Years of rule after Brezhnev. The best ruler of the USSR

The first ruler of the young Country of Soviets, which arose as a result of the October Revolution of 1917, was the head of the RCP (b) - the Bolshevik Party - Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin), who led the “revolution of workers and peasants”. All subsequent rulers of the USSR held the post of General Secretary of the central committee of this organization, which, starting in 1922, became known as the CPSU - Communist Party Soviet Union.

Let us note that the ideology of the system ruling the country denied the possibility of holding any national elections or voting. The change of the highest leaders of the state was carried out by the ruling elite itself, either after the death of their predecessor, or as a result of coups, accompanied by serious internal party struggle. The article will list the rulers of the USSR in chronological order and the main stages are marked life path some of the most prominent historical figures.

Ulyanov (Lenin) Vladimir Ilyich (1870-1924)

One of the most famous figures in history Soviet Russia. Vladimir Ulyanov stood at the origins of its creation, was the organizer and one of the leaders of the event, which gave rise to the world's first communist state. Having led a coup in October 1917 aimed at overthrowing the provisional government, he took the post of chairman of the Council of People's Commissars - the post of leader new country, formed on the ruins of the Russian Empire.

His merit is considered to be the peace treaty of 1918 with Germany, which marked the end of the NEP - the government's new economic policy, which was supposed to lead the country out of the abyss of widespread poverty and hunger. All the rulers of the USSR considered themselves “faithful Leninists” and in every possible way praised Vladimir Ulyanov as a great statesman.

It should be noted that immediately after the “reconciliation with the Germans,” the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Lenin, unleashed internal terror against dissent and the legacy of tsarism, which claimed millions of lives. The NEP policy also did not last long and was canceled shortly after his death, which occurred on January 21, 1924.

Dzhugashvili (Stalin) Joseph Vissarionovich (1879-1953)

Joseph Stalin became the first General Secretary in 1922. However, right up to the death of V.I. Lenin, he remained in the secondary leadership role of the state, inferior in popularity to his other comrades, who also aimed to become the rulers of the USSR. Nevertheless, after the death of the leader of the world proletariat, Stalin short time eliminated his main opponents, accusing them of betraying the ideals of the revolution.

By the early 1930s, he became the sole leader of nations, capable of deciding the fate of millions of citizens with the stroke of a pen. His policy of forced collectivization and dispossession, which replaced the NEP, as well as mass repressions against people dissatisfied with the current government, claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of USSR citizens. However, the period of Stalin's reign is noticeable not only in its bloody trail; it is worth noting the positive aspects of his leadership. In a short time, the Union turned from a country with a third-rate economy into a powerful industrial power that won the battle against fascism.

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, many cities in the western part of the USSR, destroyed almost to the ground, were quickly restored, and their industry became even more efficient. The rulers of the USSR, who held the highest position after Joseph Stalin, denied his leading role in the development of the state and characterized his reign as a period of the cult of the leader’s personality.

Khrushchev Nikita Sergeevich (1894-1971)

Coming from a simple peasant family, N.S. Khrushchev took the helm of the party shortly after Stalin’s death, which occurred. During the first years of his reign, he waged a behind-the-scenes struggle with G.M. Malenkov, who held the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers and was the de facto leader of the state.

In 1956, Khrushchev read a report at the 20th Party Congress on Stalin's repressions, condemning the actions of his predecessor. The reign of Nikita Sergeevich was marked by the development of the space program - the launch of an artificial satellite and the first manned flight into space. His new one allowed many citizens of the country to move from cramped communal apartments to more comfortable separate housing. The houses that were built en masse at that time are still popularly called “Khrushchev buildings.”

Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich (1907-1982)

On October 14, 1964, N. S. Khrushchev was removed from his post by a group of members of the Central Committee under the leadership of L. I. Brezhnev. For the first time in the history of the state, the rulers of the USSR were replaced in order not after the death of the leader, but as a result of an internal party conspiracy. The Brezhnev era in Russian history is known as stagnation. The country stopped developing and began to lose to the leading world powers, lagging behind them in all sectors, excluding military-industrial.

Brezhnev made some attempts to improve relations with the United States, which were damaged in 1962, when N.S. Khrushchev ordered the deployment of missiles with nuclear warheads in Cuba. Agreements were signed with the American leadership that limited the arms race. However, all the efforts of L.I. Brezhnev to defuse the situation were canceled out by the introduction of troops into Afghanistan.

Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich (1914-1984)

After Brezhnev's death on November 10, 1982, his place was taken by Yu. Andropov, who had previously headed the KGB - the USSR State Security Committee. He set a course for reforms and transformations in the social and economic spheres. His reign was marked by the initiation of criminal cases exposing corruption in government circles. However, Yuri Vladimirovich did not have time to make any changes in the life of the state, since he had serious problems in poor health and died on February 9, 1984.

Chernenko Konstantin Ustinovich (1911-1985)

Since February 13, 1984, he held the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. He continued the policy of his predecessor to expose corruption in the echelons of power. He was very ill and died in 1985, having held the highest government post for just over a year. All past rulers of the USSR, according to the order established in the state, were buried with K.U. Chernenko was the last on this list.

Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeevich (1931)

M. S. Gorbachev is the most famous Russian politician the end of the twentieth century. He won love and popularity in the West, but his rule evokes ambivalent feelings among the citizens of his country. If Europeans and Americans call him a great reformer, many people in Russia consider him the destroyer of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev proclaimed domestic economic and political reforms, carried out under the slogan “Perestroika, Glasnost, Acceleration!”, which led to massive shortages of food and industrial goods, unemployment and a drop in the standard of living of the population.

To assert that the era of M. S. Gorbachev’s reign had only negative consequences for the life of our country, it will be wrong. In Russia, the concepts of a multi-party system, freedom of religion and press appeared. For my foreign policy Gorbachev was awarded Nobel Prize peace. The rulers of the USSR and Russia, neither before nor after Mikhail Sergeevich, were awarded such an honor.

22 years ago, on December 26, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a declaration on the termination of the existence of the Soviet Union, and the country in which most of us were born disappeared. Over the 69 years of the existence of the USSR, seven people became its head, whom I propose to remember today. And not just remember, but also choose the most popular of them.
And since New Year soon after all, and given that in the Soviet Union the popularity and attitude of the people towards their leaders was measured, among other things, by the quality of the jokes written about them, I think it would be appropriate to remember the Soviet leaders through the prism of jokes about them.

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Now we have almost forgotten what a political joke is - most jokes about current politicians are paraphrased jokes from Soviet times. Although there are also witty and original ones, for example, here is an anecdote from the time Yulia Tymoshenko was in power: There is a knock on Tymoshenko’s office, the door opens, a giraffe, a hippopotamus and a hamster enter the office and ask: “Yulia Vladimirovna, how will you comment on the rumors that you use drugs?”.
In Ukraine, the situation with humor about politicians is generally somewhat different than in Russia. In Kyiv they believe that it is bad for politicians if they are not laughed at, it means they are not interesting to the people. And since in Ukraine they still make elections, the PR services of politicians even order laughs at their bosses. It is no secret, for example, that the most popular Ukrainian “95th Quarter” takes money to ridicule the person who paid. This is the fashion of Ukrainian politicians.
Yes, they themselves sometimes don’t mind making fun of themselves. There was once a very popular anecdote about oneself among Ukrainian deputies: The session of the Verkhovna Rada ends, one deputy says to another: “It was such a difficult session, we need to rest. Let's go out of town, take a few bottles of whiskey, rent a sauna, take girls, have sex...” He answers: “How? In front of girls?!!”.

But let's return to the Soviet leaders.

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The first ruler of the Soviet state was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. For a long time The image of the leader of the proletariat was beyond the reach of jokes, but during the Khrushchev and Brezhnev times in the USSR, the number of Leninist motives in Soviet propaganda increased sharply.
And the endless glorification of Lenin’s personality (as it usually happened in almost everything in the Union) led to the exact opposite of the desired result - to the appearance of many anecdotes ridiculing Lenin. There were so many of them that even jokes about jokes about Lenin appeared.

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In honor of the centenary of Lenin's birth, a competition has been announced for the best political joke about Lenin.
3rd prize - 5 years in Lenin's places.
2nd prize - 10 years of strict regime.
1st prize - meeting with the hero of the day.

