Minister of Internal Affairs Shchelokov. Shot yourself. About the most famous Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Shchelokov Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR perpetuation of memory

I met Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov in 1977 in the apartment of the recently deceased artist Ilya Sergeevich Glazunov (the top floor and attic of the “Mosselprom Tower” opposite the House of Journalists). I must say that in those years I was, as it were, a member of Ilya Sergeevich’s family, he painted a portrait of Nikolai Anisimovich, with whom I established a trusting relationship. And he, having learned about my misadventures with Andropov’s KGB, offered to go to work with him as the head of the Analytical Center directly under him. In the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on Ogarev, they allocated an office next to the reception and decided to award me the rank of colonel and hand me a pistol, but then they tried to persuade me to move to the apparatus of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I confess, I preferred to take the position of head of the Developing Countries Sector at the Diplomatic Academy. I still feel uncomfortable in front of Nikolai Anisimovich. He is truly a wonderful person, but it turns out I didn’t know much. I am far from monarchism and Orthodoxy, and I consider the murder of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family to be a historical act, logical for the Bolsheviks in the circumstances that prevailed then. What would you do when the question was about the life and death of the Bolshevik project? No need to pretend to be a girl. In war, including Civil War, people are killed, and above all those who could potentially become an “assembly point” for the enemy. The recent proclamation of these royal murdered “saints” is intended to scratch old wounds and drive a wedge between the “reds” and the “whites” and split society and again plunge the country into discord and disintegration. This is a harmful thing, which is why I and the Orthodox Brotherhood of St. Andrew the First-Called, which I lead, immediately after the political and probably coordinated with Putin decision of the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on the anti-Soviet canonization of the “royal new martyrs,” left in August 2000 from the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. And they followed the holy Apostle Paul, who in his “Epistle to the Ephesians” cried out: “Do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness, but also reprove” (5:11).

As for the authenticity of the “royal remains,” see the previous note about the existing long-standing and very recent doubts.

The Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper published on July 17, 2017, an article by Andrei Kamakin - Daughter of the head of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs Shchelokov: “Father’s colleagues are convinced that he was killed.” Irina Shchelokova in her first interview spoke about the secrets of the life and death of the legendary minister (No. 151 /27444/, pp. 1,4; title in the paper version - Nikolai Shchelokov: ROYAL CROSS):

“On July 17, Russia will celebrate the next, 99th, anniversary since the death of its last monarch. Much less often we remember another summer date associated with the executed Romanovs: on June 1, 1979, the remains of prisoners of the Ipatiev House were discovered by a group of film scriptwriter Geliy Ryabov and geologist Alexander Avdonin. And very few know about the role played in the posthumous fate of the royal martyrs by the USSR Minister of Internal Affairs Nikolai Shchelokov. Irina Shchelokova, the daughter of the legendary head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, shared her memories of this extraordinary and in many ways mysterious historical figure with MK. This is Irina Nikolaevna’s first interview with the media.

Daughter of the head of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs Shchelokov: “Father’s colleagues are convinced that he was killed” Irina Shchelokova with her father. Mid 1970s. Photo from the family archive.

- Irina Nikolaevna, when and under what circumstances did you learn about the discovery made by Ryabov and Avdonin?

It was the beginning of the summer of 1979. We lived at the state dacha then. Dad returns from work, and his whole appearance suggests that something unusual has happened. He was literally beaming with joy. And from the doorway he says to me: “Let’s go out, I’ll tell you something.” It is necessary to explain that we had a special relationship with him. I was, in the full sense of the word, my father’s daughter: I simply adored and idolized my father. He also, as they say, doted on me. When I was a child, he took me with him to all kinds of meetings and events - almost like Lukashenko took his Kolya. Dad trusted me with things that he didn’t trust, perhaps, with anyone else. We very often talked about topics that were not customary to talk about out loud then. These conversations never happened at home. Only on the street. My father knew that the KGB was listening to him. When we lived outside the city, we usually went to “secret” in the nearby forest. We walked there and talked for hours. So, that evening, when we retreated to a safe distance - by the way, I even remember the place where we stopped - dad said: “You won’t believe it, but I found Helium!”

Your father's role in the search for the royal remains is no longer a secret. In his last interview, given to our publication a few days before his death, Geliy Ryabov frankly said: “Without Shchelokov, our idea would have been worthless.” But to the question of what made one of the first persons of the country that built communism to deviate so much from the general line, there is still no clear answer. How would you answer it?

It is difficult to say now how and why my father came up with this idea - to find the royal remains. We don't know and will never know. We can only guess.

- Did he speak directly about this desire?

To me - yes, absolutely straight. The following was literally said: “It is our duty to find the royal remains and bury them in a Christian manner.” I first heard this from my father in the very early 1970s.

- Before Ryabov and Avdonin began their search?

Much earlier. I’ll say right away: I think and will always believe that Geliy Trofimovich and Alexander Nikolaevich accomplished a civic feat. You need to understand what times these were. For much lesser sins, much less serious “anti-Soviet activity” than the search for imperial remains, one could get a prison sentence. But they really wouldn’t have succeeded if it weren’t for their father and his help. And not just help. In fact, dad conceived and played a brilliant chess game, all the details of which only he himself knew.

- What was the starting point? What's your version?

As far as I can judge, my dad’s interest in this topic arose after he came into his hands with the materials of the Central Committee on the study of the circumstances of the death of Nicholas II and his family, carried out in 1964 by order of Khrushchev. A letter was written to Nikita Sergeevich by the son of Mikhail Medvedev, who died shortly before, one of the participants in the execution. Medvedev Jr. carried out the will of his father, who asked to hand over to the Central Committee his memories and a “historical relic” - the Browning car from which Nicholas II was allegedly shot. And Khrushchev became interested in this topic. But after his dismissal, the investigation was immediately curtailed.

The father’s communication with a man named Snegov probably also played a role. My father’s assistant, Boris Konstantinovich Golikov, told me about this fact. In the 1930s, Snegov, who was then working in the NKVD, was arrested and ended up in the same cell with a man who took part in burying the remains of the royal family. Snegov survived, but his cellmate was unlucky: he was shot. But before his death, he told Snegov about what he knew and saw, including the approximate location of the burial. In the early 1970s, as a former law enforcement officer, he came to see his father with some request and during this visit he shared the information that the man had told him. And it seems he even gave dad a hand-drawn map.

Of course, his social circle also had a great influence on my father. The pope was friends with Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya, with the Archbishop of Saratov and Volsky Pimen, with the artist Ilya Glazunov, who already in those years did not hide his monarchist views. The words “Nicholas II” and “Romanovs” never left his tongue, as they say. Glazunov, by the way, brought my father from abroad a beautifully published album with photographs of the royal family, which my father really liked and which I still keep.

Ilya Sergeevich, who recently passed away, held, however, a slightly different view of the relationship with your father. In an interview published several years ago, he describes the scandal that erupted around his famous "Mystery of the 20th Century." According to him, the indignation of the Soviet leadership was primarily caused by Solzhenitsyn depicted on the canvas: “Nikolai Shchelokov, whose portrait I also painted, shouted in good language: “There are camps for people like you, Glazunov!” Have you decided to spread anti-Sovietism? It won’t work!..” Shchelokov is used to destroying enemies if they don’t surrender, but he automatically took me to the enemy camp.” What do you say to this?

/MY COMMENT: I ​​was amazed when I heard this story from Ilya Sergeevich. After all, Shchelokov, I am a witness, favored him /

Ilya Sergeevich, may he rest in peace, was a great expert in telling tales. God will be his judge. Naturally, nothing like what he was talking about here existed and could not exist. My father loved Glazunov very much and treated him like a sack. He didn’t turn to him with any requests! One fine day, dad, for example, comes and says: “Oh, Ilyushka has gone completely crazy. Just imagine, he started pestering me to give him a gun. “Why do you need a gun,” I say, “Ilya?” “And I,” he says, “will take it out and start doing it like this: bang, bang, bang...” Well, according to his father, Ilya Sergeevich, as a genius, could allow himself such, so to speak, extraordinary behavior.

My dad and I visited his workshop many times. Which, by the way, his father also procured for him. I first saw the painting “Mystery of the 20th Century” during the process of its creation. Dad, by the way, warned Glazunov: “Ilya, you understand that they won’t take her anywhere.” Nevertheless, I tried to help him with “Mystery”. I remember calling Shauro, the head of the CPSU Central Committee’s department for culture, about this, to the Ministry of Culture... Dad could do a lot back then, but “breaking through” this picture was beyond his strength. And it’s not about Solzhenitsyn, or rather, not only about him. There were also plenty of other “ideologically inconsistent” subjects: Khrushchev with a shoe in one hand and an ear of corn in the other, Nicholas II, Stalin in a coffin, the Beatles, Kennedy, the American Statue of Liberty...

As for Solzhenitsyn... Well, listen, how could dad stomp his feet because of his image if he himself constantly helped Alexander Isaevich? Including even in some creative matters. It is known, for example, that he supplied Solzhenitsyn, who at that time was living at Rostropovich’s dacha, with old maps from the archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which were required for work on “August the Fourteenth.” My father valued Solzhenitsyn very highly as a writer; we read his works in manuscript. Another well-known fact: in 1971, dad wrote a note to Brezhnev “On the Question of Solzhenitsyn,” in which he urged not to repeat the mistake made with Pasternak. He proposed to stop the “organized persecution” of Solzhenitsyn, provide him with an apartment in Moscow and think about publishing his works.

Nikolai Shchelokov with his wife Svetlana. 1945 Photo from the family archive.

- Yes, an amazing fact. Perhaps, at heart, your father, in the terms of that era, was also anti-Soviet?

No I do not think so. He, of course, was not anti-Soviet. But, firstly, he was a highly erudite, intelligent person who knew how to distinguish bad from good. A person very close in spirit to people of art. By the way, he drew well, and in his youth he dreamed of becoming an artist. And secondly, dad did not tolerate injustice. He considered the same persecution of Rostropovich and Solzhenitsyn absolutely unfair. And how he treated the persecution and execution of the royal family as a great injustice.

According to the memoirs of Geliy Ryabov, who was then a consultant to the Minister of Internal Affairs on cultural issues, sending him on a business trip to Sverdlovsk in 1976, Nikolai Anisimovich said the following words: “When I held a meeting there, the first thing I did was ask to be taken to Ipatiev’s house. “I want,” I say, “to stand in the place where the Romanovs fell...” According to Ryabov, when he arrived in Sverdlovsk, he followed the example of his boss. It was after this, Ryabov said, that he had the idea to find the royal remains: “I realized that this would no longer let me go.” Do you confirm this version?

The basement of the Ipatiev house in Yekaterinburg, where the royal family was shot. photo: ru.wikipedia.org

Yes, absolutely. A man, a general of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who accompanied him on that trip, told me about my dad’s visit to the Ipatiev House. This was in 1975. Everyone, of course, was stunned and shocked when, as soon as he arrived in Sverdlovsk, he first asked to show him the Ipatiev House. Finding himself in the execution room, he asked to be left alone and remained there for a very long time. Telling Geliy Ryabov about this trip, dad clearly wanted to push him to the decision that he ultimately made. It was a kind of test, a check: will it hook or not? And the father was not mistaken in Helium - he was hooked. Almost immediately after visiting Ipatiev’s house, he became interested in archival documents related to Nicholas II and his family.

The “Tsar’s Archive” was then, as they say, under seven seals. It was almost impossible to access it. But my father still managed to get permission for Ryabov. To do this, I had to call Brezhnev himself - I know this, since that telephone conversation took place in front of me. The legend was this: Ryabov needed the “royal” documents to work on the script for a new film about the police. Moreover, Brezhnev, as far as I remember, did not immediately agree: probably about a month passed. Ryabov worked in the archives for quite a long time and eventually found the “Note of Yurovsky,” the commandant of the Ipatiev House, containing the coordinates of the place where the remains were hidden.

Dad knew about his every move. One day, when we were walking in the forest, as usual on such occasions, he said: “That’s it, Ryabov is starting the excavations.” And then he says the following phrase: “How I would like to go with Helium...” I can cross myself in front of the icons to confirm that I am not lying. When I told Geliy Trofimovich about this, he was shocked.

It's hard to believe that he knew nothing about your father's role in this story. Maybe there was some kind of secret, unpublicized agreement between them?

No, no and NO.

- Do you rule out this possibility?

Absolutely. They never even talked about this topic. The fact that the life paths of these two people crossed, and their thoughts turned out to be so similar, I can only explain by the providence of God. Ryabov was completely unaware that his father was aware of what was happening. Geliy Trofimovich, according to him, was sometimes surprised at how successfully and problem-free everything worked out for him and Avdonin. For example, he could not understand why, despite the fact that the area where the excavations were being carried out was not deserted at all - people were walking around, calling to one another - they were spared from unwanted witnesses. It was as if the place had been enchanted: no one approached them or disturbed them. It was only many years later that he learned that it was not just luck. The excavation site was cordoned off by plainclothes Ministry of Internal Affairs officers. Who, in turn, were told that there was a search for the remains of the Red Commissars who died during the Civil War - the iron version.

