he wanted to say something meaningful. You know how television, for example, works. The interview is 10 minutes, the person says something, and then we still cut 20 seconds out of it. Content suffered, meanings suffered. It always not only annoyed him, but upset him, I guess. Therefore, he reduced, reduced his communication with journalists. And the last year was physically difficult sometimes.
"He never complained about anything"
- He had a difficult life. This is the loss of loved ones. How was he holding up? Now they say: Primakov is a rock, a block. How did you actually see him?
- That's what they saw. I do not mean that he was cold as a stone to his loved ones. Not at all. He was a very warm person, a very loving grandfather, father, husband. This was not the kind of person who gives out strong emotions to the public. This is an unaffordable luxury.
- But you are not the public, you are close.
- Yes, of course, we are close ... How can I tell you? This is not the character to complain to someone. These are experiences inside basically. Even in difficult times of acute political struggle, he naturally experienced, but to complain about something - no.
- When, roughly speaking, he was “wet” on TV channels in a terrible way ...
- He was very worried about it.
- He was angry, was he ready to launch something into this screen? Or did his whiskey turn silver?
- It was incredible stress for him.
- 98th - 99th years.
- Yes. You know, for all his pragmatism and so on, he was an idealist, in the sense that he did not expect that politics could be so dirty. It was incomprehensible to him, he did not accept it, he saw how some of his friends or people whom he considered friends began to scatter from him. He took the betrayal hard. But he did not run around the room and did not break the dishes. This is not that person.
- And what, he sat in thought? Did he open up to you? Did you give him any advice?
- You see, he could be advised anything, he always made the decision himself. And his decision was such that he would not participate in the squabble. As far as I remember, he did not file any lawsuits against anyone, although he probably had numerous chances to do so and win the courts. There was something like that, there were a couple of some court cases, something was won, he sent money somewhere to an orphanage, as far as I remember.
He could discuss all this emotionally with friends, with relatives, but - "not outside."

Yevgeny Primakov and Muammar Gaddafi. More pictures are in our photo gallery.
Photo: E. Primakov's personal archive.
- Is that why you don't want something "out" now?
- Why is this? It's all past. The only thing is that now, when my family and I received condolences, you know, so many “interesting” people have appeared who used to repeatedly dirty and crap, and who now express ...
- You will not name names?
- Of course not. From our journalistic…
- I even guess who it is. And how did you react to it?
- You know, everyone has the right to say goodbye. And everyone has the right to forgiveness, especially now. The only thing is that I still won’t shake hands with a certain number of people, just as my grandfather didn’t.
- By sending condolences or coming to a memorial service, did they thereby ask Primakov for forgiveness?
I don't know what their motivation is. Sometimes it seems to me that in connection with everything that happened, some people did not bring condolences to the family, but noted, ticked off that they were present. For God's sake, God bless them all.
Listen, this is such a strange topic. I'm talking about this now, and it sounds like I'm listing some grievances. There are no such grievances. In fact, these people are in the general stream and invisible, and we, as it were, did not even fixate on them especially. It's just a matter of words now.
“I miss his balance and analyticity”
- According to the testimony of both close friends and even your relatives, Primakov Jr. somewhere repeats the character of his grandfather, somewhere copies some of his habits. You probably know about it. What did you take from him?
- Listen, I don’t do anything meaningful that I need to adopt this, I never thought about it. If people who knew my grandfather and know me think so, I am very pleased. Because if I took something from him, then it means something good.
- And you yourself can’t say what bribed you in Yevgeny Maksimovich, what you, perhaps, envied, what was in his character, in habits, in traditions, but you didn’t? That you are not yet Yevgeny Primakov, which you would like to become ...
- Naturally, yes, where can I go before him. I would like to take more from him his balance, his disinclination to some quick, lightweight judgments, his analyticity. A huge number of his qualities that I would like to grow in myself further ...

Yevgeny Primakov and ex-President of France Jacques Chirac. More pictures are in our photo gallery.
Photo: E. Primakov's personal archive.
Think of an example that struck you.
- Wrong word "struck". With regard to his friends, relatives, distant relatives, children of his friends, and so on, he was always very attentive. If someone could help, he helped. For example, I found out that he regularly sent some money to distant relatives in Tbilisi. And to the relatives of his wife Laura, my late grandmother. Or the children of his friends, supported someone without advertising it absolutely. I am extremely grateful to my grandfather for the attention to people that was inherent in him. This, of course, needs to be nurtured and nurtured in oneself. Because the essence of a person is not only himself, but also what he cultivated around himself, what he surrounded himself with, and what he does for other people.
- Your life has developed so that you have two grandmothers. If you do not want, you can not answer this question. How was this theme present in the house?
- Irina Borisovna, when she appeared in our family... She somehow sprouted through our family. She so organically became and is a part of it, and she always respected the memory of Laura Vasilievna Kharadze (the first wife of Evgeny Maksimovich Primakov, died of a heart attack in 1987 - A.G.) so respectfully that there were no conflicts, friction, there could never be any doubt. She is an absolute continuation of her grandfather, a continuation of our family, she is an absolute organic. There is no one: at first it was like this, and then it became like that. Moreover, Laura Vasilievna's friends became Irina Borisovna's friends. It naturally happened.
“... And I inherited books”
- In addition to the surname, name Yevgeny Primakov, character, profession, perhaps the methods of workers, what else did you inherit (naturally, in a figurative sense) from Yevgeny Maksimovich?
- Books. The most important thing is books. One of the first ones he wrote. He wrote that I should continue his work. And this is for me ... Then I was much younger than now.
- Then when is that?
- This is the first book after 1998-99. He wrote, you know, how they write, when ... How many years have passed? 15-16. Then it was completely incomprehensible to me.
- How did the phrase he wrote sound, at least approximately?
- I won't quote. But there - about the fact that this is for my grandson Evgeny Sandro, who will continue ...
- Does he call you Sandro?
- Yes.
- Which will continue...
- My way. If we talk about heritage, this is such a burden, something that I have already spoken about. Being Yevgeny Primakov, even the youngest, is hard. You will always be compared, and it will always be against you. We are not talking about benefits, but these are very big obligations that you take on.
- What are your plans?
- For me, the most important thing now is a banal routine work done with high quality and with conscience. And I have a job. I am making a TV program. Launched a humanitarian mission. I will make films. I will do what I have. And I will do it well.
- Tell me more about the humanitarian mission.
- I just don't want to promote this topic. I just mean that there is some work that should be done well. It's routine, it's everyday...
- You said at the memorial service: I can handle it.
- I can handle it, of course. Do I have a choice? There is not.
“So you have to deal with it anyway?”
- Yes. And where will I go from the submarine?
* * *
- Eugene, I'm sorry - maybe the questions are too annoying ...
No, great questions.
- You just shied away from some. They did it on purpose, yes - for balance?
- What answer do you want to hear?
- You have a look now, like that of Evgeny Maksimovich.
- Thank you...

Journalist Yevgeny Primakov during a secret mission in northern Iraq. 1970s. More pictures are in our photo gallery.
Photo: E. Primakov's personal archive.
WHAT THE GRANDSON OF YEVGENY PRIMAKOV TALKED ABOUT...
“He had the most terrible curse: you are a pot!”
- Did your grandfather ever punish you, didn’t scold you?
- Yeah, I don't remember that. I remember once we went to a sanatorium. I screwed up something there. But I was small, I either broke something there.
- How many years?
- Years 10-11. Broke a vase. And I thought it was just a tragedy. I was so worried that my grandfather said: worry about important things, and this is completely nonsense. Although I expected it to be oh-she-she.
- After that, you continued beating vases?
- Of course not. Grandfather knew how to explain what is good and what is bad, in words so that later he did not want to do bad things.
What other inappropriate actions have you taken? Maybe when they got older.
- How was my grandfather's poem: "I have sinned many times, but I have never betrayed." Everyone has some things they regret in life. Grandfather, for example, because of some of my mistakes (I also don’t want to talk about this more specifically now) could swear, but he had the worst curse ... He said: you are a pot.
- What did that mean?
- Nu, fool, dunce. Pot. This, apparently, is some old, Tbilisi business.
- And often he used this word pot?
- Since he was definitely smarter than all of us, so we were all pots for him always. He just didn't always say it.
- Is it ironic?
- Of course yes.
“Several times I caught my grandfather with a cigarette”
Are you a street kid too? Here I am, for example - from the working outskirts, from the provinces. Or did you have some special academic environment…
- No, I grew up in the 9th district of the Teply Stan.
- Didn't smoke on the sly?
- Well, my grandfather won't scold me for it. I had a period in my life when I smoked. But somehow I don’t get used to it, I just stopped as I started. By the way, someone recently told me that my grandfather also did not get used to smoking, although he used to smoke several times in some stressful situations, but somehow he also stopped, and that’s it.
- In the 98th - 99th year, he did not light up?
- There were several times, I caught him with a cigarette.
- How did you catch it?
- Well, in the sense: oh, what are you doing, what do you have here?
- Was he embarrassed?
- “Cigarette, what. Well, I took it once, not in it.
- He?
- Yes.
- What about booze? He has a Georgian upbringing. And how are you?
- A strange topic - about alcohol.

