Mikhail Gorbachev's parents were peasants. The childhood of the future President of the USSR fell on the war years, the family had to endure the German occupation. Mikhail Sergeevich's father, Sergei Andreevich, fought at the front and was wounded twice.

In the post-war years, there was a catastrophic shortage of workers on the collective farm. Mikhail Gorbachev had to combine his studies at school with work as a combine operator on collective farm fields. When Gorbachev was 17 years old, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for exceeding the plan.

Labor childhood did not prevent Gorbachev from graduating from high school with silver medal and enter the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University. At the university, Mikhail Sergeevich headed Komsomol organization faculty.

In 1953, Mikhail Sergeevich married Raisa Maksimovna Titarenko, a student at the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University. They were together until her death in 1999.

Career in the CPSU

Capital life and the atmosphere of the "thaw" had a great influence on the formation of the worldview of the future head of state. In 1955, Gorbachev graduated from the university and was sent to the Stavropol regional prosecutor's office. However, Mikhail Sergeevich found himself in party work. Through the Komsomol, he makes a good career. In 1962, he was already appointed party organizer and became a deputy of the next congress of the CPSU. Since 1966, Gorbachev has been the first secretary of the city committee of the CPSU for the Stavropol Territory.

The good harvests that were gathered in the Stavropol Territory created Gorbachev's reputation as a strong business executive. Since the mid-1970s, Gorbachev has been introducing a brigade contract in the region, which brought high yields. Gorbachev's articles on methods of rationalization in agriculture were often published in central press. In 1971 Gorbachev became a member of the CPSU. Gorbachev was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1974.

Gorbachev finally moves to Moscow in 1978, where he becomes Secretary of the Central Committee for the agro-industrial complex

Years of government

In the 1980s, the need for change was brewing in the USSR. At that time, no one considered Gorbachev's candidacy as the leader of the country. However, Gorbachev managed to rally the young secretaries of the Central Committee around him and get the support of A.A. Gromyko, who enjoyed great prestige among the members of the Politburo.

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was officially elected general secretary TsKKPSS. He became the main initiator of "perestroika". Unfortunately, Gorbachev did not have a clear plan for reforming the state. The consequences of some of his actions were simply catastrophic. For example, the so-called anti-alcohol company, thanks to which huge areas of vineyards were cut down and prices for alcoholic products rose sharply. Instead of improving the health of the population and increasing medium duration of life, a shortage was artificially created, people became handicrafts of dubious quality, and the ruined rare varieties of grapes have not yet been restored.

Soft foreign policy, carried out by Gorbachev, led to a radical change in the entire world order. Mikhail Sergeevich withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan, ended the Cold War and played a huge role in the unification of Germany. In 1990, Gorbachev received the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to easing international tensions.

The inconsistency and thoughtlessness of some reforms within the country led the USSR to the deepest crisis. It was during the reign of Gorbachev that bloody interethnic conflicts began to flare up in Nagorno-Karabakh, Ferghana, Sumgayit and other regions of the state. Mikhail Sergeevich, as a rule, was not able to influence the resolution of these bloody interethnic wars. His reaction to events was always very vague and belated.

The first to decide to leave the USSR were the Baltic republics: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. In 1991, in Vilnius, during the assault on the television tower by the Soviet troops, 13 people died. Gorbachev began to deny these events and stated that he had not ordered the assault.

The crisis that finally collapsed the USSR occurred in August 1991. Former associates of Gorbachev organized a coup d'état and were defeated. In December 1991, the USSR was liquidated, and Gorbachev was dismissed from the presidency of the USSR.

Life after power

After political career Gorbachev ended, he begins to conduct an active public activity. Since January 1992, Gorbachev has served as President of the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Science Research.

In 2000, he created the Social Democratic Party (SDPR), which he led until 2007.

On the day of his eightieth birthday, March 2, 2011, Gorbachev was awarded the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called.

In March 2014, Gorbachev hailed the outcome of the referendum in Crimea, and called the annexation of Crimea to Russia correcting a historical mistake.

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. Born March 2, 1931 in the village. Privolnoye (North Caucasian Territory). Soviet, Russian state, political and public figure. The last General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. The last Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, then the first Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The only President of the USSR.

Founder of the Gorbachev Foundation. Since 1993, co-founder of CJSC "New Daily Newspaper" (see. " New Newspaper"). Member of the editorial board since 1993.

He has a number of awards and honorary titles, the most famous of which is - Nobel Prize peace in 1990. Included in the list of 100 most studied personalities in history.

During the period of Gorbachev's activity as head of state and head of the CPSU in the Soviet Union, there were serious changes that affected the whole world, which were the result of the following events:

A large-scale attempt to reform the Soviet system ("Perestroika"). Introduction to the USSR of the policy of glasnost, freedom of speech and press, democratic elections.
Ending cold war.
Conclusion Soviet troops from Afghanistan (1989).
Rejection state status communist ideology and the persecution of dissidents.
The collapse of the USSR and the Warsaw bloc, the transition of the socialist countries of Eastern Europe towards a market economy and democracy.

Born on March 2, 1931 in the village of Privolnoye, Medvedensky District, Stavropol Territory (then the North Caucasian Territory), into a peasant family. Father - Gorbachev Sergey Andreevich (1909-1976), Russian.

Mother - Gopkalo Maria Panteleevna (1911-1993), Ukrainian.

Both grandfathers of M. S. Gorbachev were repressed in the 1930s. Paternal grandfather, Andrei Moiseevich Gorbachev (1890--1962), a peasant-individualist; for failure to fulfill the sowing plan in 1934, he was sent into exile in the Irkutsk region, released two years later, returned to his homeland and joined the collective farm, where he worked until the end of his life.

Maternal grandfather, Pantelei Efimovich Gopkalo (1894-1953), came from the peasants of the Chernigov province, was the eldest of five children, lost his father at the age of 13, and later moved to Stavropol. He became the chairman of the collective farm, in 1937 he was arrested on charges of Trotskyism. While under investigation, he spent 14 months in prison, endured torture and abuse. Panteley Efimovich was saved from execution by a change in the “party line”, the February 1938 plenum, dedicated to the “fight against excesses”. As a result, in September 1938, the head of the GPU of the Krasnogvardeisky district shot himself, and Pantelei Efimovich was acquitted and released. Already after the resignation and collapse of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev stated that the stories of his grandfather served as one of the factors that led him to reject the Soviet regime.

During the war, when Mikhail was 10 extra years father went to the front. After some time, German troops entered the village, the family spent more than five months in the occupation. On January 21-22, 1943, these areas were liberated by Soviet troops with a blow from under Ordzhonikidze. After his release, a notice came that his father had died. And a few days later a letter came from my father, it turned out that he was alive, the funeral was sent by mistake. Sergey Andreevich Gorbachev was awarded two orders of the Red Star and the medal "For Courage". Then the father supported Mikhail more than once in difficult moments of his life.