“How did Nikolai Anisimovich know everything?!” - Geliy Trofimovich exclaimed when we met several years ago and I told him what I learned from dad. Including facts that, as Ryabov was sure, only he and Avdonin knew. For example, the fact that they planted a bush at the burial site as an identification mark. My father told me about this bush on the very day he learned about the discovery. He told where this place was and what signs could be used to find it. After this he said: “Always remember that Helium and Avdonin accomplished the impossible - they found the emperor. If it is impossible to make this public during your lifetime, you will have to pass this information on to your children.” I quote my dad almost verbatim.

- Is this the end of the search story?

No, there was another episode that can be called tragicomic. After some time, my father laughingly tells me: “Our Helium has gone crazy! Do you know what he did? He brought the skull of Nicholas II, wrapped in the Pravda newspaper, to Moscow and wants to conduct an examination!” The point was that Geliy Trofimovich, who himself was once an investigator, asked his former colleagues to help out of friendship with the identification of two skulls he had extracted from an excavation. At the same time, he hinted quite transparently what kind of bones they were. This incident, by the way, says a lot about Ryabov’s character. The purest, naive, childish soul. He didn't think about the consequences at all. Fortunately, dad found out about this in time. As I recall, witnesses to the incident were told that the film scriptwriter was not to be taken seriously. That this is a joke. A year later, realizing that nothing would come of the expert examination, Ryabov and Avdonin returned the skulls to the excavation site. Well, everyone knows what happened next: in 1991, the burial was opened and a long and still unfinished story of recognition of the remains began.

Everyone understands the history and motives of historical figures to the extent of their depravity, so there are, as you probably know, other versions of these events. I had to read, for example, that Ryabov, on instructions from Shchelokov, allegedly tried to find the jewelry of the royal family.

No, I must admit, I have never heard such nonsense before.

According to another version, the search was carried out with the sanction of senior management: Shchelokov, they say, wanted to find the remains in order to destroy them.

I completely share your emotions. Nevertheless, there is still one point in this story that requires clarification. How did it happen that in a country completely riddled with secret services, the search for the remains of the royal family and, most importantly, the result of these searches could go unnoticed by the KGB and, accordingly, by the entire Soviet leadership? Or did they know, but turned a blind eye?

No, of course, they couldn’t turn a blind eye to such things. It is enough to recall the fate of the Ipatiev House, which was demolished at the insistence of Andropov. In this sense, the royal remains posed a much greater danger to the authorities. But by God's providence, the find was kept secret. Due to the very narrow circle of people involved in it and their high integrity. If the “competent authorities” had known about the discovery, the fate of these people would, of course, have turned out completely differently.

But even without this, your father looked in many respects like a black sheep in the Soviet leadership. His friendship with “anti-Soviet elements” alone is worth it. Why did he get away with all this? Is it about special, friendly relations with Brezhnev?

It’s difficult for me to answer, I was still very far from political intrigues. My father really knew Brezhnev for a very long time, from Dnepropetrovsk, from pre-war times. But I don’t remember any special friendship. In any case, the Brezhnevs and I were never friends at home; no one visited each other. Although they lived in the same building. I remember very well how Brezhnev went out for a walk in the yard. He was accompanied by a single guard. Anyone could come up and say: “Hello, Leonid Ilyich!” There was, perhaps, the only restriction: it was impossible to occupy the elevator when Brezhnev needed it. I remember the elevator operator warned in such cases: “Irochka, wait, Leonid Ilyich will arrive now.” I stood there waiting. But Leonid Ilyich came and always said: “Why are you standing there? Go!" And we went up together - he to the fifth floor, I to the seventh.

Chairman of the KGB of the USSR Yuri Andropov, Leonid Brezhnev and Nikolai Shchelokov.

- But Nikolai Anisimovich was certainly part of Brezhnev’s inner circle of confidants.

Of course. No head of state will appoint a person who does not enjoy his confidence as Minister of Internal Affairs. By the way, you can’t imagine how much my parents didn’t want to move to Moscow (in 1966, at the time of his appointment as head of the USSR Ministry of Public Order, soon renamed the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Nikolai Shchelokov served as second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova. - “ MK")! I remember my mother telling my father: “I beg you, give up this position! Not a single head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has ever finished well.” But he could not refuse Brezhnev. Unfortunately, my mother’s words turned out to be prophetic.

Your father was removed from his post almost immediately after Andropov came to power, who, as you know, did not have, to put it mildly, any love for Nikolai Anisimovich. However, very little is known about the origins of their conflict. Perhaps there was some kind of personal component here?

Yes, there was. I won’t dwell on this topic, I don’t want the names of my parents to be thrown around once again, but Andropov’s actions certainly contained a motive of personal revenge. However, there were also other motives. By and large, we are talking about political and ideological confrontation. These were completely different people with diametrically opposed views.

- It is unlikely that in this case the fall from grace came as a surprise to Nikolai Anisimovich.

He was still not ready for such reprisals, such persecution. He was deprived of his military rank (army general - “MK”), awards, expelled from the party... Even my brother and I were persecuted. We were thrown out of work - I was then working at MGIMO as a junior researcher - and for a very long time, for several years, we could not get a job anywhere. In some ways, you must admit, this is reminiscent of 1937: “children of the enemy of the people”... And at the same time there was no trial, or even a criminal case. No charges were brought against the father. There were only some wild, terrible rumors and gossip. About the “countless riches” confiscated from us, about the fact that my mother decided to shoot Andropov in revenge and was killed during the assassination attempt (Svetlana Vladimirovna Shchelokova committed suicide on February 19, 1983 - “MK”)... It’s also strange that I I didn’t run after anyone with parabellum.

According to Evgeny Zalunin, who was the head of the dacha farm of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in those years, a day before Nikolai Anisimovich passed away, he called him and said: “Evgeny Sergeevich, I really regret that I didn’t believe you about Kalinin.” We are talking about the head of the Economic Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, convicted in 1985 of embezzling public funds on an especially large scale. Does this seem true?

Yes, that's how it was. Not my father’s best trait, which, alas, was passed on to me, was a very strong, excessive trust in people. This kind of, you know, uncompromising trust. Zalunin had long told his father about Kalinin that he was dishonest and engaged in all sorts of chess-making, but his father stubbornly refused to believe it. Kalinin, of course, got what he deserved. Although, against the backdrop of current corruption revelations, the damage that was charged to him looks, of course, ridiculous.

Irina Nikolaevna, defending their honor, their good name, your parents treated you, their children, quite cruelly. I mean, of course, their voluntary departure from life - first the mother, then the father. I’m trying to find the right words, but probably there are no right words in this context. So I’ll ask directly: do you understand, have you forgiven them?

No, they did not treat us cruelly. They acted super-noblely, although not in a Christian way. They did this out of great love for us: they believed that in this way they would save us, that after their death they would leave us behind. However, if we talk specifically about my father, then, frankly speaking, I am not sure that it was suicide. We don't know what really happened there.

But, as you know, his suicide note was found, containing, among other things, the phrase: “Orders are not removed from the dead.”

Yes it's true.

- Do you think she doesn’t close the question?

No, it doesn't close. Forging handwriting is not such a difficult task. There are specialists who can make any handwritten text. By the way, this note was immediately confiscated and we never saw it again. In general, it seemed very strange to me that when my brother and I arrived at the apartment where everything happened (Nikolai Anisimovich passed away on December 13, 1984 - “MK”), “comrades from the KGB” were already there. What were they doing there? I know that many people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, my father’s colleagues, were convinced that he was killed. I don’t know what reasons they had for this, but such conversations would hardly have happened out of nowhere. As they say, no person, no problem.

- Do you think Nikolai Anisimovich was a problem?

Certainly. Having worked for so many years at the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he knew a lot of things that some people would prefer to forget. Perhaps they believed that, in addition to the memories, their father had documents that posed a threat to them. In modern language - compromising evidence. This version is confirmed by the searches conducted at my brother’s and mine. I was already married then and lived separately from my parents. For me, of course, it was a shock. Imagine: you are 27 years old, you have never done anything illegal in your life, and suddenly someone breaks in and starts searching you.

And then one day I left the apartment and heard some noise upstairs. I climb the stairs to the attic, located directly above our apartment, and see the following picture: several people - all wearing the same brand new padded jackets and muskrat hats. Supposedly they were plumbers, but I immediately understood what kind of “plumbers” they were. “What is this,” I say, “are you doing here? Do you want to eavesdrop on me? Nothing will work out for you, dears!” I quickly go out and close the door with the key that they recklessly left outside. And the door is metal. True, after about an hour I took pity and opened it. In general, I still received some moral satisfaction. Well, what do you think: what could they be looking for from me, why did they wiretap me?

- Maybe it was what is called psychological pressure?

No, no, pressure has nothing to do with it. The search was not at all ostentatious. They shook literally everything, checked every piece of paper, leafed through every book. And we have a big library. Naturally, they found nothing except one novel by Solzhenitsyn. But, of course, they were not looking for “anti-Soviet” literature or mythical riches. They were looking for a certain document.

- Which one? And what kind of information did it contain?

Only the father could answer this accurately. He, of course, knew what exactly they were looking for. But he took this secret with him.

- The document was never found?

I can't say that.

- But you can probably guess what kind of document this is.

I guess.

If I understand correctly, we are talking about materials incriminating one of the representatives of the then Soviet leadership?

Absolutely right.

- Andropova?

No, not Andropova. Yes, I know who this person is, but I can’t say, sorry. It was a struggle for power. A very tough fight.

While preparing for our conversation, I was somewhat surprised to discover that the decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to deprive your father of his military rank and state awards still remain in force. Do you have the same information?

Yes. As far as I know, no one has canceled anything.

This, of course, is not a judicial verdict, but also a kind of act of repression. Have you ever thought about raising the issue of rehabilitation, reviewing and canceling these decisions?

No, no, I have never done anything like that and I don’t intend to do anything like that. My deep conviction is that this is pointless. History always puts everything in its place. Remember the fate of the emperor and his family: they lied so much that there was nowhere else to go, but the truth still triumphed in the end. Sooner or later, I’m sure the same will happen with my father’s name. His favorite expression was: “As long as there is power, we need to help people.” Of course, it is bitter to realize that most of those whom dad helped turned away from us as soon as he lost this power. I will never forget how the man whose father literally saved his life and to whom I turned for help when my parents’ graves were desecrated, muttered through his teeth: “Don’t ever call me again.” And he hung up. But I am a believer, a churchgoer, and therefore I am calm: in the end, everyone gets what they deserve, no one is left without reward. As Saint Matrona of Moscow said, “each lamb will be hung by its own tail.”

Alla:
Well, as always... And they were friends with Solzhenitsyn, and they loved the Tsar, and they believed in God, and they didn’t steal, and, in general, they were against the Soviet regime! Such "secret" fighters for "democracy".... It's disgusting to read. And I don’t believe in these stories at all... It would be better to remain silent. Personally, I have nothing against Shchelokov, I just don’t know him. But it’s disgusting to read nonsense about “white and fluffy” people!

Vladimir:
I personally knew Nikolai Anisimovich! Smart, reasonable, and most importantly a wonderful PERSON! Of course, not everything is said in an interview, and sometimes it is simply kept silent. The KGB-FSB organization is too terrible and merciless (there is no difference between them). But about suicide, this is complete nonsense. According to the Regulations on house arrest, a controller is CONSTANTLY present in his apartment (and no other place of residence is provided), for persons of this rank. In addition, all types of firearms and bladed weapons, including award-winning ones, are confiscated from the apartment. How could he shoot his wife with a rifle (!) and shoot himself? This is in front of a witness! As you know, the same method was used to eliminate B.K. Pugo and his wife. And Marshal Akhromeyev was simply hanged... Alive - they knew too much, just like the managers of the affairs of the Central Committee of the CRSU, Pavlov and Kruchina, who “committed suicide”. I knew Nikolai Ivanovich Kruchina well. He's not that kind of person...

The statute of limitations has passed, and today I can talk about this case without cuts. Moreover, I believe that I am obliged to do this after the authors of the film “Treasury Thieves. KGB vs. Ministry of Internal Affairs" (NTV channel) used as a script a fragment of the story that I published in Moskovskaya Pravda in 1995, and the missing details were simply thought out in a not very elegant way. I wrote about the attempted police coup in the USSR in 1982 several times, but never in full. Now, perhaps, I won’t set anyone up.

L. I. Brezhnev and N. A. Shchelokov

September 10, 1982, 9:45 am.

The Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov received from the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev carte blanche for a three-day detention of the recent (resigned from post on May 26) Chairman of the KGB of the USSR Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov to “clarify the circumstances of the anti-party conspiracy.” Secret conversation between the minister's favorite and "d" A R A Gym with Leonid Ilyich" lasted... three and a half hours. Other members of the Politburo were not informed about the unprecedented operation. Even Defense Minister Ustinov. Although Shchelokov, having come home to his old friend at such an early hour (fortunately they lived in the same entrance of house No. 26 on Kutuzovsky Prospekt), apparently had no doubt that he would receive an “okay”. That is why five concrete pillars were dug into two courtyards on Kutuzovsky the night before (at the exits from the arches). And branches were cut down from the trees in the neighboring courtyards, allegedly by utility services (they intended to place snipers at two points, but there was not enough time, Shchelokov, not without reason, assumed that Andropov, in alliance with Azerbaijani security officers loyal to Aliyev, could take the lead... And so it happened) .