Yevgeny Primakov during a meeting with Yasser Arafat. More pictures are in our photo gallery.
Photo: E. Primakov's personal archive.
- We are journalists, we have always, at least in our youth, loved to show off, drink. I'm talking about myself. Maybe yours was different.
- There is no such story - to drink or not to drink. This in itself is not just like that: now let's get drunk and have fun. Alcohol is part of the feast. This is not something that people drink from a soap dish in the stairwell. This is a feast, these are companies, this is a conversation, this is something surrounded by some important attributes .. This has always been the case in the family.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
“Our whole family is very grateful to the leadership of the country for organizing the funeral”
- If you don't mind, to finish with this topic... Were you, your loved ones, struck by the very organization of the funeral? I remember how Boris Nikolayevich was seen off at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin - in the government complex somewhere in the Mosfilmovskaya area. Evgeny Maksimovich - in the Hall of Columns. There they said goodbye to the general secretaries, leaders ... The executives were in full assembly. Did the organization itself touch you, amaze you, or surprise you? Or is it an inappropriate question, do you think?
- No, that's a good question. The whole family is very grateful to the leadership of the country for organizing the funeral, for the fact that the family was relieved of a huge amount of headache associated with the preparation of this whole affair. Because emotionally it was, of course, hard. And how carefully and respectfully this whole thing was carried out, causes us, the family, great, huge gratitude.
If there is an opportunity to thank you again so that people can hear it, thank you very much.
The scale of the funeral, their decoration (Hall of Columns, etc.), I spoke about this, we have to realize that Yevgeny Maksimovich does not quite, let's say, belong to his family. And here we have nothing to argue with, disagree with something, we accept everything that happened as it is. Just again, thank you so much.

VERBATIM
... And, finally, about the Middle East, Hezbollah and the USA
- Our special correspondent Daria Aslamova met with one of the leaders of the Shiite paramilitary organization, which enjoys huge influence in the Middle East.
- Hezbollah?
- Yes. This is Sheikh Naeem Kassem. Have you met with him?
- Not with Kassem.
- So, he claims that America herself inspired chaos in the Middle East, she herself is mired, confused and does not know how to get out. And all this, the sheikh believes, poses a threat to Russia and, above all, to the North Caucasus. Because the terrorist potential in the Middle East region is growing at an increasing rate. As an expert on this region, on this issue, do you agree with this conclusion?
- The fact is that the Americans in the Middle East have always been driven by a certain situationality. First, the Americans as a kind of decision-making center, there is no such thing - the Americans all got together and decided. This, of course, is a huge number of different elites, groupings within, which contradict each other. Naturally, there are people who try to calculate some strategic things. There are, of course, centers that develop the theory of chaos.
- You somehow even spoke more cheerfully. That's what it means to change the subject.
- It's a reflex. But in general, Americans have always reacted situationally. That is, there is some kind of problem, we must now quickly solve it. Roughly speaking, they need to find some people who want and know how to fight against, say, the government of Syria. And then there is no longer any particular intelligibility in the means. It is also possible to throw weapons there, which it is not clear to whom it falls and as a result fell into ISIS. In a recent interview, Barack Obama admitted, by the way, that the United States was partially responsible for the rise of ISIS.
- Something doesn't look like him.
- It was in a very mild form. He said: yes, it was our mistake. They've done this before as well. We remember, say, the supply of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, what it has become. I recently saw an excellent article on the Internet from The Independent, if I'm not mistaken. There was an interview with young Osama bin Laden, what a fine fellow he is, how good he is at everything.
Yes, they made this mess. There are, you know, objective grounds for the "Arab Spring"... And then such a kitchen begins, where there are many who want to use what is being prepared there. The Americans were actively involved in this, and firewood was thrown into the firebox, etc. Naturally, now they cannot deal with what they have brewed, it's true.
- With whom and how should Russia cooperate in this region in order to stop this threat? And as a journalist, how do you assess the steps taken by our Foreign Ministry and the Russian leadership to improve the situation and reduce tension in this region?
- How absolutely faithful. There is no other chance to stabilize this region, except to use the support of legitimate governments, which are now under attack by terrorist groups. I mean including Damascus. The world is such that without cooperation with the same United States, if they understand the fallacy of their current policy, it is impossible to achieve stability and appeasement in the Middle East. But, unfortunately, our partners have to go a long way to realize their mistakes. We can only hope that it will happen sooner or later.
- Yevgeny, are these thoughts in tune with the feelings of Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov? After all, he was with us not so long ago.
- Yes, they are consonant with what he wrote and said many times in interviews.
- He now helps you a lot in this regard (I mean professionally), in understanding the world, in analysis?
- He helped and helps. I think that and will help in this sense.

BY THE WAY
What to do with the legacy of the politician-patriarch?
- In the West, after a person of such magnitude as Yevgeny Maksimovich leaves, museums, research centers, libraries are created. The Nixon Research Center in the USA, we have the Yeltsin Foundation, we have a grandiose museum in the Black Spur of Chernomyrdin. Will there be something according to Primakov, so as not only to perpetuate his memory, but also, let's say, so that the intellectual legacy of Yevgeny Maksimovich would work after his death?
- I think that now it's only 9 days, and it's too early to talk about it. Some points were discussed. So far, only sketches. I think that we will return to discussing the specifics of some after some time.
- Grandfather did not leave a will in this regard?
I don't know about such a will. The only thing that my family and I would like is that if some kind of perpetuation is in the form of funds or museums, it would be some kind of working history, and not just something bronzed. For example, if it is some kind of center, so that situational analyzes are carried out there, so that this center issues some kind of analytical product that will help the country. If these are some kind of charitable foundations… I just don’t know in what form it is being discussed now, what it will be, but in any case it should be something practical and working..
VERY PERSONAL
“Grandfather told me: if you get divorced again, then we will expel you, and leave your wife”
- Tell me, but such difficult moments in life, for example, the attitude towards a woman, the relationship with a woman. You say you were also a street kid. I know how this topic is discussed on the street, as in a family. How could a father say and how a grandfather? In this regard, can you remember? Did you show your girls to Yevgeny Maksimovich?
- Yes, I...
Primakov Jr. smiles, either enigmatically or embarrassingly.
- Judging by your smile, it was?
- I personally have such a strange little story connected with this.
- Finally, we got to some specific things!
- Not a specific story. Just a grandfather ... Nana, the daughter of Evgeny Maksimovich, told him that you made so many mistakes in your life, but the main thing that you know how to do is choose your wives well. It was Nana who was talking about Irina Borisovna. Of course, in this sense, I have been following this path for a long time, since I am already married with a third marriage. This is one of the reasons why I have been called a pot many times.
- Was it a defect of Sandro or grandfather?
- My personal. He never told anyone, did not force him to do this or that. He left the person a chance for error, although he conveyed his point of view.
- Did Evgeny Maksimovich approve of your choice? You don't just...
- I didn't always approve. Either he approved or he was disappointed. But in terms of his attitude towards a woman, it was infinitely respectful. There could never be any dirty jokes and discussions. We all understand that grandfather is still a man who grew up in Tbilisi, in the Caucasus, and some kind of verbal frivolity, it is impossible in principle.
- And you were frivolous in relation to women?
- We're talking about me again.
- Is this an omission of Yevgeny Maksimovich here, maybe? Or how?
- Not. This is an opportunity for my growth.
- You understand me correctly. The female half of the editorial staff, if I do not clarify this issue, they simply will not forgive me, they will accuse me of unprofessionalism. In this regard, there are some other precepts of his, let's say, how to treat a woman, how to behave with her. When a man breaks up with a woman, it's the man's or the woman's fault ... Did you consult with him at all when you got together and, say, got divorced?
- Definitely advised. It just seems to me that the wrong moment and circumstances are to discuss this topic.
- I took the wrong topic ...
- No, no, it just sounds very strange. Indulge in some stories in this context ...

Yevgeny Primakov at the talks in Tehran. More pictures are in our photo gallery.
Photo: E. Primakov's personal archive.
- This is about Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov's program.
- Perhaps, precisely because this program is about Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov, this is one of the topics that ... You know, it's strange to discuss a code of conduct.
- And yet - your grandfather was very worried about you, did you feel it? Have you ever been ashamed?
- Well, of course, yes.
Primakov Jr. sighs.
- Did you go to him with downcast eyes?
- Of course, I used to be ashamed of some of my life decisions, in particular, this concerned my relationship with my chosen ones. But now, according to the results, as it is with me now, I am no longer ashamed. The only thing is that not long before he left, about six months ago, my grandfather told me: well, you know, if you get divorced again, we will kick you out and leave your wife.
- Do you have children?
- Yes, four. All girls: the oldest is 16 years old, the youngest is a year and nine months old.
- How did Evgeny Maksimovich treat them?
He loved them all very much...

