Nikolai Uskov personal life. Nikolai Uskov: “For me, writing is more of a hobby and entertainment

Former editor-in-chief Russian version American magazine GQ has long arranged his personal life. More than twenty years ago he got married, and since then his status as a married man has not changed. Nikolai Uskov's wife Natalia I met him thanks to their mutual friend Vita Weiner, who once prepared Nikolai for admission to university.

In the photo - Nikolai Uskov with his wife

Uskov entered the Faculty of History of Moscow State University in 1987, and spent thirteen years within its walls - first as a student, and then as a teacher. Fascinated by the theme of the Middle Ages, Nikolai specialized in the department of history of the Middle Ages on the topic church history Western Europe. His career in the media sphere began in 2000, when he took the position of editor of the Estart.ru website at Independent Media. He later became an employee of Men's Health magazine and soon became its editor-in-chief.

At this time he was already married, but Nikolai Uskov’s wife and their son Robert lived in America, so he had to live in two countries. Since 2003, Nikolai Feliksovich headed the Russian version of GQ magazine and worked as editor-in-chief of the publication until 2012, until he was invited to head Mikhail Prokhorov’s media group “Live!”, which included printed publications“Snob” and “Russian Pioneer”, cable TV channel “Live!”, websites snob.ru, f5.ru. After the collapse of the group, Nikolai Uskov headed the Snob publication.

Nikolai Uskov also acted as a writer - he has several books published in a number of publishing houses. In 2001, the Aletheia Publishing House published his monograph “Christianity and Monasticism in Western Europe of the Early Middle Ages,” which was based on the topic of his dissertation. A few years later, Uskov’s first detective story, “Winter Collection of Death. Fashion detective", which was written while he was editor-in-chief of GQ. Three years later, Uskov’s next detective story, “Seven Angels,” was released, becoming a logical continuation of the first. Creativity generally takes great place in the life of Nikolai Uskov, but he does this with great pleasure, despite being very busy in other areas.

In addition, part of his life are all kinds of parties where he meets friends and the right people. Nikolai Uskov’s wife is not a big fan of such events, so Natalya attends them if her husband needs it, and he himself asks her to do so.

Nikolai Feliksovich Uskov. Born August 25, 1970. Russian medievalist historian, journalist. In 2003-2012, editor-in-chief of the Russian version of GQ (Gentlemen’s Quarterly). Heads the Russian version of Forbes magazine.

His father is a psychiatrist, an employee of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems, and has lived in the USA since 1989 with his second wife, artist Tatyana Loskutova.

Mother is a rheumatologist at the Moscow City Clinical Hospital.

In high school, he became interested in painting and studied at Moscow Children's Art School No. 2. However, he admits, he did not have any special inclinations for painting.

"Under the influence of my stepmother, in high school I became interested in painting and entered the nursery art school No. 2. I drew without any particular talent, and therefore wisely decided to choose another childhood passion - history - as a profession.", Uskov recalled.

In 1987 he entered the history department of Moscow State University, from which he graduated in 1992.

Since 1989, he became interested in medieval studies and began to specialize in the department of history of the Middle Ages in such little-studied topics as church history of Western Europe.

He studied well at the university and, according to him, "belonged to a small group of nerds, preferring libraries to everything else, that is, sex, drugs and discos".

After university in 1992, he was offered, simultaneously with entering graduate school, to become a junior researcher at the department - at 22 years old - he was even younger than some of his students.

In 2001, he published a monograph in the St. Petersburg publishing house "Aletheya" "Christianity and Monasticism in Western Europe of the Early Middle Ages", based on his dissertation.

In 2000, Nikolai Uskov left the university to work for the Independent Media publishing house.

I got into journalism by accident.

“One of my friends, a journalist and now the chief editor of Maxim, Sasha Malenkov, called me in 2000 asking if I would recommend one of my students to him for a new Internet project. I offered myself. A year later, from the amorphous Internet - the publication invited me to Men's Health magazine as an editor, he said. And then my career went from strength to strength.

He edited the portal of the publishing house Estart.ru, and since 2001 - the magazine Men's Health of the same publishing house (in 2002 he became the editor-in-chief of this magazine).

In 2003, he left for the position of editor-in-chief of the Russian version of the American magazine GQ (Gentlemen’s Quarterly) at the publishing house Conde Nast.

On November 6, 2008, the Eksmo publishing house published Uskov’s first detective story in the series “Fashion Books by GQ Editor-in-Chief Nikolai Uskov” - “Winter collection of death. Fashion detective".

I became a writer, like a journalist, by accident, out of nothing to do.

“I had no ambitions as a writer, I just had a desire to come up with a detective story. This is a low genre, designed for easy reading, so I don’t pretend to have a place in Russian classical literature. For me writing more of a hobby and entertainment. I was sitting in a cafe with my employee Ksenia Sokolova, and we were thinking of something else to do. And right during lunch, I jokingly came up with a killer character. Then I started writing some pieces", - said Uskov.

In February 2011, the same publishing house published a new detective story by Nikolai Uskov called "Seven Angels", which continues to tell the story of the adventures of a hero familiar to readers from the first book - Innocent Alekhine, editor-in-chief of the men's magazine "Gentleman".

Nikolai Uskov - Posner

In 2012, he left GQ to head Mikhail Prokhorov’s media group “Live!”, which included print publications “Snob”, F5, “Russian Pioneer”, cable TV channel “Live!”, websites snob.ru, f5.ru. At the beginning of 2013, the group broke up, and Uskov became the leader of Snob.

Since January 2016, he has headed the Russian edition of the magazine. Forbes.

Uskov is credited with a neologism "Putin's glamour".

Nikolai Uskov: “Politics is like football. Women and money are the basic value of a man."

Personal life of Nikolai Uskov:

Married since 1992. My wife's name is Natalya. She is much older than Nikolai.

The couple has a son, Robert.

Nikolai Uskov with his wife Natalya

Nikolai Uskov about his taste preferences says the following:

“I have a lot of cars, but the only one I bought was an Audi - for some reason I fell for it. Cigarettes - Davidoff. Phone - iPhone.

