From the editor: We will not be mistaken if we say that the name of the Chairman of the Central Election Commission of Russia Vladimir Churov is familiar to almost the entire adult population of our country. But not everyone knows that he also writes stories, including for children. And in 2005, Churov’s book “The Secret of the Four Generals” was published, the annotation of which says that it is dedicated to “the intersection of the destinies of officers and generals of the Russian army and their influence on European politics.” Indeed, in the book you can meet many different people - from the hero of Manchuria, and later the President of Finland, Gustav Mannerheim, to General Brezhnev, who fought in 1944 on the Karelian Front - Vladimir Iosifovich Brezhnev, who is not even a relative of Leonid Ilyich. And from the book you can find out what all this has to do with our region. We offer excerpts from the book by V.E. Churova.
FATHER'S STORY
My father, Evgeny Petrovich Churov, grew up in the Urals. He was born on March 1, 1918 in the village of Verkhne-Troitsk, Belebeevsky canton, Ufa province. That's what this place was called in those days. It is located in the west of Bashkiria approximately in the middle between Tuymazy and Belebey on the banks of the Kidash River. Now the rural village of Verkhnetroitskoye belongs to the Tuymazinsky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan. An unpaved road passes through the village, which indicates some abandonment of this place.
A year later, little Zhenya was left without a father. Before the revolution, Pyotr Andreevich Churov served as a zemstvo veterinarian in the Bashkir village of Adnagulovo, neighboring Verkhne-Troitsky. In 1919, he died on the Eastern Front of the Civil War, while in the ranks of the Red Army under the command of Mikhail Frunze.
From April 13, 1919, in the Frunze army on the Eastern Front, my other grandfather, lieutenant of the old army Vladimir Iosifovich Brezhnev, commanded a heavy artillery division of 152-mm howitzers of the right bank group (then the 35th division). Two grandfathers fought side by side, unlike many Russian families, on the same side of the front.
Soon, Zhenya’s mother Maria Matveevna, a mathematics teacher, died. During times of famine, the relatives sent the boy to an orphanage.
You can criticize and even hate the Soviet regime for a lot of things. But for some reason, with her, children from orphanages, orphans, former tramps and street children became worthy people, for example, professors, doctors of science - like my father.
But that's later. And in June 1940 he graduated from the Naval School in Leningrad. On the sleeves of his jacket there were two stripes - medium and narrow - “lieutenant”. I wanted to serve in the Pacific Ocean, but my superiors sent a young hydrographer to Lake Ladoga.
The stripes were “from sea to sea” - from seam to seam, half the circumference of the sleeve.
My father was an excellent student all his life - at an agricultural technical school, a naval school, an academy, but on the marble plaques in the corridor of the Frunze School on the Lieutenant Schmidt embankment, among those who graduated from the school with honors, you will not find the name Churov. In the fall of 1939, the hydrographic department of the school (together with cadets and teachers) was transformed into the Higher Naval Hydrographic School named after G.K. Ordzhonikidze. Therefore, having entered the Frunze School in 1936, in 1940 my father graduated with honors from the Ordzhonikidze School. It ceased to exist almost immediately after the first graduation, in the fall of 1941, when cadets and teachers drowned during evacuation across Lake Ladoga.
On September 17, 1941, a tug with a barge full of people left Osinovets harbor in the direction of Novaya Ladoga. During a storm, the hull of the barge could not withstand the shock of the waves, and it sank. More than a thousand people died (!), among them 128 cadets and 8 officers of the hydrographic school. The school was restored in 1952, and finally disbanded in 1956.
Many years later, Professor Churov was an indispensable member of the Academic Council and the State Examination Commission at the Frunze School. But he refused to place his son (i.e., me) there “through connections.” On a general basis, they would not have accepted me because of my very strong myopia, inherited from my mother.
Father did not get to the marble plaque in the corridor due to objective circumstances. But in 1995, in the antechamber of the gallery of the Supreme Naval Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Order of Ushakov School named after M.V. Frunze (formerly the Naval Cadet Corps, now the St. Petersburg Naval Institute) a painting 6 meters long and 2 meters high “Worthy Sons of the Fatherland” by Igor Pshenichny appeared. In the huge picture, among 184 figures and figures, the head numbered 175 in the back rows, according to the description, belongs to Captain 1st Rank E.P. Churov. This is an obvious mistake by the compilers of the booklet accompanying the picture; in fact, the head numbered 184 most resembles the father.
A year later the war began. My father paved the ice Road of Life, landed reconnaissance from boats and submarines on the northern shore of Ladoga, on the islands of the Valaam archipelago occupied by the Finns, provided landing forces, was awarded three military orders and was seriously wounded in 1944.