From the age of 13, he combined his studies at school with occasional work at the MTS and on the collective farm. From the age of 15 he worked as an assistant to the MTS combine operator. In 1949, the schoolboy Gorbachev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for shock work in grain harvesting. In the tenth grade, at the age of 19, he became a candidate member of the CPSU, recommendations were given by the director and teachers of the school. In 1950 he graduated from high school with a silver medal and entered Lomonosov Moscow State University without exams, this opportunity was provided by a government award. In 1952 he was admitted to the CPSU. After graduating with honors from the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University in 1955, he was sent to Stavropol to the regional prosecutor's office, worked for 10 days by distribution - from August 5 to August 15, 1955. On his own initiative, he was invited to free Komsomol work, became deputy head of the Department of Agitation and Propaganda of the Stavropol Territory Komsomol Committee, from 1956 the first secretary of the Stavropol City Komsomol Committee, then from 1958 the second and in 1961-1962. the first secretary of the regional committee of the Komsomol.

While studying at Moscow State University, he met and on September 25, 1953 married Raisa Maksimovna Titarenko, a student at the Faculty of Philosophy (1932-1999). The wedding was played in the dining room of the student hostel on Stromynka.

Since March 1962, the party organizer of the regional committee of the CPSU of the Stavropol Territorial Production Collective Farm and State Farm Administration. In October 1961 - a delegate to the XXII Congress of the CPSU. Since 1963 - head of the department of party bodies of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the CPSU. F.D. Kulakov, who left the Stavropol region from the post of the first secretary of the regional party committee in 1964, called M.S. Gorbachev among the promising party workers. And although Efremov did not like him, there were strong recommendations from Moscow about his promotion.

September 26, 1966 Mikhail Gorbachev was elected First Secretary of the Stavropol City Committee of the CPSU. In the same year, he traveled abroad for the first time, to the GDR. In 1967, he graduated in absentia from the Faculty of Economics of the Stavropol Agricultural Institute with a degree in agronomist-economist.

Twice Gorbachev's candidacy was considered for a job in the KGB. In 1966, he was offered the post of head of the KGB department of the Stavropol Territory, but his candidacy was rejected by Vladimir Semichastny. In 1969, he considered Gorbachev as a possible candidate for the post of deputy chairman of the KGB of the USSR.

Gorbachev himself recalled that before being elected first secretary of the regional committee, he "had attempts to go into science ... I passed the minimum, wrote a dissertation."

Since August 5, 1968, the second secretary, since April 10, 1970 - the first secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the CPSU. His predecessor in this position, Leonid Efremov, argued that Gorbachev's promotion was at the insistence of Moscow, although Efremov found it possible to nominate him as his successor.

Deputy of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR 9-11 convocations (1974-1989) from the Stavropol Territory. Until 1974, he was a member of the Commission of the Council of the Union for Nature Protection, then from 1974 to 1979 - Chairman of the Commission for Youth Affairs of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In 1973, a candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Pyotr Demichev made him an offer to head the Propaganda Department of the CPSU Central Committee, where Alexander Yakovlev was acting head for several years. After consulting with Mikhail Suslov, Gorbachev refused.

According to the former chairman of the State Planning Committee, Nikolai Baibakov, he offered Gorbachev the post of his deputy for agriculture.

After the removal of Politburo member Dmitry Polyansky from the post of Minister of Agriculture of the USSR (1976), Gorbachev's mentor Fyodor Kulakov spoke about the post of Minister of Agriculture of the USSR, but Valentin Mesyats was appointed minister.

The administrative department of the CPSU Central Committee proposed Gorbachev to the post of Prosecutor General of the USSR instead of Roman Rudenko, but his candidacy for the future Secretary General was rejected by the Politburo member, Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Andrei Kirilenko.

In 1971-1991 he was a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU. According to Gorbachev himself, he was patronized by Yuri Andropov, who contributed to his transfer to Moscow, according to independent estimates, Mikhail Suslov and Andrei Gromyko were more sympathetic to Gorbachev.

September 17, 1978 at the station Mineral water North Caucasian railway the so-called “meeting of the four general secretaries”, which later gained some fame, took place - Konstantin Chernenko, who was traveling to Baku and accompanying him, met with Mikhail Gorbachev, as the “master” of Stavropol, and Yuri Andropov, who was on vacation there at the same time. Historians emphasize that 47-year-old Mikhail Gorbachev was the youngest party functionary, whose candidacy Brezhnev approved as Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Gorbachev himself mentioned several of his meetings with Brezhnev even before moving to Moscow.

As Yevgeny Chazov testified, in a conversation with him after the death of F.D. Kulakov in 1978, Brezhnev "began to sort out from memory possible candidates for the vacant seat of Secretary of the Central Committee and was the first to name Gorbachev."

On November 27, 1978, at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, he was elected Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. December 6, 1978 moved with his family to Moscow. From November 27, 1979 to October 21, 1980 - candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. Chairman of the Commission for Legislative Proposals of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1979-84.

From October 21, 1980 to August 24, 1991 - Member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, from December 9, 1989 to June 19, 1990 - Chairman of the Russian Bureau of the CPSU Central Committee, from March 11, 1985 to August 24, 1991 - General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. After the death of K. U. Chernenko, Gorbachev was nominated for the post of General Secretary at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU on March 11, 1985 by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A.A. Gromyko, and Andrei Andreevich attributed this to his personal initiative. In the memoirs of the First Deputy Chairman of the KGB of the USSR F.D. Bobkov, it is mentioned that back in early 1985, due to Chernenko's illness, Gorbachev chaired the Politburo, from which the author concludes that Mikhail Sergeevich was already the second person in the state and successor to the post of general secretary.

On October 1, 1988, Mikhail Gorbachev took over as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, that is, he began to combine top positions in the party and state hierarchy.

He was elected a delegate to the XXII (1961), XXIV (1971) and all subsequent (1976, 1981, 1986, 1990) Congresses of the CPSU. From 1970 to 1989 - Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from July 2, 1985 to October 1, 1988. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (October 1, 1988 - May 25, 1989). Chairman of the Commission for Youth Affairs of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1974-79); Chairman of the Commission for Legislative Proposals of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1979-84); People's Deputy of the USSR from the CPSU - 1989 (March) - 1990 (March); Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (formed by the Congress people's deputies) - 1989 (May) - 1990 (March); Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1980-1990).

On March 15, 1990, at the Third Extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected President of the USSR. At the same time, until December 1991, he was Chairman of the USSR Defense Council, Supreme Commander Armed Forces THE USSR. Reserve colonel.

