General churbanov life after imprisonment. Yuri Churbanov: biography and family
02.01.2012
Why hasn't Brezhnev's son-in-law been rehabilitated yet?
We met Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov a long time ago, in 1994, when he was released after more than six years in the KGB Lefortovo pre-trial detention center and Nizhny Tagil colony No. 13. At first we just met and talked, then I did an interview with him (by the way, for the newspaper “Top Secret”). And since 1996, our communication has taken on a new quality. At that time, I worked as an adviser to the Chairman of the Federation Council and Oryol Governor Yegor Semenovich Stroev, and the Rosstern company, of which Churbanov was then vice-president, had certain interests in the Oryol region.
In March 1997, I brought the former “prisoner number one,” as the Western press called him, to Oryol for the first time. Stroev and Churbanov met on the steps of the Oryol regional administration. Yuri Mikhailovich shed tears, Yegor Semyonovich’s eyes also became moist. With the words “Do you remember, Yura, how you and I walked around the dacha here in 1976?” - he took the guest into the bowels of a large brick house on Lenin Square, 1. And then their regular meetings began, which at one time brought concrete results. More, of course, for Churbanov and his company, since for such a large-scale person as Stroev, supporting a couple of not the largest enterprises in his field was akin to charity.
That’s when I talked to my heart’s content with the disgraced Colonel General. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner together, traveled around the Oryol region and the capital, met in small and large offices. Sometimes our meetings ended well after midnight. And out of journalistic habit, “just in case,” I wrote down what Brezhnev’s former son-in-law and first deputy minister of internal affairs of the USSR told me. Manuscripts don't burn, right? And today I want to offer the readers of our newspaper some of these recordings. I left Yuri Mikhailovich’s words largely unchanged, except that I made minimal editorial changes and omitted my questions. And there were a lot of questions...
I lived under communism for fifteen years!
“Lyosha, what kind of bribes are we talking about? - Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov told me when in the fall of 1998 we were sitting with him in a room at the Oryol Salyut Hotel, “I lived under communism for almost fifteen years!” Only a person not very familiar with the party and state hierarchy of the USSR could talk about such things. Look for yourself, I am the “first son-in-law of the country,” the husband of the only and beloved daughter of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. And don’t forget that not immediately, of course, but I became a colonel general and first deputy minister of internal affairs, a candidate member of the Central Committee, a member of the Central Audit Commission... There was more than enough power and opportunity!
So you brought me the indictment in my case, several volumes... What was I charged with? Some roll of linoleum brought to the dacha, Uzbek robes, but most importantly - bribes. About all sorts of things like linoleum, I will say this: if I wanted something to appear, all I had to do was say it, and the next day I had it! And no signatures on papers or statements. Do you think it was different for Gorbachev? Or from one of the party and government leaders at the highest level? No, of course, everything, as they say, drank from the same trough... It was furnished differently. Some took care of household issues themselves, some had wives, and the majority were provided with specially trained, as they say now, people. Why do you think the Administration of the CPSU Central Committee was created? After all, it was a huge structure, the services of which were used by the entire party leadership. But then everything depended on the person. Some simply lost their heads from permissiveness and greed. I don’t want to talk about them, but there were some. And they didn’t sit, by the way! And they remained with their money and their property. How much do you think apartments cost in the buildings of the Administration of the CPSU Central Committee? For example, where I lived, on Bolshaya Bronnaya, or on Shchusev Street? And they will cost even more!
You have been communicating with me for several years now, you see how I live. Do you think this is after prison? No, it’s just that I had enough of everything then, even in abundance, and I still have enough now. It’s just that today I buy everything with my own money, sometimes I use representative or travel allowances, but before this was part of the security in accordance with my position, rank and position.
Why do I need bribes? I received more money than the Secretary General! Leonid Ilyich had a salary of 800 rubles, while mine, taking into account all the components, such as length of service, rank, etc., was 1100. And also the “Kremlin”. And privileges, shops where scarce goods were sold at reasonable prices. It was all part of the system. Not to use this meant to be a black sheep, to risk causing, to put it mildly, misunderstanding of others. Did I need this?
Why did I admit several episodes of bribes? There is only one reason: the investigators quite seriously told me that if I don’t take two or three episodes out of more than forty, then, as they say in the zone, “they will smear green stuff on my forehead.” They will shoot, that is... I myself knew our system very well, both judicial and in the sphere of execution of punishments, I myself served in it at one time. I also knew that if a decision was made by the Politburo of the Central Committee (and KGB Chairman Chebrikov personally told me about this), it would definitely be carried out. At one time, Khrushchev decided to shoot the currency traders, and so they did, although the laws do not have retroactive force. So I was being prepared for the highest punishment... Let's finish this topic. The people who allegedly gave me these bribes were acquitted a long time ago! And for lack of corpus delicti, by the way!”
I’ll be honest, Yuri Mikhailovich’s arguments convinced me. And at that time it seemed to me that Russian President Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, having said “a” in relation to Churbanov, might think about pronouncing the next letter. After all, not without the knowledge of the first person of Russia, the former colonel general was released, and it was by presidential decree that Yuri Mikhailovich’s three-year “probationary period” was canceled. In addition, Churbanov and Yeltsin were personally acquainted: in the mid-eighties, Yuri Mikhailovich came to Sverdlovsk with instructions from the Minister of Internal Affairs to remove Knyazev, the head of the local police department, from his post. The attitude of Churbanov and Yeltsin towards the chief of the local police was the same - they both believed that he was in the right place. And contrary to the minister’s opinion, the boss he disliked was not removed.