FROM FAMILY CHRONICLES
The origin of the Churov surname, on the one hand, is simple and clear, on the other hand, it contains several mysteries, like all the stories in my story.
A special place in the beliefs of the Slavic tribes living in northern Europe around Lake Ilmen was occupied by ideas about deceased ancestors who protected the family. Figures of bearded people were carved out of wood (I have the best beard in the State Duma) - CHUROV, personifying the ancestors of the family. When they shouted “Forget me!” - asked the ancestors to defend and intercede.
Chura was also the name given to a slave in ancient times, and in later times to a servant-squire. The Eastern Slavs named their children Chur and Chura, probably in honor of Chur, the Slavic pagan deity who was the guardian of the hearth.
Now it’s clear why the idols donated by the Koreans for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg and placed in Sosnovka Park - “jangseungs”, guards guarding villages, came to my heart. These cute guys, cut out of pine logs, and I, an Orthodox Christian, baptized by my great-grandmother in infancy in the Church of John the Baptist, on Predtechensky Lane on Presnya in Moscow, have the same pagan origin!
The modern surname Churov comes from Novgorod. In Onomasticon (a book about the origin of surnames and given names) by academician S.B. Veselovsky dates its appearance in Novgorod to the middle of the 16th century, when documents found a record of certain Isaac and Karp Churin (Churov), children of the Rudlevs. On the map of the Vologda region, which was part of the Novgorod lands, the villages of Churov and Churovskoye are still preserved.
Here's your first riddle. In international Novgorod, a peasant or townsman Rudel could be both a Slav (ore - blood, ore - red or ginger, as now among the Poles, also, by the way, Slavs), and a German.
Great-grandfather, Andrei Churov, was a forester in the Tambov province. He was, apparently, a wealthy man, since he managed to give both sons a higher education.
Andrei Churov named his sons in honor of two biblical apostles, and quite in the imperial spirit - Peter and Paul. Accordingly, he sent him to study in the capital, where the names of the city’s patron saints are especially respected and the first cathedral, the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
According to family legend, grandfather, Pyotr Andreevich Churov, began studying at St. Petersburg University, but for participating in student unrest he was exiled to the Urals, where he graduated from either Kazan University or the Kazan Veterinary Institute.
In the Russian Medical List, published by the Office of the Chief Medical Inspector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for 1914, on page 107, Pyotr Andreevich Churov, born in 1882, who received a certificate in 1910, is indicated as a zemstvo veterinarian in the village of Adnagulovo, Belebeevsky district, Ufa province.
I used to think that he ended up as a veterinarian in the Bashkir village of Adnagulovo, in general, by accident, as they say, “by assignment.” But recently on the Internet I came across an interesting site dedicated to the history of the Miyakinsky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan. It revealed information that the village of Churaevo (Churino, Churovo) belongs to the Ilikei-Minsk volost, and a certain son of the first settler of this village, Ishkildy Churov, participated in the admission, that is, in the settlement, of the Bashkirs of the Gaininsky volost to the village of Gainiyamak in 1763. Another Churov, also a patrimonial landowner of the same volost, is also mentioned in the land affairs papers. However, in the end, the village of Churovo became a refuge for landless Bashkirs, who were accepted from Sterlitamak district under the treaty of 1743.
A votchinnik, by the way, according to Dahl, is the owner of a family real estate. So, perhaps, Pyotr Andreevich had some reasons to settle in Bashkiria.
Grandfather's brother, Pavel Andreevich, followed in the footsteps of his father, graduating from the Forestry Institute. An amateur photographer, he once sent his brother his card. Pavel Andreevich Churov is listed in the memorial book of the St. Petersburg province for 1914 - 1915 as a 2nd category land surveyor in the Administration of the Specific District, which was in charge of the imperial family’s own lands. He had the rank of provincial secretary (XII class) and lived in house 27 on 7th Rozhdestvenskaya Street. Zemsky veterinarian Petr Andreevich Churov
All my father’s relatives and friends perished in the Civil War. In the Tambov province, a terrible massacre took place, not even between the “reds” and the “whites,” but between the wealthy Tambov peasants and townspeople and the newcomers, who for some reason called themselves “revolutionaries.”
Dad's mother, Maria Matveevna Sorokina, was, as I said at the very beginning of the story, the daughter of a master glass blower from the Maltsov glass factories. She taught children mathematics in a rural school and died soon after the Civil War, in great longing for her husband, Pyotr Andreevich Churov, who died at the front.
Her sister, Nadezhda Matveevna, also taught at a rural school and married the teacher, Tatar Khabib Usmanovich Galeev. Both taught for more than half a century, became honored teachers of the republic, and were each awarded the Order of Lenin - a considerable award in Soviet times.