During the events of August 1991, the head of the State Emergency Committee, Vice-President of the USSR Gennady Yanaev announced his assumption of office and. O. President, citing Gorbachev's illness. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR declared this decision the actual removal of Gorbachev from power and demanded that it be canceled. According to Gorbachev himself and those who were with him, he was isolated in Foros (according to the statements of some former members of the State Emergency Committee, their accomplices and lawyers, there was no isolation). After the self-dissolution of the GKChP and the arrest of its former members, Gorbachev returned from Foros to Moscow, upon his return he said about his "imprisonment": "Keep in mind, no one will know the real truth." August 24, 1991 announced the resignation Secretary General Central Committee. In November 1991 Gorbachev left the CPSU.

November 4, 1991 Senior Assistant to the Prosecutor General of the USSR, Head of the Directorate of the USSR Prosecutor General's Office for Supervision of the Execution of Laws on state security Viktor Ilyukhin initiated a criminal case against Gorbachev under Article 64 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (Treason to the Motherland) in connection with his signing of the resolutions of the USSR State Council of September 6, 1991 recognizing the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. As a result of the adoption of these resolutions, the USSR Law of April 3, 1990 "On the procedure for resolving issues related to the secession of a union republic from the USSR" was violated, since in these republics no referendums were held on secession from the USSR and no transitional period to consider all contentious issues. The Prosecutor General of the USSR Nikolai Trubin closed the case due to the fact that the decision to recognize the independence of the Baltic republics was made not by the president personally, but by the State Council. Two days later, Ilyukhin was fired from the prosecutor's office.

After the signing by the presidents of the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR and L. Kravchuk and the chairman of the Supreme Council of the Byelorussian SSR S. Shushkevich on December 8, 1991, the Belovezhskaya Agreement on the termination of the existence of the USSR and the creation of the CIS, Gorbachev 17 days later in a televised address to the people announced the termination of his activities in office President of the USSR and signed a decree on the transfer of control of strategic nuclear weapons to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. After that, the state flag of the USSR was lowered over the Kremlin.

On the day of the signing of the Belovezhskaya Pact, Gorbachev met with Vice-President of the RSFSR Alexander Rutskoi. Rutskoi persuaded the President of the USSR to arrest Yeltsin, Shushkevich and Kravchuk. Gorbachev languidly objected to Rutskoi: “Don't panic… The agreement has no legal basis… They will arrive, we will gather in Novo-Ogaryovo. By the New Year there will be a Union Treaty!

The day after the signing of the agreement, the President of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev made a statement saying that each union republic has the right to secede from the Union, but the fate of a multinational state cannot be determined by the will of the leaders of the three republics. This question must be decided only by constitutional means, with the participation of all the union republics and taking into account the will of their peoples. It also talks about the need to convene a Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR.

On December 18, in his message to the participants of the meeting in Alma-Ata on the formation of the CIS, Gorbachev proposed calling the CIS the "Commonwealth of European and Asian States" (SEAG). He also suggested that after the ratification of the agreement on the creation of the CIS by all the union republics (except the Baltic ones), the final meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR would be held, which would adopt its resolution on the termination of the existence of the Soviet Union and the transfer of all its legal rights and obligations to the commonwealth of European and Asian states .

On December 21, 1991, by decision of the Council of Heads of State of the CIS, the outgoing President of the USSR received lifelong benefits: a special pension, medical support the whole family, bodyguards, a state dacha and a personal car was assigned to him. The solution of these issues was entrusted to the Government of the RSFSR.

Activities of Mikhail Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and President of the USSR:

Being at the pinnacle of power, Gorbachev in January 1987 at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU launched the policy of "perestroika", in the development of which he carried out numerous reforms and campaigns, which later led to a market economy, free elections, the destruction of the monopoly power of the CPSU and the collapse of the USSR.

Acceleration- the slogan put forward on April 20, 1985, associated with promises to dramatically increase the industry and the well-being of the people in a short time; the campaign led to an accelerated retirement of production capacity, contributed to the start of the cooperative movement and prepared the way for perestroika.

Anti-alcohol campaign in the USSR, launched on May 17, 1985, led to a 45% increase in prices for alcoholic drinks, reducing the production of alcohol, cutting down vineyards, the disappearance of sugar in stores due to home brewing and the introduction of cards for sugar, but also an increase in life expectancy among the population, a decrease in the level of crimes committed on the basis of alcoholism. The authors of the idea were Yegor Ligachev and Mikhail Solomentsev, whom Gorbachev actively supported. According to Nikolai Ryzhkov, Chairman of the USSR Government, the country lost 62 billion Soviet rubles in the "struggle for sobriety".

In December 1985, Gorbachev, after consulting with his closest associate, Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU E. K. Ligachev, against the advice of Prime Minister N. I. Ryzhkov, decided to appoint B. N. Yeltsin as the first secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU.

On April 8, 1986, Gorbachev visited Tolyatti, where he visited the Volga Automobile Plant. The result of this visit was the decision to establish a research and production enterprise on the basis of the flagship of the domestic engineering industry - the branch scientific and technical center (STC) of OJSC AVTOVAZ, which was a significant event in the Soviet automobile industry. At his speech in Togliatti, Gorbachev for the first time distinctly pronounces the word "perestroika", this was picked up by the media and became the slogan of the new era that had begun in the USSR.

May 1, 1986, after an accident on Chernobyl nuclear power plant, at the direction of Gorbachev, in order to prevent panic among the population, May Day demonstrations were held in Kyiv, Minsk and other cities of the republics with a risk to the health of those present.

On May 15, 1986, a campaign began to intensify the fight against unearned income, which was understood locally as a fight against tutors, flower sellers, chauffeurs who brought passengers, and sellers homemade bread V Central Asia. The campaign was soon curtailed in connection with the introduction of the first elements of a market economy in the USSR.

November 19, 1986 is published USSR Law "On Individual labor activity» (according to the law - "the socially useful activity of citizens in the production of goods and the provision of paid services, not related to their labor relations with state, cooperative, other public enterprises, institutions, organizations and citizens, as well as with intra-collective farm labor relations”), for the first time in decades, securing the right of citizens of the USSR to private entrepreneurship (in small forms) and giving such legislative regulation.

Return at the end of 1986 from political exile of the Soviet scientist and dissident, Nobel Prize winner A. D. Sakharov, the termination of criminal prosecution for dissent.

Transfer of enterprises to self-support, self-sufficiency, self-financing- the introduction of the first elements of a market economy in the USSR, the widespread introduction of cooperatives - the forerunners of private enterprises, the removal of restrictions on foreign exchange transactions.

Perestroika with alternating indecisive and drastic measures and countermeasures to introduce or limit the market economy and democracy.

In January 1987, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which discussed the responsibility of senior party cadres, the first sharp public conflict between Gorbachev and Yeltsin took place. Since that time, Gorbachev has been regularly criticized by Yeltsin, and the confrontation between the two leaders begins.

The reform of power, the introduction of elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and local Soviets on an alternative basis.