That’s when I asked my leader, Chairman of the Federation Council Yegor Semyonovich Stroev, who knew very well the situation with the conviction of Brezhnev’s former son-in-law, to intervene. As he told me, a direct conversation with the president did not yield anything definite. “He’s a good guy,” Yeltsin said about Churbanov, “he got caught for no reason.” At this level the question hung. And Churbanov’s letter with the resolution of the third person in the state was sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office. It is curious that Stroev did not receive an answer, and the former prisoner himself showed me a letter in which the prosecutor’s office reported that the investigation was carried out correctly, that many episodes were eliminated (this, according to the authors of the message, indicated “justice”), so there are no grounds to reconsider the case. I gave a copy of the letter to the chairman of the upper house of parliament. He, of course, was indignant, but said that if the issue of rehabilitation had not been resolved at this level, then, apparently, he would have to wait...
And Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov has less and less time to wait. On November 11 he turned 75 years old. It turned out to be a sad holiday: the practically paralyzed hero of the day hardly understood what even the closest and most pleasant people were saying to him...
Fishing with Fidel
1999 We are sitting in Yuri Mikhailovich’s office in the building of the Rosstern company on Elektrodnaya Street. Secretary Lena had already brought a bottle of Gzhelka, at that time Churbanov’s favorite vodka, sandwiches and Sarova mineral water - according to competent people, the only real and high-quality water in Russia. And then Yuri Mikhailovich raises his glass, drinks dashingly and, as often happened, looking into my eyes, begins another story, which I quote from memory. In one of his books, Yuri Mikhailovich mentioned his visits to Cuba, but without much detail, so our dear readers have the opportunity to find out many unknown details:
- Once Galina Leonidovna and I were in Cuba at the invitation of the local leadership. Then, in the mid-seventies, we had the most wonderful relations with Freedom Island. They loved us very much, especially because we bought local sugar cane, which could not be sold due to the American blockade, sent our specialists and military instructors, supplied the country with weapons and equipment, taught Cubans in our universities, etc. And we were received at a high level. They put us up in a separate government residence, showed us the sights, and took us to resorts. True, in the evening Galina made her way to a plentiful free bar, as a result of which after a couple of hours she did not take part in further events.
In response to my questions about when there would be a meeting with Fidel Castro, to whom Leonid Ilyich ordered to convey great international greetings, as well as a special letter, the friendly Cubans smiled and said “Mañana,” that is, tomorrow. But the next day everything was repeated, and we never saw the legendary Comandante.
And then one day, at about two in the morning, when my wife was already fast asleep, and I was sitting in the hall and smoking, a group of military men arrived at the residence, and I was invited to visit Fidel. We settled into cars - two of our "Seagulls" - and went along a winding road to one of the residences of the Cuban leader. Like Stalin in his time, there were several of them, and the biggest secret was where the leader of the nation was at that particular moment. For the most part, these villas were hidden in evergreen vegetation and were not visible either from the sea or from the air. We met at one of them.
In the large living room sat Fidel, his brother Raul, and two or three other military men, whose names I never remembered. The brothers took turns (first the eldest, then the youngest) kissed me, the generals greeted me with restrained handshakes. I conveyed greetings from Brezhnev and a letter to Fidel, which was immediately taken away by the secretary. And we went to the table. To my surprise, the Cuban leaders drank not Havana Club rum (by the way, it can be of very good quality), but Johnny Walker whiskey, and the cheapest variety with a red label. They smoked not only cigars, but also American Marlboros. We talked for two hours about the international situation, about the relations between our countries. Fidel was keenly interested in what was happening in the USSR and asked about the health of Leonid Ilyich. And then he suddenly stood up and said: “Now we’ll go fishing.” Before that, I thought of fishing as sitting with a fishing rod or casting a spinning rod. But in Cuba they fished differently. In the pre-dawn twilight we walked along a long winding path and then down the stairs to the shore. There, at the pier, stood a large military boat with full weapons. I asked what kind of fish we would catch with the help of a warship, to which I received the answer: “Barracuda.” This is a shark that lives in those places, not the largest in size, but quite dangerous and sometimes attacks people.
The stern of the ship was adapted for fishermen. There was a table with whiskey, juice and cigars, and closer to the edge in special nests there were two huge fishing rods with powerful reels and thick twisted fishing line. We sailed to some apparently well-fed area of coastal waters, since in the light of the rising sun large fish were quickly swimming in the upper layers of the water. They threw hooks (very large and made of special steel) with pieces of meat attached to them into the water and began to “fish.” The main thing was to gradually pull the one and a half to two meter shark to the side, preventing it from breaking the rod or breaking the fishing line. We didn’t succeed right away, but an hour later we had already caught three predators. And then we went by sea to another residence, where we were supposed to have breakfast.
For breakfast, a shish kebab of freshly caught fish was served. To be honest, I didn’t really like it, the meat was white, tough and with large fibers. However, I didn’t show it, having a whiskey with a shark, and then thanking Fidel for a wonderful evening (however, in the evening it’s difficult to call this time from two in the morning to ten in the morning). Then the Cuban leader left for one of his shelters, and Raul accompanied me to our residence. I slept well during the day, and at exactly two o’clock in the morning a car came for me again. And again we met with Fidel, drank, smoked, talked, and then “went fishing.” So I learned all the ins and outs of local fishing, and my instructor was the leader of the Cuban revolution. I think not everyone succeeds in this in life.
Three marriages
Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov was married three times. He did not like to talk about his first marriage. He answered my questions without any enthusiasm, saying only that he couldn’t do without children. He said that cracks in his family life began to appear in the late sixties. When and under what circumstances he divorced his first wife, he preferred to remain silent...
He talked more about Galina Brezhneva, never calling her by a diminutive name: only “Galina” and sometimes (with a special intonation) “Galina Leonidovna.” When he met her, he had just turned thirty-four years old. The acquaintance itself took place in the restaurant of the Central House of Architects on Shchusev Street (now Granatny Lane - Author), where he and his colleague came to celebrate the Old New Year. They drank fifty grams each during the holiday, and then Churbanov noticed in the back of the hall a company of several people sitting at a large table. Igor Shchelokov, the son of the Minister of Internal Affairs, and his wife Nonna were known to him, but he did not know the rest, but he approached and was introduced to them. I will note in parentheses that Galina Brezhneva and Igor Shchelokov have known each other since the times when their parents worked together in Chisinau. The daughter of the Secretary General introduced herself simply: “Galina.”
