Catherine Rozhdestvenskaya - biography, information, personal life

Alla Borisovna Kireeva, 1933 - 2015
Photo: Felix Rosenstein / Gordonua.com

Natalia DVALI
Editor, journalist (original)

We phoned Alla Kireeva in early November 2014, after the Ilovaisk cauldron, in which up to a thousand Ukrainian soldiers died, the first Minsk talks were held, and parliamentary elections were held. Alla Borisovna felt bad, spoke quietly and slowly, but really wanted to convey the main thing: “It is high time for Russians to open their eyes, turn on their brains and finally understand who and why they are fooling them.” We once again publish this interview in memory of Alla Borisovna Kireeva.

Robert Rozhdestvensky is a cult poet of the sixties, the author of several hundred songs, including “Don’t think about seconds down”, “Something has become with my memory”, “My years are my wealth”. This year marks exactly 20 years since his death. Of the released 62 years, 41 years Robert Ivanovich lived with his beloved wife - literary critic Alla Kireeva.

How they, so different, managed to save the family, Alla Borisovna herself cannot answer. Rozhdestvensky - the idol of the generation, the poet, caressed Soviet power, Kireeva is a rebel and a truth-teller who hated the Communist Party and the Soviet system all her life. “Robka really sincerely trusted everything he saw and heard for a very long time,” Kireeva recalled. - I remember that in 1978 he suddenly announced that he was going to join the party ... I could not stand it: “So, this is how: one application to the party, the second - to the registry office for divorce. I won’t live with a party member!”

Alla Kireeva and Robert Rozhdestvensky lived together for 41 years, they have two daughters: Ekaterina and Ksenia Rozhdestvensky. Robert Ivanovich died in 1994 . Photo: Konstantin Eremenko / Facebook

The inflexible character of Kireeva can be judged by one eloquent episode. For the 70th anniversary of the poet Andrei Voznesensky, the ex-managing director of the President of the Russian Federation (both Yeltsin and Putin) Pavel Borodin granted. As the Kremlin official climbed onto the stage, Kireeva, who was sitting in the front row, loudly shouted: “The thief should be in jail!”

“The last thing I remember is the crazy eyes of Zoya Boguslavskaya (Voznesensky’s wife. - "GORDON"). Kireeva admitted. - It broke out ... Pal Palych (Borodin. - "GORDON"), of course, a charming-looking man ... But Christmas trees! You are a poet! Yes, Robka would hang himself if I told him: “Let's invite Pal Palych ...” It’s better to eat crackers instead of white bread than to drag such people to the doorstep!

- Alla Borisovna, do you understand what Putin is trying to achieve?

– Neither the new USSR nor Russian empire he doesn't need. Putin's goal is to build fur coat storage facilities for himself and his inner circle. These are business tasks and nothing more.

- And Vladimir Vladimirovich assures that "the most important tragedy is the alienation of the Ukrainian and Russian peoples", which allegedly contributed a lot to the West.

- Putin himself arranged all the most important tragedies in Russia over the past 15 years. I emphasize: the tragedies are arranged by him and only by him!

- Judging by opinion polls, the Russian people do not think so, otherwise how does the president of the Russian Federation get an 84% rating?

“Today, almost everyone inside Russia likes Putin, but tomorrow, when the state begins to get into the wallets of the layman in order to secure Crimea and support the militants in the Donbass, they will not like it very much. Soon the Kremlin's promises to create "Novorossiya" will disappoint, even anger, most of the Russian inhabitants.

- And the Maidan will appear on Red Square?

- Russia will not have enough strength for its Maidan, instead, robberies and bloody robberies will begin.

- Why is Ukraine causing such aggression and hatred in the Russian layman?

– Most Russians are brainwashed by television propaganda. The people have forgotten how to think and work, and they do not want to. Therefore, a neighbor who took fate into his own hands causes rejection and irritation.

- It is strange that the younger generation, who do not know the USSR, but perfectly understand what the West is, succumbed to propaganda.