Nadezhda Matveevna gave birth to five children, which is why I now have a lot of relatives - Tatars living throughout the former Soviet Union. The names of our relatives are: Galeevs, Kutushevs, Sayfullins, Zailalovs.
THE ROAD OF LIFE
The shore of Lake Ladoga in Osinovets (on some maps only the dead-end station of the Ladoga Lake railway is indicated) next to the seventy-meter brick candle of the lighthouse is dotted with small, grass-covered hummocks. Osinovetsky lighthouse is a real sea lighthouse. Painted with wide red and white stripes, it stands on a hill among the pine trees.
The largest lake in Europe was called “our sea” by the sailors of the Ladoga military flotilla. This has been the case since Varangian times. Those who sailed on it know the harsh nature of Ladoga, with rapid and abrupt changes. The lake pretends to be gentle, glittering with dim northern silver only in calm weather. The wind very quickly brings up a short, but steep and high (up to 4.5 meters) wave. Under Peter I, hundreds of ships and barges perished on Ladoga. Then the tsar ordered to build a bypass canal along the southern bank from the source of the Neva to the mouth of the Svir.
Now there are two canals, one is the old one, built by Minikh on the orders of Peter; the other, newer one, is laid closer to the lake, but only boats use it, and occasionally the passenger semi-glider “Zarya” will pass, washing away the embankments with a powerful wake jet.
Large four-deck passenger ships prefer to wait out the storm at the mouth of the Svir. In pursuit of profit, two-thousand-ton dry cargo ships and river-sea tankers risk sailing into stormy Ladoga. However, in vain: sometimes they turn over and swim upside down for a long time, like some kind of whales that are not found on Ladoga. It's not easy to save them.
The lake is fraught with many dangers in winter for amateur fishermen. Between the mouth of the Volkhov near Novaya Ladoga and the source of the Neva in Shlisselburg, a very complex system of currents is formed at different depths, in different directions with many eddies. Even in a severe winter, the ice from Novaya Ladoga to Golsmana Bay, and even more so from Kobona to Kokkorevo, is not particularly strong.
It was along this ice, along two routes from the Osinovetsky lighthouse through the islands of Zelentsy (located to the south, closer to Shlisselburg) and the island of Kareji (north of Zelentsy) to the village of Kobona on the eastern shore of the bay, in the winter of 1941, hydrographers of the Ladoga military flotilla conducted reconnaissance of the ice road , which would later be called the Road of Life.
The commander of the Leningrad naval base, Rear Admiral Yuri Aleksandrovich Panteleev, testifies: “On November 15, in the evening, at the command post of the artillery division of Lieutenant Colonel M.I. Turoverov, our first meeting took place with the Deputy Chief of Fleet Hydrography, Captain 2nd Rank A.A. Smirnov and with the young hydrographer E.P. Churov, who was tasked with forming an ice-road hydrographic detachment and reconnaissance of the lake. The decision to organize an ice road depended on the results of this work. At the disposal of E.P. Churov, hydrograph officers V.S. arrived from Leningrad. Kupryushin, V.N. Dmitriev, S.V. Duev, as well as a special team of ten sailors. Everyone was in a fighting mood. They worked together and quickly. We prepared five Finnish sleighs, installed a compass on them, laid out milestones and an ice pick.
E.P. Churov made a very good impression on me from the first meeting - he is confident in himself and in his abilities, reasonable, knowledgeable officer (now he is a Doctor of Technical Sciences, a professor at Leningrad University). The lieutenant reported to me that he had already flown over the lake in a U-2 plane with pilot Topalov, and was convinced that the edge of the ice was still close to the Shlisselburg Bay and ran parallel to Cape Morier. Apparently, the ice is still very thin, but temperatures are expected to drop to minus twenty.
I demanded that the hydrographers be especially careful, because the Nazis are very close, you can stumble upon their patrols.”
In the evening, the hydrographers reported on the readiness of the party to go out on the ice to the deputy commander of the Ladoga flotilla, captain 1st rank Nikolai Yuryevich Avraamov. My father wrote: “We received from him the latest instructions about the direction of movement and behavior in the event of an unexpected collision with enemy reconnaissance. Through the operational duty officer, he gave orders to the coast guard units to let our group onto the ice and take us back.”
The young lieutenants were “admonished” by an extremely interesting man. I have already mentioned that the surviving officers of the tsarist fleet were “exiled” to Ladoga. Nikolai Yurievich Abrahamov (1892 - 1949) was one of them.