Brezhnev’s daughter was forty-one years old at that moment, and she was still quite an interesting woman. To be honest, it seemed to me that Yuri Mikhailovich was somewhat dishonest when he said that he did not immediately find out who the young lady who interested him was. Surely Igor Shchelokov immediately informed him. And he also asked for her phone number and (as he later admitted) received it. But he didn’t call, although meeting the General’s daughter might have excited more than one man.
Galina Brezhneva called him herself. Knowing already about his family circumstances, she made a call to work: “And where have you disappeared, Yura? You took the phone from an honest girl and you don’t call?” I had to make excuses and “make amends” by immediately making an appointment. A new friend picked him up in a Volga with a driver. Churbanov, as a correct person, did not talk about the details of the meeting, but the evening began again in a restaurant, this time in “Aragvi”.
The whirlwind romance lasted three months and ended with the registration of the official marriage of Yuri Churbanov and Galina Brezhneva. As Yuri Mikhailovich recalled, the future father-in-law was against celebrating the event in one of the wedding palaces. Therefore, on Saturday, April 17, 1971, a sanitary day was declared at the Oktyabrsky regional registry office on Leninsky, 44. Churbanov, in a classic dark suit, and Galina, in a white trouser outfit and white shoes, signed their signatures in the magazine and exchanged rings in the presence of witnesses. And then we went to the General Secretary’s dacha in Zarechye, where, in fact, the celebration took place in a rather narrow format. The groom's side was attended by his parents, brother Igor (he was 31 years old) and 26-year-old sister Svetlana, as well as about five police chiefs - friends of Churbanov. Galina was represented by Leonid Ilyich and Victoria Petrovna, other family members and several close friends.
It is curious that the next day the celebration continued: Galina Brezhneva turned 42 years old. Moreover, the Holy Resurrection of Christ has arrived...
Gifts to the newlyweds were quite substantial at that time. The main one was a large apartment No. 45 in a “fresh” (built in 1969) building No. 19/21 on Bolshaya Bronnaya Street. The neighbors of the “young” were the secretaries of the Central Committee Mikhail Suslov and Konstantin Chernenko, as well as the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Pyotr Shelest and “other officials.” Everyone lived differently. Brezhnev's daughter and son-in-law furnished their apartment with modern furniture, having bought it with the financial help of the Secretary General, but, for example, Suslov, as Yuri Mikhailovich told me, furnished his home with official furniture, exactly the same as at work. And on every chair and armchair there was a sign with the inscription “Administration of the Affairs of the CPSU Central Committee.” And the inventory number too...
A few years later, Churbanov and Brezhnev moved to Shchusev Street, to house No. 10, the same one in which they prepared an apartment for Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev himself. Some authors claim that it was the daughter and son-in-law who occupied these apartments (No. 35). Actually this is not true. I had to be in this apartment (Ruslan Khasbulatov lived there with numerous relatives in 1994), but Galina Brezhneva then, if my memory serves me right, lived in apartment No. 22... Chernenko’s comrades (who moved to with Bolshaya Bronnaya), Tyazhelnikov, Baibakov, Kirilenko and other figures of the CPSU and the Soviet state. At one time, Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife lived there.
Much has been written about the marriage of Yuri Churbanov and Galina Brezhneva. Therefore, I will only note the fact that it officially lasted 20 years: in 1991, when Yuri Mikhailovich was serving his sentence, Galina Leonidovna divorced him.
On the fifth day after returning from the “zone,” as Churbanov told me, he went to see his wife. I bought three carnations and came to the house where I lived for almost eight years. “No emotions, no kisses, no tears, no joy,” he told me, “an ordinary meeting.”
In fact, the divorce would have followed much earlier if not for the arrest and trial. Back in the mid-eighties, as Yuri Mikhailovich told me, at some party he met an interesting woman named Lyudmila. He found out that she was ten years younger than him, that she was married and had children. And he himself, as we know, was not free. But mutual sympathy remained. And she stayed for a long time.
Some time after their release they met. Lyudmila Vasilievna then worked in the rector’s office of Moscow State University. And after a couple of months, Churbanov moved from his sister (he lived with Svetlana Mikhailovna on Alabyan Street for the first time) to an ordinary 75-meter three-room apartment on Academician Anokhin Street, not far from the Yugo-Zapadnaya metro station. In April 1994, Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov and Lyudmila Vasilievna Kuznetsova became husband and wife.
I had to talk to her many times, mostly on the phone - after all, Churbanov and I communicated quite closely for several years. And I was left with the most pleasant impression: a very calm, sincere and intelligent woman. And also, as it turned out, capable of real self-sacrifice: after two strokes that happened in 2005 and 2008, Churbanov found himself bedridden, and his wife tenderly and touchingly looks after him. He does not communicate with the press, does not give interviews. When I recently talked to her once again, inquiring about my husband’s health, she said: “It’s hard, of course, but we believe and hope. Thank you, Alexey, for remembering Yuri Mikhailovich...” And this once again convinced me that General Churbanov’s last marriage was happy. No matter how sad it is what is happening to him today...
I do not want to evaluate Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov, neither in his past nor in the present. I don’t have the right to this, but I don’t want to take it upon myself. I remember only one more episode from our time together.
2000 We walk along the corridor of the Department of Internal Affairs for the Oryol region to the chief - Major General Ilya Petrovich Savchenko. Churbanov, as always, is carefully shaved, his trousers have straight creases (he personally ironed them in the morning at the hotel), his almost non-gray hair is parted in an even thread... A young lieutenant comes across. He stands at attention: “I wish you good health, Comrade Colonel General!” Yuri Mikhailovich smiles: “They are young, but they also know... So, it’s not all in vain...”