- Young people in Russia grew up with the TV turned on, which they absolutely believed and still believe. Now they are entangled in the Internet, reading all sorts of nonsense instead of books. In Russia, there is very tough propaganda that changes consciousness, for me this is an absolutely real fact.

Our generation starts to get sick when they watch TV and once again see how they lied to us. I want to intervene, but we can't change anything. Therefore, it is probably high time to spit on it.

I sat on TV for days on end, watching the Orange Revolution! All "orange" was! You know, I thought: “Well, at least they will finally have a pleasant, civilized, European country, since we can’t do anything.” If something encouraging starts in Russia, it will not be very soon. Everything has rusted, everything has been sold, betrayed, trampled on… Everywhere there are some temporary workers who have forgotten what Russia is. No honor, no dignity...

2006, Alla Kireeva's interview with the weekly "Gordon Boulevard"

– How do you escape from the Kremlin propaganda?

- I read Russian classics, I don’t watch TV, where the same faces with foam at the mouth and with crazy eyes are talking nonsense. Enough. Propaganda can't work on me.

– Why do so many representatives of the creative intelligentsia of Russia - writers, artists, musicians - not only do not oppose Putin's policy, but actively support it?

“Because they have a slavish, lackey soul.

- Have you noticed that among the Russian leaders who signed the letter in support of Putin, there is not a single poet?

– Poets are rather thin material. It's good that in Ukraine they noticed: there are no signatures of real poets under the letter. And that's great. I understand why contempt for the Russians has matured in Ukrainian society. It's horrible. It will take decades of hard work to restore the old relationship.

- Do you personally feel the effects of sanctions?

– I am so decrepit that I rarely go shopping, because Western sanctions have not touched me. And Russia's retaliatory sanctions look infantile. It's a terrible kindergarten habit: "Ah, are you like that? Then we are for you!” When a Russian layman says: “It's good that Western goods have been banned, now the domestic producer will rise,” he does not understand how much time and technology it takes to grow, for example, his own wheat. But where to go, such people in Russia ...

How will the Russian-Ukrainian war end?

- Impossible to predict. The Kremlin authorities are unpredictable, it is completely unclear what they want tomorrow. I think that in the end Ukraine will become a free European country, and Russia will still get up from its knees.

– What would you wish our peoples?

- I wish Ukraine to quickly become a real firm fist and try not to hate Russia. Believe me, not all Russians are to blame for what is happening now. I wish the Russians only one thing: to open their eyes, turn on their brains and finally understand who and why are fooling them.

Get caught in our nets:

You know,
I want every word
this morning poem
suddenly reached out to your hands,
like
a bored lilac branch.
You know,
I want every line
suddenly bursting out of size
and the whole line
tearing to shreds
managed to respond in your heart.
You know,
I want every letter
I would look at you lovingly.
And be filled with sun
as if
a drop of dew on the palm of a maple.
You know,
I want the February blizzard
humbly at your feet sprawled.
And want,
for us to love each other
so many,
how long do we have to live.

“We met at the Literary Institute. - said Alla Kireeva. - Robert transferred to our course from the philological faculty of Karelian University. This shy provincial (but at the same time a boxer, volleyball player and basketball player who played for the national team of Karelia, where the Games in memory of Robert Rozhdestvensky are still held), was simply “stuffed” with poetry. The atmosphere in the Literary Institute was amazing. Students in washed, worn tracksuits, standing on the stairs, read their poems, now and then heard the generous: “Old man, you are a genius!” Robert was different. Kindness and shyness attracted him ... “We coincided with you, coincided on a day that will be remembered forever. How words match lips. With a dry throat - water. We really matched him. We have a lot of similar destinies. My parents divorced and I was raised by my grandmother. I was on my own. So is Rob. After the war (when his mother remarried), his brother was born, and his parents were not up to their eldest son. This is how “two lonelinesses met”. We lived together for 41 years.

Everything starts with love...
They say:
"At first
was
word".
And I proclaim again:
Everything starts
with love!

It all starts with love
and illumination
and work
flower eyes,
child's eyes
everything starts with love.