Economist Mikhail Delyagin recalls how the country was brought out of default.
In 1993, I read a report prepared by Yevgeny Primakov while he was head of the Foreign Intelligence Service. It was a detailed analysis of how the West discriminates against Russia - under the guise of talk of friendship. Indeed, in the early 90s, many, including myself, were in euphoria: together we defeated communism, now we will live!
And only Primakov proved the opposite: in fact, now we will be robbed! His report showed a blatant, cruel exclusion of Russia from all markets.
Later, I told Evgeny Maksimovich that my transformation from an enthusiastic liberal into a normal sober-minded person began with this report. He was pleased.
The year 1998 showed that Primakov saw the root. Complete chaos after the default. Many did not realize the horror that was in reality. And the huge colossus of the economy just started to stop. The volume of freight traffic fell every day: yesterday less than today, today less than yesterday. There was a collapse ahead: there would be no electricity, no water... We ran around the world in search of 50 million dollars. This is a tiny amount for a huge country! I remember the feeling of that numbness, numbness. After all, the default happened when they simply stole the entire budget!
Primakov's candidacy for the post of prime minister was proposed by representatives of the Yeltsin Family - I think, simply out of horror. They, of course, did not look at the statistics of cargo transportation, but they understood that they would soon be demolished and eaten. The hatred for them was already colossal.
I was in the hall of the State Duma when the voting was going on. They proclaimed: Primakov is about to come out. He said: I do not promise you anything, I am not a magician, I will have to work very hard. Everything.
I remember how suddenly the atmosphere changed. There was just hopelessness, everyone huddled in their chair. And suddenly the deputies relieved themselves of the burden of responsibility: there was a man from the old days, he will do everything, he knows how. And we'll keep having fun.
Primakov was later accused of doing nothing - and he did a lot. To begin with, he canceled all the crazy decisions of the previous government regarding accelerated bankruptcy. Translated into Russian - accelerated robbery: if I like your plant, I can simply take it away. Introduced discounts on the transportation of significant goods by rail, primarily grain and coal. And the railroads agreed like bunnies. He canceled the stupid pension reform. The reformers did not have enough money in the pension fund, and the government of Sergei Kiriyenko illegally decided to take an extra 2% of taxes from people from all incomes. Accountants found themselves in an unimaginable situation - either to break the law, or a government decree. Strict regulation of the movement of capital was introduced, and speculation was limited.
Primakov then saved Russia. He gathered into the government people who did not understand the market economy very well, but understood that it was bad to steal. And in six months they stabilized the country.

Evgeny Primakov was born on April 29, 1976 in Moscow. The boy grew up in an intelligent family and is the grandson of Russian statesman Yevgeny Primakov. At the age of five, he lost his father, Alexander. In the future, for work in the press, he took a pseudonym in honor of his father: "Evgeny Sandro". Having received a certificate of secondary education with honors, in 1999 the young man graduated with honors from the Faculty of History and Philology of the Russian State University for the Humanities with a degree in History.

Having become a certified specialist, Evgeny worked for some time on the Ekho Moskvy radio, in the Kommersant-Dengi magazine, and published in the Obshchaya Gazeta. He came to TV in 2002. Initially, he worked on the TVS channel as a war correspondent for the news programs Novosti and Itogi. He was one of the journalists of the TV channel covering the Iraq war, was a correspondent in Israel.

In May 2003, he left TVS and went to work for the NTV channel, where he worked for the programs “Today”, “Country and World” and “Profession - Reporter”. In the initial period, he most often worked in Moscow, sometimes traveling as a special correspondent to the Middle East. From 2005 to 2007 he was the chief of the NTV Middle East Bureau. In his reports, he covered the Second Lebanese War. He retired from the channel in June 2007.

From autumn 2007 to October 2011, he served as a correspondent for the Directorate of Information Programs on Channel One: Novosti, Vremya, Other News. In parallel, until 2011, he was the head of the Channel One bureau in Israel. Since March 2015, Evgeny Aleksandrovich has been the author and host of the International Review program on the Russia-24 TV channel. He worked in the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Turkey and Jordan.

While in the Middle East, with like-minded people, he organized the agency of the autonomous non-profit organization "Russian Humanitarian Mission", the purpose of which is to help people who are in trouble due to wars and disasters. Primakov is the director of this organization.

Evgeny Alexandrovich from 2015 to 2017 was the Deputy Head of the Complex of Communications and Work with Government Authorities in the open joint-stock company “Radiolocation. Technology. Information".

Since March 2017, for a year and a half, Evgeny Primakov has been a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation. In July 2017, he became an adviser to the chairman of the State Duma of the 7th convocation, Vyacheslav Volodin, on international issues and humanitarian projects.

At the XII Congress of the Union of Journalists of Russia, which was held in Moscow on November 25, 2017, Primakov Evgeny Aleksandrovich entered the secretariat of the Union of Journalists of Russia.

In 2018, he was a confidant of Russian presidential candidate Vladimir Putin.

At the by-elections to the State Duma of Russia of the VII convocation September 9, 2018 Yevgeny Alexandrovich Primakov received the mandate of a deputy in the Balashov single-mandate constituency No. 165.

Evgeny Alexandrovich Primakov (Sandro)(born April 29, 1976, Moscow, USSR) - Russian journalist, television and radio host, historian. Grandson of Yevgeny Primakov.

Biography

Yevgeny Primakov was born on April 29, 1976, in Moscow, in the family of Alexander Primakov, the son of Yevgeny Primakov, an orientalist. At the age of 5, he lost his father. To work in the media, he took a pseudonym in honor of his father - "Eugene Sandro".

In 1999 he graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of the Russian State University for the Humanities with a degree in history.

For some time he worked at the radio "Echo of Moscow", in TASS, in the magazine "Kommersant-Dengi", published in the "Obshchaya Gazeta".

In May 2003, he left TVS and went to work for the NTV channel. He worked for the programs "Today", "Country and World" and "Profession - Reporter". In the initial period of work, he most often worked in Moscow, less often - as a special correspondent for the Middle East. Covered the terrorist attack at the Wings beer rock festival in July 2003.

From 2005 to 2007 he was the chief of the NTV Middle East Bureau. In his reports, he covered the Second Lebanese War. He retired from the channel in June 2007.

From autumn 2007 to October 2011, he was a correspondent for the Directorate of Information Programs of Channel One (programs News, Vremya, Other News). From April 2008 to January 2011 he was the head of the Channel One bureau in Israel.

He worked in the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Turkey and Jordan. Heads the autonomous non-profit organization Russian Humanitarian Mission.

He graduated from high school in Tbilisi.

I wanted to enter the Caspian Higher Naval School (Baku), but did not pass the medical examination.

1948-1953 - student of the Arabic department of the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies. Languages were difficult for Primakov; for a long time he could not get rid of his strong Georgian accent.

1953-1956 - Postgraduate student at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University and worked as a correspondent for the USSR State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.
He left his scientific career due to financial difficulties after the birth of his son.

1956-1960 - executive editor, editor-in-chief of the Main Directorate of Radio Broadcasting of the USSR State Radio and Television.
1960-1962 - Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Main Editorial Board of the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting.

1959-1991 - Member of the CPSU.

1962-1970 - columnist for the newspaper "Pravda", own correspondent of the newspaper "Pravda" in Egypt, deputy editor of the Asia and Africa department of the newspaper.
It is generally accepted that Primakov began to cooperate with intelligence in Egypt. But experts say that the Pravda correspondent network was not used by the KGB as an "operational cover" until the end of the 1980s. Oleg Kalugin, a former KGB general who teaches in the US, claims that Primakov still worked for the KGB as an intelligence officer (Moskovskiye Novosti, August 17-23, 1999). According to Kalugin, Primakov began cooperating with the Soviet special services in his last year at the institute. The agent under the name "Maxim" "performed some of the most sensitive tasks for the KGB, meeting with representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Kurdish rebels, among whom he found understanding with the leader of the Kurds, Barzani. He predicted a power struggle in Iraq and the victory of Saddam Hussein over General Qasem, with whom Primakov had a close acquaintance, which turned out to be very valuable for him. Then he became friends with Saddam himself and a person close to him, Lieutenant Tariq Aziz ... He developed friendly relations with the Libyan dictator Gaddafi, Syrian President Assad and a dozen other politicians of various calibers." Kalugin praises Primakov the intelligence officer very much: "And he was right. He always predicted events quite accurately - a kind of intuition based on knowledge, analysis and political instinct." Kalugin tells how Primakov foresaw the deterioration of relations with Egypt, that the introduction of troops into Afghanistan could have an undesirable reaction in the Muslim world. "His initiatives and innovations never went beyond the reasonable. He always remained a realist, prudent and cautious."

1970-1977 - Deputy Director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
From 1974 to 1979 - Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Since 1979 - Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He was a member of a group of Kremlin speechwriters.
1977-1985 - Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences (IVAN) of the USSR.
1981-1985 - Chairman of the All-Union Association of Oriental Studies.
1985-1991 - Director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations.
He demanded that the employees of the institutes be punctual, ordered them to come to work four days a week (they used to go two). Employees who helped Primakov in the development of analytical reports on the countries of the East for the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee very quickly received academic titles. Not everyone liked this style of leadership, and the State Security Committee regularly received signals about the Zionist origins of the prominent Freemason Primakov.

1986-1989 - candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
1989-1990 - Member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
From September 1989 to July 1990 - candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
Member of the International Policy Commission of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
Member of the Presidential Council (March–December 1990) and member of the USSR Security Council (1991).
In 1989, he traveled to Tbilisi to normalize the situation after the troops dispersed a peaceful demonstration and participated in negotiations to end the strikes with the leaders of the Popular Front of Azerbaijan.
In 1990, he headed the party and government commission, which insisted on bringing troops into Baku and armed suppression of Armenian pogroms. Then, for another three or four years, the leaders of the PFA told journalists that Primakov was preparing provocations against them...
In December 1990, as a personal envoy of the President of the USSR, he negotiated with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, trying to prevent a war in the Persian Gulf. Came under American bombing.

Career rise coincided with a personal tragedy - within a year, Primakov lost his son and wife.

1988-1989 - Academician-Secretary of the Department of World Economy and International Relations of the USSR Academy of Sciences, member of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Since December 1991 - Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
He was a board member of the Soviet-Iraqi Friendship Society, deputy chairman of the Soviet Peace Committee, chairman of the Soviet National Committee for Asia-Pacific Cooperation, and a member of the UN University Council. Member of the Club of Rome (since 1975).

1989-1992 - Member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the eleventh convocation.
From June 1989 to September 1991 - Chairman of the Council of the Union of the Armed Forces.
He unsuccessfully tried to mediate between the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Interregional Deputy Group.
He headed a commission to investigate cases of unjustified privileges for officials.