This is largely explained by the tough policy pursued by Lenin’s successor Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, who in 1922 took the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. There were also jokes about Stalin, and they remained not only in the materials of the criminal cases brought against them, but also in people’s memory.
Moreover, in jokes about Stalin one can feel not only a subconscious fear of the “father of all nations,” but also respect for him, and even pride in their leader. Some kind of mixed attitude towards power, which apparently was passed on to us from generation to generation at the genetic level.

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- Comrade Stalin, what should we do with Sinyavsky?
- Which Synavsky is this? Football announcer?
- No, Comrade Stalin, writer.
- Why do we need two Synavskys?

On September 13, 1953, shortly after the death of Stalin (March 1953), Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev became the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Since Khrushchev’s personality was filled with deep contradictions, they were reflected in jokes about him: from undisguised irony and even contempt for the leader of the state to a rather friendly attitude towards Nikita Sergeevich himself and his peasant humor.

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The pioneer asked Khrushchev:
- Uncle, dad said the truth, that you launched not only a satellite, but also agriculture?
- Tell your dad that I plant more than just corn.

On October 14, 1964, Khrushchev was replaced as First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee by Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, who, as you know, was not averse to listening to jokes about himself - their source was Brezhnev’s personal hairdresser Tolik.
In a certain sense, the country was lucky then, because what came to power, as everyone soon became convinced, was a kindly, non-cruel man who did not make any special moral demands on himself, his colleagues, or to the Soviet people. And the Soviet people responded to Brezhnev with the same anecdotes about him - kindly and not cruel.

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At a Politburo meeting, Leonid Ilyich pulled out a piece of paper and said:
- I want to make a statement!
Everyone looked attentively at the piece of paper.
“Comrades,” Leonid Ilyich began to read, “I want to raise the issue of senile sclerosis. Things have gone too far. Vshera at the funeral of comrade Kosygin...
Leonid Ilyich looked up from the piece of paper.
- For some reason I don’t see him here... So, when the music started playing, I was the only one who thought of asking the lady to dance!..

On November 12, 1982, Brezhnev’s place was taken by Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, who previously headed the Committee state security, and adhered to a rigid conservative position on fundamental issues.
The course proclaimed by Antropov was aimed at socio-economic transformations through administrative measures. The harshness of some of them seemed unusual to the Soviet people in the 1980s, and they responded with appropriate anecdotes.

On February 13, 1984, the post of head of the Soviet state was taken by Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko, who was considered a contender for the post of General Secretary even after Brezhnev’s death.
He was elected as a transitional intermediate figure in the CPSU Central Committee while it was undergoing a struggle for power between several party groups. Chernenko spent a significant part of his reign at the Central Clinical Hospital.

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The Politburo decided:
1. Appoint Chernenko K.U. General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
2. Bury him on Red Square.

On March 10, 1985, Chernenko was replaced by Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, who carried out numerous reforms and campaigns that ultimately led to the collapse of the USSR.
And Soviet political jokes about Gorbachev, accordingly, ended.

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- What is the peak of pluralism?
- This is when the opinion of the President of the USSR absolutely does not coincide with the opinion of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

Well, now the poll.

Which leader of the Soviet Union, in your opinion, was the best ruler of the USSR?

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

23 (6.4 % )

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin

114 (31.8 % )

Soviet party and statesman.
First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee since 1964 (since 1966) Secretary General) and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1960-1964. and since 1977
Marshal of the Soviet Union, 1976

Biography of Brezhnev

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev born on December 19, 1906 in the village of Kamenskoye, Ekaterinoslav province (now Dneprodzerzhinsk).

L. Brezhnev's father, Ilya Yakovlevich, was a metallurgist. Brezhnev's mother, Natalya Denisovna, had the surname Mazelova before her marriage.

In 1915, Brezhnev entered the zero class of a classical gymnasium.

In 1921, Leonid Brezhnev graduated from labor school and took his first job at the Kursk Oil Mill.

The year 1923 was marked by joining the Komsomol.

In 1927, Brezhnev graduated from the Kursk Land Management and Reclamation College. After studying, Leonid Ilyich worked for some time in Kursk and Belarus.

In 1927 – 1930 Brezhnev holds the position of land surveyor in the Urals. Later he became the head of the district land department, was deputy chairman of the District Executive Committee, and deputy head of the Ural Regional Land Department. Took active participation in carrying out collectivization in the Urals.