Yuri Churbanov, Brezhnev's son-in-law, died in Moscow at the age of 77. He went down in history more in this “position” than as a deputy. Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. Later, Churbanov served time, as they say, precisely for the sins of the Brezhnev nomenklatura.
Sitting on business...
True, Telman Gdlyan, once an investigator for particularly important cases, does not agree with this opinion - it was he who investigated the so-called. the cotton business, in which Brezhnev’s son-in-law was also involved.
– The Churbanov case is now called political and is associated with revenge either on Andropov or Gorbachev. They claim that he was convicted only for his robe and skullcap. These are all fables. Churbanov was a total bribe-taker. From the very first day of his arrest, he began to tell stories himself - 7-8 episodes, then added more. And it didn’t matter whose son-in-law he was, many others were involved in this case, even higher in rank than him. Some of them managed to be convicted before they started putting pressure on us from above.
During the investigation, Churbanov behaved with dignity, was not a coward, and was mentally prepared for the verdict. But he later sat quietly in the colony, because there were mostly people with official status there, and there were his colleagues from the police - such a gathering point for unworthy workers. Moreover, the status of the “first” son-in-law helped Churbanov get out not after 12 years, but after 4 years. They still worked for him.
I can understand everything in Churbanov’s story - both entering this royal house through marriage and bribery. But there is one act of his that I consider inhuman. And we talked to him off the record. I asked him how he could leave his child, the son from his first marriage. I say, he grew up without you, went to college, you never even tried to see him. He began to beat his chest with tears, saying, yes, I’m a scoundrel, a scoundrel. But he never gave an explanation for this action.
...or hurt?
Churbanov really did not like to talk about relations with the first family, even with his loved ones. Despite many family difficulties, Churbanov never spoke badly about his second, high-status wife.
“Maybe he didn’t have much love for Galina, but he was clearly attracted to her as a woman,” says Churbanov’s friend, writer Alexey Bogomolov. - And he did not pay attention to all this gossip about his arranged marriage. He also worked hard at work. As deputy minister, he did a lot for ordinary police officers.
But when the investigation began, there was no one left with him. Only his brother visited him in the colony, and his former personal driver sent packages. Galina divorced him while he was in jail. But he understood everything. The offense was only against the state, which even took away his awards. Yes, and also, when he came to Galina after the colony with three carnations, it turned out that she had sold all his things, even the general’s jacket. This is why he was offended by her.
However, after the colony he did not look like a broken person. He looked great - clean-shaven, perfect parting, pressed trousers. 2-3 weeks after his release, he met with Resin (then the head of the Moscow construction complex), they were friends, and he made him the head of the security service in a company that dealt with cement. At first, Churbanov drove a Volga, then a Volvo with criminal plates. In general, I joined the new life. And by the way, it seems to me that he tried his best to be like his famous father-in-law - the same leisurely movements, the same gentle embrace of his pleasant interlocutor. At the same time, he himself was a big man. Galina may have made him a colonel general, but she did not make him a general.
Yuri Churbanov married Galina Brezhneva in 1971. In 1977–1980 was the first deputy head of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1987 he was arrested and a year later sentenced to 12 years for corruption. Released on parole in 1993. He worked at the Rosstern cement company, created a fund to help former prisoners, and published a book of memoirs. After a second stroke in 2008, he was bedridden.
We met Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov a long time ago, in 1994, when he was released after more than six years in the KGB Lefortovo pre-trial detention center and Nizhny Tagil colony No. 13. At first we just met and talked, then I did an interview with him (by the way, for the newspaper “Top Secret”). And since 1996, our communication has taken on a new quality. At that time, I worked as an adviser to the Chairman of the Federation Council and Oryol Governor Yegor Semenovich Stroev, and the Rosstern company, of which Churbanov was then vice-president, had certain interests in the Oryol region.
In March 1997, I brought the former “prisoner number one,” as the Western press called him, to Oryol for the first time. Stroev and Churbanov met on the steps of the Oryol regional administration. Yuri Mikhailovich shed tears, Yegor Semyonovich’s eyes also became moist. With the words “Do you remember, Yura, how you and I walked around the dacha here in 1976?” - he took the guest into the bowels of a large brick house on Lenin Square, 1. And then their regular meetings began, which at one time brought concrete results. More, of course, for Churbanov and his company, since for such a large-scale person as Stroev, supporting a couple of not the largest enterprises in his field was akin to charity.
That’s when I talked to my heart’s content with the disgraced Colonel General. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner together, traveled around the Oryol region and the capital, met in small and large offices. Sometimes our meetings ended well after midnight. And out of journalistic habit, “just in case,” I wrote down what Brezhnev’s former son-in-law and first deputy minister of internal affairs of the USSR told me. Manuscripts don't burn, right? And today I want to offer the readers of our newspaper some of these recordings. I left Yuri Mikhailovich’s words largely unchanged, except that I made minimal editorial changes and omitted my questions. And there were a lot of questions...
I lived under communism for fifteen years!
“Lyosha, what kind of bribes are we talking about? - Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov told me when in the fall of 1998 we were sitting with him in a room at the Oryol Salyut Hotel, “I lived under communism for almost fifteen years!” Only a person not very familiar with the party and state hierarchy of the USSR could talk about such things. Look for yourself, I am the “first son-in-law of the country,” the husband of the only and beloved daughter of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. And don’t forget that not immediately, of course, but I became a colonel general and first deputy minister of internal affairs, a candidate member of the Central Committee, a member of the Central Audit Commission... There was more than enough power and opportunity!
