Why didn't Churbanov have any children of his own. Yuri churbanov, Galina's husband

On December 26, 1980, an incident occurred at the Zhdanovskaya metro station (modern Vykhino). The deputy head of the secretariat of the KGB of the USSR, major of state security Vyacheslav Afanasiev, was driving home - but did not reach. A festive set of scarce products - expensive cognac and sausage - became a bait for the policemen of the linear department. They took food away from Afanasiev and beat him, and when he began to threaten reprisals from the KGB, the police even killed him. This case became the starting point in the confrontation between the two state structures. Soviet Union- KGB and MVD.

Occasion

In the book Investigation and Power, Vladimir Kalinichenko, a retired investigator for especially important cases under the USSR Prosecutor General, wrote that Afanasiev had an anniversary on the day of the murder. Shortly before the fatal events, the major fell ill, took a sick leave, but nevertheless decided to celebrate his birthday with his colleagues. He invited two officers who had recently returned from Afghanistan. They gave Afanasyev expensive cognac. The celebration ended at 21:00. Having gone home, the friends went in the direction of the Nogina Square station (now Kitai-Gorod), all three got into the train car moving towards the Taganskaya station. There, Afanasyev and his colleagues had to transfer to the circle line and part ways. Afanasyev's friends decided that they could stand for one stop, and the major sat down and ... dozed off. When the KGB officers realized that Afanasiev had remained on the train, the doors had already slammed shut and the major drove off in the direction of Zhdanovskaya.

But the “Murder on Zhdanovskaya” case did not even begin with the murder of Major Afanasyev. Earlier, the head of the KGB encryption department, Major Viktor Sheimov, mysteriously disappeared with his wife and daughter. Sheimov's disappearance took place against the backdrop of a fierce confrontation between Interior Minister Nikolai Shchelokov and KGB chairman Yuri Andropov. The struggle was for power and influence on Leonid Brezhnev. The unexpected disappearance of a KGB officer did not play into Andropov's hands. It turned out that either Andropov was a bad head of the department, or a traitor who knew about the recruitment of Sheimov by the CIA. The situation needed to be saved. Perhaps in order to discredit Shchelokov and justify the disappearance of Sheimov, a plan was developed involving the murder of a state security officer by representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Investigation

The KGB understood what opposition would be provided to the investigation into the murder of Afanasyev. Since if the police officers are found guilty, the scandal will inevitably hurt the reputation of the Minister of Internal Affairs Nikolai Shchelokov. Andropov referred the case to the prosecutor's office, officially arguing that the investigation of the murder would require the experience of a prosecutor, not the KGB.

In 1980, Roman Rudenko was the Prosecutor General of the USSR. His inner circle included his successor Alexander Rekunkov and deputy Viktor Naydenov. It was Naydenov who called Vladimir Kalinichenko, the youngest investigator of the CA of the USSR Prosecutor's Office, who had recently worked in Moscow and had not yet managed to acquire connections. Naydenov instructed Kalinichenko to focus on the Afanasiev murder case. The situation was extremely delicate: the KGB suspected policemen from Zhdanovskaya, and the deputy chairman of the KGB under the Council of Ministers, Georgy Tsinev, Shchelokov's old friend, whose deputy was Brezhnev's son-in-law Yuri Churbanov, prevented the disclosure of the case.

According to Kalinichenko, the suspected policemen - Lobanov, Popov, Rassokhin, Vozulya, Telyshev and Selivanov - at first flatly refused to acknowledge even the fact of Afanasyev's detention. But the metro staff gave testimony confirming the fact of detention. Upon learning of this, the police changed tactics and began to claim that they had handed over Afanasyev to the sobering-up team, which took him away in an unknown direction. Kalinichenko believed the second version, and arrested Grechko, the head of the sobering-up brigade. Only some time later, Kalinichenko realized that an innocent man was being held in the pre-trial detention center; Grechko was released, as was Selivanov, who did not participate in the crime. A month later, the organizer of the murder, Major Baryshev, was arrested, who gave the order to take Afanasyev to the village of Pekhorka, where the KGB major was killed.