Everything starts with love.
With love!
I know it for sure.
All,
even hatred -
native
and eternal
sister of love.

It all starts with love
dream and fear
wine and gunpowder.
Tragedy,
yearning
and feat -
everything starts with love.

Spring whispers to you:
"Live".
And you shake from the whisper.
And straighten up.
And you will begin.
Everything starts
with love!

Almost all poems about love are dedicated to her - "beloved Alyonushka." Including the poem "Nocturne", which was written at the request of Joseph Kobzon and became a song to the music of the composer Arno Babajanyan.

“Dear, dear Alyonushka! For the first time in forty years I am sending you a letter from the second floor of our dacha to the first floor. So, the time has come. I thought for a long time what to give you for this - (I still don't believe it!) - common anniversary. And then I saw the three-volume book standing on the shelf and even laughed with joy and gratitude to you. The whole morning I bookmarked those verses that (even since the 51st year!) are somehow related to you ... You are a co-author of almost everything that I wrote ... ”And dying, he begged:“ Whatever happens, you, please, live, live happily always.

Between me and you - the rumble of non-existence,
star seas,
secret seas.

my gentle
my strange?
If you want, if you can, remember me
remember me
remember me.
Though by chance, at least once, remember me,
my long love.

moments and years
dreams and clouds.
I command them and you now to fly.

How do you live now, my spring,
my gentle
my strange?
I wish you happiness, my dear,
my long love!

I'll come to your aid - just call,
just call
call softly.

the call of my love
the pain of my love!
Only you stay the same - live reverently,
live sunny,
live happily!
Whatever happens, you please live
always live happily.

And between me and you - centuries,
moments and years
dreams and clouds.
I'm ordering them to fly to you now.
Because I love you even more.

May the light of my love be with you all the time,
the call of my love
the pain of my love!
Whatever happens, you please live.
Live happily ever after.

In this happy marriage, in 1957 and 1970, Robert and Alla had two daughters. One of them, Ekaterina Robertovna, became a translator fiction from English and French, journalist and photographer. As a studio photographer, she became known for a series of works called "Private Collection" in the glossy magazine "Caravan of stories", as well as a number of other works. Another daughter, Ksenia Robertovna, became a journalist.

This letter from Robert Rozhdestvensky has a little background.

In the late eighties, once again in the capital, I stopped, as usual, at the Tsentralnaya Hotel, located obliquely from his house on Gorky, and after a while dialed a familiar number. I had no doubt: if not in the next half an hour, then in the next day or two we would definitely meet. If only he was in Moscow ...

The phone, as often happened, was picked up by Alla. Alla is Alla Borisovna Kireeva, Robert's wife and an authoritative literary critic, author of books on poetry, which he invariably called Alena in his poems and poems (more precisely, in dedications to them). I was already used to the fact that after the exchange of greetings, she loudly - so that it could be heard in Robert's office - passed the telephone baton to him. Didn't deliver this time...

- Robert is sick.
- What about him?

She didn't answer right away, leaving her harsh intonation along the way.

- He's got a tumor. In the brain...

It's my turn to take a break. Finally asked:

- What do the doctor's say?
- Doctors say - benign ...

Hope, of course, but something broke in me ...

... Over time, from telephone conversations, I learned that Robert was operated on. In France. And many months later, his face - haggard, blackened, with traces of surgery on his forehead visible even on the television screen - flashed in one of the programs. Returned! And, therefore, it's time to remind the Omsk people about the poet, to write an article, having previously phoned Robert.

From the editorial office of the Omsk Messenger, located opposite the house where the poet spent his childhood, he decided to call Moscow, hoping to talk with the poet. I, in turn, set myself up to be extremely careful in the conversation. If it takes place at all ... But the day turned out to be extremely successful - Robert himself answered, and from the very first words it became clear how unfounded my fears were. Smooth voice, answers questions without the slightest tension and, as always, jokes a lot. When he found out that I was calling from the editorial office, located across the street from his house, he completely perked up. We talked for a long time.