Personnel changes in the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the resignation of many party functionaries of advanced age (1988). In 1989, more than 100 members of the Central Committee of the CPSU were retired by Gorbachev.

Publicity, the actual removal of party censorship on funds mass media and works of culture. Posthumous cancellation in September 1989 of the awarding of L. I. Brezhnev with the Order of Victory - as contrary to the status of the order.

Tough containment measures national conflicts, - in particular, the dispersal of a youth rally in Alma-Ata, the entry of troops into Azerbaijan, the dispersal of a demonstration in Georgia on April 9, 1989, the beginning of a long-term conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh (1988), opposition to the separatist aspirations of the Baltic republics, and then recognition on September 6, 1991 their independence from the USSR.

Disappearance of products from stores, hidden inflation, the introduction of a rationing system for many types of food in 1989. The period of Gorbachev's rule is characterized by the washing out of goods from stores, as a result of pumping the economy with non-cash rubles, and subsequently hyperinflation.

Under Gorbachev, the external debt of the Soviet Union continued to grow. Approximate data are as follows: 1985, external debt - $31.3 billion; 1991, external debt - $70.3 billion.

The reform of the CPSU, which led to the formation of several political platforms within it, and in the future - the abolition of the one-party system and the removal of the constitutional status of "leading and guiding force" from the CPSU.

Rehabilitation of victims of Stalinist repressions who were not rehabilitated earlier under.

The weakening of control over the socialist camp (the Sinatra doctrine), which led, in particular, to a change of power in most socialist countries, the unification of Germany in 1990, the end of the Cold War (the latter in the United States is usually regarded as a victory for the American bloc.

The introduction of Soviet troops into Baku on the night of January 19-20, 1990, against the Popular Front of Azerbaijan. More than 130 dead, including women and children.

The revival since January 7, 1991 of the tradition of celebrating Orthodox Christmas on state level, declaring it a non-working day.

During the years of his reign, Gorbachev put forward a number of peace initiatives and proclaimed a policy "new thinking" in international affairs. The government of the USSR unilaterally declared a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing. However, such initiatives of the Soviet leadership were sometimes regarded by Western partners as a sign of weakness and were not accompanied by reciprocal steps. Thus, with the abolition of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, the opposing NATO bloc not only continued its activities, but also advanced its borders far to the east, to the borders of Russia.

Mikhail Gorbachev's family:

Wife - (nee Titarenko), died in 1999 from leukemia. She has lived and worked in Moscow for over 30 years. As Mikhail Sergeyevich said in an interview for the press in September 2014, Raisa Maksimovna’s first pregnancy in 1954, back in Moscow, due to heart complications after suffering rheumatism, doctors, with his consent, were forced to interrupt artificially; the student spouses lost the boy whom Gorbachev wanted to name Sergei. In 1955, the Gorbachevs, having completed their studies, moved to the Stavropol Territory, where Raisa felt better with a change in climate, and soon the couple had a daughter.

Granddaughters: Ksenia Anatolyevna Virganskaya-Gorbacheva (January 21, 1980) First husband - Kirill Solod, son of a businessman (1982), got married on April 30, 2003. The second husband, Dmitry Pyrchenkov (former concert director of singer Abraham Russo), got married in 2009. Great-granddaughter - Alexandra Pyrchenkova (October 22, 2008).

Anastasia Anatolyevna Virganskaya (March 27, 1987) - a graduate of the journalism faculty of MGIMO, works as chief editor on the Trendspace.ru website, husband Dmitry Zangiev (1987), got married on March 20, 2010. Dmitry graduated from the Eastern University under the Russian Academy of Sciences, in 2010 he studied at the postgraduate course of the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation, in 2010 he worked in an advertising agency.

Brother - Alexander Sergeevich Gorbachev (September 7, 1947 - December 15, 2001) - military man, graduated from higher military school in Leningrad. Served in rocket troops strategic appointment, retired with the rank of colonel.

Mikhail Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 in the village of Privolnoye, Stavropol Territory. The boy grew up in a peasant family. In 1948, together with his father, he worked on a combine and even received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for success in harvesting. In 1950, the young man graduated from school with a silver medal and entered Moscow University at the Faculty of Law. In 1952 Mikhail became a member of the party.

After graduating from Moscow State University in 1955, Gorbachev, as secretary of the Komsomol organization of the faculty, achieved distribution to the USSR prosecutor's office. However, just then, the government adopted a closed decree prohibiting the employment of graduates of law schools in the central bodies of the court and the prosecutor's office.

Returning to the Stavropol Territory, he decided not to get involved with the prosecutor's office and got a job at the Komsomol regional committee as deputy head of the agitation and propaganda department. Komsomolskaya, and then the party career of Mikhail Sergeevich developed very successfully. In 1961, Gorbachev was appointed first secretary of the regional committee of the Komsomol, the next year he transferred to party work, and in 1966 he held the post of first secretary of the Stavropol city committee of the Communist Party. At the same time, he graduated from the local agricultural institute in absentia.

In November 1978, Gorbachev assumed the post of Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. In this appointment, the recommendations of the closest associates of Leonid Brezhnev, Konstantin Chernenko, Yuri Andropov played a role. Two years later, Mikhail Sergeevich turned out to be the youngest member of the Political Bureau. In the near future, he dreamed of becoming the first person in the party and the state.

When Andropov died and Konstantin Chernenko came to power for an equally short period, Gorbachev became the second man in the party and the most likely "heir" to the aged general secretary.

Chernenko's death paved the way for Gorbachev to power. At the plenum of the Central Committee on March 11, 1985, he was elected general secretary of the party. At the next April plenum, Mikhail Sergeevich proclaimed a course towards restructuring and accelerating the development of the country. He called publicity one of the conditions for the success of the reforms. This has not yet become full-fledged freedom of speech, but at least the opportunity to talk about the shortcomings of society in the press, though without affecting the members of the Politburo and the foundations of the Soviet system.

Gorbachev hoped that by remaining the leader of a socialist country, he could win respect in the world. The politician sincerely believed that a new political thinking should triumph: recognition of the priority of universal human values ​​over class and national ones, the need to unite all peoples and states to jointly solve global problems facing humanity.

In contrast to the policy of glasnost, when it is enough to order to weaken, and then to actually abolish censorship, his other undertakings were a combination of administrative coercion with propaganda. At the end of his reign, Gorbachev, having become president, no longer tried to rely on the party apparatus, as his predecessors, but on the government and a team of assistants. Mikhail Sergeevich leaned more and more towards the social democratic model.

However, Gorbachev abandoned communist dogmas too slowly, only under the influence of the growth of anti-communist sentiment in society and outbreaks of rallies for Boris Yeltsin. But even during the August 1991 coup, Gorbachev still hoped to retain power and, returning from the Crimean state dacha, declared that he believed in socialist values ​​and would fight for them at the head of the reformed communist party.