So you brought me the indictment in my case, several volumes... What was I charged with? Some roll of linoleum brought to the dacha, Uzbek robes, but most importantly - bribes. About all sorts of things like linoleum, I will say this: if I wanted something to appear, all I had to do was say it, and the next day I had it! And no signatures on papers or statements. Do you think it was different for Gorbachev? Or from one of the party and government leaders at the highest level? No, of course, everything, as they say, drank from the same trough... It was furnished differently. Some took care of household issues themselves, some had wives, and the majority were provided with specially trained, as they say now, people. Why do you think the Administration of the CPSU Central Committee was created? After all, it was a huge structure, the services of which were used by the entire party leadership. But then everything depended on the person. Some simply lost their heads from permissiveness and greed. I don’t want to talk about them, but there were some. And they didn’t sit, by the way! And they remained with their money and their property. How much do you think apartments cost in the buildings of the Administration of the CPSU Central Committee? For example, where I lived, on Bolshaya Bronnaya, or on Shchusev Street? And they will cost even more!
You have been communicating with me for several years now, you see how I live. Do you think this is after prison? No, it’s just that I had enough of everything then, even in abundance, and I still have enough now. It’s just that today I buy everything with my own money, sometimes I use representative or travel allowances, but before this was part of the security in accordance with my position, rank and position.
Why do I need bribes? I received more money than the Secretary General! Leonid Ilyich had a salary of 800 rubles, while mine, taking into account all the components, such as length of service, rank, etc., was 1100. And also the “Kremlin”. And privileges, shops where scarce goods were sold at reasonable prices. It was all part of the system. Not to use this meant to be a black sheep, to risk causing, to put it mildly, misunderstanding of others. Did I need this?
Why did I admit several episodes of bribes? There is only one reason: the investigators quite seriously told me that if I don’t take two or three episodes out of more than forty, then, as they say in the zone, “they will smear green stuff on my forehead.” They will shoot, that is... I myself knew our system very well, both judicial and in the sphere of execution of punishments, I myself served in it at one time. I also knew that if a decision was made by the Politburo of the Central Committee (and KGB Chairman Chebrikov personally told me about this), it would definitely be carried out. At one time, Khrushchev decided to shoot the currency traders, and so they did, although the laws do not have retroactive force. So I was being prepared for the highest punishment... Let's finish this topic. The people who allegedly gave me these bribes were acquitted a long time ago! And for lack of corpus delicti, by the way!”
I’ll be honest, Yuri Mikhailovich’s arguments convinced me. And at that time it seemed to me that Russian President Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, having said “a” in relation to Churbanov, might think about pronouncing the next letter. After all, not without the knowledge of the first person of Russia, the former colonel general was released, and it was by presidential decree that Yuri Mikhailovich’s three-year “probationary period” was canceled. In addition, Churbanov and Yeltsin were personally acquainted: in the mid-eighties, Yuri Mikhailovich came to Sverdlovsk with instructions from the Minister of Internal Affairs to remove Knyazev, the head of the local police department, from his post. The attitude of Churbanov and Yeltsin towards the chief of the local police was the same - they both believed that he was in the right place. And contrary to the minister’s opinion, the boss he disliked was not removed.
That’s when I asked my leader, Chairman of the Federation Council Yegor Semyonovich Stroev, who knew very well the situation with the conviction of Brezhnev’s former son-in-law, to intervene. As he told me, a direct conversation with the president did not yield anything definite. “He’s a good guy,” Yeltsin said about Churbanov, “he got caught for no reason.” At this level the question hung. And Churbanov’s letter with the resolution of the third person in the state was sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office. It is curious that Stroev did not receive an answer, and the former prisoner himself showed me a letter in which the prosecutor’s office reported that the investigation was carried out correctly, that many episodes were eliminated (this, according to the authors of the message, indicated “justice”), so there are no grounds to reconsider the case. I gave a copy of the letter to the chairman of the upper house of parliament. He, of course, was indignant, but said that if the issue of rehabilitation had not been resolved at this level, then, apparently, he would have to wait...
And Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov has less and less time to wait. On November 11 he turned 75 years old. It turned out to be a sad holiday: the practically paralyzed hero of the day hardly understood what even the closest and most pleasant people were saying to him...
Fishing with Fidel
1999 We are sitting in Yuri Mikhailovich’s office in the building of the Rosstern company on Elektrodnaya Street. Secretary Lena had already brought a bottle of Gzhelka, at that time Churbanov’s favorite vodka, sandwiches and Sarova mineral water - according to competent people, the only real and high-quality water in Russia. And then Yuri Mikhailovich raises his glass, drinks dashingly and, as often happened, looking into my eyes, begins another story, which I quote from memory. In one of his books, Yuri Mikhailovich mentioned his visits to Cuba, but without much detail, so our dear readers have the opportunity to find out many unknown details:
– Once Galina Leonidovna and I were in Cuba at the invitation of the local leadership. Then, in the mid-seventies, we had the most wonderful relations with Freedom Island. They loved us very much, especially because we bought local sugar cane, which could not be sold due to the American blockade, sent our specialists and military instructors, supplied the country with weapons and equipment, taught Cubans in our universities, etc. And we were received at a high level. They put us up in a separate government residence, showed us the sights, and took us to resorts. True, in the evening Galina made her way to a plentiful free bar, as a result of which after a couple of hours she did not take part in further events.
In response to my questions about when there would be a meeting with Fidel Castro, to whom Leonid Ilyich ordered to convey great international greetings, as well as a special letter, the friendly Cubans smiled and said “Mañana,” that is, tomorrow. But the next day everything was repeated, and we never saw the legendary Comandante.
And then one day, at about two in the morning, when my wife was already fast asleep, and I was sitting in the hall and smoking, a group of military men arrived at the residence, and I was invited to visit Fidel. We settled into cars - two of our Chaikas - and set off along a winding road to one of the residences of the Cuban leader. Like Stalin in his time, there were several of them, and the biggest secret was where the leader of the nation was at that particular moment. For the most part, these villas were hidden in evergreen vegetation and were not visible either from the sea or from the air. We met at one of them.