In June 1982, a sentence was passed in the case of the murder of Afanasyev. Major Baryshev, policemen Lobanov, Popov and Rassokhin were sentenced to death by firing squad.

"Thanks" to the Afanasiev case, Andropov cleared himself of guilt for the disappearance of Viktor Sheimov and hit the reputation of his opponent Nikolai Shchelokov hard. And only in 1985, after the death of Yuri Andropov, it was officially recognized that Viktor Sheimov was recruited by the CIA and fled to the United States.

Nikolai Shchelokov

Nikolai Shchelokov started working at the age of 12 - at the mine, by the age of 29 he had already grown to the head of Dnepropetrovsk. Occupying this simple, he became close friends with Leonid Brezhnev.

Later, after becoming General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Brezhnev called Shchelokov to the post of Minister of Public Order. His wife tried to dissuade him, but Shchelokov was already on fire, he wanted to reorganize the department. His first decree urged police officers to be polite with citizens. “The work of the police, like art, literature, is designed to inspire people with unshakable optimism, faith in the best manifestations of human souls ... And speaking in legal terms, works that glorify vulgarity, pornography, promote violence, are in themselves criminal acts,” said Shchelokov. The salary of ordinary policemen was increased, they were also given a new uniform. Shchelokov really did a lot for the police of the USSR, he was able to raise this institution of the state to a high level.

Shchelokov's only enemy was Yuri Andropov, head of the KGB. Shchelokov opposed the KGB interfering in the affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He even brought Lenin's decree to Brezhnev, stating that policemen, and not KGB officers, should stand at the building of the Central Committee of the CPSU. For such petty proceedings, Andropov harbored resentment and anger at Shchelokov.

After Brezhnev's death on November 10, 1982. Nikolai Shchelokov was immediately dismissed from his post, accused of abuse of power, constantly summoned for interrogations. They were accused of taking a bribe (Uzbek carpet, suckling pigs, personalized crystal), then they estimated the damage to the country in the amount of 500 thousand rubles. Historian Roy Medvedev claims that Shchelokov had only a service apartment and a dacha, he was not involved in foreign exchange transactions. All that was confiscated from him were gifts, he did not extort money.

Unable to withstand constant pressure, the wife on February 19, 1983. On November 6, 1984, without a trial, Nikolai Shchelokov was deprived of the rank of army general, and on the day of the Militia (November 10), he was deprived of all state awards.

On December 13, 1983, Nikolai Shchelokov committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. Thus ended the war of two state departments - the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB.

On the outskirts of Moscow, at the Mitinsky cemetery, without television cameras and the press, a once very powerful man was buried. Colonel General, First Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and the first son-in-law of the country Yuri Churbanov. He...

On the outskirts of Moscow, at the Mitinsky cemetery, without television cameras and the press, a once very powerful man was buried. Colonel General, First Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and the first son-in-law of the country Yuri Churbanov. He died a month before his 77th birthday...

Churbanov served as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR from 1977 to 1980. Since 1971 he has been married to Galina Brezhneva for whom this was the third marriage.

In 1987 - five years after the death of Leonid Brezhnev - Churbanov was arrested on charges of corruption in the so-called "cotton" (or "Uzbek") case.

In December 1988, Churbanov was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In 1990, Brezhnev filed for divorce from him and the division of property. Three years later, Churbanov was released on parole and soon married another woman.

In total, as part of the "cotton case" - a large-scale anti-corruption campaign launched in 1983 by the then new Secretary General Yuri Andropov - about 800 criminal cases were initiated, in which about 4 thousand defendants were convicted. They were accused of postscripts, bribes and embezzlement that took place in the cotton and other industries of the Uzbek SSR.

Moscow, 1988. Police Colonel General Yuri Churbanov during the announcement of the verdict.

In an interview, the former son-in-law of the Secretary General said:

Why do I need bribes? I got more money than the General Secretary! Leonid Ilyich had a salary of 800 rubles, but I, taking into account all the components, such as length of service, rank, etc., - 1100.

And also the "Kremlin". And privileges, shops that sold scarce goods at sparing prices. It was all part of the system.