Here is a description of the construction of the ice road route from my father’s memoirs in the collection “Native Ladoga,” published in 1969 with a foreword by Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov:
“About midnight on November 15 we went on a hike. The entire sky was covered with continuous clouds. The northeast wind was blowing. The air temperature dropped to -15° Celsius. There was no snow on the ice. He seemed like a black tablecloth to us.
Three hours later, having made sure that the compasses were in working order, I thanked V. for the help provided, and we parted warmly. Accompanied by a Red Navy man, he returned safely to the shore and reported to Avraamov about our first stage of reconnaissance of the route.
While the ice was strong enough, we walked from each other at a distance of 10 - 15 steps. After each mile traveled, a hole was punched, the thickness and strength of the ice was measured, and the air temperature and wind speed vector were determined. When the thickness of the ice decreased to a decimeter, we tied ourselves with a line and walked, and sometimes crawled, one after another, using skis as a flooring to overcome small gaps. At each checked point, a two-meter pole was placed, their approximate coordinates were determined based on the distance traveled and course, and the route was plotted on the map (under the light of a hand-held electric lantern, covered with a canopy on top). Observations were carefully recorded in a journal.
By the morning of November 16, a cold and sharp north wind blew, and the frost began to get stronger. The clouds began to thin, and stars appeared in their gaps. Several times we identified ourselves by the North Star when we saw a strip of the horizon in the north. At this time, Dmitriev severely injured his leg on the hummocks that suddenly appeared in front of us. According to all data, we were located near the island of Bolshoi Zelenets. Dmitriev could not go further. The Red Navy men were also extremely exhausted. I decided to return to Osinovets. At first we carried Dmitriev on a sled, and when we approached the hummocked Osinovetsky shore, I put him on my back and brought him to the lighthouse.”
And again Yu.A. Panteleev: “You can imagine our surprise when early in the morning the news reached us that Lieutenant Dmitriev had been taken to the medical unit. In which? For what reason? While we were figuring all this out, there was no trace of Lieutenant Churov and his sailors... It turns out that after resting in the dugout, replenishing the meager food supplies, once again checking all the calculations, the lieutenant and his companions set off again. This time everything went well, and by the morning of November 17, the route was laid and lined with poles, the thickness of the ice was marked on the tablet.”
FRIENDLY FIRE
In the twenty-first century, when American Marines accidentally come under fire from their own artillery somewhere in Iraq or Afghanistan, polite American generals, meeting with reporters, call it “friendly fire.”
In such cases, on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, our infantry, using excellent, admittedly, American Lend-Lease radios, openly covered the artillery with a three-story mat. Then we met and drank vodka for the front-line brotherhood.
In one thousand nine hundred and fifty-two in Moscow, General Brezhnev, on the eve of the wedding of his beautiful daughter, recalled with his future son-in-law, a gallant captain of the 2nd rank with two white diamonds (of the Higher Naval School and the Naval Academy of Shipbuilding and Weapons) and five orders, episodes of the past war. They told each other (maybe even boasted a little) about their participation in battles, about their adventures at the front. Suddenly it turned out that in June 1944, the guns of my grandfather (of course, still in the future, since I was born legally only in March 1953) almost destroyed my father by “friendly fire” on the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga.
This discovery allowed my grandfather and father, despite the clearly expressed displeasure of my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother (naturally, mine... in the future), to pour and drink a large glass (by no means the first).
Only my father came up with this story in order to win the heart of his father-in-law and obtain consent for his daughter’s hand in marriage.
There was a Tuloksa operational landing, there was assistance from artillery fire from the 7th Army, my grandfather commanded this artillery, but my father was not there. A month earlier, while landing a reconnaissance force on the island of Verkkosaari, Senior Lieutenant Churov was seriously wounded by numerous fragments of a Finnish shell. Friends who prepared and supported the Tuloksinsky landing operation spoke about it in detail when they visited their father in the hospital in Leningrad.
Sea baiting is the most interesting type of oral story in form and content. To poison means to tell with humor, or, on the contrary, to deliberately seriously tell interesting cases from maritime, and not only, practice, skillfully mixing truth and harmless fiction. Poisoning gruel is not a very successful use of the above-mentioned genre; in such cases they say: “Stop poisoning the gruel.” Currently, the latter term can be used to stop any boring or too long and boring speech, especially in the State Duma. Some sailors had the gift of transferring sea poisoning to paper. This very rare breed of writers includes: Sergei Kolbasyev, Boris Lavrenev, Leonid Sobolev, Admiral Ivan Isakov, Thor Heyerdahl, Viktor Konetsky, as well as Vladimir Sanin, who is not a sailor, but has traveled a lot and visited both poles. Poking is a type of bullying when they come up with some kind of joke on their closest friend. Especially popular among old sea wolves in relation to young people.