From September 1991 to November 1991 - First Deputy Chairman of the KGB of the USSR - Head of the 1st Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR.
From November 1991 to December 1991 - Head of the Central Intelligence Service (former 1st Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR).
From December 1991 to January 1996 - Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of the Russian Federation.
In 1992, he achieved the adoption of the law "On Foreign Intelligence of the Russian Federation." The law removed intelligence from law enforcement structures, prohibited forced recruitment, and secured the use of diplomatic cover.
Under Primakov, intelligence stopped interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. Due to budget cuts, operations were stopped in most of Africa and Southeast Asia, newspaper offices used for journalistic cover were closed, and cooperation between the Foreign Intelligence Service and the intelligence services of other countries was established.
Despite the curtailment of the activities of the SVR, Primakov generously handed out military ranks and awards to his subordinates. Prior to Primakov's arrival, there was only one general in the SVR; by 1996, their number exceeded one hundred.
The main focus of the work of the SVR was to monitor economic and political processes that could harm Russia's interests. The SVR annually submitted reports to the President on these processes.
The first report, The New Post-Cold War Challenge: The Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (1993), dealt with the brain drain and lethal technologies from developed countries to third world countries.
The second report, "Prospects for NATO Expansion and Russia's Interests" (1993), drew attention to the fact that by expanding into the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, NATO does not guarantee its transformation from a military alliance into a political one. The report recommended the regrouping and rearmament of Russian troops in the west of the country and caused outrage in the US and Europe.
The third report is "Russia-CIS: Does the West's Position Need to Be Corrected?" (1994) - condemned the activities of external forces trying to disrupt the integration process between the CIS countries, and suggested that the commonwealth create a single defense space.
The fourth report - "Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Problems of Extension" (1995) - three years before the first nuclear tests in India and Pakistan, warned that these countries should sign the NPT.

Permanent member of the Security Council. In this capacity, he participated in the decision-making on the military operation against Chechnya in 1994.
Member of the Defense Council of the Russian Federation (since the creation of the council in 1996).

From January 1996 to September 1998 - Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
He has established himself as a champion of the integration of the CIS countries and an opponent of NATO's eastward expansion.
During the first year, Primakov traveled all over the world - Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, all of Yugoslavia, India, Syria, Israel, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgia, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Indonesia, Finland, Italy, the Vatican, France, Germany, Portugal - but never went to the USA.
Among the features of Primakov-style diplomacy: a tougher attitude towards the Baltic countries due to their constant violation of the rights of the Russian-speaking population and ignoring the reproaches of the United States and Israel about Russian supplies of dual-use technologies and missile technologies to Iran.

From September 1998 to May 1999 - Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
At the end of 1998 and the beginning of 1999, the talk did not cease that Primakov, if asked very kindly, would agree to run for the presidency of Russia. At the same time, the fact that Primakov was not going to the presidency was completely ignored.
“His premiership will be marked by the descendants of an unprecedented number of initiated corruption cases.<...>To begin with, Primakov decided to free Yeltsin from the traps of the "illegal economy" into which his family had fallen. Without the support or neutral position of the president, it is impossible to work in a system built personally for Yeltsin. The work was delicate, in several stages. But the old scout knew the business.<...> <Президент>and the system created by his own efforts grew together like Siamese twins. And the operation to separate them could have ended fatally with a probability of 90%. Yeltsin understood this and had no intention of thanking Primakov. The approaching cheap booth of impeachment doomed Primakov to the humiliating role of a bargaining chip" ("Novaya Gazeta", # 17, 1999).
Yeltsin signed the decree on the resignation of Primakov's cabinet a few days before the vote in the State Duma on the start of the impeachment procedure. The media noted that Primakov did nothing (he did not want to do anything) to prevent this vote from taking place at all.
In a televised address, Yeltsin acknowledged that Primakov's government "has fully fulfilled the tactical task assigned to it." The president explained his action by the government's lack of an economic strategy and by the fact that the situation in the economy is not improving.

Consultant to the administration of the Orenburg region on geopolitics (1999, governor of the region - Vladimir Elagin).

In the summer of 1999, politicians from various directions swarmed around Primakov, urging him to head their pre-election bloc in the elections to the State Duma of the third convocation. Were the media convinced that the politicians harassed Primakov in the hospital in Switzerland? and at the dacha in Yasenevo. Primakov claimed that no one came to see him, that he was busy writing a book.
On August 17, 1999, at a joint meeting of the political councils of the "Fatherland - All Russia" association and the Agrarian Party of Russia, he was elected chairman of the coordinating council of the "Fatherland - All Russia" bloc. It was decided that Primakov would head the bloc's electoral list.
Back in Switzerland, when asked whether he was going to run for the presidency of Russia, Primakov replied: "I do not exclude anything for myself in the future."

In October 1999, he refused to meet with President Boris Yeltsin, explaining that he did not want to associate himself with the policy pursued by the president's entourage.

Family

Father is a soldier. He served in Kiev, then in Tbilisi. Shot as an "enemy of the people".
Mother Anna Yakovlevna is a pediatrician.
Russian patriotic newspapers write that Primakov's "real name" is Kirshinblat. In fact, Kirshinblat is the husband of Primakov's mother's sister, a well-known surgeon.
Among the "close relatives" attributed to Primakov is General Vitaly Markovich Primakov, who was repressed in 1934 in the Tukhachevskii case (1897-1937). He is most likely not related to Yevgeny Primakov.

Married with a second marriage.

The first wife is Laura Kharadze. We met in Tbilisi. They got married in 1951. She died a year after the death of her son.
The nephew of Primakov's wife is the famous mathematician Alexei Gvishiani. Her brother, Academician Jermen Gvishiani, was married to the daughter of Alexei Kosygin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
Son - Alexander. Worked at the Institute of USA and Canada. In the mid-80s, he died of a heart attack on a bench in the Alexander Garden during the May Day demonstration - the ambulance could not break through the cordon to Red Square. The death of his beloved wife and son severely undermined Primakov's health.
Daughter - Nana - a defectologist by profession.
Grandson - Eugene, born in 1984 The youngest granddaughter - Masha, born in 1997

The second wife is Irina Borisovna. We met at the clinic: she was Primakov's attending physician.

Titles and awards

Since 1974 - Corresponding Member, since 1979 - Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, since 1991 - Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Having headed the SVR, he refused the rank of general due to his status.

He was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of Friendship of Peoples "Badge of Honor", "For Services to the Fatherland" III degree, and medals.

Laureate of the State Prize of the USSR, the Nasser Prize, the Prize. Avicenna.

Friends and Enemies

Friendship puts above any political differences.

Unlike most people who eventually lose touch with their childhood friends, Primakov kept all his friends. Over the years, their ranks have only grown. They joke that he still has friends even from ... kindergarten. It is impossible to list all of Primakov's friends.
Friends of childhood and youth: famous cardiac surgeon Academician Vladimir Burakovsky, former employee of the apparatus of the Central Committee of the CPSU Leon Onikov, film director Lev Kulidzhanov.
The government of Georgia has been unsuccessfully trying for several years to obtain the extradition of Igor Georgadze from Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry replies that it has no idea where he is. According to some reports, the former chief of the Georgian Security Service is also a childhood friend of Primakov.
Primakov called his friends in various interviews: artist Mikhail Shemyakin, intelligence officer Donald Donaldovich McLane, philosopher Merab Mamardashvili, screenwriter Anatoly Grebnev, executive secretary of the Intelligence Veterans Committee Konstantin Gevandov.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Ignatenko, in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper (May 15, 1996), said: “He played a wonderful role in the lives of many people. He keeps the memory of his friends who have already passed away. friends, and friends love him."

Nikolai Inozemtsev, deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper, invited Primakov to work for the Pravda newspaper. In 1970, the academician and director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations Inozemtsev invited him to his deputy. “Inozemtsev thought well, but wrote poorly, so Primakov prepared materials for him,” recalled later another patron of Primakov, the former secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Alexander Yakovlev. Yakovlev introduced Primakov to Mikhail Gorbachev. Primakov's academic career was also assisted by the president of the Academy of Sciences, Mstislav Keldysh.
Still, Primakov's career is the result of his personal abilities: the ability to win the favor of his subordinates and superiors.

Robert Markaryan has been Primakov's assistant since the time of the Institute of Oriental Studies. In the SVR, Markaryan received the rank of major general. After Primakov's appointment as prime minister, he became the head of the secretariat of the chairman of the government of the Russian Federation.
Yury Zubakov has been Primakov's assistant since 1990. After Primakov's appointment as prime minister, he became the head of the apparatus of the government of the Russian Federation.
Primakov's bodyguard is Gennady Alekseevich Khabarov.
Primakov's press secretary in the Foreign Intelligence Service was Tatyana Samolis.

At the Institute of Oriental Studies, Primakov was the supervisor of Saddam Hussein's cousin and Heydar Aliyev's daughter.
Primakov met Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in the mid-1960s when he acted as an intermediary in negotiations between the Iraqi Kurds and the Iraqi government. But Primakov's friendship with Hussein had no effect on the policy of the Iraqi leader. In 1991, Primakov failed to convince Hussein to withdraw troops from Kuwait. But this friendship irritates Western diplomats: the whole world went around the photo - a kiss between Yevgeny Primakov and Saddam Hussein.