In 1928 Leonid Brezhnev got married.

In 1931, Brezhnev joined the All-Russian Communist Party of the Bolsheviks.

In 1935, he received a diploma from the Dneprodzerzhinsk Metallurgical Institute, being a party organizer.

In 1937 he entered the metallurgical plant named after. F.E. Dzerzhinsky as an engineer and immediately received the position of deputy chairman of the Dneprodzerzhinsk City Executive Committee.

In 1938, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was appointed head of the department of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, and a year later he received the position of secretary in the same organization.

During the Great Patriotic War Brezhnev ranks leadership positions: deputy Head of the Political Department of the 4th Ukrainian Front, Head of the Political Department of the 18th Army, Head of the Political Department of the Carpathian Military District. He ended the war with the rank of major general, although he had “very weak military knowledge.”

In 1946, L.I. Brezhnev was appointed 1st Secretary of the Zaporozhye Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks), and a year later he was transferred to the Dnepropetrovsk Regional Committee in the same position.

In 1950, he became a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and in July of the same year - 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Moldova.

In October 1952, Brezhnev received from Stalin the position of Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and became a member of the Central Committee and a candidate member of the Presidium of the Central Committee.

After the death of I.V. Stalin in 1953 fast career Leonid Ilyich was interrupted for a while. He was demoted and was appointed 1st Deputy Chief political management Soviet army and the fleet.

1954 - 1956, the famous uplifting of virgin soil in Kazakhstan. L.I. Brezhnev successively holds the positions of 2nd and 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Republic.

In February 1956, he regained his position as Secretary of the Central Committee.

In 1956, Brezhnev became a candidate, and the year later a member Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee (in 1966 the organization was renamed the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee). In this position, Leonid Ilyich led knowledge-intensive industries, including space exploration.

Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was elected President of the USSR on March 15, 1990 at the III Extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR.
December 25, 1991, in connection with the cessation of the existence of the USSR as public education, M.S. Gorbachev announced his resignation from the post of President and signed a Decree on the transfer of control to strategic nuclear weapons Russian President Yeltsin.

On December 25, after Gorbachev announced his resignation, a red light was lowered in the Kremlin national flag USSR and the flag of the RSFSR was raised. First and last President The USSR left the Kremlin forever.

The first president of Russia, then still the RSFSR, Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin was elected on June 12, 1991 by popular vote. B.N. Yeltsin won in the first round (57.3% of the votes).

In connection with the expiration of the term of office of the President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin and in accordance with the transitional provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, elections for the President of Russia were scheduled for June 16, 1996. This was the only presidential election in Russia where two rounds were required to determine the winner. The elections took place from June 16 to July 3 and were distinguished by intense competition between candidates. The main competitors were considered the current President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin and the leader Communist Party Russian Federation G. A. Zyuganov. According to the election results, B.N. Yeltsin received 40.2 million votes (53.82 percent), significantly ahead of G.A. Zyuganov, who received 30.1 million votes (40.31 percent). 3.6 million Russians (4.82%) voted against both candidates .

December 31, 1999 at 12:00 pm Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin voluntarily ceased to exercise the powers of the President of the Russian Federation and transferred the powers of the President to the Chairman of the Government, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. On April 5, 2000, the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, was awarded pensioner and labor veteran certificates.

December 31, 1999 Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin became acting president of the Russian Federation.

In accordance with the Constitution, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation set March 26, 2000 as the date for holding early presidential elections.

On March 26, 2000, 68.74 percent of voters included in the voting lists, or 75,181,071 people, took part in the elections. Vladimir Putin received 39,740,434 votes, which amounted to 52.94 percent, that is, more than half of the votes. On April 5, 2000, the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation decided to recognize the presidential elections of the Russian Federation as valid and valid, and to consider Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin elected to the post of President of Russia.

In the Soviet Union privacy leaders of the country was strictly classified and protected as state secrets of the highest degree of protection. Only analysis of published lately materials allows us to lift the veil on the secrecy of their payroll records.

Having seized power in the country, Vladimir Lenin in December 1917 set himself a monthly salary of 500 rubles, which approximately corresponded to the wages of an unskilled worker in Moscow or St. Petersburg. Any other income, including fees, to high-ranking party members, at Lenin’s proposal, was strictly prohibited.