I am quite unpretentious in life, but I prefer champagne that costs no less than $100.

I like Moet Chandon to drink at a party, but if you choose champagne as an expensive wine, it is, of course, Dom Perignon. Here, behind each bottle is the whole drama of life. Such champagne should not be drunk at a reception, not because it is expensive, but because it is disrespectful to the product, because Dom Perignon is a work of culture, it should be consumed with respect and only in certain situations.

As for my clothing style, it is rather conservative - I like to dress casually.

I have a lot of good clothes, I’m part of this world and, naturally, I can’t just go to the market and buy something just to cover my nakedness.

But I am very relaxed about brands. In my opinion, H&M have created a unique fast-fashion concept.

Do you think Karl Lagerfeld, one of the greatest snobs of our time, would agree to collaborate with this brand just for the money?! It's not a question of fee, it's a question of respect.

However, quality is quality - if I want to buy a good coat, I will buy it for what it should cost. From my point of view, three brands make such coats - Gucci, Dolce&Gabbana and Armani. We are talking about those that suit me, although many people do good things.”

Nikolai Uskov about mate:

"The magazine contains both slang and obscenities, because I am generally against hypocrisy and hypocrisy. I love it when we speak the language that is ours. Part of our language is obscenities. Why do we use these words in real life, but we pretend that this is unacceptable in a printed text?”

Nikolai Uskov on political correctness:

"The reader is tired of lies modern life. Why is House Doctor so successful? Because I'm sick of political correctness."

Nikolai Uskov about modern writers:

Nikolai Uskov on the right to individuality:

“I believe that a person has the right to the life he lives - of course, as long as his interests do not collide with mine. Do Sergei Zverev’s interests somehow collide with mine? No way. If I don’t like him, I I just turn off the TV, and that’s it. It’s his right to live like that. And if you don’t respect this right, then you’re a boor and a trash. I think our fellow citizens need to learn a calm, tolerant attitude towards everything that they don’t like.”

Nikolai Uskov about money:

“Money is not needed for its own sake. Money is needed in order to feel freedom. When you start thinking about how you spend, it is a necessity, it is not freedom.”

Nikolay Uskov about the right to make mistakes:

“One repentant sinner is worth more than a hundred righteous people” is a useful observation for managers. I remember billionaire Friedman telling me that the Bible is enough to teach you how to run a business well. Indeed, a person who has made a mistake, realized it, and fears punishment, works better than, relatively speaking, a righteous person. Yes, and it costs less. Translated into the language of HR specialists, the sinner is motivated.”

Nikolai Uskov about bisexuality:

"A person is bisexual - this is a biological fact. Naturally, some part of people chooses a different form of sexual relations. This is their choice, their right. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Everyone has the right to be themselves. And, it seems to me, that society certainly needs someone to explain this to it.”

Nikolai Uskov about the institution of marriage:

"Each person, in the end, has one life. Why create hypocrisy, lies, bring things to some kind of endless scandals, when both torment each other? Although both of them can live another wonderful life. If people change their attitude towards marriage as something that is identical to love... Yes, there is betrayal in love! But marriage is already an alliance, a partnership, it’s already serious relationship, everything is adult here. There is no betrayal here. And there is a choice. I choose this, or I choose that. If people take an adult, responsible attitude towards what happens between them, then there will be no situation of fatherlessness.”

Nikolai Uskov about "Putin's glamor"

“This phenomenon is the result of the coincidence of several trends. On the one hand, favorable energy prices, economic growth, political stabilization. People now have decent money, and they were able to feel its charm. On the other hand, the government for the first time allowed itself to abandon textbook modesty. In fact, Putin made an unspoken deal with the people and business: live happily, but don’t meddle in politics. The president himself and other people from. senior management countries set an example. Very expensive sports have come into fashion: alpine skiing, horse riding, golf. Finally, the Russian rich man is a very young man. Middle age person involved in the “Golden Hundred” - 42 years old. One wants to consume and consume, everything for the first time and there is still a lot to be done. For the first time in decades, Russians got a taste of money and the good life."

The diploma was dedicated monasticism in Germany in the 10th-11th centuries, but later I went deeper into early Middle Ages, and as a result of eight years of research, he wrote a dissertation “Christianity and monasticism in Western Europe of the early Middle Ages (II/III-serial. Nikolai Uskov is certainly an interesting person. Once upon a time, I came across his LiveJournal, and since then I have been reading it regularly. The magazine sharp, topical, and all his attacks on readers (for which he was criticized more than once) should not be taken seriously: this is one of the means to attract an audience to the topic raised.

It’s interesting that our gossip girls’ opinions about him were divided, and at one time he even came under the very sharp tongue of commentators.

What I want to say. Many accuse him of ruining GQ. I don’t know, I hadn’t read this magazine before him (I was 13 years old when he headed it, at that age I definitely didn’t read such magazines). Now I sometimes read this magazine, and I like it: as far as politics, fashion, interviews.

Someone says he has ugly wife, and in general he is gay. In my opinion, with whom to live and with whom to sleep is a purely personal matter. The concept of beauty is relative.

A little biography. This is how Nikolai describes his life:

Born on August 25, 1970 in Moscow into a family of doctors. My father is a psychiatrist, then he was a member of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems. Mother is a rheumatologist. Both work to this day, only the father in the USA, where he moved in 1989 with his second wife, artist Tatyana Loskutova, and the mother in Moscow, in the city clinical hospital.

Under the influence of my stepmother, in high school I became interested in painting and entered children's art school No. 2. I drew without any special talent, and therefore wisely decided to choose another childhood passion - history - as a profession. Partly influenced by classical painting (late Gothic, Renaissance, Classicism, Beardsley, “World of Art”), partly by my grandfather, an Air Force colonel who taught at the Gagarin Academy (Monino) military history. I entered the History Faculty of Moscow State University in 1987, when the competition was 16 people per place. And surprisingly I was able to score 14 points out of 15 possible. To this day, I consider this my most unrealistic act in life, since at school I was a scoundrel, a C student, and even had police records. At the university, on the contrary, I studied well and belonged to a small group of nerds, preferring libraries to everything else, that is, sex, drugs and discos (by the way, I never used drugs, except for marijuana, but that, as Schwarzenegger used to say, “is just grass").