I did not want to limit myself to extracts from my previous essays, and I began to ask about my father, Stanislav Nikodimovich Petkevich. Few people knew then that the surname "Rozhdestvensky" and the patronymic "Ivanovich" went to Robert from his stepfather, Ivan Ivanovich Rozhdestvensky, but he did not consider it possible to publish such information without obtaining consent. Now he has given it. He even supplemented the information known to me with some details and, it was felt, did this not without satisfaction, apparently having decided something for himself even earlier. Then they turned to other topics. Only halfway did he catch himself and ask how he felt.

It's okay, old man. Working. I work a lot, - I heard in response and understood: if something is wrong, Robert will not stoop to complaints. He was indifferent to strong people, wrote about them more than once, and when the difficult hour came, it turned out that he was in no way inferior to his heroes. A rare example for a great poet and big man merged together. So Robert's mother, a front-line doctor who had seen various patients in her long medical life, was amazed at her son's resilience.

“... It is simply incomprehensible ... - we read in her memoirs. - Knowing about his imminent death,<…>behaved with dignity, whenever possible he wrote poems that became masterpieces.<…>Agree, this is not available to all mortal people. And for me, he was always a bright boy, as they called him in kindergarten in Omsk".

Vera Pavlovna did not exaggerate. Those who are lucky enough to read “The Last Poems of Robert Rozhdestvensky”, collected after the death of his wife and youngest daughter Xenia, will confirm: this is great book. Even colleagues in the writing workshop, who did not complain painfully about the poet during his lifetime, after reading it, dramatically changed their opinion about Rozhdestvensky.

“The book is about approaching death, about the expectation of death. It can be said that it is an attempt to sum up, the last spurt of the soul: to find meaning in what happened, - this is how Lev Anninsky described "The Last Poems ...". And he continued: - But more than anything, and deeper than anything, and more muffled - the very struggle of the soul with the impending non-existence, the attempt not to bend. Purely "Christmas" defense with humor:

Quietly flying web threads.
The sun shines on the window pane...
Did I do something wrong?
Sorry:
I lived for the first time
on this earth.

<…>Rozhdestvensky's courage is not only in confronting physical death, although this is also shocking: "The Unsent Letter to the Surgeon" will be re-read more than once from a human point of view. But there is more: the courage of the spirit, looking into the eyes of emptiness. Calm denial of emptiness. Through statement.<…>Now, looking back at his painful life, I bow before him ... "

When Robert was diagnosed with cancer in the early 1990s, our doctors refused to operate: there was not the slightest hope. With which the French doctors disagreed. The matter was small - the opening of a visa and an impressive amount of money. It took about 6 months to resolve these issues.

“We went to important officials, bought currency (then, in the early 90s, it could only be bought at Vnesheconombank after providing a bunch of certificates, analyzes, biographies and petitions, and then through great connections) ...” - Ekaterina Rozhdestvenskaya will tell.

Who knows how soon their efforts would have reached their goal if Iosif Kobzon and Vladimir Panchenkone had reached the very top. They ordered to exchange rubles for foreign currency, but it was not enough even for the first operation. The bills of the Val de Grasse military hospital were paid by Robert's French and Russian friends, mainly Alex Moskovich. Several years of life were won from a deadly disease. And - "The last verses ...".

"Unsent Letter to the Surgeon".