In the large living room sat Fidel, his brother Raul, and two or three other military men, whose names I never remembered. The brothers took turns (first the eldest, then the youngest) kissed me, the generals greeted me with restrained handshakes. I conveyed greetings from Brezhnev and a letter to Fidel, which was immediately taken away by the secretary. And we went to the table. To my surprise, the Cuban leaders drank not Havana Club rum (by the way, it can be of very good quality), but Johnny Walker whiskey, and the cheapest variety with a red label. They smoked not only cigars, but also American Marlboros. We talked for two hours about the international situation, about the relations between our countries. Fidel was keenly interested in what was happening in the USSR and asked about the health of Leonid Ilyich. And then he suddenly stood up and said: “Now we’ll go fishing.” Before that, I thought of fishing as sitting with a fishing rod or casting a spinning rod. But in Cuba they fished differently. In the pre-dawn twilight we walked along a long winding path and then down the stairs to the shore. There, at the pier, stood a large military boat with full weapons. I asked what kind of fish we would catch with the help of a warship, to which I received the answer: “Barracuda.” This is a shark that lives in those places, not the largest in size, but quite dangerous and sometimes attacks people.
The stern of the ship was adapted for fishermen. There was a table with whiskey, juice and cigars, and closer to the edge in special nests there were two huge fishing rods with powerful reels and thick twisted fishing line. We sailed to some apparently well-fed area of coastal waters, since in the light of the rising sun large fish were quickly swimming in the upper layers of the water. They threw hooks (very large and made of special steel) with pieces of meat attached to them into the water and began to “fish.” The main thing was to gradually pull the one and a half to two meter shark to the side, preventing it from breaking the rod or breaking the fishing line. We didn’t succeed right away, but an hour later we had already caught three predators. And then we went by sea to another residence, where we were supposed to have breakfast.
For breakfast, a shish kebab of freshly caught fish was served. To be honest, I didn’t really like it, the meat was white, tough and with large fibers. However, I didn’t show it, having a whiskey with a shark, and then thanking Fidel for a wonderful evening (however, in the evening it’s difficult to call this time from two in the morning to ten in the morning). Then the Cuban leader left for one of his shelters, and Raul accompanied me to our residence. I slept well during the day, and at exactly two o’clock in the morning a car came for me again. And again we met with Fidel, drank, smoked, talked, and then “went fishing.” So I learned all the ins and outs of local fishing, and my instructor was the leader of the Cuban revolution. I think not everyone succeeds in this in life.
Three marriages
Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov was married three times. He did not like to talk about his first marriage. He answered my questions without any enthusiasm, saying only that he couldn’t do without children. He said that cracks in his family life began to appear in the late sixties. When and under what circumstances he divorced his first wife, he preferred to remain silent...
He talked more about Galina Brezhneva, never calling her by a diminutive name: only “Galina” and sometimes (with a special intonation) “Galina Leonidovna.” When he met her, he had just turned thirty-four years old. The acquaintance itself took place in the restaurant of the Central House of Architects on Shchusev Street (now Granatny Lane - Author), where he and his colleague came to celebrate the Old New Year. They drank fifty grams each during the holiday, and then Churbanov noticed in the back of the hall a company of several people sitting at a large table. Igor Shchelokov, the son of the Minister of Internal Affairs, and his wife Nonna were known to him, but he did not know the rest, but he approached and was introduced to them. I will note in parentheses that Galina Brezhneva and Igor Shchelokov have known each other since the times when their parents worked together in Chisinau. The daughter of the Secretary General introduced herself simply: “Galina.”
Brezhnev’s daughter was forty-one years old at that moment, and she was still quite an interesting woman. To be honest, it seemed to me that Yuri Mikhailovich was somewhat dishonest when he said that he did not immediately find out who the young lady who interested him was. Surely Igor Shchelokov immediately informed him. And he also asked for her phone number and (as he later admitted) received it. But he didn’t call, although meeting the General’s daughter might have excited more than one man.
Galina Brezhneva called him herself. Knowing already about his family circumstances, she made a call to work: “And where have you disappeared, Yura? You took the phone from an honest girl and you don’t call?” I had to make excuses and “make amends” by immediately making an appointment. A new friend picked him up in a Volga with a driver. Churbanov, as a correct person, did not talk about the details of the meeting, but the evening began again in a restaurant, this time in “Aragvi”.
The whirlwind romance lasted three months and ended with the registration of the official marriage of Yuri Churbanov and Galina Brezhneva. As Yuri Mikhailovich recalled, the future father-in-law was against celebrating the event in one of the wedding palaces. Therefore, on Saturday, April 17, 1971, a sanitary day was declared at the Oktyabrsky regional registry office on Leninsky, 44. Churbanov, in a classic dark suit, and Galina, in a white trouser outfit and white shoes, signed their signatures in the magazine and exchanged rings in the presence of witnesses. And then we went to the General Secretary’s dacha in Zarechye, where, in fact, the celebration took place in a rather narrow format. The groom's side was attended by his parents, brother Igor (he was 31 years old) and 26-year-old sister Svetlana, as well as about five police chiefs - friends of Churbanov. Galina was represented by Leonid Ilyich and Victoria Petrovna, other family members and several close friends.
It is curious that the next day the celebration continued: Galina Brezhneva turned 42 years old. Moreover, the Holy Resurrection of Christ has arrived...
Gifts to the newlyweds were quite substantial at that time. The main one was a large apartment No. 45 in a “fresh” (built in 1969) building No. 19/21 on Bolshaya Bronnaya Street. The neighbors of the “young” were the secretaries of the Central Committee Mikhail Suslov and Konstantin Chernenko, as well as the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Pyotr Shelest and “other officials.” Everyone lived differently. Brezhnev's daughter and son-in-law furnished their apartment with modern furniture, having bought it with the financial help of the Secretary General, but, for example, Suslov, as Yuri Mikhailovich told me, furnished his home with official furniture, exactly the same as at work. And on every chair and armchair there was a sign with the inscription “Administration of the Affairs of the CPSU Central Committee.” And the inventory number too...