Not to use it meant to be a black sheep, to risk causing, to put it mildly, a misunderstanding of others. Did I need it? Why did I admit several episodes with bribes? There is only one reason: the investigators quite seriously told me that if I did not take two or three episodes out of more than forty, then, as they say in the zone, “they would smear green on my forehead.” They shoot, that is ...

As Churbanov believed, he was tried not so much for real crimes, but for his connection with Brezhnev. The military collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR sentenced him to 12 years in prison. In 1993, he was released from prison on parole.

The marriage of Yuri Churbanov with the daughter of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Leonid Brezhnev was by no means cloudless. Galina Leonidovna was reputed to be especially fond of. She, like many people in power, was drawn to the world of art. Suffice it to recall how she married circus twice, first for Evgeny Milaev, then (only for 9 days) for the young Igor Kio. For several years, her relationship with the Bolshoi Ballet soloist Maris Liepa continued. But all this was before meeting Yuri Churbanov.

Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov(November 11, 1936, Moscow, USSR - October 7, 2013, Moscow, Russia) - Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR (1977-1980), First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR (1980-1983), Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR (1983-1986 ). Colonel General (1981-1988). Son-in-law of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU L. I. Brezhnev.

Biography

Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov was born on November 11, 1936 in Moscow in a family of employees. Churbanov's father, a member of the CPSU since 1931, worked in various party positions, including chairman of the district executive committee of the Timiryazevsky district of Moscow. In addition to Yuri, the family had two more children - younger brother Igor and sister Svetlana.

Initial period

Yuri Churbanov graduated high school No. 706 Leningradsky district of the city of Moscow. After school, at the insistence of his father, he entered a vocational school. After graduating from a vocational school, he worked as an assembly fitter of aviation components at the Znamya Truda plant. Later he was elected secretary of the Komsomol organization of the enterprise. He worked as an instructor in the Leningrad Komsomol Komsomol.

In 1961 he marries Tamara Viktorovna Valtseferova (two children were born in this marriage). In 1964 he graduated in absentia from the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov. From 1964 to 1967, Yuri Churbanov worked at the Komsomol, worked as the head of the department of the Central Committee of the Komsomol.

In internal affairs since 1961: Worked in political agencies of correctional labor institutions: Komsomol instructor of the Political Department of the Main Directorate of the ITU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR, assistant to the head of the Political Department of the Directorate of the ITU of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Moscow Regional Executive Committee. Since 1967 he has been serving in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. From 1967 to 1971 - deputy head of the political department of the Main Directorate of Correctional Labor Institutions of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs (lieutenant colonel of the internal service).

Career takeoff

In January 1971, in the restaurant of the Moscow House of Architects, where he and his colleague came to celebrate the Old New Year, meets the forty-one-year-old daughter of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Galina Leonidovna Brezhneva.

Churbanov invited Galina to dance, then she herself invited Churbanov on a date. After a week of their stormy romance, Galina brought the lieutenant colonel home and introduced her to dad. Leonid Ilyich, tired of extravagant love affairs daughters liked Churbanov. The General Secretary approved the wedding. Yu. M. Churbanov divorces his first wife and in the same year marries Galina Leonidovna. After this marriage, the career of Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov went up sharply, and the saying “Do not have a hundred sheep, but marry like Churbanov” appeared among the people.

From 1971 to 1975 - Deputy Head of the Political Department internal troops Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, from 1975 to 1977 - Head of the Political Directorate of Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, from 1977 to 1980 - Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR. In February 1980, Yuri Churbanov became the First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR. He is awarded the State Prize of the USSR for ensuring order during the Olympics in Moscow in 1980. In 1981 he was awarded the rank of Colonel General.

Member of the Central Audit Commission of the CPSU (1976-1981), candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (1981-1986). He was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.

V. Kaznacheev recalled how, while in Stavropol, Churbanov, being in a state of intoxication, said that “at his birthday, Leonid Ilyich (Brezhnev) said that he was going to write a will in his favor. So soon he, Yuri Mikhailovich, will become the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

November 10, 1982 Leonid Brezhnev dies. Yu. V. Andropov comes to the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, who initiates a number of "anti-corruption cases" against Brezhnev's inner circle and against his old opponent - Churbanov's immediate superior, Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR Nikolai Shchelokov, who committed suicide on December 13, 1984.