Dear doctor!
You don't know yet
that you will operate on me.
And I've already been told
that I have a tumor in my brain
the size of a chicken egg,
(Interesting,
who brought the chicken
laying such eggs?! ..)
I got bad grades in anatomy school.
But today the soft word "tumor"
scolds me and scares me, -
(especially since for some reason it grows
against my will)…
No, I believe, of course, the doctors' stories,
that "the operation will go well",
I believe that it is "not too complicated"
and "almost not dangerous at all",
but still, still, doctor,
I hope that at school you
anatomy was ok
and that your hands do not tremble,
and my heart beats steadily...
Your profession is very clear, doctor,
too obvious.
But after all, we, who compose poetry,
we are also trying to operate on tumors,
eternal tumors of dishonor and malice,
envy and thoughtlessness!
We operate with words.
And the words - (You understand, doctor!) -
no match for your drills, cutters and saws
(or what else do you have?!).
Words bounce off human skulls
like hailstones from iron roofs...
So what if the operation fails?
(Of course, this does not happen to you, but suddenly ...)
So, if the operation fails,
You will surely be offended.
And I will instantly forget about everything.
I won't be able to.
Forever nothing...
…But don't be too sad, doctor. No need.
You're not to blame.
Let's count with you
that the strange chicken is to blame for everything,
that someone once brought out
just for that
so that it is in the human brain
carried
these eggs are tumors.

As a result of a successful operation performed in France, Rozhdestvensky lived for more than 4 years and continued to create.

Robert Ivanovich Rozhdestvensky died in Moscow on August 19, 1994, the immediate cause of death was a heart attack. He was buried at the Peredelkino cemetery. In the same year, the collection "The Last Poems of Robert Rozhdestvensky" was published in Moscow. And in 1997, the name of Robert Rozhdestvensky was given to a minor planet, registered in the international catalog of minor planets under No. 5360.

Before his death, Robert Rozhdestvensky wrote a letter to his wife: “Dear, dear Alyonushka! For the first time in forty years I am sending you a letter from the second floor of our dacha to the first floor. So, the time has come. I thought for a long time what to give you for this - (I still don't believe it!) - common anniversary. And then I saw a three-volume book standing on a shelf and even laughed with joy and gratitude to you. The whole morning I bookmarked those verses that (even since the 51st year!) One way or another, are related to you ... You are a co-author of almost everything that I wrote.

11 years ago, on August 1, the poet passed away "Do not think about seconds down", "Something has become with my memory", "My years are my wealth", "Sweet berry" - songs based on poems by Robert Rozhdestvensky once then they sang on the streets and in the trains.

And even now, if not everyone knows them, then very, very many. Less familiar with his poetry, but this does not stop Robert Rozhdestvensky from being a poet in history and literature.

Stuttering saved Khrushchev from wrath In the 60s, young Akhmadulina, Okudzhava, Rozhdestvensky, Yevtushenko and Voznesensky assembled stadiums. It is curious that the entertainers who were invited to entertain the audience in the first part were booed. Now, when on TV from morning to evening the concerts of "humorists" are played, it's hard to believe.

One of the heroes of the poetic fever of those years, Robert Rozhdestvensky did not live long - 62 years, but happily. As the poet Vladimir Gneushev put it, “daughter after daughter, book after book.” He had everything: talent, early fame, prosperity (an apartment on Gorky Street, a dacha in Peredelkino, a Volga car), and a wonderful wife, and two daughters . The eldest, Ekaterina, a translator and photographer, is now famous for a series of photo projects in the Caravan of History magazine, the youngest, Ksenia, is a journalist. Thanks to her, a book of memoirs about Rozhdestvensky was published.

I can’t say that dad got along with his fame, ”Ksenia recalls. - He didn’t like being recognized on the street, he strove to hide. When my father spoke in public, I was worried - every time he was worried and stuttered even more. And I stood and thought: "God, if only it all ended!" Mother was also nervous, standing backstage: she could not sit in the hall. On stage, he was always uncomfortable. If he were alive now, he would be more interested in Komarovsky dermatitis in children as a father than social events with various cultural figures.

Now this condition would be called social phobia. However, the poet Andrei Voznesensky assures that when Khrushchev gave a dressing down to the “masters of the word” in the Kremlin, stuttering saved Rozhdestvensky from the wrath of the Secretary General: “Robert went to the podium, but he was so worried that he could hardly speak, he could not connect two words. That's when he read poetry, never stuttered.