In his last speech as President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Sergeevich took credit for the fact that "society has gained freedom, has become liberated politically and spiritually." Indeed, free elections, freedom of the press, religious freedom, and a multi-party system have become real. Human rights are recognized as the highest principle.

The foreign policy of Mikhail Gorbachev, who finally eliminated " iron curtain gave him the respect of the world. In 1990, the President of the USSR was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for activities aimed at developing international cooperation.

At the same time, Gorbachev's indecisiveness, his desire to find a compromise that would suit both conservatives and radicals, led to the fact that the transformations in the country's economy did not begin. A political settlement of interethnic contradictions was not achieved, which eventually collapsed "strong, mighty, indestructible" Soviet Union.

In 2016, the politician admitted his own responsibility for the collapse of the Soviet Union. This happened at a meeting with students at the Moscow School of Economics of Moscow State University. In the same year, Mikhail Gorbachev was banned from entering Ukraine. In September 2017, he presented a new autobiographical book “I Remain an Optimist”, in which, along with plots from the biography of a politician, harsh criticism of modern Russia, the political and social situation in the country was voiced.

Mikhail Gorbachev awards

Knight of the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (Russian Federation)
Commander of the Order of Honor
Cavalier of the Order of Lenin
Knight of the Order of the October Revolution
Cavalier of the Order of the Red Banner of Labor
Cavalier of the Order of the Badge of Honor
Medal "For Labor Valor"
Medal "For Strengthening the Combat Commonwealth"
Recipient of the Philadelphia Medal of Freedom
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the White Lion
Commander of the French Order of Arts and Letters
Knight of the Order of Christopher Columbus
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Agatha
Knight Grand Cross of the Portuguese Order of Liberty
Knight Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit for the Federal Republic of Germany

Literary creativity of Mikhail Gorbachev

"A Time for Peace" (1985). Richardson & Steirman & Black Publishing
"The Coming Century of Peace" (1986)
Peace Has No Alternative (1986)
Moratorium (1986)
"Selected Speeches and Articles" (vols. 1-7, 1986-1990)
"Perestroika and new thinking for our country and for the whole world" (1st ed. - 1987)
"August coup. Causes and Effects (1991)
“December-91. My position "(1992)
"Years of Difficult Decisions" (1993)
"Life and Reforms" (2 volumes, 1995)
"Reformers are never happy" (dialogue with Zdeněk Mlynář, in Czech, 1995)
"I want to warn ..." (1996)
"Moral Lessons of the 20th Century" in 2 volumes (dialogue with D. Ikeda, in Japanese, German, French, 1996)
"Reflections on the October Revolution" (1997)
“New thinking. Politics in the Age of Globalization” (co-authored with V. Zagladin and A. Chernyaev, in German, 1997)
"Reflections on the Past and Future" (1998)
"How It Was: The Unification of Germany" (1999)
"Understanding Perestroika... Why It Matters Now" (2006)
Gorbachev M. S., Ivanchenko A. V., Lebedev A. E. (ed.) “Legislative regulation of the status of bodies state power In Russian federation. National Center for Monitoring Democratic Procedures, (2007),
"Mikhail Gorbachev and the German Question" Sat. documents. 1986-1991 / comp. A.A. Galkin, A.S. Chernyaev. - M.: Ves Mir, 2006. - 696 p.
"Alone with myself". - M.: Green Street, 2012. - 816 p.
"After the Kremlin". - M.: Ves Mir, 2014. - 416 p.
"Gorbachev in life" / comp. K.Karagezyan, V.Polyakov. - 2nd ed. - M.: Ves Mir, 2017. - 752 p.
Gorbachev M.S., “I remain an optimist”, (2017).

Family of Mikhail Gorbachev

Wife - Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva (nee Titarenko), died at the age of 67, in 1999, from leukemia. She has lived and worked in Moscow for over 30 years.

Daughter - Irina Mikhailovna Virganskaya (born January 6, 1957), works in Moscow, first husband Anatoly Olegovich Virgansky (born July 31, 1957) - vascular surgeon of the Moscow First City Hospital (marriage from April 15, 1978 to 1993), second husband Andrei Mikhailovich Trukhachev is a businessman, engaged in transportation (marriage since September 26, 2006).

Ksenia Anatolyevna Virganskaya-Gorbacheva (born January 21, 1980).
Anastasia Anatolyevna Virganskaya (born March 27, 1987).

Name: Mikhail Gorbachev

Age: 87 years old

Height: 175

Activity: Russian statesman and public figure, ex-president of the USSR, Nobel Peace Prize laureate

Family status: widower

Mikhail Gorbachev: biography

Mikhail Gorbachev is a statesman and public figure of Russia of the XX century, who entered the political world V Soviet time. Gorbachev became the first and only president of the USSR whose results were included in Russian history, as well as steel important factors in the politics of the rest of the world. The share of the politician is perestroika, which led to a change in life in the Russian Federation and the political situation in the world. The assessment of Gorbachev's role in the fate of the country in society has an ambiguous meaning - some believe that the politician brought more good to the people than harm, while others are sure that political figure became the cause of all the troubles of modern Russia after the collapse of the USSR.

Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeevich was born on March 2, 1931 in the Stavropol village of Privolnoye. The parents of the future president, Sergei Andreevich and Maria Panteleevna, were peasants, so the childhood of the future president of the USSR passed without wealth and luxury. IN early years young Mikhail Sergeevich had to go through the German occupation of Stavropol, which left an imprint on the character and political position of the young man in the future.


At the age of 13, Gorbachev began to combine his studies at school with work on a collective farm: at first, Mikhail worked at a mechanical and tractor station, and later became an assistant combine operator, whose duties were extremely difficult for a teenager. For this work, Mikhail Sergeevich was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1949, which he received for overfulfilling the grain harvesting plan.

The following year, Gorbachev graduated from a local school with a silver medal and entered the law faculty of Moscow State University without any problems. At the university, the future politician headed the Komsomol organization of students, where he was charged with the spirit of freethinking, which influenced the worldview of the future politician. In 1952, Gorbachev was accepted as a member of the CPSU, and three years later, after successfully graduating from the university, Gorbachev received the post of first secretary of the city committee of the Komsomol of Stavropol.

Policy

Having got his first Komsomol job, Mikhail Sergeevich decided to connect his own life with politics, and not with jurisprudence, rejecting the offer of a position in the Stavropol regional prosecutor's office. Later, in 1967, the future Soviet leader graduated from the Stavropol Agricultural Institute in absentia, having received a diploma in economics and agronomy.


The political career of Mikhail Gorbachev developed rapidly. In 1962, Gorbachev was appointed to the post of party organizer of the Stavropol Territorial Production Agricultural Administration, in which Gorbachev, during the reforms of the then current Soviet head, earned himself a reputation as a promising politician. Gorbachev did not have special charisma or memorable external data (the politician has an average height of 175 cm), so he made his way only with skills and working qualities.