My father was a recognized virtuoso of sea baiting and teasing. Once, during practice near Odessa, he even suffered for this. His comrades hid his uniform while swimming and gave it back only after an oath, pronounced on his knees, to stop teasing him. The oath was formalized in a protocol and recorded on photographic film.
My colleagues say that sometimes I can do it too...
SPACE BEACONS
From the Baikonur cosmodrome, also known as the Tyuratam station, also known as the city of Leninsk, my father brought large, smart, extremely nimble turtles - Toshka, who adored dandelions. In the summer in Lithuania, on the outskirts of Druskenik, they regularly ran away from Grandma Varya, who, sitting on the porch, was thrilled in the sun and, of course, never expected such agility from them.
Many scientific works of Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Evgeniy Petrovich Churov are still available only to military specialists. While working at the Naval Academy, he never went into details of official matters at home. But he loved to talk about global philosophical problems of space exploration and fantasize about future space wars. I remember how back in the late sixties he said that all missile weapons would soon become obsolete, and wars would be waged from outer space: laser, electronic, electromagnetic with a direct effect on the enemy’s brain, especially precise weapons and robots would be used.
My father's work was strictly secret. Only 20 years after his death, in the book “Naval Academy in the Service of the Fatherland” prepared by Captain 1st Rank Vladimir Vladimirovich Pyzh in 2001 for the 175th anniversary of the Academy, I read: “Solving problems of reconnaissance and target designation was taught at the Department of Space Facilities of the Navy, founded in 1963. At that time, it was headed by a well-known specialist in the field of space navigation, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor E.P. Churov."
In the Soviet Union, a satellite navigation system, primarily for military purposes, was proposed in 1956 by a senior lecturer at the Department of Military Hydrography of the Krylov Naval Academy of Shipbuilding and Weapons, Captain 2nd Rank Evgeniy Petrovich Churov. Together with his friends and colleagues - employees of the Navigation and Hydrographic Institute of the Navy Leonid Ivanovich Gordeev and Vadim Alekseevich Fufaev, he immediately appreciated the importance of the research that had begun in the USA on this topic. My father addressed the command of the academy and the Navy at least twice, explaining what satellite navigation means for the future fleet, proposing to urgently launch similar work in our country. The drafts, written in the most beautiful, absolutely legible handwriting in blue ink on yellowed and already deteriorating checkered paper, have been preserved.
In February 1956, my father wrote:
“Navigation of the near future.
The All-Union Institute of Scientific and Technical Information reported in October last year that the American National Defense Transportation Journal in its June issue (vol. 12, no. 3) published a significant interview for our century with the former president of the American Rocket Society Lawrence about the project of artificial satellites for navigation purposes. The current state of science and technology is such that the possibility of creating and launching such satellites will be quite realistic in the next 10–15 years.
Since we do not have any other data other than those listed above, taking them as a basis, we will try to approximately estimate the achievable accuracy of determining the location of a ship at any point in the World Ocean and draw some general conclusions...”
In naval jargon, the large embroidered stars on admiral's shoulder straps are called "flies", perhaps due to the fact that between the golden rays there is also sewing with black threads.
Alas, admirals with a large number of stars on their epaulets did not immediately understand how important the offer of relatively young (from 30 to 38 years old) scientific officers in small ranks was. The only father had a modest degree in naval sciences. Later, in the mid-sixties, when they had to grit their teeth and once again catch up with the Americans, my father and his friends defended “closed” doctoral and candidate dissertations, became professors and laureates of high awards, authors of “closed discoveries.”
In July 1963, my father defended his doctoral dissertation on the development of the problem of satellite navigation. In October he became the head of the new department he created at the Naval Academy.
In 1972, my father went into reserve. At Leningrad University, at the Faculty of Applied Mathematics, Professor Churov creates and heads another new department - theory of control systems.
Accustomed to the uniform and strict discipline of students in the corridors and auditoriums of the Naval Academy, my father was initially surprised by the university disorder (aka academic freedom) and the morals of the students - especially the numerous girls in short skirts. I remember my father, however, without much indignation, telling my mother in the evening: “They walk along the corridor hugging and kissing!”
My father died in 1981 at the age of 63 after a second heart attack. About two years before his death, the penultimate fragment of a Finnish mine embedded in his neck came out. The latter, in the spleen, is buried with his father at the Pargolovskoye cemetery.
A few days before his death, my father was listening to the record and, with the words “Leningrad, Leningrad, I don’t want to die yet...” asked to turn off the player. “I don’t want to die yet,” he repeated, as if to himself.
