Yevgeny Primakov: biography, personal life, photo

According to official documents, Yevgeny Primakov was born on October 29, 1929 in Kiev. This version contradicts the assertion of his daughter that his father was born in Moscow. One way or another, but the future statesman spent his childhood in Georgian Tbilisi. In 1953 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies, and three years later - postgraduate study at Moscow State University.

Journalist and scientist

Journalism is the first sphere with which the professional career of the orientalist was connected. So says the official biography of Primakov Yevgeny. The nationality of the Eastern peoples, the life of Asia and Africa, was what interested the young specialist. He worked as an observer and correspondent in Pravda. As a journalist, Primakov met with many eastern political leaders: Yasser Arafat, Mustafa Barzani, Saddam Hussein, etc.

At the age of 40 the correspondent again went deep into science. In the years 1977-1985. Primakov was the head of the Institute of Oriental Studies. In the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the scientist was engaged in the problems of world politics, he was developing new theoretical methods. Biography Primakov Yevgeny (whose nationality is Russian, according to the maternal line relatives were Jews) was associated with the economy, by which he defended his thesis. For some time the scientist taught at the Moscow Diplomatic Academy. It is with this period of Primakov's life that biographers associate his first close ties with external intelligence and the KGB. There are no official confirmations to this, however.

Primakov wrote many monographs and memoirs. His scientific works relate to international themes. As a scientist, the author investigated the phenomenon of colonialism, the countries of Africa, Egypt of the Nasser era, the way to a peaceful settlement in the Middle East. Primakov also wrote monographs on energy. Memoirs of the former Prime Minister began to appear in the 2000s. The last such book, Meetings at the Crossroads, was published in 2015.

Personal life

For the first time the future politician married in 1951. His wife was a student Laura Kharadze. They had two children. Son Alexander became a graduate student at the Institute of Oriental Studies, probation in the United States. He died in 1981 at the age of 27 because of a heart attack. This loss was hard for Yevgeny Primakov. The wife, whose photo is not replicated in the public space, died in 1987. The second wife of Primakov was Irina Bokareva, who for a long time was his official personal doctor.

The beginning of political career

Political biography of Yevgeny Primakov began in 1988, when he became close to the CPSU General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. It is believed that it was the then head of state who insisted that the native of the academic environment participate in elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The 1988 campaign was unique. In fact, those elections were the first elections in many decades on an alternative basis. Yevgeny Primakov was also elected to the parliament. The biography of the new policy was connected with international relations. They and he took up as a member of the Supreme Council.

It was an extremely noisy and vibrant parliament, which turned out to be a novelty for the Soviet society. Primakov was not afraid to work in a new format. He became a participant in the first debate of American congressmen and Russian deputies, held live on TV in the form of a space bridge. In 1988, Mikhail Gorbachev made one of his most famous international visits to China. The organizer of the trip was Evgeni Primakov. His biography, nationality, and the track record of the deputy were already well known to his colleagues all over the world and to ordinary Soviet citizens. Primakov entered a galaxy of vivid politicians, discovered by Gorbachev's perestroika.

The General Secretary of the CPSU was extremely respectful of Evgeny Maksimovich. The head of state consistently gave him all the new positions of responsibility. Primakov joined the Security Council of the USSR, and in the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR became chairman. This gradual rise was interrupted in August 1991, when the August putsch broke out. Among those officials who took the blocked Gorbachev from Foros, then was Yevgeny Primakov. The biography of the politician has passed an important milestone. Now he had to demonstrate his skills and talents in completely new conditions of democratic Russia.

Head of the SVR

Relations between Yevgeny Primakov and Boris Yeltsin were complex and contradictory. The Russian president respected the "patriarch of Russian politics," but in fact never trusted him. First, because Primakov was considered a "Gorbachev man", and in the late 1990s, - already because of the dangerous popularity of an official with the electorate.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a personnel vacuum was created in Russia. The authorities lacked people with experience and knowledge. That is why Yevgeny Primakov was so in demand. The biography of the politician for many years has been associated with international relations. In this regard, in 1991, he was appointed to the post of newly created foreign intelligence service.

The main thing that Primakov achieved at this post was that he managed to finally divide the SVR and the KGB, which was soon renamed the FSB. This disengagement has long been ripe. Personnel chekists and scouts never particularly liked each other, and now, finally, there was a man who allowed these intra-departmental tensions. It was Yevgeny Primakov. Biography, nationality, merits of the politician - all this is now widely known due to his many years of diligence in various public positions. In the SVR under Primakov, there were scandals. The loudest failure was the case of Agent Aldrich Ames.

Foreign Secretary

In early 1996, Boris Yeltsin appointed Yevgeny Primakov Minister of Foreign Affairs. His predecessor, Andrei Kozyrev, followed the pro-American course. The biography of Yevgeny Primakov, his experience and the former rhetoric in advance, said that he would lead the national diplomacy differently. So it happened. To the USA, Primakov was extremely reserved. For the first year as a minister he visited 40 countries, but the States on this list was not demonstrative.

It is believed that Yeltsin appointed Primakov, since anti-American rhetoric in the crisis-ridden country was extremely popular among the broad masses of the people. The change of course (even symbolic) was all the more important that the president had the second election at his nose (which he eventually won).