Why Brezhnev's son-in-law has not yet been rehabilitated

We met Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov a long time ago, in 1994, when he was released after more than six years in the KGB pre-trial detention center in Lefortovo and Nizhny Tagil colony No. 13. At first they just met and talked, then I did an interview with him (by the way, for the Sovershenno Sekretno newspaper). 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 Semyonovich Stroev, and the Rosshtern company, of which Churbanov was then vice president, had certain interests in the Oryol region.
In March 1997, for the first time, I brought the former “prisoner number one,” as he was called by the Western press, to Oryol. 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 carried away the guest into the bowels of a large brick house on Lenin Square, 1. And then their regular meetings began, at one time bringing concrete results. More, of course, to 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.
It was then that I had plenty of conversation 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 the first deputy minister of internal affairs of the USSR told me. Manuscripts don't burn, do they? And today I want to offer readers of our newspaper part of these records. I left the words of Yuri Mikhailovich basically unchanged, except that I made a minimal editorial edit, and omitted my questions. And there were many questions...

I lived fifteen years under communism!
“Lyosha, what kind of bribes can we talk about? - Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov told me when in the fall of 1998 we were sitting with him in the room of the Oryol Salyut hotel, - after all, I lived under communism for almost fifteen years! Only a person not very well acquainted with the party and state hierarchy of the USSR could talk about such things. See 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 Central Committee of the CPSU. And do not 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 opportunities!
Here you brought me an indictment in my case, several volumes ... What was I charged with? Some kind of 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, it was enough to say, and the next day I had it! And no signatures on papers and statements. Do you think Gorbachev was different? Or one of the top-level party and state leaders? No, of course, everything, as they say, slurped from one trough ... It was furnished in different ways. Someone himself dealt with domestic issues, someone had a wife, and most were provided with specially trained, as they say now, people. Why do you think the Department of Affairs of the Central Committee of the CPSU was created? After all, it was a huge structure, the services of which were used by the entire party leadership. But then it all 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 did not sit, by the way! And with their money and their property remained. What do you think, how much do apartments cost in the buildings of the Administrative Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU? For example, where I lived, on Bolshaya Bronnaya, or on Shchusev Street? And they will cost even more!
You have been talking to me for several years, you see how I live. Do you think it's after jail? No, I just had enough then, even in excess, enough now. It’s just that today I buy everything with my own money, sometimes I use representative or travel allowances, but earlier it was part of the security in accordance with the position, rank and position.
Why do I need bribes? I got more money than the General Secretary! Leonid Ilyich had a salary of 800 rubles, while I, taking into account all the components, such as length of service, rank, and so on, had 1,100. And also the “Kremlin”. And privileges, shops that sold scarce goods at sparing prices. It was all part of the system. Not to use it meant to be a black sheep, to risk causing, to put it mildly, a misunderstanding of others. Did I need it?
Why did I admit several episodes with bribes? There is only one reason: the investigators quite seriously told me that if I did not take two or three episodes out of more than forty, then, as they say in the zone, “they would smear green on my forehead.” They will be shot, 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 be carried out without fail. At one time, Khrushchev decided to shoot the currency traders, so they shot him, although the laws do not have retroactive effect. So I was being prepared for the highest measure ... Let's finish this topic. The people who allegedly gave me these bribes were acquitted a long time ago! And for the 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, could also think about pronouncing the next letter. After all, it was not without the knowledge of the first person of Russia that the former Colonel General was released, and it was by presidential decree that Yuri Mikhailovich was canceled a three-year "probationary period." 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, head of the local police department, from his post. The attitude of Churbanov and Yeltsin to the head of the local police was the same - they both believed that he was in his place. And contrary to the opinion of the minister, they did not remove the objectionable boss.
That's when I asked my leader, Chairman of the Federation Council Yegor Semyonovich Stroev, who knew perfectly well the situation with the condemnation ex-son-in-law Brezhnev, intervene. As he told me, a direct conversation with the president did not give anything definite. “A good man,” Yeltsin said about Churbanov, “he got hit for nothing.” At this level, the question hung. And Churbanov's letter with the resolution of the third person in the state went 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 had disappeared (this, according to the authors of the message, testified to "justice"), so there are no grounds for reviewing the case. I gave a copy of the letter to the chairman of the upper house of parliament. Of course, he was indignant, but said that if the issue of rehabilitation was not resolved at this level, then, apparently, he would have to wait ...
And Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov has less and less time to wait. November 11, he turned 75 years old. It turned out to be a sad holiday: the almost paralyzed hero of the day almost did not understand what even the closest and most pleasant people were saying to him ...