The name Churov was assigned to an underwater mountain in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean at a point with coordinates 17°29" south latitude, 009°53" west longitude at a depth of 1880 meters. It is approximately three hundred and fifty nautical miles southwest of St. Helena.
Knowing the careless attitude of the Western powers towards Russian names on the world map, I appeal to all the monarchs, presidents, ministers, parliamentarians, ambassadors and consuls of these countries personally known to me with a request - do not allow my mountain to be renamed. You have many of them, but I have one!
A fairly well-known figure in Russian politics is Vladimir Evgenievich Churov. He was elected as a deputy to the State Duma and headed the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation for nine years, only in March of this year giving way to Nikolaevna. Several major scandalous situations are associated with the personality of this person. In particular, he was accused of rigging the election results in favor of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. However, nothing was proven.
Education
Vladimir Churov was born into an intelligent Leningrad family on March 17, 1953. His father was a naval officer and had an academic degree. Mother, a philologist by profession, worked as an editor.
With such parents, it is not at all surprising that the guy received a very high-quality and comprehensive education. After school, he entered the Leningrad Humanitarian University at the Faculty of Journalism. Having defended his diploma, he did not stop there and became a student at the physics department of the same university, graduating in 1977. Later, already in full swing building his career, Churov received another “tower” at the People’s University of Techno-Economic Knowledge. He graduated from it during perestroika in the nineties. Despite three higher educations, Vladimir Evgenievich never received an academic degree.
Carier start
At the beginning of his career, Vladimir Churov confidently walked along the scientific path. He worked as a teacher at the St. Petersburg Humanitarian University, reading a special course on international and foreign economic relations to economics students.
He devoted almost fourteen years to the St. Petersburg Humanitarian University, where he held various positions in the joint design bureau of aerospace equipment. Published many scientific articles. But he was not destined to stay in this area.
Entry into politics
Back in 1982, a new member named Vladimir Churov was registered in the CPSU. The biography of almost everyone who tried to build a good career in those days contained such a note. “You may not be a communist at heart, but you must join the party” - here it is, the unspoken slogan of the eighties.
Churov remained a member of the CPSU until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some attribute his collaboration with the KGB, but this is not officially confirmed.
Since the nineties, Vladimir Mikhailovich has been a “deputy” in the Leningrad City Council - his powers ended in 1993. At the same time, he worked in the external relations committee of the St. Petersburg administration. Its boss was Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin himself, which Vladimir Churov often recalls and calls this period of his life an excellent school of management.
In 2003, Churov tried to obtain membership in the Federation Council from his region (Leningrad), but he failed. In the same year, Vladimir Mikhailovich, closely communicating with Vladimir Zhirinovsky, joined the ranks of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.
State Duma Deputy
It was from this political force that Putin’s former subordinate ran for the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the 2003 elections. Having received a mandate, he joined the corresponding faction. At the same time, he emphasized more than once that, in fact, he was never a member of the LDPR or any other party.
Parliamentarians entrusted Churov with the position of deputy chairman for CIS affairs and relations with former compatriots. More than once he acted as an observer of the progress of elections in the Commonwealth countries, as well as in Serbia and Transnistria.
Political activities: Vladimir Churov - Chairman of the Central Election Commission
Until January 2007, Russian law prohibited the granting of membership in the CEC to persons without legal education. But then this requirement was canceled, and on March twenty-sixth of the same year, Churov became a member of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation. And a day later he was elected chairman.
September 2007 was marked by the start of the next State Duma elections, and Putin, who headed United Russia, was accused of illegally campaigning for this political force. But Churov did not heed the arguments of the accusers, and he took no action.
In 2009, United Russia won the elections to local councils with a total lead. The opposition staged a demarche and demanded the resignation of the head of the Central Election Commission - after all, Vladimir Churov again saw no violations...
And here it is 2011. In March of this year, Vladimir Mikhailovich was re-elected to a second term as chairman of the Central Election Commission, and new parliamentary elections were held on December 4th. And again “United Russia” is on horseback. Crowds of Protestants took to the streets of major cities across the country. The dissatisfied held rallies of many thousands and demanded, among other things, the resignation of Churov, who resolutely rejected all accusations against him. Then, with great difficulty, he retained his post and left it legally, serving his second term to the end.
It was Churov, who was accused of lobbying the interests of V. Putin, who coined the catchphrase “Putin is always right.” And Vladimir Churov, whose photo has appeared in the media more than once in recent years, threatened to shave off his legendary beard if the election campaign was unfair. But, naturally, he didn’t shave it off. However, the opposition’s accusations were not proven, and remained just words.