It is not surprising that after university in 1992, I was offered, simultaneously with entering graduate school, to become a junior researcher at the department. At 22: I was younger than many of my students. Back in 1989, I became interested in medieval studies and began to specialize in the department of history of the Middle Ages in the little-studied topics of church history of Western Europe. My supervisor was a brilliant, ironic and demanding scientist - Mikhail Anatolyevich Boytsov, then a young historian. The diploma was dedicated monasticism in Germany in the X-XI centuries, but later I went deeper into the early Middle Ages, and as a result of eight years of research I wrote a dissertation “Christianity and monasticism in Western Europe of the early Middle Ages (II/III-mid-XI centuries). In the book published in 2001, 506 pages and not a single picture. Today you can only get acquainted with it in the library.

“Christianity” literally took the soul out of me, so that at the end of my dissertation I fell into apathy. And soon I decided to look for something new. It wasn't easy to leave. By 2000, I had already become an assistant professor in the department of Middle Ages, the author of chapters of a university textbook on church history, a special course and a seminar on church and medieval history, which he read at the Faculty of History and Philosophy, the Department of Art History, at the Orthodox University of St. John the Theologian, supervised the Latin edition Orthodox Encyclopedia(for which he was awarded a personal letter from Patriarch Alexy II), actively collaborated with the Catholic Encyclopedia, was a researcher in the medieval history sector of the Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, participated in various scientific institutions in Russia and abroad from the center of study privacy to international congresses on paleography and canon law.

The hardest thing was to part with the students, but I made the decision, and chance helped. One of my friends, a journalist and now the chief editor of Maxim, Sasha Malenkov, called me in 2000 asking if I would recommend one of my students to him for a new Internet project. I offered myself. A year later, from an amorphous online publication, I was invited to Men's Health magazine as an editor. In 2002, I became editor-in-chief of Men's Health, and in 2003 I received an offer to head GQ magazine (Conde Nast Publishing House). In 2007, in collaboration with Arkady Novikov and his partners, we opened the GQ bar. In 2007, a new magazine, GQ Style, was launched. In 2008, my detective story “Winter Death Collection” was published, and currently, while remaining editor-in-chief of GQ and GQ Style, I am writing a sequel.

Married since 1992, has a son, Robert.

With his wife Natalya and son Robert

About GQ magazine
I make this coffee-table book, it’s quite expensive. There are publications that need to be read in the appropriate setting; this is a moment of status. I try to make GQ look like just such a publication in terms of its authors and photographers. In each issue I feature five or six of the best contemporary writers and three or four photographers, so that the reader understands that these are not articles on “how to succeed in bed” written by a journalist with a salary of five hundred dollars.

The purpose of the magazine is not to motivate someone to do something, but to increase the number of normally thinking people, to help them navigate this world.

The magazine contains slang and obscenities, because I am generally against hypocrisy and hypocrisy. I love it when we speak the language that is ours. Part of our language is swearing. Why do we use these words in real life, but pretend that it is unacceptable in printed text? Moreover, this is a live dialogue, and not a textbook speeches. I am for calling a spade a spade: theft - theft, stupidity - stupidity, swearing. The reader is tired of the lies of modern life. Why is House Doctor so successful? Because I'm sick of political correctness. And the phenomenon of the success of the Sobchak-Sokolova column is that people speak a language that for some reason is considered impossible to speak. But we’ve been with them too conflict situations. For example, I didn’t like the way he and Andrei Kolesnikov talked in the October issue. Andrey didn’t like it very much either. I asked them for permission to send him a text, he made some changes, but not very significant. This was the only time when I even quarreled with Sokolova, but then we made up, naturally. Normal editorial situation.

About the heroes of GQ magazine
These are heroes. Heroes of the time to one degree or another. Heroes or antiheroes. A hero is a character. We need character. These must be large and interesting characters. It is very difficult to describe such a hero, because there are a lot of details. Firstly, he is a very young man, because, in principle, the entire Russian elite is very young. This is a man accustomed to climbing. The person is very pragmatic and cynical. A man who at some point lost his breath and began to doubt whether he was crawling there. My characters often have shortness of breath - I feel it. And looking back, they sometimes say very interesting things about themselves and their lives.

For example, an interview with Maniovich (at the time of his divorce). And the man was just in this state of shortness of breath. A very sad story in which children suffer. He, a fairly successful businessman, marries a young, attractive girl, they have a fairly successful marriage and children. They appear in society together, she is the heroine of gossip columns, she has a fashionable shop, all this, of course, with my husband’s money. At some point, she decides to leave her husband, falling in love with a young official. But, of course, you won’t leave empty-handed. Blackmail by children begins, and all this is very sad and unpleasant. It seems to me that the man had such a straight beautiful Russian life, successful by all criteria. And suddenly - bam, and everything changed. Not in the sense that he lost something, but in the sense that he realized that he had lived wrong. It's very interesting and psychological, although I really sympathize with such stories. This is not the first story.

About the authors of "GQ"
I would dream that Konstantin Ernst, a most talented person, would work in every room, but this is technically very difficult. Bozena Rynska wrote, but, unfortunately, this is not our author in spirit. Too fussy, too interested in things that boys are not very keen on. I'm not interested in what she writes about. I understand perfectly well that she is a talented person, she just has a different audience.

About the working day
Every workday looks the same. 7 am – rise. Reading until 8. Breakfast. Shower. No later than 10–10.30. Office. Until 11–11.30. Working with letters. Then the usual editorial turnover, interrupted by a meeting at lunchtime. And so on until 18.00. Gym 18.00-20.30. And home if not evening events. On weekends, the main thing for me is not to plan anything, everything should be spontaneous, according to my mood. A constant point is the gym.