The relationship between Russian Foreign Minister Primakov and US Secretary of State Warren Christopher was somewhat comical. The first time they met was in Helsinki, where Primakov deliberately violated protocol. It was planned that when Christopher got out of his car in a raincoat at the residence of the Russian minister, Primakov would approach him (also in a raincoat) and they would shake hands in front of the cameras. But Primakov did not go to Christopher's car, but remained standing in a suit on the porch, which put Christopher in the position of a guest ... Then Christopher paid a visit to Moscow, and Primakov never made a return visit to the United States ...
So when, in April 1996, Primakov became actively involved in the process of a peace settlement in the Middle East, pushing through the French settlement plan, Christopher, who was pushing through the American version, did not want to meet with him (citing the busy schedule of the visit). He also insisted that Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres demand that Primakov not interfere in the negotiations.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries reached an impasse, and the US had to change its Secretary of State. The phlegmatic and faceless Warren Christopher was replaced by a strong-willed, resolute and well-versed lady - Madeleine Albright - an active supporter of NATO's advance to the east and the forceful solution of interethnic conflicts. Despite such strong contradictions in their views, Primakov and Albright literally “sang together” (in July 1998, at a banquet on the occasion of the end of the conference of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, they sang a duet from West Side Story). Having made friends with Albright, Primakov "thawed out" and visited Washington.
Primakov is rightly called "Mikoyan of our days." This is the only case when a man who held such high positions under Mikhail Gorbachev retained them under Boris Yeltsin. Despite frequent changes of governments under Yeltsin, Primakov was always in demand, and his career only advanced.

After Primakov was appointed prime minister, former KGB and SVR officials began to come to power: head of the government apparatus Yuri Zubakov, deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council Oleg Chernov, head of the state company Rosvooruzhenie Grigory Rapota, chairman of the State Committee for Fisheries Nikolai Ermakov, deputy head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation on personnel issues Vladimir Makarov, etc.

The entrepreneurial politician Boris Berezovsky suffered the most from Primakov's fight against corruption in 1999. The media wondered which of the two would win. Berezovsky's chances were rapidly approaching zero. After Primakov's resignation from the post of prime minister, newspapers began to write that Berezovsky had also set it up.
On January 29, 1999, before flying to Davos, Berezovsky told reporters that his personal relationship with Primakov "has long roots, the origins of which lie back in the Academy of Sciences." "I am consistent in my policy, he is consistent in his, but our directions do not coincide.<...>I am convinced that Primakov really thinks about the country, I never said that he is opportunistic, but I said that the path Primakov is following is erroneous" (from an interview with Berezovsky to the Ekho Moskvy radio station, April 28, 1999) .

Life style

The main talent is organizational: he equally skillfully manages any team - scientists, intelligence officers, diplomats, ministers.
Gallant in dealing with women.
He never speaks badly of anyone. Even about the people who deliberately offended him.
Has a unique memory for names and dates.
Hard worker. Calm, balanced, stubborn, secretive.

He loves Georgian cuisine and Georgian feasts with toastmasters and toasts. On days of family celebrations, he gathers a "narrow" circle of his closest friends - fifty people.
From alcohol he prefers vodka, but does not abuse it.
Writes poems. Shoots at the range. I used to go to the pool often.
Painfully perceives newspaper articles about himself.

Never been in excellent health. They say that after the death of his first wife and son, he lives on medicines and is saved by the closeness of two doctors - his wife and friend.
But no one saw the prime minister tired. He easily endures long meetings, long flights, change of time zones.
In April 1997, he underwent surgery for gallstone disease.
In the spring of 1999 - exacerbation of sciatica. He was treated at home, he refused to go to the hospital. From an interview with Primakov to the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda (May 5, 1999): “Is this attack of sciatica the first one? I am very touched that letters-telegrams with advice on how and with what to be treated came in a flood. But, of course, I can’t try all of them on myself. ”
In June 1999, Primakov underwent an operation in one of the Swiss clinics on the hip joint. “I wrote a letter, very warm, Madeleine Albright. And she writes to me in this letter that she thinks a lot about me after this back operation. And that she wants to meet and so on.<...>I answered in this way:<...>I was touched by her warm letter, I also want to meet her. But at the same time, she has to tell the CIA that she is being given the wrong information, absolutely. Because the operation was not on my back, but on my leg" (Primakov, NTV, Itogi program, September 5, 1999).

Evgeny Maksimovich is conservative in clothes - he prefers strict suits and blue "club" jackets. He likes chameleon glasses with tinted lenses, but lately he has been wearing ordinary ones.

As director of IMEMO, he lived on Leninsky Prospekt. This is how the vice-governor of the Lipetsk region Yuri Dyukarev described his housing in an interview with Profil magazine: “An old, pre-war building with windows overlooking a noisy, dusty street. scent."
After the death of his wife and son, he left this apartment and moved to Yasenevo - closer to the headquarters of the Foreign Intelligence Service. Here is how the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper describes his housing in the fall of 1998: “No sets, crystals and “custom-made” Italian lamps. A sofa covered with a rug, a modest carpet on the floor and a huge teddy bear, presented to Yevgeny Maksimovich by a dear little man. And there are many more books."
In October 1999, when submitting information about his income to the CEC, Primakov indicated a house and a plot of land (172.9 sq.m - 25 acres) and an apartment of 213 sq.m (judging by the area - the prime minister's). Primakov's income for 1998 amounted to 505,638 rubles (prime minister's salary, scientific and creative activities, income from deposits in banks).

Books

Author of books on the modern history of the East: "The countries of Arabia and colonialism", "Egypt: the time of President Nasser" (together with I. Belyaev), "War that might not have happened."
In 1999, he wrote a book about his work in intelligence and the Foreign Ministry (not yet published). "I wrote everything myself. No one helped me in the sense of literary processing or regrouping of the material. Only my wife helped, who proofread what came from the typist" (Primakov, interview with Versiya, September 7-13, 1999).

questionable information

On January 30, 1999, Sergei Dorenko in the Vremya (ORT) program accused Primakov of supporting the Interstate Aviation Committee, headed by his wife Tatyana Anodina. Later it turned out that Anodina had nothing to do with Primakov.

The New Yorker magazine at the end of March 1999, citing British intelligence, published information that Primakov had received a bribe of $800,000 from Iraqi Prime Minister Tariq Aziz for obstructing the access of the UN international inspectorate to military installations. Iraq. Even the Americans didn't believe it. Primakov also laughed for a long time, joking that such services cost more.

Novye Izvestia (October 9, 1999) published an article entitled "Primakov's List". It was about the fact that in February 1999, at the request of Primakov from the Prosecutor General's Office, he received a list of 163 names of prominent corrupt officials. “This is a typical provocation, and a multi-purpose one at that. Firstly, I didn’t send any requests anywhere, I tell you this quite unambiguously.<...>This time. Secondly, this list reminds me of something. When I looked at this list, I suddenly felt: I saw him somewhere, and he almost exactly conveys this rating list, which is published in Nezavisimaya Gazeta.<...>Only Berezovsky was put in the first place in order to give such, well, certainty or certainty, if you like.<...>These people who are supposedly sent in response to my request, they may be offended. Among them there are those who have nothing to be offended about, and there are those, the majority, who are normal people, and among them there are many of my comrades and friends. I'm going to sue for the first time in my life about this, right? And I will get it, I will ask for a large amount, the newspaper is not poor, apparently, and let all this money go to kindergarten" (Primakov, Hero of the Day, October 11, 1999).

http://pics.bp.ru/ovr/lider_a.shtml

Evgeny Primakov. The man who saved intelligence Mlechin Leonid Mikhailovich

Death of son and wife

Few know Yevgeny Primakov deeply, only those who are part of his close circle of friends. Cloudy in appearance, he is in reality a cheerful, sincere, cheerful person. He writes good lyrical poems, loves a feast, knows many anecdotes and remains faithful to his comrades.

He did a lot of things as if playfully. He defended his dissertations, not intending to devote himself entirely to science, but it turned out that the academic career became the main one. He left the scientific institute, not assuming that over time he would take large positions in the government and eventually head the cabinet of ministers.

The seeming ease of a career is evidence of many talents, although in any career an element of chance, or rather, luck, also matters. But in his personal life, he experienced a real tragedy - he lost his wife and son. For a man of his type, his Tbilisi upbringing, this loss is unbearable. But Primakov never complains, never shows how hard it is for him, and does not fall into melancholy.

But the most important thing in life, despite his career and professional success, for him was the family. He married early, but over the years, their feelings with Laura Vasilievna Kharadze did not fade at all. They were not only husband and wife, but also friends, complementing each other. They gave birth to two children - a son and a daughter: Alexander Primakov and Nana Primakov.

“Sasha was an amazing boy,” Thomas Kolesnichenko recalled. “For me, this is ideal. I do not have such children, and I have not seen anyone with them. He went to Yevgeny Maksimovich. Sasha Primakov came to New York for an internship, and I worked there as a correspondent for Pravda. Just at that moment, I had a conflict with one of our local bosses. Mikhail Averkievich Kharlamov was the first deputy representative of the USSR to the UN. He did something wrong, I don’t remember, but I was offended by him.

And Sasha Primakov had to go to Kharlamov with some material. He announced to Thomas Kolesnichenko:

“Uncle Tom, I won’t go to him.

In Tbilisi, it is customary to call a father's friend an uncle.

- Yes, what are you? Kolesnichenko was surprised. - Why don't you go?

- He offended you!

- What do you have to do with this? You go, you have a job.

Sasha shook his head.

“I am a clansman,” the younger Primakov said firmly, “I will not go to him ...

Father's character.

“You know, when people find themselves abroad, they have something to do, there are so many temptations,” Kolesnichenko recalled. - And Sasha came to me after work, because he lived far away, sat in my office and worked. Until the evening he sat and wrote. He would certainly go far. This was an extraordinary guy.