The modest salary of the “leader of the world revolution” was quickly eaten up by inflation, but Lenin somehow did not think about where the money for a completely comfortable life, treatment with the involvement of world luminaries and domestic service, although he did not forget to strictly tell his subordinates every time: “Deduct these expenses from my salary!”

At the beginning of the NEP, the General Secretary of the Bolshevik Party Joseph Stalin was given a salary less than half of Lenin’s salary (225 rubles) and only in 1935 it was increased to 500 rubles, but the next year a new increase to 1200 rubles followed. The average salary in the USSR at that time was 1,100 rubles, and although Stalin did not live on his salary, he could well have lived modestly on it. During the war years, the leader's salary became almost zero as a result of inflation, but at the end of 1947, after the monetary reform, the “leader of all nations” set himself a new salary of 10,000 rubles, which was 10 times higher than the then average salary in the USSR. At the same time, a system of “Stalinist envelopes” was introduced - monthly tax-free payments to the top of the party-Soviet apparatus. Be that as it may, Stalin did not seriously consider his salary and of great importance didn’t give it to her.

The first among the leaders of the Soviet Union who became seriously interested in his salary was Nikita Khrushchev, who received 800 rubles a month, which was 9 times the average salary in the country.

Sybarite Leonid Brezhnev was the first to violate Lenin’s ban on additional income, in addition to salaries, for the top of the party. In 1973, he awarded himself the International Lenin Prize (25,000 rubles), and starting in 1979, when the name of Brezhnev adorned the galaxy of classics of Soviet literature, huge fees began to pour into the Brezhnev family budget. Brezhnev’s personal account at the publishing house of the CPSU Central Committee “Politizdat” is replete with thousands of sums for huge print runs and multiple reprints of his masterpieces “Renaissance”, “ Malaya Zemlya” and “Virgin lands”. It is curious that the Secretary General had the habit of often forgetting about his literary income when paying party contributions to his favorite party.

Leonid Brezhnev was generally very generous at the expense of “national” state property - both to himself, and to his children, and to those close to him. He appointed his son first deputy minister of foreign trade. In this post, he became famous for his constant trips to lavish parties abroad, as well as huge senseless expenses there. Brezhnev's daughter led a wild life in Moscow, spending money coming from nowhere on jewelry. Those close to Brezhnev, in turn, were generously allocated dachas, apartments and huge bonuses.

Yuri Andropov, as a member of the Brezhnev Politburo, received 1,200 rubles a month, but when he became secretary general, he returned the salary of the general secretary from the time of Khrushchev - 800 rubles a month. At the same time, the purchasing power of the “Andropov ruble” was approximately half that of the “Khrushchev ruble”. Nevertheless, Andropov completely preserved the system of “Brezhnev’s fees” of the Secretary General and successfully used it. For example, with a basic salary rate of 800 rubles, his income for January 1984 was 8,800 rubles.

Andropov’s successor, Konstantin Chernenko, while maintaining the Secretary General’s salary at 800 rubles, intensified his efforts to extort fees by publishing various ideological materials in his own name. According to his party card, his income ranged from 1,200 to 1,700 rubles. At the same time, Chernenko, a fighter for the moral purity of communists, had the habit of constantly hiding from his own party large amounts. Thus, researchers could not find in the party card of Secretary General Chernenko in the column for 1984 4,550 rubles of royalties received through the payroll of Politizdat.

Mikhail Gorbachev “reconciled” with a salary of 800 rubles until 1990, which was only four times the average salary in the country. Only after combining the posts of president of the country and secretary general in 1990 did Gorbachev begin to receive 3,000 rubles, with the average salary in the USSR being 500 rubles.

The successor to the general secretaries, Boris Yeltsin, fumbled almost to the end with the “Soviet salary”, not daring to radically reform the salaries of the state apparatus. Only by decree of 1997 was the salary of the President of Russia set at 10,000 rubles, and in August 1999 its size increased to 15,000 rubles, which was 9 times higher than the average salary in the country, that is, it was approximately at the level of the salaries of his predecessors in running the country, who had the title of General Secretary. True, the Yeltsin family had a lot of income from “the outside”.

