“In terms of security, Gorbachev was a normal, European person, without any costs. Yes, he could suddenly stop the motorcade and go out to the people, which, naturally, caused certain difficulties in his work. But these were all solvable problems. And Raisa Maksimovna, I personally met with her more than once, is a very reasonable woman, she personally treated me very well. I remember one story at the dacha.
An ordinary walk, I walk behind Gorbachev in a flight jacket with a machine gun. Suddenly, Mikhail Sergeevich stops and starts waving his hand at me. In accordance with the instructions of the KGB of the USSR, I informed the station attached that it was urgently necessary to approach the object. However, it didn’t work out urgently. And Mikhail Sergeevich began to get nervous. In short, he started shouting: “Run to me!” I imitate moving towards the president, in the hope that the attached one will appear now. Mikhail Sergeevich asked to prepare the cars for the trip to the Kremlin, and he himself went further.
Raisa Maksimovna deliberately left him behind, came up to me, smiled, asked my name and… apologized for my husband. From that moment on, normal human contact with Raisa Maksimovna appeared. When she arrived at “Vysota” (residence in the Kremlin), she saw me and always asked how I was doing, if everything was okay.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
