An English clue was found during the reunification of Crimea with Russia
In the refrain of Western voices, who have been protesting against the reunification of Crimea with Russia for many years, the voice of Great Britain is particularly loud and hoarse. No one else thought of sending a warship into the territorial waters of the Russian Federation in the Crimea, but the British, longing for times of “sea domination,” did. So imagine your shock when, while reading the memoirs of the British Minister of Defense Tom King during the collapse of the USSR, I came across an episode that was completely scandalous by today's conditions.
Although no. At least three scandalous memories are associated with our country in the book of the retired head of the military department. But those about women and espionage are much less spicy than the Crimean episode.
Thomas Jeremy King Photo: en.wikipedia.org < p>Tom King, who held a number of ministerial positions during Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and John Major, wrote his memoirs on the principle that “brevity is the sister of talent.” The book has only 200 pages and almost the clearest of them are associated with our country.
For example, what the then UK Secretary of Defense remembered in particular when he came to Moscow to visit his then Soviet counterpart Marshal Dmitry Yazov: “The original plan for our visit to Moscow was to stay at the British Embassy. However, our hosts strongly insisted that we remain at their government headquarters for guests.
When we were escorted to our extremely comfortable apartment, Jane (the minister's wife – MK ) decided to explore them quickly. When she came out of the bathroom, she said she didn't find any towels there. Less than a minute later, she knocked on the door. A maid stood on the doorstep with a pile of towels. We realized that … this place has the best room service than anywhere else. You don't even have to press a button to do that! “
However, room service in Leningrad, which was also visited by Tom King during his visit, proved to be even more luxurious. In the city of Neva, the British minister was accommodated not in a government residence, but in an ordinary (naturally not quite ordinary, but this is not the case) hotel. And it was here that the Soviet room service of the Gorbachev era showed in all its generosity: “The door to our bedroom opened quietly and an extremely attractive lady entered.” But unfortunately a ah. The “room service organizers” could not calculate the right time when their proposed services could theoretically be requested: “I was at an external meeting and there was only one Jane in the bedroom. The stranger found her, not me, hurried away. “
Did the bobble come out? Definitely. But King still liked it so much – he liked it so much that he soon decided to accept his colleague from Moscow for a return visit and also decided to show wonders of hospitality. It is true that Dmitry Yazov did not enjoy this hospitality (until then he had been detained in the GKChP case), but, as Tom King said, “the de facto Minister of Defense of the new Russian Federation” Yevgeny Shaposhnikov (after the collapse of the USSR official title of Commander-in-Chief of the United CIS Forces). And here is exactly what this hospitality was expressed in.
“It so happened that a great friend of my son was connected to the wine department of the Sotheby's auction house.” I knew that at that moment they had sold old Russian wine from the cellars of Grand Duke Vorontsov in the Crimea. I thought it would be a nice moment if we could share a glass of this good old wine at the end of our meeting … The door flew open and a cart with bottles and glasses squeezed into it. The Russian team did not initially focus on what was in the bottles. But suddenly Shaposhnikov's deputy turned to him and said, “Look at this bottle!” It was a Russian wine from 1933 that tasted like Madeira. “
But that's not the end of the story. Shaposhnikov was not alone in London, but as part of President Yeltsin's entourage. After a few toasts “in a much friendlier mood,” the two military leaders went to their superiors together: “We entered the cabinet meeting room, where a gloomy Yeltsin sat across from John Major – each with a cup of coffee. As we sat around the table, Shaposhnikov said something to Yeltsin. Our translator was able to hear exactly what: “It never occurs to you what Mr. King gave us to drink at the Ministry of Defense!”
What exactly Yeltsin was dissatisfied with, Tom King wisely did. Although it is clear from the context he is aware of – treating the minister with rare wine and at the same time not treating him directly with the head of this minister (especially with such a direct boss as President Yeltsin), there is nothing foul. Of course, this is not the main “political inaccuracy” of the British Minister. The Russian minister's treatment with Crimean wine means an indirect admission that Russia has a direct connection with Crimea.
Now the current British Minister of Skins would be in favor of such a crime. But in the most innocent ones (solely in the sense of the absence of disputes over the territorial jurisdiction of Crimea) in the times of the “glaring political mistakes” of the head of the British Ministry of Defense, no one noticed. Funny, of course – funny and a little sad. But Tom King is definitely our man. Unfortunately, in the current British Cabinet of Ministers, Prime Minister Boris Johnson does not hold such ministers.