The first thing that he did as Minister of Primakov, was to win the famous building in Smolensk Square (formerly the Ministry of Foreign Trade was also in it). The new head of the agency conducted rotation of personnel, changed the workplace of diplomats and forced them to travel around the world to expand their horizons.

Prime Minister

In 1998, Russia defaulted, followed by the resignation of the government of Sergei Kiriyenko. The State Duma twice refused to return to the post of Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. In the current crisis situation, the head of the government was Yevgeny Primakov. Photos of the new prime minister did not go from editorials of newspapers. Formally, it was the height of his career.

Primakov again had to perform the functions of a "crisis manager". His government was conservative and somewhat left-wing. In the end, the Prime Minister and the ministers managed to lead the country out of the acute crisis. Gradual economic growth began. Inflation fell. Active negotiations were held on loans with the International Monetary Fund. The budget for 1999 was adopted immediately in the first reading, which was unusual for the fragmented and mired in the internal conflicts of the State Duma. When the Communists initiated the impeachment of Yeltsin, the Prime Minister opposed this idea.

Upside over the Atlantic

As the head of the government, Primakov pursued a multi-vector foreign policy, which he led as foreign minister. On March 24, 1999 there was the most striking episode of that premiership. To many, the biography of Primakov Yevgeny Maksimovich is known for this occasion - the turn over the Atlantic. The Prime Minister flew to the United States on an official visit, where important documents on cooperation between the two states were to be signed. Over the Atlantic Ocean, Primakov learned that NATO had decided to start bombing Yugoslavia. Then the board turned around and went back to Moscow.

Biography Primakov Yevgeny Maksimovich is an example of a politician who tried to talk with everyone on an equal footing - be it Americans or authoritarian eastern leaders. At the same time, the Prime Minister personally managed to become an authority for everyone with whom Russia dealt.

Resignation

In 1999, Yeltsin and Primakov finally parted ways. On May 12, Sergey Stepashin became prime minister . In the dismissed Primakov, Yeltsin saw an ever greater threat to his own power. The liberated politician did not remain idle. Approximate elections to the State Duma were approaching. In the parliament there was a new block "Fatherland - All Russia". Its main figures were Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiev and Yevgeny Primakov himself. Biography, family, photo politics - all this again became public.

Throughout 1999, Primakov was the focus of media attention. Widely known throughout the country was the program of Sergei Dorenko on ORT, where he openly criticized the former prime minister. Lobbying for the financial interests of the spouse, bribery from the Iraqi authorities is far from everything that Yevgeny Primakov was accused of. Photo of the family and news about his alleged operation on the hip were known to all Russian viewers.

Again in Parliament

Today, many call the information campaign ORT baiting against the rushing into the State Duma Primakov. In response to all the new reports on television, the politician publicly laughed and laughed. Many years later, it became clear from the interviews of his relatives that the persecution had become an extremely painful blow to the policy of Soviet hardening.

One way or another, but in the State Duma came the "Fatherland - All Russia" bloc, and Yevgeny Primakov himself, biography, personal life and other facts about which in the daily regime were chewed in the media. In parliament, the "new old" deputy worked only two years. At meetings, he always sat next to Vyacheslav Volodin, who became Vladimir Putin's deputy head of the presidential administration, and later chairman of the same State Duma. The politician called Primakov his main teacher. Attitude to Yevgeny Maksimovich as a senior mentor is typical for many representatives of the modern state elite of Russia.

President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry

In the "Putin era," Yevgeny Primakov, whose biography has already passed all the stages of career growth in the civil service, was much in demand at the top of the list. Affected in the first place was an honorable age. Primakov began his political career as an elderly man, and at the turn of the century he was already over 70. In 2001-2011, He was president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia. Although Primakov withdrew into the shadows, he never had a conflict with Vladimir Putin. The head of state himself referred to the titanium of domestic politics with demonstrative respect.

Primakov seldom gave advice to the authorities, even less often appeared his interview in the media. The politician in general was distinguished by public impenetrability. Journalists often pointed out that it was almost impossible to draw anything extra from him during the interview. In 2006, Primakov, speaking to the first persons, said about the need to reorient the economy from the "raw needle" to innovation. Such rhetoric later became the leitmotif of the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev. Also, Yevgeny Maksimovich was chairman of the friendly "Mercury Club", where veterans of a large domestic policy met. Vladimir Putin was regularly acquainted with the analytical notes and reports of these meetings.

Last years

It is known that shortly before the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the Russian president sent him as a diplomat to Primakov (they were familiar since 1969). With delegations, Yevgeny Maksimovich visited Iraq at the end of the Soviet era. Then the American operation "Desert Storm" was approaching. Primakov took out Soviet specialists from Iraq and their families (about five thousand people), and persuaded the country's authorities not to hide behind a living shield from Western citizens.

In the higher circles the former prime minister was informally known as "Primus", and on his last 85th birthday he received as a gift from the president a Primus stove with the signature "Record 1". The last time Primakov appeared in public in January 2015 at a meeting of the Mercury Club. The politician died in a few months (June 26). The cause of death was liver cancer, which for a long time was ill with Eugene Primakov. Biography, family, services to the country - all this was again discussed during the funeral and civil funeral. The farewell ceremony with the politician was broadcast live on state television, which once again clearly demonstrated the important place of Yevgeny Maksimovich in the modern history of Russia.