However, the blocking posts were installed (they were only torn down on October 23, there was no time for that). That is, there was exactly one route left for the attack of the Shchelokovsky guys, which was marked on the maps by the commander of the special brigade at six in the morning, a few minutes before the minister’s visit to the Secretary General’s home. World history could have followed a different scenario if the Soviet cops had won the battle with their sworn partners - the security officers.

For the first time, Yulian Semenovich Semenov told me about the events of the autumn of 1982 - an attempt at a counter-coup in the USSR on the eve of the death of Secretary General Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. The writer repeatedly met with former employee of the USSR Foreign Ministry Igor Yuryevich Andropov. The son of the KGB chief, who replaced the “five-star secretary general” in the Kremlin, I know, refused to confirm or deny the version of the counter-coup. Although later, in 1990, KGB Chairman Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kryuchkov, for example, during a personal meeting with the author of “17 Moments of Spring”, made it clear: not only the plot is correct, but also the specific details.

Somewhere at 10.15, three special groups of a special unit of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, created by order of Shchelokov on the eve of the 1980 Olympics, allegedly to fight terrorism, moved from a base near Moscow to the capital (an analogue of this special forces company was the Finnish police group “Bear”; equipment ordered by the Finns in Western Europe and Canada, then transferred via St. Petersburg to the people of the almighty Brezhnev minister, bypassing all NATO embargoes). We didn’t go in an armored personnel carrier, of course, but in special vehicles: white Volgas (model 2424) and “fives” with souped-up engines (these VAZ-2105s had 1.8 engines with a bottom shaft and two more tanks). Plus “rafiks” (minibuses RAF-2203 Latvija), camouflaged as ambulances.

N.B. For the Volga, the Soviet people should thank the noble circus tightrope walker. Galina Brezhneva's first husband, Evgeny Timofeevich Milaev, brought an Opel Kapitan to his father-in-law Leonid Ilyich as a gift, and his father-in-law ordered the car manufacturers to make a famous car based on this car. But the story with the “special Volzhan women” began exactly twenty years before the described episode with the “neutralization of Andropov.” From 1962 to 1970, 603 copies of the GAZ-23 were produced. Then, in 1962, a 195-horsepower V8 engine from the government “Chaika” plus an automatic transmission (automatic transmission) was installed on standard GAZ-21s. The Tchaikovsky engines differed in the shape of the crankcase and the size of the oil dipstick, so in order to push the implants under the hood of the Volzhanka, they were tilted a couple of degrees. For secrecy, both exhaust system pipes were combined under the bottom into one pipe. These “twenty-thirds” were 107.5 kg heavier than the “twenty-firsts” and accelerated to 165 km/h, reaching a hundred in just 14-17 seconds (twice as fast as the GAZ-21L - 34 seconds). “Catch-up” was developed by order of the KGB of the USSR. With the hood open, it was clear that the front shield completely covered the radiator, that is, the signature “twenty-one” cutout was missing. Naturally, experts figured out “catch-up” even without an open hood, around the cabin: leather seats, additional lampshades and a finder headlight.

The GAZ-23A version was initially developed as a basic modification of a car with a manual transmission, but it could not work with such a powerful engine. Therefore, a car with an automatic transmission and without a letter index went into production. Then they began to produce so-called duplicates - GAZ-2424. Their visual difference was the automatic transmission floor lever, curved at the base. Plus a single brake pedal (sometimes they installed two paired pedals, both brake pedals, or a wide pedal).

September 10, 1982. 10 hours 15 minutes.

Column No. 3 of four white Zhiguli cars with rotary engines and two dirty yellow Rafik minibuses, which housed the noticeably nervous people of Lieutenant Colonel Terentyev, was stopped on Mira Avenue by officers of Group A of the KGB of the USSR, dressed in traffic police uniforms. The security unit was headed by an experienced officer who, a year earlier, from October 27 to December 4, 1981, had proven himself brilliantly as part of a special brigade that suppressed riots in North Ossetia (the senior officer there was the deputy commander of Alpha, R.P. Ivon, who, after Andropov came to power, was appointed head of a department in the ODP Service of the 7th Directorate of the KGB, where he completed his career).

For a quarter of an hour, one of the main capital's highways was blocked. From Kapelsky, Orlovo-Davydovsky and Bezbozhny lanes, two dozen black “Volzhanka” (the same duplicates 2424), filled with officers and warrant officers of the GB troops, burst onto the avenue leading to Sretenka. With the exception of six senior officers dressed in army field uniforms, everyone was in civilian clothes. And everyone clearly understood what they were risking... The shooting on Mira Avenue in Soviet times would have become a scandal on a global scale. However, the second of the Shchelokovo groups did stage a shootout, but not a single Western media reported on this. But more on that below.

The Shchelokovskys were caught installing concrete pillars at night in the arches next to the house where the Andropov family lived. It was impossible to hide night work in such a place from the 9th and 7th KGB departments. Moreover, Shchelokov began preparing to neutralize Andropov, without informing the leader of the country, “dear Leonid Ilyich,” in June 1982. The counter-coup was the culmination of a struggle that began not in 1982, but much earlier. Andropov headed the KGB in 1967, a year later after Shchelokov was appointed to the post of Minister of Public Order. And he immediately began collecting dirt on his competitor.

Yu. V. Andropov

September 10, 1982. 10 hours 30 minutes.

Shchelokov's special forces were arrested without having time to resist. And sent at cruising speed towards Lubyanka. Where, however, they were heading anyway. Their goal was to intercept Andropov’s personal car if he tried to leave his office in the gray building of the CPSU Central Committee on Old Square in order to hide in the Lubyanka fortress, guarded by the Iron Felix monument.

September 10, 1982. 10 hours 40 minutes.

Well, the unit sent by Shchelokov directly to Old Square voluntarily surrendered to the Alpha group, aimed at intercepting three Volzhankas... In the first sat Lieutenant Colonel B., who betrayed Shchelokov and managed to call the secret phone 224-16 before leaving the base -... with an innocent remark (allegedly to his wife):

I won't come for dinner today.

By the way, just three rapid weeks later, his brand new UAZ was blown up by a Chinese mine in a stuffy suburb of what was then a troubled Kabul... A betrayer once could have spilled the beans, that is, betrayed him again. A posted officer, who received the next rank of colonel on the eve of his departure to Afghanistan, told his wife without any conspiracy:

I probably won't go back.

Yu. V. Andropov with his wife

September 10, 1982. 10 hours 45 minutes.

However, one of the special forces detachments of Brezhnev's minister Shchelokov broke through to their destination - Kutuzovsky, 26. And only because this mini-column of three cars did not move along Bolshaya Filevskaya, where an ambush awaited them, but along the parallel Malaya. Three Volga cars with flashing lights, so rare at that time, breaking all the rules, drove onto the elite, “government” avenue from Barclay Street.

And ten minutes after Lieutenant Colonel T. ordered his subordinates to lay down their arms on the approaches to Sretenka, his colleague R. ordered to open fire on the squad guarding the famous building on Kutuzovsky, in which, in fact, all three characters of those dramatic events coexisted: Andropov, Brezhnev and Shchelokov.

September 10, 1982. 11 hours 50 minutes.

Fortunately, there were no dead... But by noon, nine people were brought to Sklif. Moreover, five of the Shchelokovskys were under escort. Among these five was Lieutenant Colonel R., who honestly tried to carry out the order of the Minister of Internal Affairs to capture Andropov, sanctioned by Brezhnev himself. And he will die under the surgeon’s knife by the evening of September 11th. The family will not receive notification of the accident until 48 hours later. Of course, “in the performance of official duty” and all that.

N. A. Shchelokov with his wife

September 10, 1982. 14 hours 40 minutes.

Formally - and only formally - R. became the only victim of that battle. One of ten wounded in the shootout near Kutuzovsky, 26.

The last, tenth officer - the former bodyguard of the only daughter of the future Secretary General Irina Yuryevna Andropova - was taken not to the hospital, but to one of the dachas near Moscow, where he was provided with individual care. With the rank of major, he died in Afghanistan a month before the death of his highest patron, Yu. V. Andropov.

September 10, 1982. 14 hours 30 minutes.

Immediately after the shootout on Kutuzovsky, on Andropov’s instructions, communication with the outside world was interrupted. All international flights from Sheremetyevo were canceled due to - officially! - wind roses.

The French-made computer system that regulated telephone communications between the Soviet Union and abroad was promptly disabled. The system was purchased on the eve of the 1980 Olympics, and the very fact that the Kremlin purchased a duplicate telephone system became super advertising. Therefore, the publicity of the strange “breakdown” could serve as an equally effective counter-advertising. But the matter was settled: the competent dissemination was leaked and covered by the Western media. One way or another, in those years the KGB energetically and, most importantly, quite effectively directed the Western press and therefore skillfully hushed up the “telephone scandal.”

Yu. M. Churbanov in Uzbekistan

Since naive Western journalists, especially those accredited in Moscow, react painfully to the truth about veiled control over their activities, I will reproduce my long-standing blitz interview with General Kalugin:

« - What is the mechanism of such provocations?

A small newspaper that no one knows (in France, India or Japan), a newspaper that is subsidized by the KGB, publishes a note produced by the KGB or the international department of the CPSU Central Committee. After this, TASS, our official telegraph agency, distributes this article, which no one would have noticed, throughout the world. Thus, it becomes a material of international importance.

- You once noticed that “Der Spiegel” was used by the Committee to pump up its shares. Has your statement received any development? Did the Germans react in any way?

I invited them to meet me in Germany. Let's, I say, meet in Berlin. But none of them appeared in Berlin, although I was filmed there by German Central Television (Colby and I walked in the park, and they filmed us there all the time). I can say that in Germany there was not a single structure more or less serious that did not have our agents. From the Chancellor's office to the War Department. And if they had bypassed Der Spiegel, I would have been simply offended if I were them. This time. Secondly, the Stasi intelligence officers know this best, because in the 70s they had agents at a fairly large level.

- What is the task of the agents embedded in Der Spiegel?

Firstly, to receive information through them about political problems and trends in the country. Secondly, there is an opportunity to publish your materials in the magazine, because if Pravda publishes it, it’s one thing, but if Der Spiegel publishes it, it’s completely different. The KGB in Moscow courted many foreign journalists. Everyone! “Der Spiegel”, “Time”, “Newsweek”, etc. Another thing, it didn’t work out with everyone. Any journalist working in Moscow is forced to maintain some kind of relationship with the authorities, otherwise the authorities will not give him the opportunity to get an interesting interview or go to a closed area. If he wants exclusive information, he must also give something in return. This is a normal process: “You give me - I give you.” They approached “Der Spiegel” more than once (in this sense). It is not necessary to be an agent, absolutely not, you just need to be in a relationship where you can be used to place information beneficial to the state. Or disinformation, which is what our KGB has been doing all its life.”

Shchelokov's son - Igor Nikolaevich

So, the inept attempt by Brezhnev’s entourage to return the reins of power to the decrepit hands of the Secretary General failed. And although Andropov turned out to be quicker and cooler, he did not want to use the events of September 10 as compromising evidence against Shchelokov and others after he came to power. This was already enough goodness. Exactly two months later, Brezhnev died. At that moment, none of his relatives were with him. Only the guys from the “nine”. Andropov guys.

On December 17, 1982 - a month after Brezhnev's death - Shchelokov was dismissed from the post of minister in connection with the “Uzbek affair”, started on Andropov’s initiative. The case ended with a verdict against Yuri Mikhailovich Churbanov, Shchelokov’s first deputy and Brezhnev’s son-in-law.

On November 6, 1984, Shchelokov was stripped of the rank of army general. November 10, that is, very Jesuitically, on Police Day! - this fact was published in all central newspapers. But it was Nikolai Anisimovich who gave this holiday a special status, with all these concerts and congratulations. He lobbied for this day of the calendar for all sixteen years that he was considered the main policeman of the state. The prosecutors assured me that it was a coincidence, no one deliberately guessed. However, I am sure that this was a severe blow for the general. And his relatives are still convinced to this day: the date was chosen deliberately, the general was poisoned.

On November 12, a team from the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the USSR came to the ill-fated house No. 26 on Kutuzovsky to conduct a search.

On December 10, the disgraced ex-minister writes a suicide note to Secretary General Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko and members of the PB: “I ask you, do not allow philistine slander about me to run rampant, this will involuntarily discredit the authority of leaders of all ranks, and this was experienced by everyone before the arrival of the unforgettable Leonid Ilyich . Thank you for all the good things. Please excuse me. With respect and love - N. Shchelokov.” He hides the paper in the desk, the key to which he always carries with him. However, as it turned out, someone had a duplicate.

Two days later, on December 12, without any judicial verdict, the disgraced Brezhnev vizier was deprived of the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, which he had received only four years earlier, in 1980. And all government awards, except those that he earned during the Great Patriotic War (and, of course, foreign ones).