I don’t know, maybe he felt sorry for him. "At the dacha in Peredelkino they drank until the morning - I remember a bunch of letters from fans. Among them there were also" city crazy "who made appointments with him - without specifying in which city, on which street, - Xenia continues: “I will stand on the corner and wait. You will immediately recognize me "- something like this. As a child, I read them with horror and was upset:" How is it? The man is probably waiting. "

The fans didn't stand a chance. For 41 years, Rozhdestvensky lived with one woman, Alla Kireeva, a literary critic by profession. "Whatever happens, you, please, live, always live happily." - the famous lines of "Nocturne" are dedicated to her. He gave poems to his Alena (as the poet called Alla Kireeva) all his life.

On some holiday, most likely the wedding anniversary, her father presented her with a three-volume book, ”says Ksenia. - Bookmarks stuck out of the first two books - on the pages where there were poems dedicated to my mother, and in the third volume there were not even bookmarks - because it was all addressed to her. These books are still in our house with those bookmarks.

"Robert needed me. And only me. And our girls. And my mother. And it seemed to me that there was a rival around every corner," Kireeva wrote about her relationship with the poet. And in a conversation with "Interlocutor" she added:

I have never met anyone like Rob. He was monogamous, a homebody. But I try to think less about how happy I was with him - it poisons the rest of my life.

Rozhdestvensky lived openly and hospitably. - Feltsman, Fradkin, Bogoslovsky, who constantly teased everyone, other wonderful people came, - Ksenia recalls. - As a child, I loved to sit under the piano, so that no one saw me, and listened to how they play, come up with a "fish" - a set of words that match the melody, laugh. There were always so many people in the city apartment and at the dacha in Peredelkino!

I don't even understand when our guests were engaged own life. I woke up at seven in the morning, went out into the living room, and there was a mountain of dishes, empty glasses and cigarettes were still smoking in ashtrays - that is, people had just left. And this happened quite often. It was a fun life - it's a pity, as a child I took it for granted and did not remember the details.

In those days, a rare meeting among the "sixties" did without alcohol - imitating the heroes of Hemingway, the writers drank, sat at the tables for a long time, argued until the morning. Of course, Rozhdestvensky's house was no exception.

But at some point the poet gave up alcohol. When they tried to persuade him to drink, he answered: “Guys, I heard all your arguments. And the fact that I’m not Russian, since I don’t drink, and that I’m not a peasant, since I don’t I drink, you can’t get me through anything: I don’t drink. (From the memoirs of Grigory Gorin.)

In his youth, he wrote about "doctors-poisoners" Everyone who knew Robert Ivanovich noted two of his qualities - kindness and a peculiar sense of humor.

He never laughed, - recalls the poet Andrei Dementiev. - He spoke very seriously. And you won’t understand whether it’s a joke or not, but everyone was laughing around. Because it was very smart. It was easy with him. It was possible to freeze any stupidity.

"It was said about Robert in literary circles that he did no evil when he was the secretary of the Writers' Union. This is the rarest case, because all secretaries were marked with evil."

(From the memoirs of Bulat Okudzhava.) - We never spoke heart to heart, - the youngest daughter continues the theme of kindness, - but dad radiated such love and warmth that it was not necessary to say anything. They didn’t even punish me, didn’t bring me up on purpose, didn’t conduct moralizing conversations. Once, at the age of six, they put me in a corner.

I don't remember why. I never saw how he works, because dad closed himself in the office. My grandmother loved to tell how one day, at the age of two, I stood in front of the office door and announced: “You can’t go to him. He works.” But dad willingly read fresh poems to us.

The poet was published in huge editions both in the Soviet Union and abroad, so the family did not need it. He traveled a lot - together with his wife, Rozhdestvensky traveled the whole world as part of writers' delegations. But he was indifferent to luxury, clothes, cars: Alla Borisovna made sure that the tie matched the shirt. His poise was combined with excitement at his leisure, he liked to fight backgammon, preference and the fool. All my life I went in for sports - I loved football, volleyball, ping-pong.

Dad had his own style of play, - the daughter recalls, - I have not seen this with anyone. He stood far from the table - it looked very nice from the side.