About his book “Winter Death Collection”
I had no ambitions as a writer, I just had a desire to come up with a detective story. This is a low genre, designed for easy reading, so I do not claim a place in Russian classical literature. For me, writing is more of a hobby and entertainment. I was sitting in a cafe with my employee Ksenia Sokolova, and we were thinking of something else to do. And right during lunch, I jokingly came up with a killer character. Then I started writing some pieces. A publishing house immediately appeared and offered me a contract. And then I was already given a deadline. That's it.

My book is sex, passion, fashion, reputation, masks, loneliness, Moscow, the Middle Ages, speed, doubt.

About his first literary work
It was school essay on free topic. I wrote a text based on my grandmother’s diary about her feelings in wartime Moscow.

About my blog
For me this is another remedy mass media. The blog is as personal as possible and at the same time interactive. You consume information by your own choice, at the same time you create and distribute it yourself and can influence public opinion. In addition, for me, like for most city residents, a blog is a means of overcoming intellectual loneliness, a tool for communication, creating your own environment, and finding authors.

Before starting a blog, I studied Internet culture for quite a long time and realized that it has a very developed provocative component. People don’t like it when simple smart things are said, they like it when buckets of slop are poured on them, when they are called names, when they are kicked in every possible way. At the same time there is normal people who understand that this is not addressed to them.

I react to provocation. This is the law of the genre. If a person writes: “Thank you, great post,” what can you say? Thank you for writing. And when a person provokes me himself, he naturally receives a more adequate response.

On the right to an individual lifestyle
I believe that a person has the right to the life he lives - of course, as long as his interests do not collide with mine. Do Sergei Zverev’s interests somehow collide with mine? No way. If I don't like it, I just turn off the TV and that's it. It is his right to live like this. And if you don’t respect this right, then you are a boor and a redneck. It seems to me that our fellow citizens need to learn a calm, tolerant attitude towards everything that they do not like. If they criticize Ksenia Sobchak, they should just not look at the “box” when she’s there! Who’s stopping you from switching the channel and watching some Brahms concert on “Culture”? But no, people continue to watch Sobchak and hate her at the same time. This amazes me about Russian audiences.

About money
Money is not needed for its own sake. Money is needed to feel freedom. When you start thinking about how you spend, it is a necessity, it is not freedom.

About mistakes and sins
“One repentant sinner is worth more than a hundred righteous people” is a useful observation for managers. I remember billionaire Friedman telling me that the Bible is enough to teach you how to run a business well.

Indeed, a person who has made a mistake, realized it, and fears punishment, works better than, relatively speaking, a righteous person. Yes, and it costs less. Translated into the language of HR specialists, the sinner is motivated.

IN inner harmony and independence
You need to control life and work with this life, with environment, and at the same time maintain some internal independence from it, because if you become an organic part and you cannot be torn away from this environment in which you live, work, and so on, then, of course, in any crisis situation you will begin to suffer. And if you have something else in your life, no matter what - it could be love, it could be family, it could be some kind of hobby, then it’s easier for you to endure temporary failures or temporary difficulties, because your life is balanced and you You understand perfectly well that something has fallen here, but this does not mean that your whole life has fallen.

About your success
I consider my life successful because it is interesting. In objective numbers, if we take some kind of business criterion, my personal business plan, then, of course, it cannot be said that I am wildly successful person, but if we take the criterion of high, including intellectual, then I get it through the roof. My salary is important to me. This is the assessment of society. You see, if society needs you very much, you have a large salary. This is obvious. If you have convinced society that it needs you, then that’s great. This is the highest achievement on the path of self-realization. It doesn't matter what. You can be a brilliant composer, you can be a God-given surgeon, you can be a dentist, you can be a TV presenter - it doesn’t matter.

Favorite topics to talk about
First of all, of course, politics. I've always been interested in her. And I think everyone will be more and more interested in politics now, because what kind of politics was there if we had one actor in the political arena? And now the second face is also beginning to appear somehow. And I think new faces will appear soon. Absolutely.

Also economics. Naturally, trends are social - what is fashionable, how fashionable it is to talk, what to think, what to watch, and so on. Naturally, relationships between mutual acquaintances are always interesting topic. Well, that's probably it.

About metrosexuals
I don’t count myself among them. In general, this is a stupid word and quite old. We must understand that there is a fact of the gender revolution: since the 80s, women began to resemble men, and men began to resemble women. Traditional gender roles are becoming a thing of the past. We increasingly see women politicians, athletes, writers who have the same priorities as men - career, success, money. Motherhood is far from the first place for them. Many women cannot imagine themselves at the stove, while a man is already quite capable of cooking something for himself. And that's okay. Don’t think that if a man goes to get a manicure, then he is necessarily a homosexual. The world has changed. Women are now consumers male body, like men - women. We often see a situation where a wife earns several times more than her husband. Women more often meet on their own - if you have a page on Odnoklassniki, then you can observe this. For example, I receive hundreds of letters every day from single women with offers of everything in the world. Although in Pushkin this situation became the subject of a whole conflict, discussed in Russian criticism: Tatyana herself writes a love confession to Onegin - how is this even possible?! But now it’s quite natural.

About your tastes and preferences
I have a lot of cars, but the only one I bought was an Audi – for some reason I fell for it. Cigarettes – Davidoff. Phone – iPhone. I am quite unpretentious in life, but I prefer champagne that costs no less than $100. I like Moet Chandon to drink at a party, but if you choose champagne as an expensive wine, it is, of course, Dom Perignon. Here, behind each bottle is the whole drama of life. Such champagne should not be drunk at a reception, not because it is expensive, but because it is disrespectful to the product, because Dom Perignon is a work of culture, it should be consumed with respect and only in certain situations.

As for my clothing style, it is rather conservative - I like to dress casually. I have a lot of good clothes, I’m part of this world and, naturally, I can’t just go to the market and buy something just to cover my nakedness. But I am very relaxed about brands. In my opinion, H&M have created a unique fast-fashion concept. Do you think Karl Lagerfeld, one of the greatest snobs of our time, would agree to collaborate with this brand just for the money?! It's not a question of fee, it's a question of respect. But I am fundamentally against brands like Zara, because replicating the commercial success of other designers is theft.