He was in graduate school. He was offered to go to Cairo as a correspondent and go into science. But this was not destined to happen. Sasha Primakov passed away as a very young man, suddenly, in the arms of friends.

“This is one of the darkest days of my life,” says Valentin Zorin. – Sasha Primakov was my graduate student. Three graduate students went on duty on a holiday - it was May 1, 1981. A beautiful spring day. Suddenly Sasha grabbed his comrades by the hands and said: I am dying. And he died instantly.

Her heart could not stand it, as later with her mother, Laura ... Apparently, something like that was inherited from her mother. Sasha Primakov was only twenty-seven years old.

“The first to know about Sasha's death was Vitaly Zhurkin, the future academician and director of the Institute of Europe,” recalled Leon Onikov. - Zhurkin called me, and together we took Sasha's wife to the hospital, knowing that he had already died, and on the way we tried with all our might not to tell her about it ahead of time.

Sasha Primakov suffered from a heartache, but he died so unexpectedly that no one was ready for this and did not think that this could happen.

- Sasha's heart disease appeared suddenly? I asked Onikov.

– Our mutual friend, academician of medicine Volodya Burakovsky once told me: Sasha will die unexpectedly. And so it happened.

When this happened, Primakov was on a business trip in Mexico. Valentin Zorin, with the help of the embassy, found him at the hotel and said:

- Do what you want, but tomorrow you should be in Moscow.

He asked what happened?

No, but I guess I guessed...

Friends met him at the gangway. He came down all white, and they told him:

Sasha is no more.

Vladimir Ivanovich Burakovsky also came to meet him at the airport. He ordered an ambulance.

Thomas Kolesnichenko:

- Here they were driving from the airport in a car, and an ambulance was behind them to help Zhenya if he became ill.

Valentin Zorin:

- In a semi-conscious state, we brought him home, where the body of his son lay ... That's what happened to him. Zhenya experienced this very terribly. If not for his daughter and grandchildren, he would not have endured such grief.

Thomas Kolesnichenko:

- He loved the boy very much. It was a terrible tragedy. It is still a tragedy for him. And at that time there is nothing to say: unbearable grief. Until now, we go to Sasha's grave, do not forget.

People around Primakov learned about this tragic story and understood what Yevgeny Maksimovich was going through.

Alexey Malashenko, Doctor of Historical Sciences, employee of the Institute of Oriental Studies:

- I remember that just after the death of his son, an academic council was appointed at our institute. Everyone gathered, and there was dead silence. The venerable scientists sat and did not know how to express their sympathy to them. And Primakov behaved admirably, neither with a gesture nor a word did he show what he was feeling now.

Thomas Kolesnichenko:

- He continued to work. Yes, this is Zhenya's will. He goes to work, he saves himself by work.

Valentin Zorin:

“Two years after Sasha’s death, Primakov began his working day by driving to the cemetery in the morning and sitting at his son’s grave for an hour, and then driving to work…

The death of his son was the first of two tragedies that befell Primakov.

Everyone who knew Laura Primakova kept the best memories of her. A charming woman, a magnificent mother and a skilled hostess. She cooked amazingly, was hospitable, benevolent. She played the piano wonderfully. And everything she did was easy, simple. The house is always full of guests. They lived happily and interestingly.

One of Primakov's closest friends was Vladimir Ivanovich Burakovsky, a major cardiac surgeon, director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery, academician of medicine, laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes, the last Hero of Socialist Labor who received a star from Brezhnev's hands.

Burakovsky also grew up in Tbilisi, but he was seven years older than Primakov - in childhood and youth, this matters. Then this difference ceased to be noticeable. They became friends already in the early seventies, when Primakov returned from the Middle East.

Liliana Burakovskaya, the widow of Vladimir Ivanovich, recalled:

- We came to the Primakovs in a small apartment on Fersman Street. I knew that, like in every normal family, they had problems, difficulties, including material ones. But life was interesting. I didn’t see anything luxurious among them, and they weren’t used to a luxurious life. Neither Primakov nor Burakovsky created treasures for themselves on earth. They knew the Bible, they knew life. They understood: when we leave, we take nothing with us except a good name.

“But you can leave something for your children and grandchildren. And this leads many.

– Yes, you can provide offspring in the seventh generation. But they didn't. Not because they didn't love their children. They believed that what they had was enough. Let them earn the rest.

Yevgeny Maksimovich turned out to be a brilliant storyteller. In general, he likes to tell jokes, likes to joke. When the whole company later gathered, it was a firework of wit.

- As I first saw Evgeny Maksimovich, he remained so, - recalled Liliana Burakovskaya. – He is still like this: always with a smile, benevolent. And Laura was the same. It was impossible not to fall in love with this family and not get close to her.

They never took themselves too seriously, they didn't have any swagger. They were always self-critical, making fun of each other. Evgeny Maksimovich is neither vain nor pompous. These are people who have not realized themselves constantly talk about themselves. And the one who succeeded, why should he? On the contrary, such people treat themselves critically, with irony and even frivolously. Although Laura was sincerely proud when her husband made such a career:

- I told you that my Zhenya is number one!

She always understood that Yevgeny Maksimovich was somehow superior to his comrades, recalls Liliana Burakovskaya.

The wife also influences her husband. We imperceptibly approached. Laura became my friend. She was extraordinary, charming, attracted people. Diversely educated, she was keenly interested in everything, went to concerts, to exhibitions. She herself played superbly, sang. On her birthday - February 8 - her friends gathered, probably thirty. Then they moved from Fersman Street to Leninsky Prospekt, they already had a good apartment, but even it could not accommodate everyone. Her friends adored her.

Laura was so cheerful - friends could not even imagine that she was terminally ill. When she had her first seizure, Burakovsky was the first to run to her, because the Primakovs lived next to his institute on Leninsky Prospekt. The attack was stopped, and she was forced to be examined. Laura didn't take her health very seriously either. But she had to be treated. First, Burakovsky admitted her to his institute, then she went to the Central Clinical Hospital of the 4th Main Directorate under the USSR Ministry of Health.

Doctors made a serious diagnosis - myocarditis. The myocardium is the heart muscle. Myocarditis is inflammation of the muscle, it weakens and stops working. This is an incurable disease. Young Sasha Primakov died of myocarditis.

In such cases, a heart transplant is indicated. Vladimir Burakovsky wanted to start heart transplant operations, but the then Minister of Health Boris Petrovsky, himself a cardiologist surgeon, forbade him to do so. But drugs for myocarditis did not help, it was not possible to restore the working capacity of the myocardium.

The moment came when the doctors said that Laura Primakova had only five years left to live. They, of course, said this not to her, but to her husband. With this terrible news, Yevgeny Maksimovich came to the Burakovskys. He looked depressed, hushed, withdrawn into himself. He could only speak to the Burakovskys. Not only because Vladimir Ivanovich is a doctor. They also experienced a terrible tragedy - their daughter died in a car accident. Her grave is next to the grave of Sasha Primakov.

- Did Evgeny Maksimovich tell his wife about the diagnosis? I asked Liliana Albertovna Burakovskaya.

- No no! Nobody spoke. They pretended everything was fine. Primakov was invited to Japan with his wife. He asked if she could go? We decided: let Laura go, get distracted. And it's good that she went ... And then she felt worse and worse, she lay in the country, she became very weak ... Laura did not live even five years.

In June 1987, on election day, Laura and Yevgeny Maksimovich went out into the yard. She suddenly froze and said:

- Zhenya, my heart stopped.

They called an ambulance, but it was too late. She died in her husband's arms. She was only fifty-seven years old, she is a year younger than Evgeny Maksimovich. The second tragedy in a few years. Yevgeny Maksimovich still loves Laura, thinks about her and suffers ... In the days of the memory of Laura and Sasha, Evgeny Maksimovich always gathers friends at the grave, and then takes them to the wake.

Primakov left a daughter, Nana.

Liliana Burakovskaya:

- Evgeny Maksimovich loves his daughter and grandchildren. Nana is a psychologist. She works with retarded children. I tell her: you are a saint ... She looks at you somehow inquiringly, studies you. She is modest and taciturn, restrained, maybe not very smiling, but suddenly she will say something with a great sense of humor, just like her father.

Primakov's eldest granddaughter, Sasha, was named after the deceased Alexander Primakov. From the second marriage, Nana has a little girl - Masha. And from the departed son there was a grandson Zhenya, named after his grandfather. He also became a journalist, working as his own correspondent for the NTV television company in the Middle East.

In April 1991, a group of American senators visited Moscow. Primakov invited them to his dacha. American Ambassador Jack Matlock was amazed:

“Traditionally, foreigners were received only in restaurants or in special “reception houses” kept for this purpose. Soviet leaders never invited foreigners home. Primakov's dacha was cozy, but not luxurious. Most high-ranking persons used state dachas, but Primakov was clearly more comfortable and cozy in his own home, and he proudly showed his house.

Primakov's daughter was the mistress of the house. Looking at photographs and family heirlooms, we remembered the personal sorrows that befell the owner. The family was friendly and close-knit, and Primakov had not yet healed the psychological trauma generated by heavy losses. Showing us a photo of his late wife, he remarked that although four years had passed since her death, he had absolutely no desire to marry again. Work changed everything for him.”

Primakov, even in childhood, did not go in for sports and did not differ in good health.

“While working at the institute, I inherited Primakov’s huge desk,” recalled Vladimir Sizerov, an IMEMO employee. He was given an office with new furniture. And I got his old table. I was horrified to discover that one of the drawers was full of drugs. He, poor, swallowed all sorts of pills. But he's holding on. Do you know what? I have seen this on my travels. He, like Churchill, can sleep at any time, taking advantage of any minute. I think this is how he compensates for his sores and overexertion.