Personal life of Churov
In addition to politics, family occupies an important place in the life of Vladimir Mikhailovich. His wife's name is Larisa, the couple has a son, Evgeniy. In tax returns, Mr. Churov repeatedly indicated that their family does not have personal housing, but rents an apartment from the state. He also signed for the absence of the car. And his annual income, according to reports, was 2.5-3.5 million.
Vladimir Mikhailovich still has not lost interest in science. He is especially attracted by military history, which even inspired him to write the fictional story “The Secret of the Four Generals” about the White Movement. The book was published in 2005. Churov also has other works in his writing collection.
Also, the former head of the central executive committee and State Duma deputy is interested in art, or more precisely, photography and architecture. Having reached adulthood, Vladimir Churov remained the faithful son of his intelligent parents, who instilled in him a love of knowledge from a young age.
(b. 03/17/1953)
Deputy Chairman of the Committee on External Relations of the Mayor's Office
St. Petersburg (chairman V.V. Putin); Chairman of the Central
Election Commission of the Russian Federation from March 27, 2007 in the second presidential term of V.
V. Putin.
Born in Leningrad. Grandfather Vladimir Brezhnev was the boss
Department of Artillery of the Academy named after. M. V. Frunze, father - famous scientist, military man
hydrographer, one of the creators of space navigation and communication systems for
Navy; mother is a publisher. Received education at
Physics Faculty of Leningrad State University (1977) and at
two-year Faculty of Journalism of Leningrad State University. In 1977–1991 worked as a presenter
engineer, group leader at the Integral Aerospace Equipment Design Bureau. IN
1991–1993 Member of the Leningrad City Council. Since 1991 in the Committee on External
relations of the administration of St. Petersburg, since 1995 deputy
Chairman of the Committee - Head of the International Cooperation Department.
After the August crisis of 1991, the House of Political Education in St. Petersburg,
belonging to the CPSU, was transferred to the city. One half of the building housed
International business center, in the other - communist organizations. By
According to V. E. Churov, there was a flagpole on the roof of the house. The communists decided
use it for its intended purpose and hung a red flag. "And every time,
leaving Smolny, the city leadership saw him. The flag was clearly visible
from office windows and Sobchak, and Putin. This was terribly annoying, and Putin
I decided to take down the flag. Gives a command - the red flag is removed. But the next day he
reappears. Putin gives the command again - the flag is removed again. And so the fight
went with varying degrees of success. The communists began to run out of flags, and they
hung something completely indecent, one of the last options was
It’s not even red anymore, but brownish-brown. This is Putin's definitively
it's baked. He moved the crane, and under his personal supervision the flagpole was cut off
autogenous" ( First person. Conversations with Vladimir Putin. M., 2000.
P. 86). According to V. E. Churov, Committee for External Relations of the St. Petersburg City Hall,
headed by V.V. Putin, began with the opening in the city, for the first time in the country,
representative offices of Western banks. With the active participation of V.V. Putin
branches of BMP Dresdner Bank and Bank National de Paris opened, and
investment zones were also created, a faculty of international
relationships. In June 2003, he was nominated for the position of member of the Federation Council
from the Leningrad region (received 7 out of 50 votes). Since December 2003
Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the fourth convocation, elected by federal
LDPR list. He was Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs and
connections with compatriots. He was a member of the LDPR faction, but not a member of this party
was. As an observer, he attended elections in Belarus, Ukraine (in
during the “orange” revolution of 2004), Kyrgyzstan (during the “revolution
Tulips" 2005). Since March 27, 2007, Chairman of the Central
Election Commission of the Russian Federation. Elected on an uncontested basis. Changed this one
positions A. A. Veshnyakova. He stated that he is not a member of any parties and does not
is an anti-communist. In biographies he emphasizes “Orthodox
Explanation of the Chairman of the Central Election Commission of Russia V.E. Churov on the issue of production of printed materials for the purposes of election campaigning using equipment belonging to electoral associations.
To the deputy
State Duma
Federal Assembly
Russian Federation
V. G. Solovyov
Dear Vadim Georgievich!
Your appeal No. SVG-3/337 dated October 25, 2010 to the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation has been carefully considered.
As follows from paragraph 11 of Article 54 of the Federal Law “On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right to Participate in Referendums of Citizens of the Russian Federation” (hereinafter referred to as the Federal Law), organizations and individual entrepreneurs performing work or providing services for the production of printed campaign materials are required to submit to the relevant commission information about the amount and other terms of payment for the work (services) they provide no later than 30 days from the date of official publication of the decision to call elections. However, electoral associations themselves are not organizations that perform work or provide services for the production of printed campaign materials, and therefore the requirements of paragraph 11 of Article 54 of the Federal Law do not apply to them.