The next day, December 13, 1984, according to the official version, while in his apartment, the general shot himself in the head with a collectible 12-gauge double-barreled shotgun. Leaving two letters. Both dated... December 10, 1984. One, I repeat, for the Secretary General, the other for the children. From the case materials: “When the GVP officers arrived to inspect the scene, the entire Shchelokov family was assembled, and the dead Nikolai Anisimovich was lying face down in the hall - he had blown off half of his head with a point-blank shot. He was wearing the ceremonial uniform of an army general with the “Hammer and Sickle” medal (fake), 11 Soviet orders, 10 medals, 16 foreign awards and the badge of a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, under the uniform - a shirt made of knitted fabric with an open collar, no tie , and were wearing slippers on their feet. Under Shchelokov’s body there was a 12-gauge double-barreled hammerless shotgun with horizontal barrels and a factory mark on the barrel strap “Gastin-Rannet” (Paris). In the dining room, on the coffee table, two folders with documents, two certificates of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the “Hammer and Sickle” medal No. 19395 in a red box were found, on the dining table - a wallet in which there were 420 rubles and a note to the son-in-law asking him to pay for gas and electricity at the dacha and pay off the servants.”

The chief military prosecutor of the USSR, Alexander Katusev, hinted at his son’s involvement in the death of the ex-minister publicly, writing: “I know one thing for sure: in authorizing the searches of the Shchelokovs, I acted independently, without anyone’s prompting. So the coincidence in time here is accidental, not connected with other events. But I agree that many were more satisfied with Shchelokov’s death than with the trial of his criminal case. Church leaders have a capacious term - “consign to oblivion.” I also admit that among these many there could be Shchelokov’s direct heirs - a harsh sentence with confiscation of property loomed in the future.”

When in 1989 Katusev was working on our book “Processes. Glasnost and mafia, confrontations,” he said that several respected nobles, including Aliyev, very persistently asked not to develop this version.

After the failure of the September coup, many nomenklatura “friends” turned away from the Minister of Internal Affairs, realizing that “Akella missed the mark.” Against the background of this depression, the Shchelokovs quickly and imprudently made friends with new acquaintances whom the KGB brought to them through Khachaturian (he headed the University of Culture created for him at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR). In December 1983, the security officers began to vigorously process Shchelokov’s daughter-in-law, Nonna Vasilievna Shchelokova-Shelashova. She was given to understand that if Nikolai Anisimovich “does not disappear,” then she herself, and especially her husband Igor Nikolaevich, would face not just total confiscation of all their property, but also a significant prison sentence (and then, let me remind you, they were shot for such things at once ).

Katusev said that selected employees of the republican KGB of Azerbaijan were involved in the work of squeezing the Shchelokovs (the unit was headed by a relatively young female major). Unfortunately, I don’t remember all the details and can only restore this version from old notebooks and a manuscript that was planned for publication, but was removed by Glavlit. As far as I understand, Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev was involved in this whole story, although he headed the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR (with the rank of major general) long before these events, from the summer of 1967 to the summer of 1969. And he dragged all the people loyal to him with him to Moscow. But, apparently, valuable personnel remained in Baku.

In short, Lubyanka agents learned from Igor Shchelokov about his father’s letter to the Politburo. And the report emphasized: the son believes that it sounds like a “suicide note.” A decision was immediately made to force the situation. On the morning of December 11, a task force was formed and tasked with “resolving the issue” within 48 hours. Eyewitnesses recalled that at the entrance where the disgraced minister lived, three black GAZ-2424 “catch-up” vehicles were parked that morning. Apparently, Shchelokov shot himself in the head. Speculations that it is more difficult to shoot from a hunting rifle than from a revolver are not so significant. During a search of the apartment, no cartridges for the revolver were found. Did he write a note to the children from dictation? Hardly. I think that the morning guests simply checked that there was nothing unnecessary in the letters, and, of course, they confiscated all the documents that were not intended for the prosecutor’s investigators. The situation was explained to Nikolai Anisimovich. Either he acts as a man of honor (and he, no doubt, was one, which did not stop him from practicing unbridled embezzlement and insidious reprisals against enemies: opportunities, as we know, give rise to intentions), or he himself will face a shameful trial with complete disgrace in the press and , which apparently was a significant argument, his relatives will be in the dock. The fact that the body was found, on the one hand, in a ceremonial uniform, and on the other, in slippers, makes one think that Nikolai Anisimovich, who was one of the most stylish men of the establishment, was hastened by suicide assistants.

Katusev then assured me that the son of Brezhnev’s favorite was aware of the operation. And, moreover, the night before he carried out a kind of artillery preparation: he complained to his father about the pressure from the special services and about the advice of “well-wishers” to turn himself in, in order, supposedly, to receive only a suspended sentence. “I was aware” - in the sense, I guessed, of course, and did not load the gun. The minister was guaranteed that the children and grandchildren not only would not be repressed, but that they would never be in need. And that Igor Nikolaevich will finally be left alone. The latter called the prosecutor's office investigators at a quarter past three on December 13, 1984. Said he found the body and notes.

***

For the first time, let me remind you, Semenov told me about the events of the autumn of 1982... Yulian Semenovich himself did not have time to write about it.

I worked on the manuscript of the book “Les Coulisses du Kremlin” with Andropov’s former confidant Vasily Romanovich Sitnikov. He revealed to me the missing links in the chain of events. A chain that still mutually binds former officials who have become honored pensioners and state security officers who now oversee their own banks.

Being an extremely careful and careful person, Sitnikov asked me not to disclose information intended for publication in my joint book with Francois Marot, then an employee of the French magazine VSD, in the domestic press. We agreed: we'll wait. Less than a month later, a note appeared in the then popular “Stolitsa” newspaper, which not very loyally told about the secret activities of Vasily Romanovich. On January 31, 1992, the heart of Andropov’s assistant stopped. And his daughter Natalya Vasilievna assured me: that magazine was lying on his table. But - in the unread pile! I spoke with her on the tenth anniversary of Brezhnev's death. She was not delighted with the idea of ​​publishing these notes.

There remains one very significant “but”. There were no computers then, the manuscripts were paper and, alas, there were not enough carbon copies for everyone. And the manuscript, of which V.R. Sitnikov was a consultant and editor, disappeared after his death.

No trace.

And Natalya Vasilievna knew this.

And not only her.

To my world

There are three main versions of the death of Svetlana Vladimirovna Shchelokova. Two of them are variations on the suicide of the wife of the disgraced ex-Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, the third is a hypothesis about the deliberate elimination of the wife who knew too much of what was once one of the most influential persons in the Soviet Union.

Version one: she first shot at Andropov, and then at herself

Yuri Andropov, who replaced the deceased Leonid Brezhnev as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, like most of the Kremlin elders, was not in good health and constantly disappeared from public view due to his serious illness. Therefore, rumors that, having been wounded by Svetlana Shchelokova, embittered by the intrigues against her husband, former USSR Minister of Internal Affairs Nikolai Shchelokov, he was lying down, healing his gunshot wounds, spread throughout the country very quickly. A huge number of people in the Soviet Union have already heard about the campaign launched against the former head of the Union Ministry of Internal Affairs, accused of corruption and other abuses.

Allegedly, on February 19, 1983, Svetlana Shchelokova ambushed Yuri Andropov at the elevator, shot him with a pistol and wounded him. And then she committed suicide using the same weapon. Historian Roy Medvedev called this version a myth, citing the official conclusion: S.V. Shchelokova shot herself “due to deep emotional depression.”

Version two: “deep emotional depression”

This is the most logically explainable of all three assumptions about the causes of S. V. Shchelokova’s death. Her husband Nikolai Anisimovich served as Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR (including 2 years when he headed the Union Ministry of Public Order) for 16 years - before N. And no one had ever set such a record for Shchelokov. All these years, the Shchelokov family led the life of millionaires - Svetlana Shchelokova spent enormous amounts of money on diamonds, meeting on this basis with another jewelry lover Galina Brezhneva. The Shchelokovs' house and dacha were filled with antiques, including originals by famous painters.

On N.A. Shchelokov’s birthday, it was customary to give very expensive gifts; his family owned three Mercedes, which they managed to get with the help of Nikolai Anisimovich’s connections and influence - this was a gift to the Soviet state from a German concern for the 1980 Olympics.

Under Brezhnev, the Shchelokovs could do anything; no one controlled them, could not limit their irrepressible demands, much less stop them. As soon as Leonid Ilyich died, a month later N.A. Shchelokov was removed from the post of minister and he overnight became a defendant in a criminal case about corruption in the highest echelons of power of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, initiated personally by Andropov and opened by the head of the KGB under Brezhnev. Constant interrogations began, and in the Shchelokov family the situation became tense to the limit. Svetlana Vladimirovna, according to their servants, constantly screamed and sobbed. It all ended with Nikolai Anisimov’s wife taking his award pistol, going into the bedroom and shooting herself.

Version three: it was eliminated

This assumption is shared by those who believe that S.V. Shchelokova threatened to tell about the corruption of other high-ranking officials and their families if they seriously decided to imprison her husband. In particular, Galina Vishnevskaya adhered to the version of eliminating an extra witness (the opera singer and her equally famous husband Mstislav Rostropovich were friends with Svetlana Shchelokova).

According to some historians, among other things, valuable belongings of the executed “guild workers” were confiscated from the Shchelokovs. Allegedly, Svetlana Vladimirovna was going to name the names of other representatives of the party nomenklatura, who also did not disdain such acquisitions.

... Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov chose to die in a similar way, only with the help of a hunting rifle, shooting himself at home on December 13, 1984. A day earlier, he was stripped of the title of Hero of Socialist Labor and all state awards, except for military ones.

Chapter Twenty

A MAN OF HIS TIME

Two days later, Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov became general secretary. Many, including Shchelokov, did not expect (or did they drive such a thought from themselves?) that the seriously ill Andropov agree take on the burden of responsibility for the country. But he went for it.

Nikolai Anisimovich did not outwardly show concern. In a narrow circle, he said that Yuri Vladimirovich is a worthy leader and he needs to be helped. Radical personnel changes were not expected before next year.

However, on December 18, N.A. Shchelokov was dismissed with the wording “for shortcomings in his work.”

Nikolai Anisimovich called his son to tell this news. Igor Nikolaevich recalls that he was almost not upset: “It’s okay, dad, now you can finally rest.” There was no feeling that something irreparable had happened. Svetlana Vladimirovna understood everything immediately. In a conversation with Assistant Minister for Personal Affairs Vladimir Biryukov, she said: “Now we are in trouble. And you too".

Andropov's logic is simple. He urgently needs to appoint the faithful V.M. Chebrikov to the post of KGB chairman. However, V.V. Fedorchuk, summoned by Brezhnev from Kyiv, has only been appointed for six months; there is no reason to remove him. Therefore, Vitaly Vasilyevich is given an important state task - to restore order in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where “a lot of rot has accumulated.” Best gift younger neighbors Yuri Vladimirovich could not come up with this, because he knows very well the value of Fedorchuk - he himself suffered enough from him over the past six months.

Everything worked out in the best way for the General Secretary: Chebrikov - in the KGB, Shchelokov was removed from sight, Fedorchuk - in enemy camp in the only role suitable for him as a cleaner. The state approach is not visible here, purely hardware logic. Yuri Vladimirovich outlined this combination literally on the first day of coming to power and then voiced it in a conversation with... the attending physicians.

Army General N.A. Shchelokov was transferred to the “paradise group” - one of the general inspectors of the USSR Ministry of Defense.

The life of Nikolai Anisimovich and his family changes dramatically. The dacha in Gorki-10, which the Shchelokovs occupied for 16 years and got used to considering as their home, is proposed to be vacated in three days. On the first day, government communications are cut off. However, the former minister is allowed to occupy the dacha of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Serebryany Bor. But they drive me away from there too. Shchelokov and members of his family are under surveillance. Fedorchuk begins an audit of financial and economic activities at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In conversations with old comrades, Nikolai Anisimovich complains that he is summoned to the ministry because of all sorts of nonsense and subjected to humiliating questions.

Society approves of any drastic measures against the “former”. Did you enjoy privileges? Pay your bills. The stern Andropov becomes popular, hopes are associated with him for the renewal of society, a “return to Leninist norms” in the party, he is perceived by people as a fighter against privileges, corruption and permissiveness.

The behavior of the Shchelokovs in those days speaks not of their prudence, but of their confusion.

Igor Shchelokov recalls:

“We lived at the dacha for 16 years. They bought everything for home: dishes, carpets, and furniture. And there were official things. Everything is mixed up, they have long forgotten which is whose. Things were in the basement and garage. Then it begins: “Vacate the dacha in three days.” Where should I take all this? They were hastily taken to different places; a lot was lost during the move. Business executives start calling: “Svetlana Vladimirovna, Nikolai Anisimovich!” You have two carpets for 3,200 rubles. Blue, Belgian." We don’t have them, what should we do? I tell my dad: let’s pay. Paid. They call again: “There is a screen behind you.” It looked like there was a screen - an ordinary wooden one. “There’s a projector behind you”... We pay for everything. There weren't enough brains. Then it turned out that we stole it all and compensated for the damage! This is how it was turned!

