On the morning of June 30 in Moscow, at the Central Clinical Hospital (CDB), they said goodbye to Sergei Ivanov, former Minister of Defense, head of the presidential administration and secretary of the Russian Security Council. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov I also said goodbye to Sergei Ivanov.
The farewell ceremony in the funeral hall of the Central Clinical Hospital began at ten in the morning. Timoshenko Street leading to the funeral hall was completely blocked. And I don’t remember it being like this. The girls from the Medical College of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation received their diplomas that morning and did not really understand why they had to walk in their best shoes, no doubt, along the paths in the courtyards of houses to Rublevskoye Highway, where they could order a taxi. However, the girls seemed so happy that they could not understand, even if, in my opinion, they would have wanted to, why people with bouquets of red roses and carnations were coming towards them and avoiding these girls.
People who had driven straight into the courtyard of the Central Clinical Hospital were not already entering the funeral hall from the main entrance. The first was Senator Andrei Klishas, followed by former Deputy Prime Minister and former head of Roscosmos, and now Senator Yuri Borisov. Then the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, entered. Then Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived. He and Sergei Ivanov smoked a lot while waiting for negotiations with the participation of Vladimir Putin.
Head of the Supreme Court Igor Krasnov, Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Head of the Russian Presidential Administration Anton Vaino, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, Presidential Envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District Yuri Chaika… In that order. Then, at 10:08, Vladimir Putin arrived. He approached the coffin, stood, crossed himself three times, then went up to the wife and son of Sergei Ivanov and talked with them for several minutes. He returned to the coffin and stood with it some more.
Then there were more people. Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko came. Waiting for their turn were former head of the presidential administration Alexander Voloshin, former deputy head of the presidential administration Dmitry Kozak, former presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District Ilya Klebanov, presidential assistant Andrei Fursenko…
“That’s who I want to hug…” said Sergei Ivanov’s wife, seeing the former manager of the president’s affairs, Senator Vladimir Kozhin.
They were all in no hurry to leave and, having left the funeral hall, were now standing on the porch. Andrei Fursenko told how Sergei Ivanov, having become the first deputy prime minister, summoned the Minister of Education and Science (he was Andrei Fursenko) and said that his main task was to ensure that no scientist ever turned to him, Sergei Ivanov, as the first deputy prime minister.
“I was surprised,” said Andrei Fursenko. “Why, I ask.” Because, he says, I hope that you will solve all their problems.
“He didn’t miss a single basketball match,” said First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Alexander Zhukov, who, as you know, is partial to sports. “He raised our basketball, not anyone else.” All the time I was looking for money, negotiating, literally working as a trainer…
— Have you read what Igor Akinfeev wrote about him? – someone else asked. – That Sergei Ivanov was like a father to him at CSKA. That not a single person has done so much for him…
Choreographer Boris Eifman and his wife, former Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky came up… Dmitry Kozak said that he and Sergei Ivanov discussed, it seems, everything in the world, except politics.
The head of Russian Railways, Oleg Belozerov, and the head of the United Russia faction in the State Duma, Vladimir Vasiliev, appeared and told everyone: “Let’s hold on…” – and, it seems to me, he spoke sincerely.
And it seemed like all these people wanted to be together, and there was something to discuss, but just what was discussed here when a person died, and to the question “How are you?” Dmitry Kozak, sighing, very substantively answers: “As long as we are alive…” And you think about it and understand that the formulation, if you look at it, is exhaustive.
There was no memorial service, no one gave speeches. Everyone dispersed suddenly and, it seems, unexpectedly even for themselves. And although it seemed that the passage for farewell was now free, there was no flow of people. Firstly, they did not announce where and what would happen, because Sergei Ivanov’s relatives did not want this, and secondly, he himself was a person who certainly did not want to be public, even though he worked as the Minister of Defense, and the head of the presidential administration, and the Secretary of the Security Council…
“But, remember, Primakov was buried in the Hall of Columns, so the removal was delayed for four hours…” I heard. “Everyone came and went to say goodbye to him…”
— And people said goodbye to Chernomyrdin for two days… They traveled by bus from other regions…
“The end of the legend,” someone said.
Well, this man really worked a lot “under the legend.”
The last to come to say goodbye, already at half past one, was the head of the SVR, Sergei Naryshkin, and at the Troekurovsky cemetery (Sergei Ivanov himself asked to bury him there next to his eldest son), where few people went, the head of Sberbank, German Gref, was also waiting, who was in time after the general meeting of shareholders…
From the entrance they began to collect wreaths that stood against the wall, and everything was covered with them, and the two largest, simply too heavy to lift, turned out to be from the Russian Direct Investment Fund and from the Khimki basketball team.
Soon there was only one wreath against the wall. I took a closer look: “From the Constitutional Court.”
Lord, I thought, he only cares about the trial now.
And he is not Constitutional.