A few years later, Churbanov and Brezhnev moved to Shchusev Street, to house No. 10, the same one in which they prepared an apartment for Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev himself. Some authors claim that it was the daughter and son-in-law who occupied these apartments (No. 35). Actually this is not true. I had to be in this apartment (Ruslan Khasbulatov lived there with numerous relatives in 1994), but Galina Brezhneva then, if my memory serves me right, lived in apartment No. 22... Chernenko’s comrades (who moved to with Bolshaya Bronnaya), Tyazhelnikov, Baibakov, Kirilenko and other figures of the CPSU and the Soviet state. At one time, Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife lived there.
Much has been written about the marriage of Yuri Churbanov and Galina Brezhneva. Therefore, I will only note the fact that it officially lasted 20 years: in 1991, when Yuri Mikhailovich was serving his sentence, Galina Leonidovna divorced him.
On the fifth day after returning from the “zone,” as Churbanov told me, he went to see his wife. I bought three carnations and came to the house where I lived for almost eight years. “No emotions, no kisses, no tears, no joy,” he told me, “an ordinary meeting.”
In fact, the divorce would have followed much earlier if not for the arrest and trial. Back in the mid-eighties, as Yuri Mikhailovich told me, at some party he met an interesting woman named Lyudmila. He found out that she was ten years younger than him, that she was married and had children. And he himself, as we know, was not free. But mutual sympathy remained. And she stayed for a long time.
Some time after their release they met. Lyudmila Vasilievna then worked in the rector’s office of Moscow State University. And after a couple of months, Churbanov moved from his sister (he lived with Svetlana Mikhailovna on Alabyan Street for the first time) to an ordinary 75-meter three-room apartment on Academician Anokhin Street, not far from the Yugo-Zapadnaya metro station. In April 1994, Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov and Lyudmila Vasilievna Kuznetsova became husband and wife.
I had to talk to her many times, mostly on the phone - after all, Churbanov and I communicated quite closely for several years. And I was left with the most pleasant impression: a very calm, sincere and intelligent woman. And also, as it turned out, capable of real self-sacrifice: after two strokes that happened in 2005 and 2008, Churbanov found himself bedridden, and his wife tenderly and touchingly looks after him. He does not communicate with the press, does not give interviews. When I recently talked to her once again, inquiring about my husband’s health, she said: “It’s hard, of course, but we believe and hope. Thank you, Alexey, for remembering Yuri Mikhailovich...” And this once again convinced me that General Churbanov’s last marriage was happy. No matter how sad it is what is happening to him today...
I do not want to evaluate Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov, neither in his past nor in the present. I don’t have the right to this, but I don’t want to take it upon myself. I remember only one more episode from our time together.
2000 We walk along the corridor of the Department of Internal Affairs for the Oryol region to the chief - Major General Ilya Petrovich Savchenko. Churbanov, as always, is carefully shaved, his trousers have straight creases (he personally ironed them in the morning at the hotel), his almost non-gray hair is parted with a straight thread... A young lieutenant comes across. He stands at attention: “I wish you good health, Comrade Colonel General!” Yuri Mikhailovich smiles: “They are young, but they also know... So, it’s not all in vain...”
Not a single radio station, not a single TV channel has reported (so far, anyway) about today's funeral. But Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov, was not just the son-in-law of the Secretary General of the CPSU Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, he was the No. 1 newsmaker at a certain period in our history.
I planned to publish this photo in a book "Galina Brezhneva. The life of a Soviet princess", but at the last moment the publishers abandoned the illustrations altogether. A photo from the case (at my request) was given to me by “important people” from the USSR Prosecutor General’s Office when I was working on the “Kremlingate” essay for MK (1988). About the Churbanov family.
I didn’t find the last wife of the deceased - Galina Leonidovna Brezhneva in her finest hour. I met her, as well as some other members of the family, during the period of the so-called perestroika persecution, in which I myself was an active participant, alas. I repeat: I have not seen the bright “Soviet princess”. I saw an unfortunate, drunken creature. Nevertheless, I cannot help but note that this was a woman of an absolutely bohemian, and not a nomenklatura, type. She was born into the wrong family and in the wrong era. Among her glorious friends, in addition to the notorious “Bolshoi Theater intern” Boris Ivanovich Buryats, there were a lot of people from Soviet show business - Vladimir Semenovich Vysotsky, Joseph Davydovich Kobzon, Muslim Magometovich Magomaev, MakhmudAlisultanovich Esambaev.
And her first husband, Evgeniy Timofeevich Milaev, was a tightrope walker. And the second one - Igor Emilievich Kio- also comes from a circus. The third, Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov, is a professional Komsak, nomenklatura. Just like his friend Igor Nikolaevich Shchelokov, whose father was a friend and favorite of the General Secretary of the CPSU Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. From a moral point of view, all these people were no worse than the previous or current inhabitants of the political lympus. Yes, they broke the law. But that was the way it was accepted. From time immemorial, the law was not written for the elite. People from the Brezhnev clan became hostages of the inter-clan struggle on Old Square. At the same time, they were for the most part people with concepts. Not one of them could be called a complete scoundrel; each was good in some way. As my friend noted Maryana Efremova, after reading my status about Churbanov’s death on Facebook:he was a normal guy. came under attack.
No, they were not ideal from the point of view of the canons of morality. However, in their own way they were and remain worthy. Worthy of at least telling the truth about them. No journalistic attacks.
Another thing is that it is absurd to present them only as victims of investigative cavils. Of course, the Kremlin nobles stole not from industries and wells, as now, but from estates and diamonds. Yes, bribes were sometimes ridiculous by today's standards. Gold embroidered skullcap or watch from Gokhran. Now almost any metropolitan prefect can afford a million-dollar watch. However, the foundations of Russian corruption were formed precisely then. The scale of embezzlement has changed, but morals, alas, remain the same. Modern corruption, as from Gogol’s “Overcoat,” emerged from a chepana (robe) made at the Bukhara gold embroidery factory for a famous Soviet official. This is what the story is about.