When he was director of intelligence, Yevgeny Maksimovich underwent thyroid surgery. Becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs - gallbladder surgery. But he has no special ailments, he has not yet canceled or postponed a single business due to his own ill health. Every morning he swims half a kilometer in the pool, observes the regime, and no one dares to say that he cannot cope with his duties.

Thomas Kolesnichenko:

- He's got it all right. Next to him is a very good woman, a new wife. We, old friends of Yevgeny Maksimovich, fell in love with her very much, because she loves him and creates a full life for him, takes care of him.

For the second time, Primakov married his attending physician, Irina Borisovna Bokareva. She worked in the Barvikha sanatorium, which was the most comfortable and prestigious in the system of the 4th main department under the USSR Ministry of Health. Although there were many sanatoriums and rest houses for the authorities - from the Riga seaside to Sochi, from the Kursk region to Valdai, in Soviet times, all the big bosses preferred Barvikha.

The mild climate of the middle lane, shown in almost any disease, the proximity of Moscow, large rooms, good diet food and real medicine - this attracted vacationers even out of season. It was a special honor to get a ticket to Barvikha. This is where the top leaders used to rest. Less high-ranking officials were refused permits.

If you drive along the Rublevsky highway, then, before reaching the holiday village of Zhukovka and government dachas, you can see a simple sign: Barvikha. It is necessary to turn around and move off the highway onto a beautiful forest road. And soon there will be a new sign "Sanatorium Barvikha". During the war, there was a hospital here. Those whom the doctors were unable to help were buried nearby - the military cemetery has survived to this day.

At the gate is a stone house, from which a brave duty officer will appear. If you come to rest, then you need to present a ticket. If visiting, then your name or car number should appear on the list provided by the head physician. If you are expected, the gates open and you can enter the sanatorium. The road - with strict signs "Parking near the building is prohibited!" - leads to the main building. The doors open automatically. The attendant is sitting at the table. Vacationers are greeted like family. Things are taken on a cart to the room, so that, God forbid, you don’t have to carry it yourself.

There are few vacationers in the sanatorium who hardly see each other, but there are many incredibly polite people in white coats. Here they do not get annoyed and do not refuse anything to vacationers. Each is called by his first name. Names are remembered not only by the attending physician, but also by sisters, and waitresses in the dining room, and nannies, and those who deliver food to the rooms of the non-walking patients.

Each vacationer, if he arrived without a wife, is entitled to a cozy single room with a small dressing room and his own toilet room. The room has a wardrobe, a TV set, a refrigerator, a desk, a coffee table, a TV set and a telephone with a Moscow number. The family rooms are larger. Be sure to slide with dishes and an electric samovar. In Soviet times, everyone was provided with underwear, tracksuits and sneakers for free. Morals in the sanatorium are liberal. You can keep wine and vodka in your refrigerator and ask the sister on duty to bring a corkscrew. Although this is a sanatorium, no one will be surprised.

The sanatorium consists of several buildings connected by passages or a winter garden. The architecture is intricate. They live on the first and second floors, on the third administrative offices, a cinema hall - a movie every evening. Once it was the main evening entertainment. Doctor's offices are scattered on different floors. Each room has a small balcony, including the one on the first floor.

In the dining room buffet - vegetables, herbs, and the rest by order from the menu. The sanatorium has its own poultry farm. You can get unloading food - they carry it to the room so that those who want to lose weight do not go to the dining room themselves and do not look with envy at what others are eating.

In summer they ride a bike, play ping-pong, swim in the pond. But a bicycle and a boat are only on prescription. In addition to the boatman, a sister is on duty - suddenly one of the vacationers becomes ill. They built a beautiful tea house, where they drink tea in the fresh air - with honey, with jam, with sweets.

Those who wish go to the pool and sauna. But mostly they are treated in Barvikha. Half an hour after the arrival of the vacationer, the attending physician appears in his room. He, or more often she, will come every day, except for weekends (when only the doctor on duty remains), at a convenient time between breakfast and lunch. Everyone is assigned a lot of procedures - so everyone is busy until lunch. The sanatorium is famous for its physiotherapy: magnetotherapy, electrophoresis, Bernard currents, hydroprocedures, whirlpool baths, hydromassage, carbonic baths, and the usual massage is wonderful.

Doctors live in a staff house - next to the territory of the sanatorium. At four o'clock in the afternoon, the attending physicians are going home. But first, the doctor looks at the patient:

– Are there any problems? Do you need me more today?

Only then can she leave. Doctors have always tried to select knowledgeable, skillful, amiable, capable of making the life of a vacationer pleasant. One of the attending physicians during perestroika times in Barvikha was Irina Borisovna Bokareva. A young woman, she and her family came from Stavropol, where she graduated from a medical institute, a fellow countrywoman Gorbachev, about which she spoke not without pride at the time. Her husband, a tall man, somewhat withdrawn, with a wheat mustache, also worked as a doctor in Barvikha. My daughter went to school, for the summer she was sent to her grandparents.

They immediately drew attention to Irina Borisovna: a sweet woman, smiling. She has a kind word for everyone. Every person, talking with her, feels how she sympathizes with him. She came to her patients in the morning in a great mood and infected the patients with this mood: good morning, how did you sleep? And she asked sincerely, sympathetically. She remembered all the requests and wishes of vacationers. She spoke not about herself, but about patients, which is not so often the case among doctors. I am writing about this with knowledge of the matter - in the late eighties, my parents rested in the sanatorium, Irina Borisovna was their doctor, and they were very pleased.

Vacationers loved Irina Borisovna, appreciated the attendants and, apparently, the authorities, because she received a big promotion. She was put in charge of the department for senior management. When Primakov was resting in Barvikha, Irina Borisovna took care of him herself. In 1989, Yevgeny Maksimovich was elected a candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU. From now on, he relied on a personal doctor who dealt only with him, constantly observed the patient and, if necessary, called for help from any specialists.

The special polyclinic was located on Granovsky Street in an old three-story building that belonged to the 4th Main Directorate under the USSR Ministry of Health. On the second floor, members and candidate members of the Central Committee of the CPSU, members of the Central Audit Commission were received. On the ground floor - the biggest bosses of the country: members and candidate members of the Politburo, secretaries of the Central Committee.

Primakov chose his personal doctor himself. Irina Borisovna spoke about this much later in a newspaper interview. Primakov called her:

- Irina Borisovna, in my current position I am entitled to a personal doctor. Don't want to become one?

She replied with lightning speed:

It was undoubtedly a happy occasion.

After the death of Laura, Primakov did not marry for a long time and did not even think about it. But Irina Borisovna turned out to be exactly the woman he needed. Relations between them developed over several years.

- Evgeny Maksimovich, - Irina Borisovna said, - was stopped by a big, as he then imagined, age difference. I was frightened that his relatives and friends might come up with the idea: I do not need a person, but what is behind this person. position, position...

After the August putsch of 1991, the institute of personal doctors was abolished. Relations between them acquired a purely personal character.

Irina Borisovna:

- When I had to return home, I usually sighed: “How I don’t want to leave.” In one of those moments, he said: “No need. Stay forever." This is how the proposal that Yevgeny Maksimovich made to me two years before the wedding looked like.

They got married, and Primakov, one might say, got a second wind. If there hadn't been such a person next to him, he would hardly have coped with the trials that he had to go through in the late nineties.

Compensation for all the sorrows was the abundance of devoted friends surrounding Primakov. He has many comrades both here and in the Caucasus. He loves his friends, his friends love him. This style is so Caucasian, Tbilisi.

Vitaly Ignatenko:

– His courageous behavior is probably leaven from childhood, he grew up in a difficult time, and even without a father. But they were true friends. And they were always monolithic, he had a good rear. Nothing could happen. He could always return to wonderful comrades. Everywhere he was always expected and now they are waiting. It is very important to feel that comrades are behind you, who do not care who you are, where you are, what car you drive, whether you even have this car. It gives vitality...

On TV screens, Primakov often appeared gloomy, it seemed that he was constantly dissatisfied. When he became Minister of Foreign Affairs, he first appeared in public in impenetrable dark glasses. It didn't make a very good impression. And I, I remember, wrote a strip material in Izvestia about Primakov under the heading "Dark glasses prevent you from seeing the true face of the minister." Apparently, someone else told him about it, and he soon changed his glasses so that you could see his eyes.

On the day when Primakov was approved in the State Duma for the post of prime minister and he spoke to the deputies with the words “I am not a magician,” his friend Valentin Zorin was taken to the hospital with suspected peritonitis. In the evening, having learned about this from his wife, the head of the government, Primakov, came to the hospital to visit his comrade.

When the new building of the Research Institute of Cardiac Surgery named after V. I. Burakovsky was opened at the intersection of Rublevsky and Uspenskoye highways, the head of government, postponing other business, visited the opening and said a few kind words. The TV cameras showed the face of Primakov, who sadly looked at the bust of his late friend, after whom the institute is named. Primakov played an important role in the fact that this construction, which began during the life of Burakovsky, was completed.

When Academician Alexander Yakovlev was celebrating his seventy-fifth birthday, Primakov, of course, arrived. Everyone left, left them alone to talk at the set table. Primakov faced difficult negotiations with the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Michel Camdessus. This did not prevent Primakov from making a few toasts and drinking a certain number of glasses of vodka to the hero of the day, without prejudice to Russia's complicated relations with the International Monetary Fund.