Dad came to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and said: “They gave me a BMW and two Mercedes.” Take two cars, and I’ll buy the Mercedes.” The Deputy Prime Minister gave my dad written permission that he could take ownership of these cars. Dad didn’t have to give away the foreign cars, but he acquired his property for the second time. This is also “compensation for damage.”

Svetlana Vladimirovna is experiencing what happened the hardest of all. She feels that the family's main trials are ahead. All previous connections are broken. She leaves the 3rd Medical Institute, where they continued to treat her well. I managed to receive my first pension...

On February 19, 1983, at a dacha in Serebryany Bor, Svetlana Vladimirovna Shchelokova shot herself. The sisters who owned the dacha witnessed the incident. From the testimony of one of them given to investigators, one can imagine what happened that day and in what psychological state the wife of the ex-minister was:

“I have known N.A. Shchelokov’s family since 1971, since that time I have been doing housework in their house, preparing food for them... Nikolai Anisimovich’s relationship with his wife was extremely good, friendly...

On February 19, Saturday, I, as usual, arrived at their dacha at half past eight in the morning to prepare breakfast. I fed them at eleven o'clock, they both ate with gusto, got dressed and went for a walk. I didn’t notice anything unusual in the behavior and conversations of the Shchelokovs, except that Svetlana Vladimirovna was very sad. However, this was how her condition had been observed lately - moving from the ministerial dacha to another, the cessation of meetings and connections with her constant circle of friends and acquaintances was painful for her...

They returned from their walk at about half past twelve, undressed and went into the dining room, where they talked about something among themselves. Tamara and I immediately went into the kitchen to prepare tea for them and closed the door behind us. We did this for about fifteen minutes and suddenly we heard the screams of Nikolai Anisimovich. We ran out into the corridor and saw him coming down the stairs from the second floor. He was excited, confused and shouted: “My girl shot herself!” We ran up to the second floor and saw that Svetlana Vladimirovna was lying in a pool of blood on the floor in the bedroom. In front of us, she sighed convulsively two or three times and fell silent. Nikolai Anisimovich leaned towards her, felt her pulse, and hugged her. He stained his hands with blood, and when he got up, he leaned on the bed. Traces of blood on the duvet cover were left by him. I remember well that there was a pistol on the sofa. Svetlana had her purse at her feet...

Nikolai Anisimovich pulled out the drawers of the bedside tables and dressing table and mournfully exclaimed: “How did she pass away and leave nothing behind?”

We stayed in the bedroom for no more than three to five minutes. Then one of us said that we needed to call an ambulance at number 03, to which Nikolai Anisimovich replied that we needed doctors from “his own clinic.” He is in front, and Tamara and I followed him down. Nikolai Anisimovich was still in an excited state, he could not find the ambulance phone number in the book, he called someone and asked for help, saying: “My wife is bad, she is dying!” Then he called his son. The daughter and son-in-law arrived on their own, without a phone call - at that time they were already on their way.

Nikolai Anisimovich sobbed and, deliriously, repeated that “he would not live without her.” Therefore, for fear that he would shoot himself, we took the pistol from the sofa and hid it above the door at the entrance to the dacha...

About the motives for suicide: about a week before the incident, the Shchelokovs were offered to vacate this dacha in Serebryany Bor; Svetlana Vladimirovna was very sad and, preparing for a new move, declared in tears that “nobody needs them now, everyone has turned away from them...”. And no matter how Nikolai Anisimovich tried to convince Svetlana Vladimirovna, he failed.”

Doctors' diagnosis: “Suicide.” Gunshot wound in the temporal region of the head on the right. Biological death." The shot was fired from a 7.65 mm pistol of the German brand "Orgtis", presented to Nikolai Anisimovich on May 9, 1970 by war veterans of the capital's Internal Affairs Directorate. The prosecutor’s office’s decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case, in particular, states: “... Shchelokova S.V. knew where her husband’s pistol was kept. While at the front during the Great Patriotic War, she had skills in handling firearms... Thus, the data from the inspection of the scene of the incident, forensic and forensic studies, explanations of eyewitnesses, relatives and other persons, as well as documents from medical institutions sufficiently indicate that that Shchelokova S.V. committed suicide due to deep emotional depression.”

It can be assumed that by her action Svetlana Vladimirovna wanted to save herself from humiliation and her loved ones from further persecution. However, Churbanov admits that Svetlana Vladimirovna’s decision was preceded by a stormy explanation with her husband the day before. Allegedly, Nikolai Anisimovich reproached her for the fact that “with her behavior and acquisitiveness she played an important role in his dismissal from office.” Fedorchuk “found out” this, as Churbanov writes. Literally everyone who knew Shchelokov’s character and his reverent attitude towards his wife denies this possibility. It’s another matter that Nikolai Anisimovich, during forced communications with auditors from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, learned about some facts of “benefits” that the leaders of KHOZU provided to his loved ones. There could be such conversations in the family. But “reproached” is not in his character. The witness, the sister-owner of the dacha, judges what happened more simply and, apparently, more accurately.

The Soviet people will not soon find out what happened in the family of the former Minister of Internal Affairs. But a rumor of unknown origin will spread with suspicious speed: they say that Shchelokov’s wife, wanting to take revenge for her husband’s resignation and disgrace, shot at Andropov in the elevator, wounded him, and then committed suicide. The image was drawn of a fanatical woman from the “former”, who rebelled against the “just king”. It also penetrated abroad and was even broadcast in the Western press. The rumor partly explained why the Secretary General was unwell and rarely appeared in public.

In January, V.V. Fedorchuk summons V.M. Sobolev. And he asks the question: “What do you think about Shchelokov?” The head of the 5th Main Directorate, who has seen a lot, answers cautiously: “Who am I to evaluate the minister? Ask my opinion about my subordinates, I will answer.”

Fedorchuk loses his temper: “What kind of minister is he? He's a thief! He has ten Mercedes at his dacha! And you opened the door to his office with your foot!”

In a few months, Valery Mikhailovich will write a letter of resignation. They will say goodbye to him quite politely. Finally, Deputy Minister for Personnel V. Ya. Lezhepekov will kindly hint that they could have parted differently, because they know literally everything about Sobolev, right down to the fact that he has... a mistress in Tomsk. Valery Mikhailovich, who has never even been to Tomsk, will be indignant: “I’ll now go to the administrative department of the Central Committee and tell you what you’re doing here.” Lezhepekov will play back and apologize. However, an honored front-line soldier (he fought in intelligence since he was sixteen), 56-year-old Lieutenant General Sobolev will not be able to find a job for a long time: he just seems to come to an agreement, and suddenly - a refusal for an unknown reason. This episode not only illustrates the morals of the then leaders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but also testifies to the quality of the operational information that they used.

Vitaly Vasilyevich, probably, even before joining the Ministry of Internal Affairs, “knew” that his predecessor had appropriated the Mercedes that were provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to service the Olympic Games in Moscow. The relevant information was sent to party bodies in the spring of 1983. And in 1984, when these messages have worked out, Fedorchuk suddenly instructs the GUBKHSS to find out the fate of the “Olympic” foreign cars. Two operatives will carry out this secret task of the minister, including the well-known S.S. Butenin. Sergey Sergeevich says:

“There were 12 of these machines in total. Under an agreement with a German company, after the Games they remained in the USSR. Fedorchuk suggested that some of them could have been appropriated by Shchelokov. We found ten Mercedes right away; they were in the garage of the Council of Ministers Administration. But the remaining two had to be looked for, because when imported into the Union, they were processed at customs with errors. After the Olympics, one of them was ridden by the Deputy Minister, it seems, of the aviation industry, and the other by an honored pilot. We met with them, photographed the cars, checked the license plates.”

Then the task before the GUBKHSS operatives was broader: to trace the fate of foreign cars that representatives of the Soviet elite acquired through the management of the affairs of the diplomatic corps under special permits. The measure was apparently intended as an anti-corruption measure - they were looking for high-ranking speculators. Butenin says: “When I saw the closed list of traffic police, I felt uneasy. The names of relatives of almost the entire party leadership of that time were listed there. I remember well that in 1984 Brezhnev continued to own 28 foreign cars.” The leaders of the GUBKhSS (the department in which Butenin worked was headed by the future minister V.F. Erin) became thoughtful. Fedorchuk will soon be removed, and they will be held accountable for the operational development of members of the CPSU Central Committee. Experienced operatives gradually curtailed their activities, fraught with political dangers.

...June 1983. Preparations are underway for the plenum of the Party Central Committee, at which, in particular, the former Minister of Internal Affairs should be removed from the Central Committee. The decision has already been made, but for some reason Shchelokov resists. A certificate about his abuses is being circulated among party leaders. What's in it? The second person in the party, Konstantin Established, Chernenko let his assistant Viktor Pribytkov meet her.

“The document,” recalls Pribytkov in his book “Apparatus,” “scrupulously listed all the sins of the Minister of Internal Affairs: the fact that he “grabbed” several official Mercedes for personal use, and what he did not disdain to take to his home and to the dacha, as well as to distribute to close relatives the material evidence seized by the police and confiscated works of art and antiques... I remember that I was struck by two facts - this was the organization of an underground store “for our own”, in which those seized things were sold that the boss himself did not like the entire police“, and the fact that members of the Shchelokov family were seen exchanging huge sums in worn, captured, rather dilapidated rubles in banks...”

The reader is familiar with almost all of the “sins” listed. It remains to consider the statement about the exchange of “captured, rather dilapidated rubles.” Indeed, several times Nikolai Anisimovich made money exchanges at the cash desk of his ministry, totaling over 100 thousand rubles. It is impossible not to dwell on this episode, since far-reaching conclusions will also be drawn from it. Where did the minister get so much “shabby” money? Of course, no one will know for sure. In 1991, the chief military prosecutor A.F. Katusev will authoritatively explain to the public, using the method of deduction: “The version that the source of their receipt could be bribes was rejected by specialists out of the gate - people of this rank are not given bribes in the form of torn three rubles, fives and ten. And his salary was invariably given in brand new, crisp bills.” Then - where? “Only one thing remains - the trading operations of his loved ones.”

When it comes to Shchelokov, detectives don’t have many versions. Meanwhile, Nikolai Anisimovich exchanged not “torn three rubles” at the cash register, but ordinary bills - for money in bank packaging. In the USSR, people who traveled as part of delegations to socialist countries sometimes did this. In some of these countries, it was possible to additionally exchange Soviet rubles (usually only new banknotes were accepted) for local currency. This practice was condemned by the currency legislation of that time, but it existed. Someone could have asked Shchelokov to change the banknotes for new ones. Nikolai Anisimovich himself, during interrogation, explained the meaning of these transactions: “These were my savings, and I changed money for convenience of storage.” In general, there were options. Why must it be “trading operations of loved ones”?

Before the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, its participants absolutely reliably - from information certificates - “knew”: Shchelokov appropriated furniture and works of art confiscated from criminals, took ownership of company cars, and organized an underground store for his relatives. He exchanged “old money” in large quantities, which indirectly confirms that those around him were engaged in fraud. How could such a morally corrupt person be among the members of the Central Committee?

Nikolai Anisimovich did not go to the June plenum. He was removed from the Central Committee in absentia, along with S. F. Medunov, who was present. Two names stood side by side: Medunov and Shchelokov. But what did they have in common? One is the former party leader of the Krasnodar region, in which many bribe-takers and shadow traders were brought to justice and where the turnover of criminal money amounted to tens of millions of rubles; It remains only unclear to what extent Sergei Fedorovich himself was involved in this. And the other at that time was the head of the department in which the business executives were stealing (which still had to be confirmed by the court). Nevertheless, the bar for claims against Shchelokov has been set. The June plenum of the Central Committee went down in history as the one at which “Shchelokov and Medunov were removed from the Central Committee.” After some time, many will forget Minister Shchelokov, but “Shchelokov - Medunov” will remain in their memory.

Nikolai Anisimovich was removed from his post and removed from the Central Committee. What to do with him next?

In August 1983, the investigation of abuses in the economic department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs entered a new phase: the former heads of the economic department, headed by V. A. Kalinin, were taken into custody.

In a number of sources you can read the statement that the Politburo discussed Andropov’s proposal to initiate a criminal case against Shchelokov. At the same time, Ustinov and Tikhonov spoke out against it, Gromyko hesitated, but Yuri Vladimirovich allegedly insisted on his opinion. This is most likely erroneous information. Under Andropov, and even later, no criminal case was initiated against the ex-minister. Probably, the Politburo discussed whether to complete the proceedings against the leaders of the KHOZU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Now we can finally free ourselves from analyzing various kinds of “operational information”, unfounded statements and meaningful hints from the category “there was evidence in the case that...”. We have the opportunity to get acquainted with the testimony that was studied by investigators and was then assessed by the court.

The investigation of abuses in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1979–1982 was entrusted to the Main Military Prosecutor's Office. Let's look at this case through the eyes of its direct participants from the side of the prosecution. The author of these lines had a chance to meet some of them while working on the book. A quarter of a century later...

Narrated by Viktor Stepanovich Shein, reserve major general of justice. In 1983, he was simply a major of justice, the year he was appointed to the Main Military Prosecutor's Office from the Northern Fleet, where he was the senior investigator of the garrison. By that time, his work experience in investigative agencies was ten years.