Fishing with Fidel
1999 We are sitting in the office of Yuri Mikhailovich in the building of the Rosshtern company on Electrodnaya Street. Secretary Lena had already brought a bottle of Gzhelka, Churbanov's favorite vodka at that time, sandwiches and Sarov mineral water, according to competent people, the only real and high-quality water in Russia. And then Yuri Mikhailovich raises his glass, famously drinks 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 learn 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 the Island of Freedom. We were very loved, especially for the fact that we bought local sugar cane, which was not 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 they received us at a high level. They settled in a separate government residence, introduced them to the sights, and took them to resorts. True, in the evening Galina got to a plentiful free bar, as a result of which, after a couple of hours, she did not take part in further events.
To my questions about when there will be a meeting with Fidel Castro, to whom Leonid Ilyich ordered to convey big international greetings, as well as a special letter, friendly Cubans smiled and said “manana”, that is, tomorrow. But the next day everything was repeated, but we never saw the legendary commandant.
And 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 got into cars - two of our "Seagulls", and set off along the winding road to one of the residences of the Cuban leader. As in Stalin's time, there were several of them, and the biggest secret was where the leader of the nation is at this 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 were Fidel, his brother Raul, and two or three more military men whose names I did not remember. The brothers in turn (first the elder, then the younger) kissed me, the generals greeted me with discreet handshakes. I gave Fidel greetings from Brezhnev and a letter, which was immediately taken away by the secretary. And we went to the table. To my surprise, 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. For two hours we talked about the international situation, about the relations between our countries. Fidel was keenly interested in what was happening in the USSR, asking about the health of Leonid Ilyich. And then suddenly he got up and said: "Now we'll go fishing." Before that, I imagined fishing as sitting with a fishing rod or throwing a spinning rod. But fishing in Cuba was different. In the pre-dawn twilight we went along a long winding path, and then went down the stairs to the shore. There, at the pier, was a large military boat with full armament. I asked what kind of fish we would catch with the help of a combat vessel, to which I received the answer: “Barracuda”. This is a shark that lives in those places, not the largest, but quite dangerous and sometimes attacking 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 were two huge rods with powerful reels and thick twisted fishing line. We sailed to some apparently baited area coastal waters, because in the light of the rising sun large fish swam quickly in the upper layers of the water. They threw hooks (very large and made of special steel) with pieces of meat on them into the water and set to "fishing". The main thing was to gradually pull the one and a half - two-meter shark to the board, preventing it from breaking the rod or breaking the line. It was not possible right away, but after an hour we had already caught three predators. And then they went by sea to another residence, where they 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 bite of whiskey with a shark, and then thanking Fidel for a wonderful evening (however, in the evening it is difficult to name this time from two in the morning to ten in the morning). The Cuban leader then departed for one of his hideouts, while Raul escorted me to our residence. During the day I slept well, and at exactly two in the morning a car came for me again. And again we met with Fidel, drank, smoked, talked, and then "fished". So I learned all the intricacies of local fishing, and I had a leader of the Cuban revolution as an instructor. 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 could not do without children. He said that the cracks in family life went to him in the late sixties. When and under what circumstances he divorced his first wife, he preferred to remain silent ...
He told more about Galina Brezhnev, never calling her by a diminutive name: only “Galina” and sometimes (with a special intonation) “Galina Leonidovna”. When he met her, he was only thirty-four years old. The acquaintance itself took place in the restaurant of the Central House of Architects on Shchusev Street (now it is Granatny Lane - Auth.), where he and his colleague came to celebrate the Old New Year. They drank fifty grams for 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 brackets that Galina Brezhneva and Igor Shchelokov have known each other since the times when their parents worked together in Chisinau. The daughter of the General Secretary introduced herself simply: “Galina”.