On December 25, 1998, the day after the State Duma approved the draft budget submitted by his government in the first reading, Primakov arrived at the Izvestia building on Tverskaya at nine in the morning to congratulate Stanislav Kondrashov on his seventieth birthday. I drank tea with him, sat for an hour, and only after that I went to the government, where he was expected to meet with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.

If he believed someone, friendly relations developed, then at least something - even if a person is removed from his post, mixed with dirt - Primakov will not change towards him anyway. He continues to call up this person, to meet. One of the politicians, whose name not so long ago thundered, and now almost forgotten, deprived of his posts and, it seems, of his job in general, says about Primakov:

I appreciate what a good friend he is. When he is in our area, he comes to me. These are always pleasant meetings. Primakov is a broad-minded person. Accepts and respects someone else's opinion - so it seems to me, anyway. Cheerful, sincere, cheerful person. It's easy with him.

Being friends in Primakov's way means not only kissing each other three times and raising glasses to each other's health. He cherishes the memory of the departed. Usually people get lost in the turmoil of life. And he is not. He always remains close to the families of those who have passed away. For him it is very important.

Margarita Maksimova, widow of Academician Inozemtsev:

“My granddaughter literally died. In the hospital where she was lying, there was no necessary pediatrician, but it was necessary to urgently pump out the pus. And she could not be transferred to a children's clinic. I could not stand it and called Primakov's assistant Robert Vartanovich Markaryan with a request for help. Yevgeny Maksimovich was then in the Supreme Soviet and headed the Council of the Union. Fifteen minutes later, the hospital was instructed to immediately contact the children's clinic, the child was sent, the pus was drained and saved. I am grateful to him for the coffin of life.

Yevgeny Maksimovich kept all his friends, including those from his school days. And no matter what position he holds, it does not change anything in his attitude towards friends. He walked with them through life without losing anything.

Leon Onikov said:

We have our own code of friendship. In friendship, neither nation nor religion matters. Age must be respected - nothing more. That's all Primakov absorbed from childhood.

Wherever he was, he made friendship with people, strong, for a long time. They became friends with Robert Markarian since Primakov was the director of the Institute of Oriental Studies. At IMEMO, Grigory Morozov, the ex-husband of Svetlana Alliluyeva, became his friend. On the radio - Valentin Zorin. In Pravda - Thomas Kolesnichenko.

“One person is babbling that politics and friendship are incompatible,” Onikov said. - I answered him: quit politics, unfortunate, make friends! We may have different views, our likes and dislikes, but they are not a hindrance to friendship.

It is as if Primakov transfers the cordiality of his attitude to his friends to everyone else. When he became chief of intelligence, minister, head of government, Primakov's entourage noted with amazement his obvious mistakes in personnel matters and wrong appointments.

Primakov's first wife, Laura Vasilievna, was very worried that Yevgeny Maksimovich was poorly versed in people, being overly trusting. They loved everyone, they had many friends. They came to their house, but she did not like everyone. Someone didn't like it at all. Laura believed that Yevgeny Maksimovich was incapable of recognizing the bad in people, and she was very worried that this could harm him.

Mistakes happen to everyone. But his assistants were really surprised sometimes: and he appointed this person to such an important position? How could this happen?

Tatyana Samolis worked with Primakov in the Foreign Intelligence Service:

– He paradoxically combines the statesman's mind and the soul of a naive child. Sometimes I thought I was older than him by God knows how many years. He is amazingly naive in relation to people ... He proceeds from the presumption of decency of any person - this is how I would define it. People can be conditionally divided into two categories - some evaluate a person based on the fact that everyone is good until it becomes obvious that he is bad, while others believe that everyone is bad until he proves that he is good. For Primakov, absolutely everything is good. All my comrades are smart, brilliant, wonderful. But then something accumulates - one thing, another. He creaks for a long time. He does not want to say out loud that this man is not so good. But then he will come to terms that he needs to leave ... But for him to be so angry at someone that he does not want to talk about him - this is a rare case! ... I had to be with him in situations where a narrow circle of people gathered whom he trusted and, apparently, said what he thinks, with the exception of some incredible state secrets, recalls Tatyana Samolis. - But he never said bad things about those who spoke of him, to put it mildly, disapprovingly ... When he was accused of something, he was always so upset, he threw up his hands. He understood that there could be a divergence of views. Undoubtedly. But why so much dirt and insults were swirling around - he did not understand this.

Primakov is such an experienced administrator. He constantly faced serious conflicts, and you want to say that it was strange for him that someone was engaged in intrigues? I asked Tatyana Samolis.

- No, of course, theoretically, he knew about it. And he practically knew - he may have had a thousand conflicts at work. But he still had a naive belief that all people are not bad. And any of my attempts to reason with him did not please him very much. Until he himself was convinced that he was wrong about this or that person. This is a paradox for me. The combination of such life experience and naivety towards people ... And in any situation - when some intrigues bubbled around him and God knows what else, and people bathed in it - he retained such naivety. When he talks about people, he breaks into a smile. It is a pleasure for him to say the name of his friend, and he has an incredible number of them. Yes, I would get tired of this, I would physically not be able to communicate with them all. And then, I wouldn't be able to love so many people. I would limit myself to a narrow circle of friends. He - no, he can love everyone. He needs to feel them all from time to time, touch, talk, meet.

- So what, he is not able to part with a worthless worker?

“It depends on how this person pushed him away from himself,” says Tatyana Samolis. - This can happen very quickly - if a person is such a hindrance to business that every day he spends in an important post is dangerous. He will quickly remove it. Primakov can be tough. He is quite capable of it. He knows what he wants, where he is going. Otherwise, his life would have been different. But he is quite capable of working with a person who is personally unpleasant to him. For example, Primakov noticed some shortcomings in someone, but considers him a good professional. Primakov will tolerate such a person. And moreover, it will create a good working environment around him, will not allow others to play on these shortcomings and set themselves up against this person. The principle is simple - since we need it, it does a good job - everyone, guys, stop empty talk.

It seemed that Primakov was an indecisive person. This is true?

- Well, this is a delusion, - says Vitaly Ignatenko. - He is a very determined person and very strong-willed in carrying out his ideas, policies. When he became head of government, this was probably felt on a global, geopolitical scale. We can say that according to the words he is soft - he does not raise his voice. But he is an exceptionally determined and principled person. This is his strength.

- Have you ever seen him sad, dreary?

“Never,” Ignatenko says firmly. - He, perhaps, of course, like any other person, is subject to doubts, sadness, sadness - he has many reasons for sadness and sadness in life. But in public he is always optimistic, next to him you feel any of your failures so small. This is a trait of his character - the confidence that everything can be overcome, reversed. This character trait, I think, helps him in all his work, in any undertakings. And I am sure that in his current work she will help him.

Leon Onikov:

- Most often we gathered at Volodya Burakovsky's while he was alive. Two or three times a week they called each other in the evening, met with him at the institute. We drank. And in a long bath, in which syringes were once disinfected, sausages were cooked. They always gathered when someone from Tbilisi came. And they often came - his school friends. Many people stayed at his house. If someone came to him, they called me. If they came to me, I called him. They talked about friends, about loyalty, about values, who is a friend, who needs help, who is a scoundrel. Or joked, told jokes.

Primakov is a big fan of jokes. Here is one of his favorite jokes.

Two old men meet. One says:

- Trouble with me! Completely lost his memory. Everyone forgot what they knew.

The second reassures him:

- Don't be afraid. I had the same. But they sent me pills from America, and now everything is in order.

- God bless. What are the pills called?

The second thought:

- You know, there are such flowers, a tall stem, ends with a white or red flower ... What are they called?

- Carnations.

No, not carnations. Thorns on the stem...

Roses, right?

Exactly, rose!

He turns his head and shouts towards the kitchen:

- Rosa, Rosa, what are the names of the pills that completely restored my memory?

Leon Onikov:

- For us, a feast is a pastime, these are conversations. We don't drown ourselves in strong drinks. Caucasian feasts are not booze: they quickly spilled, come on, let's go, let's go and that's it. Caucasian toasts - mutual communication. Our conversations were at the table, but not at the standard table, as in Moscow. I do not want to offend anyone, but the Caucasian feast has its own principles, its own goals. When we were young, we only drank wine. When he changed tastes, I didn't follow. But now they put vodka next to it. Even if there are many different drinks - cognac, whiskey, vodka, wine, he prefers vodka. Drunk, when they lose their heads, I never saw him.

We have a cult of toasts. He is a very good toastmaster, but when we were together, I usually am a toastmaster. And when he wants to make a toast, he always looks back at me. What is important in a toast? Firstly, the highlight is not just “for the health of such and such”, you need to come up with something original. He can. Secondly, sincerity. Thirdly, benevolence. And laconic. Loquacity is not good. There are exquisite toasts, there are obligatory ones. Here, for example, is a toast: let's drink to the health of those who drink to our health in our absence.

“At the Russian table, it is believed that everyone should say,” said Leon Onikov. - If someone is not given a word, he is offended. We have the opposite in the Caucasus. Only the toastmaster speaks, and the one for whom they did not drink is offended. They adopted the expression "Alaverdy" in Moscow. In the order of Alaverdi ... And now what? I drink to your health, and he, in the order of “alaverda”, drinks to mine. You can not do it this way. One toast for one person - as it should be ...

According to Primakov's friends, he was not interested in fishing, he never had a passion for the game. Backgammon, cards, checkers, chess - this is not for him. Primakov rested in the south. He loves the sea. Still, he almost became a naval officer.

I made this digression, spoke about the personal life of Yevgeny Maksimovich, quite deliberately, so that the motives for his actions and decisions were clearer.

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