“Our investigative group was led by Colonel of Justice Vyacheslav Rafailovich Mirtov, an intelligent, talented, extraordinary person. And brave - below I will tell you one episode that characterizes him from this side.

In December 1982, immediately after Shchelokov was dismissed and Fedorchuk replaced him, an audit of the financial and economic activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs began. It was departmental, carried out by the ministry itself. The auditors found a lot of violations in the work of the economic management department, and in the spring of 1983 a criminal case was initiated on grounds of abuse of official position against officials of the economic management - not Shchelokov. These persons are the head of the HOZU, Major General Viktor Kalinin, the head of the communal and dacha service, Anatoly Fadeev, his deputy Valery Sterligov, and the most knowledgeable person in all matters relating to the life of the Shchelokovs, Vasily Vorobyov (his acquaintances called him “the stove maker”). Later, charges were brought against the assistant minister for personal assignments, Colonel Vladimir Biryukov. We worked on this case for more than a year and a half. The group of investigators included: three from the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, several from the periphery and two from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Only 12 people, sometimes more.

When such big cases are investigated, the group members are usually divided either by episode or by person. In this case, we worked by faces. Specifically, I dealt with Fadeev, but periodically participated in interrogations of other accused. The materials of the departmental audit were very detailed, evidence-based, and all the necessary documents were attached to them. The main part of the violations, as far as I remember, concerned the consumption of various materials. Thus, the ministry owned a network of service apartments, which sometimes, in agreement with Shchelokov, were transferred for living to individuals, including his relatives. A huge amount of consumables were written off for these apartments - bed linen, flowers and other things - as if they were apartments in five-star hotels. The end result was absurd amounts. I alone had about eight hundred similar episodes in my file over the approximately three-year period that we studied.

I am far from thinking that Shchelokov himself knew about these additions or encouraged them - we understood this even then. The guys from KHOZU took advantage of the fact that no one controlled them. There were also episodes related to the work of a special store for the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Nikolai Anisimovich loved his wife, his children and did not deny them anything. We could not verify many of the testimonies, in particular because by that time Svetlana Vladimirovna had already passed away.

In 1983, Shchelokov was not summoned for questioning. At first they waited for him to be removed from the CPSU Central Committee. They took me out. But he is an army general, a Hero of Socialist Labor, a participant in the war. Who knows what this or that accused has shown? Many subordinates who find themselves in such a situation justify themselves by saying that they acted on the orders of their boss, in agreement with him. There is also hope that they will not turn to the boss for clarification. A high official refuses to come to a conversation with the prosecutor - so what, they will bring him in? I very much doubt that in our time an employee of the presidential administration will be brought in for questioning. It was new for each of us to interrogate people of this level, at least as witnesses. In addition, we did not know the capabilities of the former minister of the security department. Obviously we exaggerated them.

- In February 1984, Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov died. One of your colleagues, who asked not to be named, said that the investigative group was inactive for several days - they were expecting a shake on their hands. Then Mirtov said: “Stop drinking, let’s get to work.” Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko did not want to stop the process started by his predecessor.

Maybe someone was drinking, I don’t know. I continue.

The May holidays of 1984 are approaching. And then Vyacheslav Rafailovich says: “I’ll call Shchelokov now, and he won’t have any idea that my call was not agreed upon with anyone.” In front of me, Mirtov dialed his phone number in his office, introduced himself and asked to come for interrogation. Shchelokov, without any unnecessary questions, wrote down where and when to arrive.

We were preparing to talk with him. Will he come alone or with security? In uniform or in civilian clothes? How to meet him? It was important to obtain truly objective testimony from the ex-minister. On the one hand, we understood that the arrested KHOZU employees were interested in shifting all the blame onto him. On the other hand, they should receive punishment precisely for what they did, and not for what they were ordered to do... Nikolai Anisimovich appeared at the appointed time, in a general’s uniform. I introduced myself. He shook my hand. For his seventy-three years, Shchelokov looked very good: lean, strong, with a military bearing, without signs of physical illness. He freely climbed the stairs to the second floor. The first interrogation was conducted by Mirtov and Vladimir Georgievich Golst, head of the department for investigating particularly important cases, an authoritative person in our department. There were three such interrogations in total, if my memory serves me correctly, and I participated in one of them.

At that time, my role was limited to recording his testimony on a typewriter and asking questions if necessary. Shchelokov behaved with dignity, but was noticeably worried. At one point, when Mirtov left the office, he suddenly said: “Comrade Major, you just write everything down correctly, otherwise I don’t understand anything.” I was also surprised: how is it that the Minister of Internal Affairs does not understand the investigation?! Although he shouldn't have figured it out. I replied that I was recording his answers almost verbatim, as required by law. This was my only meeting of this kind with him.

His testimony boiled down to the following. He probably trusted his subordinates, the same Kalinin. He was not aware of any violations in their activities. There was a closed store for ministry leaders, yes, but he considered it normal. If his actions caused damage to the state, then he is ready to compensate for it. Subsequently, he actively began to compensate for the damage. He returned more than 100 thousand rubles in cash, some of the things that his family had illegally used. For example, at his son’s dacha we found a BMW motorcycle, which was once presented to the minister at a company exhibition. Nikolai Anisimovich believed that this was a gift to him personally, and not to him as the head of the ministry. “I didn’t think, I’m sorry.” In this he really differed little from the then leaders of this rank. And it never occurred to him that he would ever have to answer to someone. This was a period of mass offerings.

Here is a revealing episode. On the eve of Shchelokov’s seventieth birthday, Churbanov tells him: “We are going to give you a watch.” Do you mind?” - “No, I don’t mind.” He and Kalinin take from Gokhran a watch with a chain worth more than four thousand rubles. How to write off expenses? We decided to make the purchase as a gift to the leader of Czechoslovakia, Gustav Husak. This watch was not found during the search. Nikolai Anisimovich said off the record that, in turn, he presented them to one of the country’s leaders, but for the record he showed that he gave them to one person, whose name I refuse to name. Later, in the Churbanov case, this episode was also investigated by Mirtov. Nikolai Anisimovich usually reacted to such accusations: “Yes, I’m probably to blame for trusting other people and underestimating the error of my actions.”

- Did you understand at the beginning of 1983 that the main goal of your investigation was Shchelokov?

The question wasn't that way then. Strictly speaking, criminal cases against police officers are beyond the jurisdiction of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office. And suddenly they trust this matter. We went out of our way to justify the trust. God forbid you break the law! You will remember the time. It is ridiculous to believe that then, at the beginning of 1983, at the very beginning of the investigation, without sufficient evidence, we would have set ourselves the goal of bringing Shchelokov to justice. There was no such conversation: “As soon as Shchelokov’s name comes up, initiate a criminal case against him.” Our leaders, I am sure, also proceeded from the evidence collected. For quite a long time we perceived the testimony of Kalinin and his accomplices as an attempt to evade responsibility. But bit by bit, bit by bit the facts came out...

- Shchelokov repeatedly said in a narrow circle, perhaps even in conversations with investigators “off the record,” that he supposedly had an agreement with one of the leaders of the Central Committee: he would compensate for the damage and the prosecutors would leave him alone. Have you heard this?

I remember this episode. A confrontation was held between him and Kalinin. Kalinin began to accuse his former boss: they say, we are sitting here because we followed your instructions, in fact, for you, and you do nothing. Then Shchelokov’s remark was heard that he would talk, and “there” they would probably sort it out. But Kalinin had plenty of his own sins.

- By the way, what impression did the arrested KHOZU leaders make on you?

Fadeev and Sterligov were depressed. They started in the police as an opera, and good opera. They gave testimony close to the truth. Their behavior resembled cooperation with the investigation. Kalinin is a different person. Cunning, dexterous. I'll give you an episode.

All defendants in the case were kept in a pre-trial detention center in Lefortovo, in complete isolation from each other. They never met even in the corridors. Their testimony was immediately checked (for nothing else, but you cannot blame the new Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs V.V. Fedorchuk for trying to obscure this matter. - S. TO.). We already knew a lot. One day I came to the pre-trial detention center to interrogate Kalinin. He begins to fantasize. I am recording his testimony in every detail. Spent the day. And then presented him with a refutation. He was almost in tears: sorry, I lied. That's the essence of it.

- How did Shchelokov behave during interrogations?

It felt like he was worried. When it was offered to compensate for the damage, he immediately compensated. He was undoubtedly horrified by the situation he found himself in. Outwardly he kept himself in control.

- If Nikolai Anisimovich had not passed away, he would have been charged with what?

The materials we had, after appropriate modification, provided sufficient grounds to charge him and place him in custody. Nature of the charge? Abuse of official position - absolutely. But there was also talk about his involvement in thefts. The latter is not a fact, but such materials did exist. We were preparing to initiate a criminal case. Shchelokov understood this perfectly. I think that already from the questions that were asked to him during the first interrogation, he could not help but guess that this would end in the filing of charges. You know how it ended. Decrees followed depriving him of the titles of army general, Hero of Socialist Labor, and all awards, with the exception of military ones...

- But the deprivation of his titles and awards was illegal?

Totally illegal. Only a court can deprive a person of a military rank or state award upon conviction for committing a grave or especially grave crime. We definitely had nothing to do with these decisions.

- And here’s something else I want to understand, Viktor Stepanovich. Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov had enough time - almost two years - to hide valuables, money, and expensive things that were confiscated from him during a search in November 1984. If he had strived for this... The searches were not a surprise to him - their participant, your colleague Alexander Ilyich Khoroshko, told me about this. His behavior looked strange: investigators came, he seemed to be waiting for them, laid nine thousand rubles on the table, which were successfully confiscated from him. I asked Khoroshko: could he have hidden it? Could. Strange thief.

Indeed, he did not hide valuables. I don’t think such a thought even occurred to him; he considered it beneath his dignity. Many, having found themselves under investigation, try to get out, deny, lie. Shchelokov did not get out of it, he said: “I made a mistake, I trusted my subordinates.”

- Well, the last question is perhaps the most important. You became acquainted in detail with the less-than-best aspects of Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov’s activities and observed him in situations in which few people observed him. Let's assume he is guilty - he abused his official position and was even involved in the theft of some property. Can you simply say who he is for you: a grabber? A man of his time? Who? From the book by Auguste Comte. His life and philosophical activities author Yakovenko Valentin

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01.11.2011

50th Minister of Internal Affairs Nikolai Shchelokov
They became friends at the front. L. Brezhnev (center) and N. Shchelokov (right)
Heads of two warring departments. KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov and Interior Minister Nikolai Shchelokov
Nikolai and Svetlana Shchelokov. February 19, 1983 Svetlana Vladimirovna shot herself at the dacha
Meeting of writer Mikhail Sholokhov with the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

How the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR Nikolai Shchelokov was driven to suicide

On November 10, 1984, millions of Soviet people learned from newspapers that former USSR Minister of Internal Affairs Nikolai Shchelokov was stripped of the rank of army general. On Soviet Police Day!.. It was under Minister Shchelokov, who held his position for 16 years (1966-1982), that this holiday became one of the main ones in the country.
It was a painful blow for him. Then others followed: expulsion from the party, deprivation of government awards in violation of applicable law. On December 13, Nikolai Anisimovich put on the ceremonial uniform of an army general and shot him in the temple with buckshot.
Shchelokov, the most famous Soviet Minister of Internal Affairs (50th, counting from the founding of the department), is not forgotten today. Many take it for granted that he was a thoroughly corrupt official, one of the symbols of Brezhnev’s corruption. This idea of ​​him was formed in 1983-1984.
Let me note: to this day Shchelokov is accused not very specifically, often with reference to some “operational data”, rumors that for some reason could not be verified then. That's amazing! They shook the ex-minister like a pear. It was dealt with by professionals from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB, the General and Main Military Prosecutor's Offices. In Soviet times, nothing was impossible for these structures; no crime could simply withstand such pressure. Why is it not imprinted in my memory of what abuses, thefts, and perhaps facts of theft that Shchelokov was convincingly convicted of?
It is known with what hostility Yuri Andropov treated the 50th minister. Shchelokov was hated even more by his successor in the Ministry of Internal Affairs (also a former security officer) Vitaly Fedorchuk. Checks were carried out throughout the country. There were people close to Nikolai Anisimovich - some behind bars, some retired with a “wolf ticket”, some under threat of dismissal - just give the necessary testimony, and you will be forgiven. The chief economic officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, General Viktor Kalinin, languished in the KGB detention center in Lefortovo. He scribbled “candid confessions” one after another, blaming everything on his boss. Several more KHOZU employees were also in custody. Searches were carried out at the apartments and dachas of the ex-minister and his relatives. A trial also took place (after the death of Nikolai Anisimovich), which ended with a verdict against Kalinin and his accomplices. Why do they still continue to build certain versions when talking about Shchelokov? What versions could not be verified then?
I remember a recent incident. One of the TV channels was preparing a documentary for the 100th anniversary of Nikolai Anisimovich (November 26, 2010). The screenwriter (naturally, who had just begun to familiarize himself with the material) invited me to participate as the author of the biography of the 50th minister. I recommended to him several more experts who knew Shchelokov closely. Almost all of them asked in advance whether ex-investigator of the General Prosecutor's Office Vladimir Kalinichenko would participate in the film? If yes, then they will refuse. The screenwriter assured that he would not involve Kalinichenko in the work. I'm looking at the picture. In the finale, Vladimir Ivanovich appears with “operational data” known only to him. In the opinion of some, he added spice and “pluralism” to the television picture; in the opinion of others (and in my opinion), he spoiled the film by retelling old tales.