Brezhnev's daughter was at that moment forty-one years old, and she was still quite an interesting woman. To be honest, it seemed to me that Yuri Mikhailovich had a little prevarication, saying that he did not immediately find out who the young lady who had interested him was. Igor Shchelokov must have informed him immediately. And he also asked for her phone and (as he later admitted) received. But he did not call, although acquaintance with the daughter of the General could excite more than one man.
Galina Brezhneva called him herself. Knowing already about his family circumstances, she made a call to work: “And where did you, Yura, disappear to? You took a phone from an honest girl and you don’t call? I had to make excuses and “make amends”, immediately making an appointment. A new friend picked him up in a Volga with a driver. Churbanov, as a correct person, did not expand on the details of the meeting, but the evening began again in the restaurant, this time in Aragvi.
The stormy 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 announced in the Oktyabrsky regional department of the registry office on Leninsky, 44. Churbanov in a classic dark suit and Galina in a white trouser outfit and white shoes put their signatures in the magazine in the presence of witnesses and exchanged rings. And then we went to the dacha of the General Secretary in Zarechye, where, in fact, the celebration took place in a rather narrow composition. From the groom's side, there were parents, brother Igor (he was 31 years old) and 26-year-old sister Svetlana, as well as five police chiefs - Churbanov's friends. Galina was represented by Leonid Ilyich with Victoria Petrovna, other family members and several close friends.
It is curious that the next day the holiday continued: Galina Brezhneva turned 42 years old. Moreover, the Bright Resurrection of Christ arrived in time ...
Gifts to the young were very respectable at that time. The main one was a large apartment No. 45 in the "fresh" (built in 1969) house 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 the apartment with modern furniture, having bought it with the financial assistance of the Secretary General, but, for example, Suslov, as Yury Mikhailovich told me, furnished his home with official furniture, exactly the same as at work. And on each chair and armchair there was a sign with the inscription "Administration of the affairs of the Central Committee of the CPSU." And the part number too...
A few years later, Churbanov and Brezhnev moved to Shchusev Street, to house number 10, the same one in which they were preparing an apartment for Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev himself. Some authors claim that it was the daughter and son-in-law who occupied this apartment (No. 35). Actually it is not. I happened to be in this apartment (Ruslan Khasbulatov lived in it in 1994 with numerous relatives), but Galina Brezhneva then, if my memory serves me, lived in apartment No. 22 ... In the same house in different time lived comrades Chernenko (who moved from Bolshaya Bronnaya), Tyazhelnikov, Baibakov, Kirilenko and other leaders of the CPSU and the Soviet state. At one time, Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife also 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 term, Galina Leonidovna divorced him.
On the fifth day after returning from the "zone", as Churbanov told me, he went to his wife. I bought three carnations, 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 learned 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 stayed for a long time.
Some time after their release, they met. Lyudmila Vasilievna then worked in the administration of the 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 by phone - after all, Churbanov and I had been in close contact for several years. And I had the most pleasant impression: a very calm, sincere and intelligent woman. And yet, as it turned out, capable of real self-sacrifice: after two strokes that occurred in 2005 and 2008, Churbanov was bedridden, and his wife gently and touchingly takes care of him. He does not communicate with the press, does not give interviews. When I recently once again talked to her, inquiring about her husband's health, she said: “It's hard, of course, but we believe and hope. Thank you, Alexei, for remembering Yuri Mikhailovich ... ”And this once again convinced me that General Churbanov’s last marriage turned out to be happy. No matter how sad what is happening to him today ...
I do not want to give an assessment of Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov, neither in his past nor in his present. I have no right to it, and I do not want to appropriate it for myself. I will remember only one more episode from our joint pastime with him.
year 2000. We are walking along the corridor of the Department of Internal Affairs in the Oryol region to the head - Major General Ilya Petrovich Savchenko. Churbanov, as always, is carefully shaved, trousers with even arrows (I personally stroked in the morning in the hotel), parting in almost gray hair - with an even thread ... A young lieutenant comes across to meet. He stretches out at attention: “I wish you good health, Comrade Colonel General!” Yuri Mikhailovich smiles: “Young people, but they also know ... So, not everything is in vain ...”