Against the backdrop of good harvests in Stavropol, Mikhail Sergeyevich established himself as a leading expert in the field of agriculture, which subsequently allowed Gorbachev to become the ideologist of the CPSU on the development of this area.

In 1974, Gorbachev was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, where he headed the commission on youth problems. In 1978, the politician was transferred to Moscow and appointed secretary of the Central Committee, which was initiated by the former leader of the USSR, who considered Mikhail Sergeyevich an unusually well-educated and experienced specialist.


In 1980, the politician became a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Under the leadership of Gorbachev came numerous reforms in the market economy and in the political system. In 1984, at a meeting of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the politician read out the report "The Living Creativity of the People", which became the so-called "prelude" of the country's restructuring. The report was received with optimism by Gorbachev's colleagues and the Soviet people.

General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU

Having won support and creating for himself the image of a global reformer, Mikhail Sergeevich was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1985, after which the USSR began to global process democratization of society, later called perestroika.


Having become the leader of the second most powerful power in the world, Mikhail Gorbachev began to pull out the country that had fallen into stagnation. Without a clearly defined plan, the politician made a number of changes in the foreign and domestic policy of the Soviet Union, which later led to the collapse of the state.

On account of Gorbachev's "dry law", the exchange of money, the introduction of self-support, the end of the war in Afghanistan, the end of the long-term "cold war" with the West and the weakening of the nuclear threat. Also, the hands of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, who then had full power over the country, liberalized society and weakened censorship in the USSR, which allowed Gorbachev to gain popularity among the population, with whom the politician for the first time in the history of the Soviet state communicated in a free, and not in the "reigning" style.

First President

But major mistake Gorbachev's policy became inconsistent in carrying out economic reforms in the USSR, which led to a sharp deepening of the crisis in the country, as well as to a decrease in the standard of living of citizens. In the same period, the Baltic republics took a course towards estrangement from the Union, which did not prevent the Soviet leader from becoming the first and only president of the USSR, whom Gorbachev was elected in 1990, according to the country's amended legislation.


However, the weakening of control over society led to dual power in the Soviet Union, a wave of strikes swept the country, and economic crisis led to total shortages and empty shelves on store shelves. At that time, the 10th part of the country's gold reserves was "eaten", the situation in the USSR was close to a critical point, but Mikhail Sergeevich could not prevent the collapse of the Union and his own resignation from the presidency.

In August 1991, Gorbachev's allies, which included a number of Soviet ministers, announced the creation of the GKChP (State Committee for the State of Emergency) and demanded that Mikhail Sergeevich resign. Gorbachev did not accept these demands, provoking an armed coup d'état in the country, known as the August coup. Then the GKChP was resisted by the political leaders of the RSFSR, which included the then president of the republic, and Ivan Silaev.


In December 1991, 11 union republics signed Belovezhskaya agreement about the creation of the CIS, which became a document on the termination of the existence of the USSR, despite the objections of Mikhail Sergeevich. After that, Gorbachev resigned and withdrew from politics, immersing himself in community service. last decree President of the USSR Gorbachev created the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Research, and in 1992 became president of this foundation. At the head of the Gorbachev Foundation, the politician explores the history of the perestroika process in the Union, and also studies current world problems. The Gorbachev Foundation is financed from the personal funds of the former Soviet leader, as well as grants and donations from citizens and international organizations.

The reign of the former "owner" of the Kremlin is still widely discussed in society today. Many consider Gorbachev to be responsible for the collapse of the USSR, as a result of which Russia almost lost its sovereignty. But the former Soviet leader sees such criticism as unfounded. Gorbachev positively assesses the policy of the current president of Russia, supporting his position on Crimea and Ukraine.


Mikhail Sergeevich welcomes the reunification Crimean peninsula with the Russian Federation, calling the will of the people a correction of a historical mistake. At the same time, he does not exclude that the situation in Ukraine may lead to an aggravation of relations between the Russian Federation and the EU, as a result of which there are risks of a major conflict and even a nuclear war.

Personal life

Mikhail Gorbachev's personal life was as "single-episode" as his political career. He met his future wife in his student years, at the House of Culture at the dance. The girl bewitched the future Soviet leader with her modesty and inner attractiveness, so he decided to marry his chosen one without fail. To earn money for the wedding, a student of Moscow State University actively worked part-time on the Stavropol collective farm, and already in 1953 he was able to collect for a modest celebration on the occasion of the marriage.


The Gorbachevs lived a long and happy life, but in 1999 Mikhail Sergeevich became a widower - his wife Raisa Gorbacheva died of leukemia, which was a huge blow for the former president of the USSR. The First Lady of the USSR gave her husband only daughter Irina, who now lives in Moscow. Irina today has two adult children, Gorbachev's granddaughters have already married.

In 2015, it became known that Mikhail Gorbachev's health also began to decline. He suffers from a severe form of diabetes, his condition cannot be called stable, since very often the politician has crises, as a result of which he has to be urgently hospitalized in a clinic to stabilize his general health.

At the same time, he actively continues to conduct his creative activity, releasing new scientific work and publishing memoirs. In 2014 saw the light A new book Mikhail Gorbachev "Life after the Kremlin", and in front of her he released a book of memoirs about the love of his life - "Alone with myself."


Gorbachev's financial position also shook. The former president lives in a Moscow apartment and a dacha near Moscow. A house in Germany, in Oberach, near Lake Tegernsee in the Bavarian Alps, Gorbachev is selling, but he has not come to the country itself since 2014.

Mikhail Gorbachev now

In 2016, the politician own responsibility for the collapse of the Soviet Union. This happened at a meeting with students at the Moscow School of Economics of Moscow State University.


In 2016, Mikhail Gorbachev was banned from entering Ukraine. The politician told the press that he had not traveled to this country for years and did not plan to visit it in the near future.

In September 2017, Mikhail Gorbachev presented a new autobiographical book, “I Remain an Optimist,” in which, along with plots from the politician’s biography, harsh criticism of modern Russia, the political and social situation in the country was voiced.

Awards

  • 1988 - Prize of the International Organization "World without War"
  • 1988 - Name Peace Prize
  • 1989 - commemorative medal "Personality of the Year" of the International Jury "Personality of the Year"
  • 1989 - Golden Dove for Peace Award for contribution to peace and disarmament
  • 1990 - Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of the leading role in the peace process, which characterizes an important part of the life of the international community
  • 1990 - Peace Prize for the contribution to the struggle for peace and understanding between peoples
  • 1990 - honorary title "Humanist of the Century" and an honorary medal named after Albert Schweitzer
  • 1990 - Fiuggi International Prize as a person whose activities in the political and public fields can serve as an exceptional example of the struggle for the assertion of human rights
  • 1991 - International Peace Prize named "For a World Without Violence" for an outstanding role in the struggle for world peace and human rights
  • 1992 - Benjamin M. Cardoso Prize for Democracy
  • 1993 Sir's Award in recognition of contributions to peace in the Middle East
  • 1997 - award
  • 1998 - National Freedom Award for the fight against oppression
  • 2005 - Patriarch Athenagoras Prize in the field of human rights
  • 2010 - Dresden Prize for Nuclear Disarmament

20 years ago, the first nationwide presidential elections were held

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On June 12, 1991, in Russia, more precisely, in the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, as we were then called), the first presidential elections were held. Boris Yeltsin was elected, who became the first and the last President RSFSR.

