Challenge (book Chernomyrdin)

In the spring of 1999 , during the crisis in the Balkans , Chernomyrdin was appointed Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin to resolve the situation around Yugoslavia . The choice of the president was due to the fact that Viktor Stepanovich had previously worked as the Chairman of the Russian Government , was a co-chairman of the Russian-American Commission for Economic Cooperation (the “Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission”) and was personally acquainted with almost all heads of NATO member countries ^[1] .

In this status, Chernomyrdin took an active part in the negotiations on a political resolution of the Kosovo crisis, the cessation of hostilities and the peaceful resolution of the conflict. As a result, he convinced Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic of the need to bring the issue into the legal mainstream, with the result that Kosovo was transferred to the control of the NATO peacekeeping force ^[2] .

Chernomyrdin’s memoirs only partially describe his activities as a political and diplomatic figure: according to historian E. Yu. Guskova’s calculations, “... out of 600 pages, 250 are about the fulfillment of the President’s order to resolve the crisis in Yugoslavia. Almost 200 pages are given to the chronicle of events from the beginning of the bombing (March 24) to the end of the negotiation process (June 20). The materials of the chronicle are selected in such a way that they give an idea of ​​the Russian position and the role of V.S. Chernomyrdin in the complex negotiation process. The activity of V.S. Chernomyrdin as a premier and ambassador is presented on 150 pages. Thus, the author briefly describes himself as a political and diplomatic figure and in detail about a complex and important mission ” ^[3] .

As Chernomyrdin himself explained, the idea of ​​writing the book came to him after the events in Iraq : “... I was not going to write a book, and I would not have written anything if it were not for the Iraqi events. The scenario is essentially the same [as in Kosovo] ” ^[4] . During the presentation of the book, Chernomyrdin named another reason that prompted him to write memoirs: his colleagues in the negotiations in Yugoslavia - Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and US Under-Secretary of State Strobe Talbott - have already written two books on this topic. Ahtisaari’s book did not evoke a sense of indignation among the former prime minister, but what “Talbott wrote about Russia and our leaders is too much,” Chernomyrdin said. In these circumstances, Victor Stepanovich decided that he could not be silent, and published his version of the events of which he was ^[5] .

Chernomyrdin admitted that he planned to name the book “The Challenge of Time”, but at the suggestion of Alexander Struchkov , the publisher of the book, the director of the Moscow Writer publishing house, he shortened the name. In an interview with Izvestia , Struchkov assured journalists that Viktor Stepanovich was working on the book himself: “He is considered tongue-tied and he is aphoristic. He has a sense of language - otherwise it would not give rise to catch phrase. Victor Stepanovich wrote almost like Dostoevsky: at first he pronounced the book (not the secretary, but the dictaphone, he carries it in his pocket all the time, gets it when the thought comes), then gave it to decrypt, rules and transferred to the set. The book spoiled Chernomyrdin’s entire vacation: to France, to the sanatorium, he was sent a copy of the manuscript every day — the fax broke there, and I had to buy a new one. But the French knew that Chernomyrdin was writing a book and did not complain. ” ^[6]

Chernomyrdin was originally going to print memoirs in Russia , at the Chekhov printing plant, until he visited the Kiev printing house and found out that with the same level of publishing opportunities, publishing in Ukraine would be more profitable. Moreover, it was possible to control the prepress process, since Chernomyrdin worked in Kiev as the Russian ambassador. He personally signed his book to the printing house. “They forgot how to make beautiful books, there were no high-ranking customers here ... But Russian magazines are printed here - in Kiev, it turns out cheaper and more qualitative,” the publisher of Pods admitted ^[6] .

The presentation of the book took place in Moscow on November 17, 2003 in the hall for press conferences of ITAR-TASS ^[5] .

The book “The Challenge” was highly appreciated by experts in international affairs and Balkan historians. Thus, at the presentation of the book , Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said: “Many tried to write about Yugoslavia - in particular, the notorious Secretary of State Albright and General Clark , but only Viktor Chernomyrdin managed to fill the vacuum in this matter” ^[5] . Doctor of Historical Sciences D. Istyagin, in his review of “Challenge”, noted that “the fundamental work of the prominent Russian statesman V.S. Chernomyrdin can do a considerable service to the community of international researchers, experts in the areas of security and“ building up a culture of peace ” ^{[ 7]} . Doctor of Historical Sciences, Head of the Center for the Study of the Modern Balkan Crisis of the Institute of Slavonic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences E. Yu. Gus'kova considered Chernomyrdin's role in the book embellished, since the presidential representative could not in fact fulfill the requirements in which Russia was interested. “But despite this, the book is of great interest to us historians,” the researcher noted. “Although the role of V.S. Chernomyrdin is somewhat embellished in it, we can now, thanks to the memories of almost all the participants in the negotiations, restore their course and, accordingly, draw conclusions about their consequences” ^[3] .

The reviewers also noted that the book contains unexpectedly few popular expressions for which Viktor Stepanovich’s speech was famous. Even the few aphorisms that were found by correspondents are not contained in the memoirs themselves, but in the appendix - an excerpt from the novel The School of the Tiger ( ISBN 5936700208 ) by Alexander Rebrov (Struchkov) ^[8] , in which Chernomyrdin’s direct speech about the Balkan events in the circle of friends, was transmitted as authentic as possible ^[9] .

• Chernomyrdin, V.S. Challenge. - 2nd, Corr. and add. - M .: “Moscow writer”, 2003. - 616 p. - (Library V.S. Chernomyrdin). - 50 000 copies - ISBN 5-93670-024-0 .