Photo exhibition "The Master and Margarita"

About teaching career
The students liked me. I loved it when people sent me notes. Sometimes he could give credits for beautiful eyes put. It depended on the person. There were smart students from whom it was necessary to demand everything from them, so that they would not become discouraged and understand that they were getting a real grade, and there were also those who, if they come in a bra, then you give a C, and if without it, then an A. Because you won’t get anything from them in retakes anyway. It’s more difficult with boys - they can end up in the army if they are expelled. And this responsibility is hard to take on. There was a fear that you would ruin a person’s life.

Opening restaurant "Marusya"

About the 90s
It was interesting to live then - it was a new free country with a huge number of opportunities, with self-confidence, without impossible tasks. An energetically charged era. At that time, anyone could start their own business, albeit using barbaric methods. The country was barbaric, naturally, and the methods were barbaric. But then the person with good education he could create a cooperative for the production of jeans, earn money, then invest it in something else, bring, for example, equipment and become a very rich man. Therefore, if you choose some definitions, then the 90s were “cool”, but not “gangster”. Maybe then they could kill for the cooperative, but can’t they do this now? Only today, to open such a cooperative, you need a huge start-up capital, because you will have to feed an army of officials who will simply not let you do their business.

Today there are certain rules games, they are more clear and written, but the same rules are created in order to distribute money in hands certain people. I want it to be possible to open a bakery in our country without paying the list price to extra people. So that, on the basis of some judicial suspicions, businessmen are not kept in prison for three years until they sign everything that is required, and then the court closes the case due to insufficient evidence. While all this exists, only the fiction of freedom remains without scope for self-realization.

At the 10th anniversary of the Pushnik cafe

0 2000s
The 2000s were not clear good time. People who do not think about the processes in economics and politics did not understand that this era is not doing anything, not reforming - we were just very good with the foreign policy situation. Since 2003, the government has generally stopped engaging in strategic reforms, except for the reform of RAO UES. All simple measures, such as the monetization of benefits or housing and communal services reform, remained on paper.

At the Armani show in Barvikha

On the priorities of society and democracy
We cannot jump into a wonderful tomorrow - we need to go all the way, and grow, change, and agree with many things along the way. The source of corruption is not only in the system created by the authorities. Any citizen of Russia believes: the laws concern someone else, but I will agree. As long as we are ready to compromise, as long as for us a bribe is simply a way to resolve our personal issue, nothing will change. We must wean ourselves from special relationships. There is a law, it is common to everyone.

In addition, you need to become more civilized and believe in your own dignity. Don’t shout “Russia has risen from its knees” and don’t consider that we are great because we have nuclear bomb(this is not greatness, this is insignificance), but to understand that we are great because we created a unique culture, managed to overcome the most severe political and economic crises, and did something.

As for democracy, I don’t believe in it at all. Our people should not make decisions concerning their fate, because they are far from the principles of a civilized civil society for the most part. The authorities should first of all think not about ensuring civil liberties, but about protecting property rights and so-called basic personal rights - the ability to do what you want within the framework of the law, move around, receive information, lead the lifestyle you like.

About civic position
I don’t go to elections - I don’t see the point - my vote, even in the most democratic elections in Russia, will decide little, because there are very few people like me. These elections do not elect anyone - they simply record that power is within the framework of the current constitution, that it is still elective, although in essence it is not.

State censorship does not touch gloss, since it is not interested in the circulation of gloss, it is much more interested in television - this is really a huge force.

About the corruption of the State Duma
There was material about how for 5 million euros you can become a member of any party and resolve issues at the level of the prime minister. But so far there have been no consequences. Either it's not that important to them, or we're playing by some reasonable rules. Do you know why this article ends with me being a complete sucker? Because there is a certain value system of our society, and all those who do not accept it are suckers! There is even an interesting passage about United Russia, the essence of which is: you can bring in money, but it won’t work, because they cheat. " United Russia"does what a political party should do - take money for its struggle, use people to achieve its goals. When she sees that a person will not bring her any benefit, she will abandon him. This is a political position.

Denis Simachev's show

About Stalin
If the face of the tyrant Stalin appears on the streets of Moscow, I will destroy these portraits by all means at my disposal. I, as a Russian, bear personal responsibility for the atrocities of this bastard, and, for the sake of the future of myself, my children, and the country, I must go to this good deed. I'll do it.

Unfortunately, we cannot throw this creature out of our history; one way or another, it will be present in it. Maybe as a reproach to all of us, maybe as a horror story, maybe as some kind of ideal, depending on the mental state of a particular citizen.

Whatever the role of certain characters, including in the victory, it is obvious that everything else committed by Stalin puts him among the terrible criminals, the villains of world history. And of course, his image cannot be a symbol of Russia.

Putting up posters with his image is a political provocation started by Luzhkov in order to simply strengthen his position, which has been shaken in recent years, including strengthening his popularity in Moscow, after all these stories with “Rechnik” and others, he probably has something to worry about.

The Best Party of the Year

About Orthodoxy as a state ideology
I believe this was one of the reasons October Revolution, this forced Orthodoxization, persecution of Jews. I don't see anything good in this. We are talking about searching for some new ideology that would be the opposite of nostalgia for Stalin.

But I think this is just a project. I am very surprised by the phrases that Orthodoxy can be the basis of patriotism. Christianity teaches us that there is neither Greek nor barbarian, neither slave nor free. Christianity is an anti-state religion; it precisely postulates that we, first of all, are servants of God, and not slaves of the state. And many saints who are worshiped in christian church, went to martyrdom, not wanting to listen to the state in the Roman Empire, in which they were crucified and killed, burned and so on. They were required to serve, participate in the cult of the emperor's genius, or participate in military service. They refused and went to martyrdom.

About freedom of speech
There is probably freedom of personality, freedom of speech. I believe that despite the fact that we exist in a less free society than even in the 90s, I still feel basic freedoms. That is, they exist. Of course, in the presence of such a monstrous judicial machine, a punitive machine, it is impossible to say that we are all insured against what happened to Magnitsky, for example. At any moment, a wonderful life can be destroyed. And this is very bad.