How the minister and the chairman quarreled
A common idea about Shchelokov: a typical Soviet “strong business executive”, one of those who started well, did something for his department, and towards the end of his life took up organizing his personal affairs.
Meanwhile, Nikolai Anisimovich, both externally and in terms of his activities, was far from a typical representative of the Brezhnev team. Let's look at it through the eyes of his contemporaries. The 50th minister is extremely energetic, constantly pushing projects through the Central Committee, many of which seem dubious to the Central Committee members (for example, they could not understand why a cultural university would be created at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the composer Khachaturian at its head?). He practically does not drink alcohol, does not smoke, and avoids feasts. Since childhood he has been interested in painting. The Shchelokovs are inveterate theatergoers. They are often seen surrounded by famous figures of Russian culture. The Shchelokovs are friends with some of them, and in their friendship they remain faithful and do not break off relations with those of their friends who find themselves in difficult situations. An example: Mstislav Rostropovich, before leaving abroad in 1974, gave a farewell concert in Moscow. Of the high-ranking ladies, only Shchelokova visited him. Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya recalls: “All the VIP seats next to me were empty, Svetlana Vladimirovna came in and defiantly sat down next to me.” In 1970, the minister, wanting to help the disgraced Vishnevskaya, gave her the Order of Lenin! In 1971, when there was first talk about the expulsion of Solzhenitsyn, who had just been awarded the Nobel Prize, Shchelokov sent a letter to the CPSU Central Committee in his defense, warning that the mistakes made earlier in relation to Pasternak should not be repeated...
They will say: Brezhnev’s favorite could afford this. Leonid Ilyich had enough favorites, but who else allowed himself to do this? After working at the Central Committee, Nikolai Anisimovich was hospitalized with a heart attack. The first conflicts between him and KGB Chairman Andropov were connected precisely with the fact that Shchelokov more than once turned out to be an obstacle in carrying out “measures” against the “unstable” part of the intelligentsia. Brezhnev considered it useful to maintain tension in relations between his security forces. Therefore, until the death of Leonid Ilyich, the cautious Andropov did not try to eliminate Shchelokov from his path.
Many clashes arose between the heads of the two law enforcement agencies on other occasions. Sometimes the general entrusted Shchelokov with shares that were within the competence of Andropov. For example, in 1972, it was the Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs that conducted proceedings in Georgia, which ultimately led to a change of power in the republic (the place of Vasily Mzhavanadze, who was dismissed, was taken by Eduard Shevardnadze). In the late 1970s, the Ministry of Internal Affairs launched an operation to introduce operatives into the cotton industry of Uzbekistan. Shchelokov came to Brezhnev with a report and for permission to continue working. Having familiarized himself with the collected materials, Leonid Ilyich ordered to send them... to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Republic for taking action. This could be costly for the infiltrated operatives. The minister, at his own peril and risk, delayed for six months the implementation of the general’s decision, giving the opportunity to withdraw people from the operation. Yes, it was the police who laid the foundation for the future high-profile “cotton case” (although later the laurels would be appropriated by prosecutors and security officers, whom Shchelokov allegedly only interfered with). In 1982, the minister created a special anti-corruption group of seven people (as part of the police headquarters for combating economic crimes). Detectives managed to uncover major abuses in the entourage of the head of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev: in the republic they discovered - no less than - fake collective farms with fake Heroes of Socialist Labor at the head. Leonid Ilyich also did not give these materials a go. In Georgia, operatives stopped the activities of a large manufacturer who made counterfeit wine. A record amount of 7 million rubles was then withdrawn in favor of the state. Shchelokov not only was aware of such operations, he participated in their development, supervised them and defended them before the party leadership of the country.
After Brezhnev's death, the anti-corruption group of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was dispersed. Two operatives went to prison on trumped-up charges (the court later completely acquitted them). The fate of the head of the unit, Vilen Apakidze, was mysterious: he disappeared somewhere for a year, and returned completely disabled, without teeth, with a severe leg disease... He told only a very narrow circle where he was kept and what information was required from him. This is a riddle of riddles! Who did these people interfere with during the declared “fight against corruption”?
I note that in the conditions of the USSR, only the political police (KGB) could act as an anti-corruption agency, and only in exceptional cases, with sanctions from the very top, the criminal police (Ministry of Internal Affairs). It was believed that the task of the police was to catch criminals. Therefore, it is unfair to reproach the 50th minister for not showing himself sufficiently in the fight against growing shadow crime and corruption. Shchelokov did not shy away from such a role, and often took initiatives. It is worth taking a closer look at his immediate surroundings. Thus, the union criminal investigation department was headed (until 1979) by the famous Igor Karpets. A very influential colleague of Nikolai Anisimovich for a number of years was Sergei Krylov, the ideologist of many reforms in the ministry, the creator of the police academy. Shchelokov's deputy for police, curator of operational headquarters Boris Shumilin... One of the leaders of the Investigation Department Vladimir Illarionov... A war hero who did a lot to create an institute for crime prevention in the country, Valery Sobolev... Commander-in-Chief of the Internal Troops (under him they took on their modern form) Army General Ivan Yakovlev ... You can list and list. All these people are stars in today's times. In their honor, memorial plaques are opened, busts and even monuments are erected (a monument to Krylov was recently opened at the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs). None of them, who constantly communicated with Nikolai Anisimovich and had extensive operational information, considered him either a swindler, or a money-grubber, or a corrupt official. Thus, Igor Ivanovich Karpets dedicated many pages to Shchelokov in his memoirs. He writes about the minister sometimes kindly, sometimes angrily (they did not part very peacefully), however, Karpets does not reproach him for uncleanliness. The opinion of the long-term head of the criminal investigation department, one of the most informed people in the country, who is still considered among detectives to be the standard of professionalism and decency - does it really mean nothing?!

What lawyers are silent about
Let us restore the chain of recent events in the life of the 50th minister.
On November 10, 1982, Leonid Brezhnev dies. Yuri Andropov becomes the new General Secretary. At first, this fact did not foretell any upheaval for the party apparatus. Andropov has been in the Politburo for a long time, he is known as a person indifferent to material wealth, condemning the excesses of Brezhnev’s circle, but at the same time he is extremely cautious, and has not been seen as prone to revolutionary actions. Shchelokov is outwardly calm. He still hopes to establish normal cooperation with him. And only Svetlana Vladimirovna Shchelokova immediately understood everything. She told the minister's aides: “We're in trouble now. And you too". However, changes in the country's leadership are not expected until the beginning of next year.
On December 20, Shchelokov was dismissed (transferred to the group of inspectors general of the Ministry of Defense). For many, this event came as a complete surprise. Nikolai Anisimovich seemed like an unsinkable minister. He was much more energetic and cheerful than his peers from the Politburo, and counted on further career development. There were no rumors that seriously discredited him or his loved ones. Really? No, there were no such rumors until a certain point. It was believed that the Shchelokovs’ lifestyle was fully consistent with their status. Kremlin food rations, service in the 200th section of GUM, frequent trips abroad, high salaries (the 50th minister received 1,500 rubles a month with an additional payment for his military rank, his wife, an associate professor of the 3rd medical department and a practicing physician, received about 400 rubles)… You can live without denying yourself anything.
In the Ministry of Internal Affairs, after Shchelokov’s resignation, his replacement Fedorchuk begins an audit of financial and economic activities. Nikolai Anisimovich goes to the ministry to give explanations. His son, Igor Nikolaevich, recalls:
“We lived at the dacha for 16 years. They bought everything for home: dishes, carpets, and furniture. And there were official things. Everything is mixed up, they have long forgotten which is which. Things were in the basement and garage. Then it begins: “Vacate the dacha in three days.” Where should I take all this? They were hastily taken to different places; a lot was lost during the move. Business executives start calling: “Svetlana Vladimirovna, Nikolai Anisimovich! You have two carpets for 3,200 rubles. Blue, Belgian." We don’t have them, what should we do? I tell my dad: let’s pay. Paid. They call again: “There is a screen behind you.” It looked like there was a screen - an ordinary wooden one. “The projector is behind you”... We pay for everything. There weren't enough brains. Then it turned out that we stole it all and compensated for the damage...
Dad came to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and said: “They gave me a BMW and two Mercedes.” Take two cars, and I’ll buy the Mercedes.” The Deputy Prime Minister gave my dad written permission that he could take ownership of these cars. If you have any complaints, address them to the government. Dad didn’t have to give away the foreign cars, but he acquired his property for the second time. This is also “compensation for damage”.
(It’s worth dwelling on the last episode. We are talking about the following: in different years, Shchelokov accepted three cars as a gift from German companies (there was a fourth, the minister gave it to Brezhnev). Formally, he did not violate the law, since he acted with the permission of the government, but such behavior of the Soviet a leader who accepted gifts from company employees, of course, can hardly be called ethical. The Shchelokovs did not use the cars. After his resignation, Nikolai Anisimovich decided to return them to the state. His acquaintances dissuaded him, warning that this could be perceived as a confession. But he acted like a conscientious person. Subsequently, the cost of the mentioned cars will actually be added to the cost of the “stolen property” returned to him. And the actual episode itself will fuel rumors that Shchelokov allegedly appropriated several Mercedes that served the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.)
...On February 19, 1983, Svetlana Vladimirovna shot herself at her dacha. She had a hard time experiencing the change in their situation, the vacuum that had formed, and the humiliation to which the family was subjected. From that moment on, it became widely known that the ex-minister was suspected of abuses. An absurd rumor quickly spread that Shchelokov’s wife allegedly shot at Andropov in the elevator, wounded him, and then shot herself. He was on time. The image was drawn of an embittered family who wants revenge for being deprived of privileges. At the same time, it was explained why the new general was constantly in the hospital. In the spring, a criminal case is opened regarding abuses in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is entrusted to the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, a group of investigators led by Vyacheslav Mirtov. In June, at the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, Shchelokov was removed from the Central Committee. In August, the former head of the KHOZU, General Kalinin, was taken into custody, and later several of his subordinates.
It is worth noting that during Andropov’s lifetime Nikolai Animovich was not summoned to the prosecutor’s office for questioning. This happened for the first time in May 1984. Konstantin Chernenko did not start new things, but he did not stop old ones either - in general he interfered with little. Shchelokov was interrogated several times as a witness. The process was started by Andropov; no other signals were received from top officials either by the investigative group or by the party bodies. Therefore, the ex-minister continues to be put under pressure, no one listens to his excuses, he doesn’t even know who to address them to. The skating rink can no longer be stopped. In November - December, Shchelokov was deprived of the military rank of army general and expelled from the party. In violation of the legislation of that time, they were deprived of all government awards, except military ones. The apartments of Nikolai Anisimovich and his relatives are being searched. The signals are more than clear. Next in line is the initiation of a criminal case against the ex-minister and detention. The front-line soldier Shchelokov could not come to terms with this. On December 13, 1984, Nikolai Anisimovich, wearing the ceremonial uniform of an army general with awards, shot himself in his apartment with a hunting rifle. In a suicide note addressed to Chernenko, he denied his guilt and asked to protect his name from slander.
...At the beginning of 1985, the court heard a case about abuses in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The damage caused by Kalinin and his accomplices is estimated at 67.1 thousand rubles. And this is after total checks! It's funny to learn about this today. Less than ten Volgas at the prices of that time. Of course, we could have counted more, but this figure gives some idea. Lawyers cannot ignore it.