At that time, the Soviet Union was still alive and there was the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev. The USSR will fall apart a few months after the election of the first President of Russia. What was the time when the first President of Russia was elected? How was the election campaign? Why did Yeltsin become president? How do you see this event 20 years later?

the day before

Perestroika, launched in 1985, by 1991 had already completely mastered the masses and roamed the expanses of the USSR, regardless of its parent. The country, carried away by glasnost, spoke louder and harder, and lived harder and harder. The 1989 Congress of People's Deputies, of which Boris Yeltsin also became a delegate, showed the people many bright, non-Soviet-minded people - Anatoly Sobchak, Galina Starovoitova, Yuri Afanasyev, Gavriil Popov and, of course, Andrei Sakharov.

In 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR was elected. Yeltsin became its deputy and then chairman. Announcing the program of activities as speaker, Yeltsin said: “I never advocated the separation of Russia, I am for the sovereignty of the Union, for the equality of the republics, for the republics to be strong and thereby strengthen our Union. This is the only position I'm in."

A few days later, on June 12, 1990, the Russian parliament adopted the Declaration on State Sovereignty of the RSFSR. Two months later, in Ufa, Yeltsin proposed to the national republics that are part of Russia to take as much sovereignty "as they can digest." A year later, on June 12, the elections of the first President of Russia will be held, after which June 12 will be declared a public holiday.


To spite Gorbachev

In 1987, Yeltsin, the first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee, at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU lashed out at the leadership of the party, including Gorbachev. The plenum called Yeltsin's speech "politically erroneous." Yeltsin lost his post as first secretary of the city committee of Moscow. And he became deputy chairman of Gosstroy. “Do whatever you want,” Gorbachev told him, “but I won’t let you into politics anymore.” But not everything depended on the once all-powerful General Secretary in the country. Perhaps the confrontation with Gorbachev, the desire to punish for humiliation became one of the springs that threw Yeltsin onto the crest of big politics. Having an enemy has always been good fuel for enthusiasm in politics.

But Yeltsin left the CPSU only in 1990, on the eve of elections to the Russian parliament. By that time, Gorbachev had received the status of President of the USSR. And Yeltsin, having been elected a deputy, and then the speaker of the Russian parliament, is actively promoting the idea of ​​introducing the post of President of Russia. He needed to defeat Gorbachev, crush him in the struggle for power and, of course, liquidate the Communist Party. This, the Democrats of the 1990s believed, was a brake on Russia's flourishing. And then everything will bloom in a lush color ...

The political knot Gorbachev - Yeltsin sparked from overvoltage. Captured by the war with Yeltsin, by the beginning of the 1990s Gorbachev had lost control of the country.

On March 17, 1991, Gorbachev's proposed referendum on the preservation of the USSR was held in the USSR. More than 76% of citizens answered "yes". In Russia, through the efforts of Yeltsin, the question was also submitted to this referendum: “Do you consider it necessary to introduce the post of President of the RSFSR, elected by popular vote?” More than 52% approved the idea.

It took less than three months to prepare the fateful campaign. Taking America as an example, in Russia the president-vice-president tandem was also nominated. In conjunction with Yeltsin was Alexander Rutskoi. The former head of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikolai Ryzhkov declared himself a candidate for the presidency (he went to the polls as a pensioner), the leader of the new Liberal Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky, deputy Aman Tuleev, security officials Albert Makashov and Vadim Bakatin.

Yeltsin won in the first round. At his inauguration at the Kremlin Palace, he said: “Russia is rising from its knees! We will turn it into a prosperous, democratic, peaceful, rule of law and sovereign state.” After the inauguration, Yeltsin and Gorbachev left the stage together. Or did Yeltsin take Gorbachev away from the stage?


HOW IT WAS

Vladimir ZHIRINOVSKY, 1991 presidential candidate:

Everyone worked for Yeltsin!

The whole country in the 1991 elections worked for Yeltsin, the entire press, all the structures of power. The rest of the candidates were communists, but at that time anti-communist sentiments were already very strong. Nikolai Ryzhkov, gaining 17%, took second place. But all the same, at that time the Communist Party numbered 10 million, with family members it was 30 million, and the voters were 100 million. Every third could vote for Ryzhkov, at least 30% he could get. Probably, this is a reaction to the fact that before that Ryzhkov headed the government for five years. Makashov scared that he would crush everyone. Bakatin looked too intelligent. Tuleev does not know why he advanced. Yeltsin was fed up by that time. And Zhirinovsky - it was something new. In the elections in 1991, I said: “I will defend the Russians!” People then already felt anti-Russian sentiments in the union republics and autonomies. This slogan made me stand out among the candidates.

I was the only one walking then from a new, still unknown party. And took third place. Then, after the elections, Alexander Yakovlev called a meeting and said that this was not a victory for Yeltsin, but a victory for Zhirinovsky, no one well-known collaborator some publishing house, for which 6 million 213 thousand 207 people voted. I remember when I arrived in Ivanovo, there was a rally in the street, an old woman came up, stroked my hand, and said: thank you, son, what kind of Yeltsin are you. People could not even imagine that there might be other candidates for whom they could also vote. Day and night on TV and radio: Yeltsin, Yeltsin, Yeltsin.

I then traveled a lot. It was also new, people came to see an unknown presidential candidate. The rest of the candidates were more at home. Yeltsin had the opportunity to travel as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, he had an airplane. And they showed him ten times more than everyone else. The Communists at that time did not understand the threat looming over them, they were sure that everything would remain the same. They did not expect Yeltsin to destroy the USSR. I remember that day, June 12, 1991, warm and sunny. Many voters, many journalists. Nobody took me seriously, and when they found out about the third place - what did the Democrats start here! Such a howl was raised!


Mikhail POLTORANIN, from 1990 to 1992 - Minister of Press and Information of Russia:

"Child" of Gorbachev

The presidential elections of 1991 were the fairest that Russia has ever known. If in 1989, at the elections of people's deputies of the USSR, in which I participated and won, the administrative resource still invaded, then in 1991 there was no administrative pressure at all. Gorbachev gave complete freedom, and the election of the President of Russia is Gorbachev's merit. Yeltsin is now being thanked for freedom, but no, freedom was given by Gorbachev. Both political and economic. And Yeltsin, and Luzhkov, and Sobchak, and Popov, and I - we are all children of Gorbachev. And there are all sorts of children: some are grateful to their parents, others leave them.