Hence the feeling of uncertainty. I believe that the main blow to modernization is not caused by non-entrepreneurial entrepreneurs and thieving officials. We do not own property, in fact we have conditional private property, we own the walls of our houses and apartments, but the land under them does not belong to us. The story of “Rechnik” is one such case.

The second problem is punitive security agencies, which often use their power and strength to establish no rule of law at all.

ABOUT social life
In the 90s there was no social life as such: the deputy prime minister of the government and some prostitute could be found at one social event. Now there is a different secular society - it developed in the 2000s, it has a hierarchy, and this is very good. It was in the 2000s that they began to preserve public relations, reforms stopped and society just wanted to relax and have fun. Soon this fun began to cause boredom for most people who make decisions, are busy in some good projects. I wanted to search for the meaning of life - some went to Orthodoxy, others began to get involved in modern art. Everything became calmer, more concentrated around emotions and freedom from external conventions. This time is called differently - “glam-spirituality”, “new sincerity”, “renaissance”, “downshifting”.

I am a misanthrope, I don’t really like parties and have always treated it as a tool for my work. For example, if I need to meet someone, I can spend the evening with a glass. Of course, when I was younger, I could go on some sprees and wake up on the beach in Saint-Tropez completely drunk and half naked. Now it is physically more difficult for me to perform such feats.

About "Putin's" glamor
This phenomenon is the result of the coincidence of several trends. On the one hand, favorable energy prices, economic growth, and political stabilization. People got decent money, and they were able to feel its charm. On the other hand, for the first time the authorities allowed themselves to abandon textbook modesty. In fact, Putin made an unspoken deal with the people and business: live happily, but don’t meddle in politics. The president himself and other people from the country's top leadership set a certain example. Very expensive sports came into fashion: alpine skiing, horse riding, golf. Finally, the Russian rich man is a very young man. The average age of a participant in the “Golden Hundred” is 42 years. One wants to consume and consume, everything for the first time and there is still a lot to be done. For the first time in decades, Russians got a taste of money and the good life.
_________________________>_________________________ ________________________

Nikolai Uskov regularly writes columns for Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Slon.ru and the Dewarist LiveJournal community and, naturally, for his own LiveJournal. Here are his most interesting columns (in my subjective opinion):

Putin is right again

We need our Bruno

Platitudes of the day

The homeland is being bullied

Everyone is evil

Why nerds?

The 2000s are gone forever

Crisis of cynicism

Lost in translation

Half-Life Spa

Unwashed heads versus glamor

Effigy of the mind

Mass grave

It was interesting to look at Uskov in the program “Gordon Quixote”:

Nikolai also took part in the program “Educating Cruelty”

You can watch this episode in full here.

Two years later, the newlyweds had a son, who was named Nikolai. By that time, Dmitry Peskov graduated from the IISA Institute, where he specialized in Asian and African countries. Then he is sent to work at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Naturally, the son’s high position in his father’s country helped him in the distribution. Everyone, of course, understands that it is difficult for a simple, even the most intelligent specialist, to get into upper echelons authorities. And our hero’s father was a famous diplomat, worked in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. In 1990, when Anastasia Budennaya and Dmitry Peskov have a son, a young Ministry employee receives a new position. He is appointed secretary to the attache and assistant. He then worked at the Turkish Embassy, as he was fluent in Turkish.

Nikolay Uskov - biography, information, personal life

In 1999, as a senior lecturer at the Department of History of the Middle Ages at Moscow State University, he defended his dissertation at the Faculty of History for the degree of Candidate of Historical Sciences on the topic “Monasticism and monastic reforms in early medieval Germany.” Received the position of associate professor. In 2001, he published the monograph “Christianity and Monasticism in Western Europe of the Early Middle Ages”, based on his dissertation, at the St. Petersburg publishing house “Aletheia”.

In 2000, Nikolai Uskov left the university to work for the Independent Media publishing house. I got into journalism by accident. “One of my friends, a journalist and now the chief editor of Maxim, Sasha Malenkov, called me in 2000 asking if I would recommend him one of my students for a new Internet project.

I offered myself. A year later, from an amorphous online publication, I was invited to Men’s Health magazine as an editor,” he said.

Personal life of editors-in-chief

And then my career went from strength to strength. He edited the portal of the publishing house Estart.ru, and since 2001, the magazine Men’s Health of the same publishing house (in 2002 he became the editor-in-chief of this magazine). In 2003, he left for the position of editor-in-chief of the Russian version of the American magazine GQ (Gentlemen’s Quarterly) at the publishing house Conde Nast.
On November 6, 2008, the Eksmo publishing house published Uskov’s first detective story, “Winter Collection of Death. Fashion detective." I became a writer, like a journalist, by accident, out of nothing to do.
»

I had no ambitions as a writer, I just had a desire to come up with a detective story. This is a low genre, designed for easy reading, so I do not claim a place in Russian classical literature.

For me, writing is more of a hobby and entertainment.

Anastasia Budennaya (first wife of Dmitry Peskov): biography, personal life

Divorce in the family Disagreements in the family occurred constantly, since Anastasia Budennaya did not possess the qualities of a calm and submissive wife. She loved noisy parties with loud shouts and singing drinking songs with a guitar.

At first, Dmitry really liked such a cheerful wife, but the young man grew up in the family of a high official... In addition, he often had to visit eastern countries, where the role of women is rather modest.

Particularly acute was the question of the wife’s behavior while working at the embassy in Turkey, which, although considered European country, but traditionally women there behave modestly. Granddaughter Soviet commander Anastasia Budennaya has always had an independent and unbridled character.
She was not created to be a quiet housewife in the kitchen and a calm keeper of the home. She couldn't understand why she needed to behave differently in Turkey.

Nikolai Uskov, wife

Attention

It is not known exactly how many times Nastya met and separated from her husbands. Officially, she was once again married to Christopher Drake, to whom she bore children.