But Robert Ivanovich was really worried about engravings and books about Moscow, which he collected all his life: a significant part of the fees went to this hobby. Rozhdestvensky called himself a product of his time. In his youth, he believed in both a "bright future" and "poison doctors"

He even wrote a long poem on such a topical topic, but later admitted: "I will always be ashamed of these lines." He spoke to both ordinary spectators and Kremlin officials.

Moreover, this was not perceived as an attempt to curry favor, but was considered an honor, - says Ksenia. - My father believed in the whole thing. I remember, at the age of 16, I read Solzhenitsyn in photocopies and asked him: "Is this really true?" And he said, "No way. How could you think that?" But from abroad he brought collections of poems by Gumilyov, Mandelstam, Akhmatova.

A book that contained nothing but an idea could not captivate him. He sincerely joined the CPSU. When he was a deputy, he tried to give everyone apartments, feed the hungry, and help the disabled. Very calm, kind, dad had a great desire to make everyone happy. If possible, then all of humanity, if not, at least those who are nearby. It broke when the system collapsed and it became clear that it was not at all about the happiness of all people on earth. And in what happened in the country, the father blamed himself first of all.

At the beginning of the 0s, a brain tumor was discovered in the poet. The family fought for him for five years - they bought currency at the extortionate rate of Vneshtorgbank to pay for the operation, looked for a clinic, got medicines. After a successful operation in Paris, Rozhdestvensky lived for another 4 years and wrote his best , in the opinion of many, poems.True, the wife and daughters perceived them differently.

Katya and I could not hear them, because in each he said goodbye to us, - says Ksenia. - At the request of the guests, my father often read them, but it was unbearable: Cobweb threads quietly fly. The sun burns on the window glass. I did something wrong. Sorry: I lived for the first time on this earth. I only feel it now. I fall for her. And I swear by it. And I promise to live differently, If I return. But I won't be back. Robert needed me. And only me. And our girls. And my mom. And it seemed to me that around every corner - a rival.

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PUBLICATIONS EXCLUSIVE "GORDON"

The widow of the poet Rozhdestvensky Kireev: Putin with his own hands
arranged all the main tragedies of Russia for the last 15 years
Russia will not have enough strength for its Maidan, instead, robberies and bloody robberies will begin. It is high time for Russians to open their eyes, turn on their brains and finally understand who is fooling them and why, Alla Kireeva, a literary critic and wife of the sixties poet Robert Rozhdestvensky, said in an interview with GORDON.