Why did Yeltsin become the first president?

His victory is the people's hope for change, for the prosperity of the country. But the June 12 elections are already the end point of the rise, and very soon disappointment set in. Yeltsin did not justify his hopes - but this is not his fault, but our fault, of the whole people, because the people had the opportunity to prevent him from winning in 1996.

- Did Yeltsin, being elected president in 1991, already understand that the USSR would die?

Of course, he no longer hid this death. I remember how, after the election of Yeltsin, at the end of June, his assistant Ilyushin called me and invited me to Klyazma, where the president was going to celebrate the victory, as he said, in a family way. I took a bottle of vodka, my wife baked whites. We were taken to the island, there were already several people there, including the not very sober vice-president Rutskoi. We drank for Russia. After the kebabs, I offered Yeltsin a boat ride. I sat down at the oars. He told him that it was necessary to negotiate with Gorbachev so that he would not impose Bolshevism on Russia, that Russia now had a legally elected president, and the USSR needed to be made a state convenient for all republics. Yeltsin replied: "Wait a little, soon there will be no need to negotiate with anyone, we will be our own masters." And put his finger to his lips. Yeltsin brought the idea of ​​the presidency from America back in 1989. In the USA, our politicians were big job. Yeltsin, on the other hand, was highly influenced. Although later, like a stubborn Russian peasant, he did not admit mistakes, he assured that, they say, I did everything right. Overseas, they understood how important it was that, next to the deputies appointed by the President of the USSR, semi-legitimate, appeared popularly elected President Russia. Thus, a conflict of power was created. And from here to the collapse of the country is within easy reach. Yeltsin went to the collapse of the USSR, knowing that he was not loved either in Belarus, or in Ukraine, or in Kazakhstan. And he would never have been elected President of the USSR. He had the opportunity to become only the President of Russia.

- Did Western consultants work during the 1991 presidential campaign?

They were there all the time. True, we brushed aside when they gave recommendations on what slogans were needed. They did not know our life.

Gorbachev understood what a threat the appearance of the President of Russia posed to him, especially such as Boris Nikolaevich?

I personally told Gorbachev: "Go to the polls, let the people elect you, be the legitimate president." "Ah," Gorbachev waved it off, "you just want Yeltsin to win." Gorbachev would have won, would have become a legitimate president, and perhaps the USSR would have survived.

Mikhail Nikiforovich, you were one of those who contributed to the rise of Yeltsin, who helped him in the confrontation with Gorbachev?

Yes it is. It was I who came up with Yeltsin's famous speech at the October 1987 Plenum of the Central Committee.

- The speech that made it folk hero in the fight against the party nomenklatura, its privileges ...

Yes, only Yeltsin did not make this speech at the plenum, I came up with it a month later. After the plenum, he was beaten hard, but the people did not understand why he was so, backhanded. People began to wonder: what did Yeltsin say to Gorbachev? I began to find out, it turned out that it was not speech, but a dummy. Yeltsin was not a speaker. I told him: “Why did you make such a weak speech?” Yeltsin replies, they say, he could not stand it, he sketched on his knee and left. If his real speech were printed, the people would be disappointed. I was then the editor of Moskovskaya Pravda. A month after the scandalous October, the Academy of Sciences held a meeting of the chief editors of the USSR. They all began to ask me: get Yeltsin's famous speech at the plenum. I sat down and wrote it. Photocopied at night. and distributed to editors. They took it all over the Union, printed it somewhere right away, and the “Yeltsin speech” went around the country. And his authority skyrocketed.

- But why didn't Gorbachev publish the transcript of Yeltsin's real speech in response?

A year later, this faded thing was printed in the magazine of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Everyone thought it was a scam. I remember Gorbachev once met with us deputies. Gorbachev shook hands with everyone, but he recoiled from me and hissed: “I won’t forgive you for this.” I confess, I helped Yeltsin become super popular.

Leader known in narrow circles

There was not a hint of dirt in the 1991 elections. Real competition between candidates. The Communist Party could no longer harm, and the voters themselves acted as judges. This was the peak of Gorbachev's democratic reform. In 1989, I was a candidate for deputy from Grozny. It was then considered a Russian city - 70% of Russian speakers, over 60% of Russians lived in Grozny. The so-called national minorities could not apply for any positions. And suddenly I - from Grozny. My rivals were respected people, the minister, the director of the plant. And it was clean at the first presidential elections. I actually headed Yeltsin's election campaign.

- Yeltsin won because it was such a leader that Russia needed at that time?

No, Yeltsin could not be called the all-Russian leader. He was supported only by certain metropolitan circles. But the province rejected it. The leaders of the Soviets of Deputies had power there, but they could not stand Yeltsin. In the outback, Ryzhkov was just popular.

Why didn't Ryzhkov win?

He would have won if his team had not been set up to lose in advance. He had a weak team. And we were very active.

- And how did you build Yeltsin's election campaign?

Some of Yeltsin's associates wanted to promote the idea that we don't need the USSR. But I demanded that Yeltsin categorically ban these slogans, they harmed us. We held several meetings with headquarters, and I convinced them to say that Russia should be part of the USSR. And we convinced the majority of voters of this.

- Why did you nominate Yeltsin and not someone else, say, Rutskoi?

We did not believe that Rutskoi should become president. Most soon came to the conclusion that Yeltsin had mistakenly made him Vice President altogether. And in 1993, Valery Zorkin had many chances to become president.

- Western "assistants" were in the 1991 elections?

Absolutely - no. It was a period of romantic faith among people, a revolutionary impulse. People believed in change, in a new life.

POLITICAL SCIENTIST'S OPINION

Leonid RESHETNIKOV, Director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, Lieutenant General:

Without a purpose

In the 1990s, the then politicians defined only two things for Russia. possible ways: communist or western, called democratic. But even then it was clear that both paths had been passed. Then already, in the 90s, passed. It was a shame that they did not want to lead us to the path that Russia had been following for millennia, to look there for a direction of movement, development, from our roots.

Although without such a punchy person as Yeltsin, it would be very difficult to get out of the systemic Soviet ideas. Haven't come out yet. But then, in 1991, he made a hole. But I couldn't go any further. After all, he was the flesh of the flesh of the Soviet system, a party and economic worker, and these comrades, as a rule, knew little, read little, were not very well educated. At the post of president, if you came there empty, you won’t catch up. Especially when the main passions are not self-development, but tennis and a feast. And there is a wave of work, documents, visits. Although, we must give Yeltsin his due, he did not allow any persecution. But such a post, especially in a country like Russia, should be filled by a deep person, who understands exactly where he will lead the country, strong. And, of course, high moral qualities.