In total, Nastya, besides Nikolai, gave birth to five children from English spouses. The woman also had a difficult relationship with Christopher.

Important

It is known that they often quarreled. There is even information that Nastya wrote a statement to the police department against her husband about beating during scandals: he often kicked his wife out of the apartment, throwing her things out the window. Loss of housing It is also known that in 2011, Anastasia Budennaya’s personal life cracked completely, and the woman left with her younger children to Turkey to live with her father.

After staying there for some time, she returns to Crawley, but Christopher Drake does not let her home. As a result, she is forced to temporarily live with compassionate neighbors.

Peskov's ex-wife showed what she looks like at 40 without plastic surgery

Eksmo" in the series "Fashion books of GQ magazine editor-in-chief Nikolai Uskov" the first detective story by Uskov was released - "Winter Collection of Death. Fashion detective." In February 2011, the same publishing house published a new detective story by Nikolai Uskov called “Seven Angels”, which continues to tell the story of the adventures of a hero familiar to readers from the first book - Innocent Alekhine, editor-in-chief of the men's magazine "Gentleman".
Uskov is credited with the neologism “Putin’s glamor.” Blogs on LiveJournal. Has an account in social network Awards

Laureate of the “Golden pen of Russia” award for high creative achievements (2017).

Scientific works Monographs

Uskov N.F. Christianity and monasticism in Western Europe of the early Middle Ages. St. Petersburg: Aletheya, 2001. 512 p. ISBN 5-89329-409-2 1300 copies.

Uskov N. F.

Uskov, Nikolai Felixovich

The sun rose in the West: St. Gallen monastic patriotism in the early Middle Ages // SV. 1998. Vol. 60. pp. 118-142

Uskov N. F. Monastery and city // City in the medieval civilization of Western Europe.
M., 1999. T. 1: The phenomenon of medieval urbanism. pp. 284-312;
Uskov N. F. Monasticism in the spiritual life of the city // City in the medieval civilization of Western Europe. M., 1999. T. 2: City life and activities of citizens. pp. 197-221;

Translations

John Gratian. Harmonization of dissenting canons (“Decree”) / Trans. and note: N. F. Uskov // Anthology of world legal thought: In 5 volumes. M., 1999. T. 2: Europe V-XVII centuries pp. 240-274

Encyclopedias Orthodox Encyclopedia

Uskov N. F. Abbot // Orthodox Encyclopedia. - M.: Church and Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia", 2000. - T. I. - P. 33-34. - 752 s. - 40,000 copies.

Natalya Peskova, ex-wife of Uskov

ISBN 5-89572-006-4.

Uskov N.F. Aymoin from Fleury // Orthodox Encyclopedia. - M.: Church and Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia", 2000. - T. I. - P. 342. - 752 p. - 40,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-006-4.
Uskov N.
F. Alexander North // Orthodox encyclopedia. - M.: Church and Scientific Center “Orthodox Encyclopedia”, 2000. - T. I. - P. 539. - 752 p. - 40,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-006-4.
Uskov N.
F., Zaitsev D.V. Alban British // Orthodox encyclopedia. - M.: Church-scientific center Orthodox encyclopedia, 2001. - T. II. - pp. 69-70. - 752 s. - 40,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-007-2.
Fokin A. R., Uskov N. F. Albert the Great // Orthodox Encyclopedia. - M.: Church-scientific center Orthodox encyclopedia, 2001. - T. II. - pp. 72-75. - 752 s. - 40,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-007-2.
Uskov N. F. Albornoz // Orthodox Encyclopedia. - M.

And it seems to me that society certainly needs someone to explain this to it.” Nikolai Uskov about the institution of marriage: “Every person, in the end, has one life. Why breed hypocrisy, lies, bring things to some kind of endless scandals, when both are tormenting each other? Although both of them can live another wonderful life. If people change their attitude towards marriage as something that is identical to love...

Yes, there is betrayal in love! But marriage is already an alliance, a partnership, this is already a serious relationship, everything here is adult. There is no betrayal here. But there is a choice. I choose this, or I choose that.

If people take an adult, responsible attitude towards what happens between them, then there will be no situation of fatherlessness.” Nikolai Uskov about “Putin’s glamor” “This phenomenon is the result of the coincidence of several trends.

Church and Scientific Center “Orthodox Encyclopedia”, 2000. - T. I. - pp. 114-115. - 752 s. - 40,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-006-4.

Uskov N.
F. Augustinian Hermites // Orthodox Encyclopedia. - M.: Church-scientific center Orthodox encyclopedia, 2000. - T. I. - P. 115-117. - 752 s. - 40,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-006-4.
Uskov N.
F. Avignon Captivity of the Popes // Orthodox Encyclopedia. - M.: Church-scientific center Orthodox encyclopedia, 2000. - T. I. - P. 139-140. - 752 s. - 40,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-006-4.
Uskov N. F. Agnus Dei // Orthodox Encyclopedia. - M.: Church and Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia", 2000. - T. I. - P. 263-264. - 752 s.

A notable gossip column hero, editor-in-chief of GQ magazine, talks about his new book and his unjealous wife.

Photo: Maxim Aryukov

Whatever Nikolai undertakes - working on a magazine, blogging on the Internet, creating a bar - everything ends in recognition and success. Now Uskov has also written a book - “Winter Collection of Death. Fashion detective." Now it ranks second in the sales ranking in Moscow bookstores.

Why did a man who publishes a thick magazine every month need to write a book? Behind the word “writer” is hidden for you new status?

Don't think. I had no ambitions as a writer, I just had a desire to come up with a detective story. This is a low genre, designed for easy reading, so I do not claim a place in Russian classical literature. For me, writing is more of a hobby and entertainment. I was sitting in a cafe with my employee Ksenia Sokolova, and we were thinking of something else to do. And right during lunch, I jokingly came up with a killer character. Then I started writing some pieces. A publishing house immediately appeared and offered me a contract. And then I was already given a deadline. That's it.

As I understand it, in the book you are trying to turn inside out the secular world that you know well?