Today 10:00

Alla Kireeva: Ukraine will become a free European country, and Russia will still get up from its knees
Photo: Felix Rosenstein / Gordonua.com
Natalia DVALI
Editor
Robert Rozhdestvensky is a cult poet of the sixties, the author of several hundred songs, including "Don't think about seconds down", "Something has become with my memory", "My years are my wealth". This year marks exactly 20 years since his death. Of the released 62 years, Robert Ivanovich lived for 41 years with his beloved wife, literary critic Alla Kireeva.
How they, so different, managed to save the family, Alla Borisovna herself cannot answer. Rozhdestvensky is the idol of a generation, a poet favored by the Soviet authorities, Kireeva is a rebel and a truth-seeker who hated the Communist Party and the Soviet system all her life. “Robka really sincerely trusted everything he saw and heard for a very long time,” Kireeva recalled in an interview with the Gordon Boulevard newspaper. “I remember that in 1978 he suddenly announced that he was going to join the party ... so: one application to the party, the second - to the registry office for divorce. I will not live with the party!"
The inflexible character of Kireeva can be judged by one eloquent episode. For the 70th anniversary of the poet Andrei Voznesensky, the ex-managing director of the President of the Russian Federation (both Yeltsin and Putin) Pavel Borodin granted. As the Kremlin official climbed onto the stage, Kireyeva, who was sitting in the front row, loudly shouted: "The thief should be in prison!"
“The last thing I remember is the crazy eyes of Zoya Boguslavskaya (Voznesensky’s wife. -“ GORDON ”). - admitted Kireeva. - It escaped ... Pal Palych (Borodin. - “GORDON”), of course, a charming-looking man ... But Christmas trees! You're a poet! Yes, Robka would hang himself if I told him: "Let's invite Pal Palych ..." It's better to eat crackers instead of white bread than to drag such people to the doorstep!
Putin's goal is to build fur coat storage facilities for himself and his inner circle
- Alla Borisovna, do you understand what Putin is trying to achieve?
- Neither the new USSR nor the Russian Empire is needed for him. Putin's goal is to build fur coat storage facilities for himself and his inner circle. These are business tasks and nothing more.
- And Vladimir Vladimirovich assures that "the most important tragedy is the alienation of the Ukrainian and Russian peoples," to which the West allegedly contributed a lot.
- Putin himself arranged all the most important tragedies in Russia over the past 15 years. I emphasize: the tragedies are arranged by him and only by him!
- Judging by opinion polls, the Russian people do not think so, otherwise how does the president of the Russian Federation get an 84% rating?
“Today, almost everyone inside Russia likes Putin, but tomorrow, when the state begins to get into the wallets of the layman in order to secure Crimea and support the militants in the Donbass, they will not like it very much. Soon, the Kremlin's promises to create "Novorossiya" will disappoint, even anger, most of the Russian inhabitants.
- And the Maidan will appear on Red Square?
- Russia will not have enough strength for its Maidan, instead, robberies and bloody robberies will begin.
The youth in Russia grew up with the TV turned on, which they absolutely believed and still believe
- Why is Ukraine causing such aggression and hatred in the Russian layman?
– Most Russians are brainwashed by television propaganda. The people have forgotten how to think and work, and they do not want to. Therefore, a neighbor who took fate into his own hands causes rejection and irritation.
- It is strange that the younger generation, who do not know the USSR, but perfectly understand what the West is, succumbed to propaganda.
- Young people in Russia grew up with the TV turned on, which they absolutely believed and still believe. Now they are entangled in the Internet, reading all sorts of nonsense instead of books. In Russia, there is very tough propaganda that changes consciousness, for me this is an absolutely real fact.
– How do you escape from the Kremlin propaganda?
- I read Russian classics, I don’t watch TV, where the same faces with foam at the mouth and with crazy eyes are talking nonsense. Enough. Propaganda can't work on me.
– Why do so many representatives of the creative intelligentsia of Russia - writers, artists, musicians - not only do not oppose Putin's policy, but actively support it?
“Because they have a slavish, lackey soul.
- Have you noticed that among the Russian leaders who signed the letter in support of Putin, there is not a single poet?
– Poets are rather thin material. It's good that in Ukraine they noticed: there are no signatures of real poets under the letter. And that's great. I understand why contempt for the Russians has matured in Ukrainian society. It's horrible. It will take decades of hard work to restore the old relationship.
I wish Ukraine to quickly become a real firm fist and try not to hate Russia
- Do you personally feel the effects of sanctions?
– I am so decrepit that I rarely go shopping, because Western sanctions have not touched me. And Russia's retaliatory sanctions look infantile. It's a terrible kindergarten habit: "Oh, are you like that? Then we're like that!" When a Russian layman says: "It's good that Western goods have been banned, now the domestic producer will rise," he does not understand how much time and technology it takes to grow, for example, his own wheat. But where to go, such people in Russia ...
How will the Russian-Ukrainian war end?
- Impossible to predict. The Kremlin authorities are unpredictable, it is completely unclear what they want tomorrow. I think, in the end, Ukraine will become a free European country, and Russia will continue to rise from its knees.
– What would you wish our peoples?
- I wish Ukraine to quickly become a real firm fist and try not to hate Russia. Believe me, not all Russians are to blame for what is happening now. I wish the Russians only one thing: to open their eyes, turn on their brains and finally understand who and why are fooling them.

Catherine Rozhdestvenskaya - biography, information, personal life

"Unsent Letter to the Surgeon".

Other articles in the literary diary:

Collection of ideal social studies essays

Anti-Soviet rebellion in Hungary (1956)