Yes , I didn’t catch Galina Leonidovna Brezhneva in her finest hour and I had the opportunity to talk with Churbanov, whose passport I kept until 1992, when he was wearing a camp uniform, and not a general’s uniform. It is still necessary to make an allowance for this context. I will reproduce the events according to the materials of criminal case No. 18/58115-83 and my own memories. This does not mean, however, that these sources are impeccable and impartial. But they are quite authentic.
I will reproduce a fragment of my book.
From the testimony of Buryats Boris Ivanovich:“I was released from prison on September 26, 1986, and arrived in Moscow. I knew Brezhnev from the beginning of the 70s, maintained friendly relations with her, and met often. I developed approximately the same relationship after my release, when I came to Moscow and met with her. But in January 1987, Galina Leonidovna’s husband, Churbanov, was arrested. And literally two days later I went to Brezhneva’s apartment on Shchuseva Street, building 10. Brezhneva had a certain Lilya, a woman from Dnepropetrovsk, whom Galina Leonidovna had known for a very long time and considered her her friend. They met often at that time and were friendly. Galina Leonidovna was upset by her husband’s arrest, and this was precisely what was being discussed here. At the same time, Galina Leonidovna said with bitterness that Vlasov told her that their (as in the protocol. -E. D.) a mutual friend showed him a gold pendant given to her by Churbanov. Galina Leonidovna asked Vlasov what kind of clasp the pendant had. Vlasov described the structure of this massive clasp with a special design, and then Galina Leonidovna was finally convinced that this pendant was hers, that it was stolen from her along with other valuables that she kept wrapped in a scarf in the closet. Galina Leonidovna concluded that all her valuables were stolen by Churbanov himself.
She said that in her bundle along with the pendant were other valuables given to her by her father and mother. She named a set consisting of a ring and earrings with rubies, a brooch, the so-called “Catherine's Branch” in diamonds, and “Turquoise” earrings decorated with diamonds. She also named a few more decorations, but I no longer remember their signs... In the spring of this year, Galina Leonidovna told the second case. Confidentially to me, as a sign of confirmation that Churbanov was an unworthy person and disgraced her family.”
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Biography, life story of Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov
Churbanov Yuri Mikhailovich - son-in-law, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Deputy Head of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Colonel General.
Childhood and youth
Yuri Churbanov was born in Moscow on November 11, 1936 in the family of a simple employee, a member of the CPSU. Yuri’s brother Igor and sister Svetlana were also raised in the family.
After graduating from secondary school No. 706, at the insistence of his father, Yuri Churbanov entered a vocational school. Then he worked for some time at the Znamya Truda plant as a mechanic and assembler of aircraft components. A little later, Yuri was elected secretary of the Komsomol organization of the plant.
First marriage and work in the authorities
In 1961, Yuri Churbanov married Tamara Valtseferova. The wife gave Yuri two children. In 1964, Churbanov graduated from the correspondence department of the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University.
Yuri Churbanov joined the internal affairs bodies in 1961. He worked in the political body of correctional labor institutions, was an instructor in the Komsomol of the political department of the Main Directorate of the ITU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and an assistant to the head of the ITU of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Moscow Regional Executive Committee. From 1964 to 1967 he served as head of the department of the Komsomol Central Committee. From 1967 to 1971 he worked as deputy head of the political department of the Main Directorate of Correctional Labor Institutions of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, holding the rank of lieutenant colonel of the internal service.
CONTINUED BELOW
After the wedding, Churbanov served as head of the Political Directorate of Internal Troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs for 4 years; then from 1975 to 1977 he was the head of the same department. From 1977 to 1980 he was Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR, and in 1980 he took the post of First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR. In the same year, Yuri Churbanov was awarded the USSR State Prize (for ensuring order during the Olympics). A year later, the lucky man receives the rank of colonel general.
From 1976 to 1981, Yuri Churbanov was a member of the Central Audit Commission of the CPSU, and from 1981 to 1986 he was a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee. In addition, Churbanov was a deputy of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR.
Criminal prosecution
In 1982, after the death and coming to power of Yuri Andropov, the life of Yuri Churbanov began to change. In 1983, he was removed from the post of first deputy minister and appointed to the post of deputy head of the Main Directorate of Internal Troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1986, after he became head of state, Churbanov was dismissed. At the same time, Churbanov became one of the main defendants in the “cotton case” - a series of criminal offenses related to economic and corruption violations in the Uzbek SSR. In mid-January 1987, Yuri Mikhailovich was arrested and expelled from the Communist Party. Initially, Churbanov denied his involvement in corruption activities, but later, unable to withstand the pressure of the investigation, he declared that he was guilty of some of the crimes charged against him.
In 1988, Yuri Churbanov was sentenced to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property. He was stripped of his military rank and state awards. He served his sentence in Nizhny Tagil. In 1993 he was released on parole. By this time I had already divorced him.
Third marriage and last years of life
After his release from prison, Churbanov converted to the Orthodox faith. In 1994, Yuri Mikhailovich married Lyudmila Kuznetsova, an employee of the Moscow State University administration, whom he had known since his youth. In 1997, Churbanov became vice president of the Rosstern cement company. In 1999, he took the post of vice-president of the city hockey club “Spartak”. In his free time from work, Yuri Churbanov helped prisoners, wrote memoirs and tried to achieve his rehabilitation.
In 2005, Yuri Mikhailovich had his first stroke. 3 years later the situation repeated itself. This time, doctors were unable to completely restore the patient’s health. Churbanov remained bedridden...
On October 7, 2013, Yuri Churbanov passed away. On October 10, his body was buried at the Mitinskoye cemetery in Moscow. There is information in the press about the death of a former son-in-law
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