There are two lines in the book. The first is Moscow-Milan life around the fashion industry, the second line is medieval. They intersect. I have always been a supporter of the idea that time does not develop linearly, as we used to think: Antiquity, the Middle Ages, Modern Times and so on until the end of the world. It seems to me that time flows according to completely different laws. We ourselves have observed how, under certain conditions, elements of the era known to us from history textbooks return. For example, slavery, which still exists in Russia, exchange in kind, absolutely not characteristic of developed economies, or elements of feudal relations, when loyalty is the main virtue of a government official. How do government officials now respond to their superiors? "Eat!" And this army discipline and loyalty is higher than the concept of civic duty. In general, I am close to the idea that there is no progressive development of humanity from darkness to light and in fact it is not clear where we are moving.

At the beginning of the book you have a list of famous people to whom you almost apologize. For what?

I wanted the book to have real characters in addition to fictional ones. This gives the reader the feeling real life. At the same time, I don’t like it when recognizable pseudonyms are invented. This makes sense when you want to write nasty things about people. And I didn’t write nasty things, but just in case, yes, I apologized. After all, this written from my point of view is not offensive, but what if one of the characters thinks that I lied to him?

Aren't you upset that in Russia the attitude towards writing becomes more and more skeptical every year?

And won't you be offended if your book is read in the toilet?

No, that's normal. Nowadays, writers and journalists are fighting not even for the reader, but for the time of this reader, for those very fifteen to twenty minutes. Why, for example, did they come up with a mini-magazine format? To make it convenient for people to take the publication with them, put it in their purse, or read it on the go. As an experiment, I once tried to read GQ magazine on the subway. To be honest, it's not very convenient. GQ is a different story. From my point of view, I am making a coffee-table book, it is quite expensive and is not intended for reading on the subway. There are publications that need to be read in the appropriate setting; this is a moment of status. I try to make GQ look like just such a publication in terms of its authors and photographers. In each issue I feature five or six of the best contemporary writers and three or four photographers, so that the reader understands that these are not articles on “how to succeed in bed” written by a journalist with a salary of five hundred dollars.

If we talk about the creative side of things, do you limit yourself in any way as editor-in-chief?

Of course, there are quite a lot of restrictions, although I would never have become the editor-in-chief of a glossy magazine if I myself had not strived for a certain standard of living. I have always been not indifferent to clothes, I always wanted to look good, play sports - that is, I have many desires of a completely material nature. I never found them objectionable. It is natural for a person to strive for some harmony of external and internal. I'm just skeptical about intellectuals who look bad. Of course it is possible model life is a denial of the material, but then why are you trying to communicate with the world? I am convinced that you can read good books and at the same time drive a good car. And there is no contradiction in this.

Do you consider yourself a metrosexual?

No. In general, this is a stupid word and quite old. We must understand that there is a fact of the gender revolution: since the 80s, women began to resemble men, and men began to resemble women. Traditional gender roles are becoming a thing of the past. We increasingly see women politicians, athletes, writers who have the same priorities as men - career, success, money. Motherhood is far from the first place for them. Many women cannot imagine themselves at the stove, while a man is already quite capable of cooking something for himself. And that's okay. Don’t think that if a man goes to get a manicure, then he is necessarily a homosexual. The world has changed. Women are now the same consumers of the male body as men are of the female. We often see a situation where a wife earns several times more than her husband. Women more often meet on their own - if you have a page on Odnoklassniki, then you can observe this. For example, I receive hundreds of letters every day from single women with offers of everything in the world. Although in Pushkin this situation became the subject of a whole conflict, discussed in Russian criticism: Tatyana herself writes a love confession to Onegin - how is this even possible?! But now it’s quite natural.

Do you like this trend?

As a historian, I do not judge, but observe and adapt. I can say that this does not scare me. I believe that a person has the right to the life he lives - of course, as long as his interests do not collide with mine. Do Sergei Zverev’s interests somehow collide with mine? No way. If I don't like it, I just turn off the TV and that's it. It is his right to live like this. And if you don’t respect this right, then you are a boor and a redneck. It seems to me that our fellow citizens need to learn a calm, tolerant attitude towards everything that they do not like. If they criticize Ksenia Sobchak, they should just not look at the “box” when she’s there! Who’s stopping you from switching the channel and watching some Brahms concert on “Culture”? But no, people continue to watch Sobchak and hate her at the same time. This amazes me about Russian audiences.

At one time, you educated the audience - you taught at the university. Did the students like you?

I liked it, yes. I loved it when people sent me notes.

Did you give credits for beautiful eyes?

It depends on who. There were smart students from whom it was necessary to demand everything from them, so that they would not become discouraged and understand that they were getting a real grade, and there were also those who, if they come in a bra, then you give a C, and if without it, then an A. Because you won’t get anything from them in retakes anyway. It’s more difficult with boys - they can end up in the army if they are expelled. And this responsibility is hard to take on. There was a fear that you would ruin a person’s life.

You make a men's magazine, but, apparently, you also have a good understanding of women?

Well, what about it? Another thing is that I am not a fan of a men's magazine consisting only of endless wet bodies with half-open mouths - it is boring, vulgar and assumes that the reader will use the publication for privacy in the bathroom. I think it's humiliating. After all, there is the Internet, where there are a lot of interesting things. Therefore, if we have women in our room, they are either interesting ladies or very beautifully photographed. So that this photo series does not offend the reader. There are magazines that make their living from the outdated idea that men are animals. Our magazine is addressed to those who have solved similar needs, who do not need a paper woman, because there is a real one.

There were always a lot of real women around you. Is your spouse jealous of them?

I’ve already stopped, we’ve been married for a very long time. She realized that if she internally did not agree with what her husband was doing, then she would have to tag along with me to all the parties and drive away all these blondes. Or another option: sit and trust. My wife very rarely, without fanaticism, goes to some particularly important events when I ask her to be there when I need her support. As it is, she’s pretty indifferent to parties. She sees perfectly well how my life is planned, and knows that even if I cheat on her somewhere with someone, I will do it without any pleasure. ( Laughs.)