Chief military forger
While collecting material for a book about Shchelokov, it was not without difficulty that I found several former investigators from Mirtov’s group. For the first time, I heard something surprising from them: they did not consider the ex-minister a thief and a corrupt official. That's the number! Where did this “tradition” come from? What then were Shchelokov’s abuses? Viktor Shein, now a reserve major general of justice, says:
“The main part of the violations, as far as I remember, concerned the consumption of various materials. Thus, the ministry owned a network of service apartments, which sometimes, in agreement with Shchelokov, were transferred for living to individuals, including his relatives. A huge amount of consumables was written off for these apartments - bed linen, flowers and other things, as if they were apartments in five-star hotels. The end result was absurd amounts. In my case alone, there were about 800 similar episodes over the approximately three-year period that we studied. I am far from thinking that Shchelokov himself knew about these additions or encouraged them - we understood this even then. The guys from KHOZU took advantage of the fact that no one controlled them. There were also episodes related to the work of a special store for the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Nikolai Anisimovich loved his wife, his children and did not deny them anything. We could not verify many of the testimonies, in particular because by that time Svetlana Vladimirovna had already passed away.”
Investigators, according to Viktor Shein and his colleague Alexander Khoroshko (who participated in the search of the ex-minister’s apartment), treated Shchelokov himself with sufficient respect. Nikolai Anisimovich tried to behave with dignity, but was noticeably worried that he had found himself in such a situation. At the same time, he did not dodge, did not lie. When learning about facts of economic abuse, he said: he was guilty, he did not control, he is ready to compensate for the damage. When compensating for damage at this stage, Nikolai Anisimovich sometimes acted recklessly. Thus, he seemed to admit his guilt. For example, he returned an expensive watch that members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs board gave him for his 70th birthday. The investigation established that the watch was purchased by Kalinin with postscripts. As the reader already knows, Shchelokov also returned three foreign cars that had been given to him at different times. Later, all this will be classified as “stolen.” They will also count household items that were considered household goods and used by the family (something was missing, they gave it away in money).
In various sources about Shchelokov there is a statement that the damage he caused to the state is estimated at approximately 500 thousand rubles. Where did this figure come from? Apparently, it was the then chief military prosecutor Alexander Katusev who first brought it up in 1990 (speaking as a commentator in Kirill Stolyarov’s brochure “Golgotha”). The figure has become almost official. But these are only preliminary estimates of the investigation! In the course of subsequent proceedings, such estimates usually dry out ten times. I remember when I first opened this brochure, I gasped: the unscrupulous minister surrounded himself with even greater swindlers. Subsequently, I more than once compared the information I received first-hand with Katusev’s interpretations of the relevant events. And I thought: God forbid that I fall into the clutches of such a prosecutor! I will limit myself to one example. The brochure states: Shchelokov appropriated amber chess sets that his subordinates purchased to present to the Minister of Security of the GDR as an anniversary gift. How ugly. What did it turn out to be? The direct participants in that story turned out to be alive. The chess, they explained, was not made of amber, but of amber crumbs, and cost no more than five rubles! Consumer goods. That’s why they didn’t take them to the GDR; they were ashamed to give such a gift. The “amber” chess remained in Nikolai Anisimovich’s office...
And so time after time: if it was possible to shed light on one episode or another, the “evidence” of the 50th minister’s dishonesty fell apart. Katusev openly “knocked down” Shchelokov. At that moment, political clouds gathered over the chief military prosecutor, and he did not spare gloomy colors to remind the public of his merits in the fight against corruption.
The 50th minister made mistakes and abuses, he himself admitted it. But why explain them solely by the “uncleanliness” of his nature?
Shchelokov occupied one of the most influential positions in the country. Many people wanted to please him. Not only to him - but also to his relatives, assistants, acquaintances, relatives of acquaintances. His name was abused - come and fight! But he tried to resist it. For example, in 1980, the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued an order prohibiting police leaders from the regions from coming to Moscow to congratulate the minister on his 70th birthday. Nikolai Anisimovich’s assistants sent valuable gifts that then came to the ministry to museums, leaving entries in the appropriate book. He was often given paintings as gifts. But he also gave gifts - he sent about 70 valuable paintings to his homeland in Stakhanov, to the museum. Every month, the minister gave his assistants at the reception 200-250 rubles in an envelope so that they could pay for theater tickets, lunches from the canteen, and so on. Nikolai Anisimovich was not a mercantile person by nature. But they could very well have set him up. Let's say, in 1971, he was brought from Armenia a gift from the artist Martiros Saryan - the painting “Wild Flowers”. It hung at one time in the minister's office. Then it turned out that employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia purchased the painting from the artist using an illegal scheme. Shchelokov ordered Saryan’s work to be removed from the office, and in the end it ended up in the studio of the artists of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Katusev gives a furious commentary on the episode: the painting was allegedly acquired by order of Shchelokov. Of course, when the Armenian business executives were caught red-handed, they began to babble something like that...

Ten suckling pigs
Where are the deafening revelations that are now flashing everywhere? Patience. First, let's look at the materials of the criminal proceedings. The military investigators from Mirtov’s group, we must give them their due, did not hang too much on the ex-minister.
A sample of the explanations that witness Shchelokov gave during interrogation in July 1984 (after a year and a half of thorough checks):
“...I remember that somehow second-hand books were delivered from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR. I was previously familiarized with the list of these books during the investigation, I examined my personal library, and among the books there were some from Kyiv. I am attaching a list on one sheet of 11 (eleven) pieces to the interrogation protocol, and I will hand over the books themselves in the next day or two.
...I have never had any products made from mammoth tusks, much less the tusks themselves. If anyone talks about such gifts to me, this is sheer nonsense.
...I categorically deny that from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan. The SSR allegedly gave me an Uzbek carpet measuring 10x10 m. The announced testimony of the accused Kalinin that this carpet, allegedly cut into 4 parts in Moscow, was distributed to the apartments of my family members, I consider stupidity and a slander. We don’t have and couldn’t have any “carpet quarters” in our apartments...
...For the first time today I hear that allegedly from Tsepkov //(then head of the Moscow Region Main Internal Affairs Directorate - Author)// 10 suckling piglets were delivered for my 70th birthday. This is nonsense. There were no more than 15 people at my table at dacha No. 8, and the entire kitchen was organized through the Prague restaurant.
And so on. Explanations are given by a man who could move millions (what is 500 thousand rubles in 1982? Five appointments to police positions somewhere in Uzbekistan...) They also ask him about “carpet quarters” and suckling pigs.
...Since the spring of 1983, closed certificates about the “second life” of the 50th minister began to appear on the desks of members of the Politburo, the Central Committee, and other responsible comrades. Such a document marked “Secret” is a powerful weapon. You believe everything about it at once. This is not a court decision for you. After all, a closed certificate is being compiled based on operational information from the special services. Not a joke.
What did such certificates contain? One of them, distributed among members of the Central Committee on the eve of the June 1983 Plenum, Chernenko gave to his assistant Viktor Pribytkov to read. V. Pribytkov writes in his memoirs:
“The document meticulously listed all the sins of the Minister of Internal Affairs: the fact that he “grabbed” several official Mercedes for personal use, and the fact that he did not disdain to take to his home and dacha, as well as distribute to close relatives, property seized by the police evidence and confiscated works of art and antiques... I remember that I was struck by two facts - the organization of an underground store “for our own”, in which those seized things were sold that were not attractive to the chief himself “above the entire police”; and the fact that members of the Shchelokov family were seen exchanging huge sums in worn, captured, rather dilapidated rubles in banks..."
Please note that these terrible accusations are not the development of a criminal case, but, on the contrary, they relate to its very beginning. It's still June 1983. And the ex-minister will be asked about the “pigs” a year later. By that time, the Olympic Mercedes, stolen material evidence and much more will have disappeared. Therefore, before us is gossip - on good paper marked “Confidential”, intended for the top officials of the country. I will not shy away from comments. But first, it is worth mentioning one person, whose testimony mainly served as “operational information.” The head of the HOZU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Viktor Kalinin, is the most serious personnel mistake of the 50th minister. They kept him in office for his entrepreneurial spirit and ability to “solve problems” (a great asset of a business executive in conditions of total Soviet deficit). He turned out to be a swindler and a slanderer. “Black Man” by Minister Shchelokov.
In one of his “candid confessions,” General Kalinin, held in the KGB prison in Lefortovo, reports:
“In the summer of 1979, I went hunting with Shchelokov in the Kaliningrad region. The former head of the Kaliningrad Regional Internal Affairs Directorate, Lieutenant General Valery Mikhailovich Sobolev, was present at the hunt; after the hunt, Shchelokov and I went to the mansion of the Kaliningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU, where the former minister was stationed.
After some time, General Sobolev arrived at the mansion, who gave Shchelokov a chess set made of pure amber with silver edging and a bag of money. I remember Sobolev thanked Shchelokov for transferring him to work in Moscow... Shchelokov gave me the chess for packaging, and the package that Sobolev gave him, he put in his trouser pocket... After a trip to Kaliningrad, the former minister Shchelokov allocated V.M. Sobolev. 4-room apartment (Mira Avenue) through the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR.”
You see, at the same time they found out where Katusev got the truest evidence about the “amber” chess allegedly appropriated by Shchelokov. Let's figure out the rest. General Sobolev's transfer to Moscow took place in 1975, four years before the events described by Kalinin. He received an apartment in the capital only in 1980, the year of the Olympics, having by that time become the head of the 5th Main Directorate (execution of punishments not related to imprisonment). Five years in line for an apartment is even too much for an employee of the central apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs under Shchelokov, especially of this rank. That is, the former head of KHOZU made his “revelations” out of thin air, counting on a softening of his fate.
Military investigators knew the value of the “confessions” of the arrested person. Viktor Shein told me: “Once I came to the pre-trial detention center to interrogate Kalinin. He begins to fantasize. I am recording his testimony in every detail. Spent the day. And then presented him with a refutation. He almost burst into tears: I’m sorry, I lied. That's the essence of it."
In June 1983, on the eve of the party Plenum, Shchelokov’s party comrades “know for certain”: the former minister, abusing Brezhnev’s patronage, appropriated furniture and works of art confiscated from criminals, took over official cars, and organized an underground store for his relatives. He exchanged “old money” in large quantities, which indirectly confirmed that those around him were engaged in fraud. There were no discussions at the Plenum. Shchelokov was removed from the Central Committee.
Now - about the sins of the 50th minister, which in 1983 shocked Viktor Pribytkov and other readers of closed certificates. I'll try to be brief...
The 50th minister did not grab the Olympic Mercedes. In 1984, Fedorchuk ordered to find out the fate of all 12 foreign cars, which after the 1980 Olympics, by agreement with the German side, remained in Moscow. They were safely found in the garage of the Council of Ministers Administration. The results of the inspection were kept silent.
The minister actually exchanged “old” (as in the criminal case) banknotes several times for newer ones. In total, the financiers, at his request, “updated” more than 100 thousand rubles. What is the origin of these funds? Pribytkov paints a picture: the minister is carrying crumpled banknotes, shaken out of the stockings and cans of shop workers, to the cash desk of his department. (How low Nikolai Anisimovich has fallen in the eyes of his party comrades!) But why not take the crumpled rubles, say, to a jewelry store or a savings bank? Let’s take into account that it was not “shabby” ones in the literal sense that were exchanged, but ordinary banknotes - for similar ones in bank packaging. Experts of the time suggest a more plausible explanation. The minister could be asked about this by the heads of delegations going abroad. In some socialist countries it was possible to buy currency on the spot, but they accepted rubles only in bank packaging. It’s also not great: in this case, the minister encouraged the not entirely legal operations of his acquaintances. But these, you see, are not “crumpled banknotes from the cans of shop workers.” Not self-interest - rather a lack of integrity. Besides, we don’t know who asked for it, maybe people who found it very difficult to refuse.
“Closed stores” in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, of course, existed; they belonged to the Voentorg network. The store in question was opened for the needs of the operational staff. The minister had never been there, since he was served in the 200th section of GUM. We talked about the store and stopped.
Now - about the “material evidence” that the 50th minister allegedly used to appropriate. One of the most common unfounded accusations. The property of the entire Shchelokov family was studied very meticulously. They did not find anything that would have been stolen from the museum or taken from convicted criminals. These facts would not be difficult to identify. They would not have escaped the attention of the operatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A circle of careerists formed around Brezhnev's son-in-law Yuri Churbanov, first deputy minister since 1979, who told him gossip about their boss. But Churbanov has never heard anything about fraud with material evidence - he writes about it in his memoirs. All of Shchelokov’s associates I interviewed, who knew him closely, categorically denied that he could have appropriated material evidence, and did not understand why he would need this. They probably could have slipped it, although such facts are not documented. In short, this point is a lie.
Finally, let’s look again at the protocol of Shchelokov’s interrogation, which took place in July 1984. They asked him about “old money” (he avoided answering, perhaps he didn’t want to involve others in this story), about “Mercedes” and the rest - no...
Enough. Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov, from the point of view of claims against him from law enforcement agencies, is the head of the department in which financial and economic abuses were discovered. No less, but no more. The rest is speculation, rooted in the notorious closed certificates for members of the Central Committee. Black PR turned out to be extremely tenacious. For three decades now he has existed outside of facts and evidence, without needing them.
Who needs the truth today?
about the 50th minister?
Let's start with those whose lives it would complicate.
On November 26, 2010, Nikolai Anisimovich would have turned 100 years old. The name of Shchelokov, no matter how you look at it, is associated with an era in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The department did not officially react to this event. There was no such leader in its history. This attitude is understandable.
The current police stability is already more than ten years old (counting from the moment Vladimir Putin came to power). A period comparable in duration to Shchelokov’s 16th anniversary. In both cases, the department was headed by ministers close to the top officials of the state. Now let's compare the results. In the prosperous 1970s for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the ministry turned into one of the most influential departments in the country; the police became better paid, equipped, equipped, more educated and polite. In the prosperous 2000s, the department reached its breaking point, the prestige of the profession fell, the word “policeman” became almost a dirty word, and has now completely fallen out of circulation. Why remember now about Shchelokov’s 16th anniversary? There was no such period, there is nothing to take from there. We have police “reform” here, don’t interfere.
The achievements of the 50th minister will not be recognized at the official level.
Is society ready to take a fresh look at the figure of Shchelokov? The situation here is strange. Many sincerely believe that his rehabilitation is a harmful and reactionary matter. Excuse me, but the minister was slandered by the physical