For the first 10 months of his reign, Vladimir Putin received the “Yeltsin rate.” However, as of June 30, 2002, the president's annual salary was set at 630,000 rubles (approximately $25,000) plus security and language allowances. He also receives a military pension for his rank of colonel.

From this moment on, for the first time since Lenin’s times, the basic salary rate of the leader of Russia ceased to be just a fiction, although compared to the salary rates of the leaders of the leading countries of the world, Putin’s rate looks rather modest. For example, the President of the United States receives 400 thousand dollars, and the Prime Minister of Japan has almost the same amount. The salaries of other leaders are more modest: the Prime Minister of Great Britain has 348,500 dollars, the Chancellor of Germany has about 220 thousand, and the President of France has 83 thousand.

It’s interesting to see how the “regional secretaries general” look against this background - current presidents CIS countries. Former member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, and now the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, essentially lives according to the “Stalinist norms” for the ruler of the country, that is, he and his family are fully provided for by the state, but he also set a relatively small salary for himself - 4 thousand dollars per month. month. Other regional general secretaries - former first secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of their republics - formally established more modest salaries for themselves. Thus, the President of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, receives only $1,900 a month, and the President of Turkmenistan, Sapurmurad Niyazov, receives only $900. At the same time, Aliyev, having placed his son Ilham Aliyev at the head of the state oil company, actually privatized all the country's income from oil - the main currency resource of Azerbaijan, and Niyazov generally turned Turkmenistan into a kind of medieval khanate, where everything belongs to the ruler. Turkmenbashi, and only he, can resolve any issue. All foreign currency funds are managed only by Turkmenbashi (Father of the Turkmens) Niyazov personally, and the sale of Turkmen gas and oil is managed by his son Murad Niyazov.

The situation is worse than others former first Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia and member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee Eduard Shevardnadze. With a modest monthly salary of $750, he was unable to establish complete control over the country’s wealth due to strong opposition to him in the country. In addition, the opposition closely monitors all personal expenses of President Shevardnadze and his family.

Lifestyle and real capabilities of current leaders former country The Soviets are well characterized by the behavior of the Russian President's wife, Lyudmila Putina, during her husband's recent state visit to the UK. The wife of the British Prime Minister, Cherie Blair, took Lyudmila to view 2004 clothing models from the Burberry design firm, famous among the rich. For more than two hours, Lyudmila Putina was shown the latest fashion items, and in conclusion, Putina was asked if she would like to purchase anything. Blueberry's prices are very high. For example, even a gas scarf from this company costs 200 pounds sterling.

The Russian president's eyes were so wide-eyed that she announced the purchase... of the entire collection. Even super-millionaires did not dare to do this. By the way, because if you buy the entire collection, people will not understand that you are wearing next year’s fashion clothes! After all, no one else has anything comparable. Putina’s behavior in this case was not so much the behavior of the wife of a major statesman beginning of the XXI centuries, how much the behavior resembled main wife Arab sheikh mid-20th century, distraught by the amount of petrodollars that had fallen on her husband.

This episode with Mrs. Putina needs a little explanation. Naturally, neither she nor the “art critics in plainclothes” accompanying her during the collection display had as much money with them as the collection was worth. This was not required, because in such cases, respected people only need their signature on the check and nothing else. No money or credit cards. Even if Mr. President of Russia himself, who is trying to appear before the world as a civilized European, was outraged by this act, then, of course, he had to pay.

Other rulers of countries - former Soviet republics - also know how to “live well.” So, a couple of years ago, the six-day wedding of the son of the President of Kyrgyzstan Akaev and the daughter of the President of Kazakhstan Nazarbayev thundered throughout Asia. The scale of the wedding was truly Khan-like. By the way, both newlyweds graduated from the University of College Park (Maryland) only a year ago.

The son of Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev, Ilham Aliyev, also looks quite decent against this background, having set a kind of world record: in just one evening he managed to lose as much as 4 (four!) million dollars in a casino. By the way, this worthy representative of one of the “General Secretary’s” clans is now registered as a candidate for the post of President of Azerbaijan. Residents of this one of the poorest countries in terms of living standards are invited to elect either an amateur in the new elections.” beautiful life” Aliyev’s son or father Aliyev himself, who has already “served” two presidential terms, has crossed the 80-year mark and is so sick that he is no longer able to move independently.