In addition, the provisions contained in paragraph two of paragraph 6 of Article 59 of the Federal Law grant the electoral association that has nominated a list of candidates the right to use for the purposes of its election campaign, without payment from its election fund, real and movable property in its use (including on a rental basis) on the day of the official publication (publication) of the decision to call elections. The exceptions are securities, printed materials and consumables.
Thus, based on the above legislative norms, an electoral association, if it nominates a list of candidates, has the right to independently, without any notification to the election commission or publication of advertisements in the media, produce printed materials for the purposes of election campaigning, using equipment that belongs to it for the day publication of the decision to call elections. However, such activities can be considered legal only if the cost of consumables (paper, cartridges, etc.) is paid from the funds of the relevant election fund, as well as compliance with the requirements of Part 3 of Art. 54 of the Federal Law on providing the election commission with copies of campaign materials and other information before their distribution.
V. E. Churov
14.11.2007
Interview with V.E.Churov
for the socio-political youth magazine “Your Choice”
- In one of your interviews, you stated that you have set a certain standard for yourself: the elections will be successful if the voter turnout is at least 60 percent. According to your forecasts, what kind of activity should we expect from young people in the upcoming elections?
It seems to me that young people are becoming more and more socially and politically active. So you shouldn’t be skeptical about the fact that the voter turnout will be really high among young people. I can say this not even as the Chairman of the Central Election Commission, but as a citizen of Russia. Naturally, every young man imagines himself as the creator of the world, a demiurge. And he not only wants to create and change the reality around him, but he must do it. For example, go to the polls and thus change the world around you and choose the future of your country.
Some people are skeptical that their voice will be heard. This is largely due to our age-old traditions. But I declare with full responsibility that we have one of the best electoral systems in Europe. And everyone must make a choice. I recently read the phrase that in Russia there are subjects, but no citizens. So, it’s time for all of us to become citizens. Overcome childhood stubbornness and learn to take responsibility for your actions. Not voting is also a choice. But then there is no need to complain that the state is run by the “wrong” people. Because if you are not involved in politics, then it is involved in you.
I really hope that the younger generation has grown up to be quite independent. It was devoid of rigid boundaries; the state system did not put as much pressure on them as it did on their parents. They didn't have to learn how to be stepsons. They were born this way. They do not have the skepticism of the older generation. Young people are romantics, and it is the romantics who make the greatest transformations. Often their romantic aspirations and the categorical nature of youth run up against the reasonable arguments of the older generation. But this is a normal life situation. However, no one should feel isolated and alone.
At elections, we all decide our fate together. I appeal not only to young people, but to all voters - come and make your choice!
- The Russian Central Election Commission intends to fight “black PR.” Can youth associations and youth media help you with this?
I would expand the scope of the question. This is our shared civic responsibility. We, as citizens, must make our choices honestly. That is, they must vote with truthful information about voters. Those who engage in “black PR” manipulate our choices, deceive us and force us to make the wrong move. Therefore, anyone who knows about such offenses should immediately inform the public. And the perpetrators must be punished. All media, not just youth media, must provide voters with reliable information. The press is a sensitive barometer showing the interaction between government and society. Through the media, society learns about the activities of the government, and government officials receive feedback on their actions from voters. Youth media should speak about election issues in an accessible language that readers can understand. We often find it difficult to “reach out” to young people through the business press. Young people trust those who communicate with them in their own language and understand them. And here it is necessary to explain that young people are not on their own, but part of society. With the choice we make today, we will all live for the next five years. Military personnel, teachers, pensioners and young people.
- Some parties are now introducing a so-called youth quota in their party lists. How do you feel about this?
Youth are the future of our country. These are not just words. And, like everyone else, they should have the right to vote. Parties that introduce a youth quota secure their future. In five years, young people who join government agencies will become real professionals in their field. They will better understand how the state mechanism works and how the state and society interact. On the other hand, it is easier for them to speak with a youth audience than for politicians with gray hair. They understand the hopes of their peers, find a common language with them and understand the problems that concern young citizens.
Even the smallest person in our country should feel like a citizen. Being one means not only receiving support from the state and understanding what rights it confers, but, above all, feeling responsible and knowing your responsibilities.
To be in power is to be obligated: to society, to voters, to one’s family and to one’s conscience. This is not winning the lottery. And hard daily work. Service. Young people need to understand and experience for themselves what it is.
- Why are there so few women in power and should the state take measures to address this issue?
I can’t say about all government bodies. But a third of the members of the Russian Central Election Commission are women. And this is quite a lot.
Why are there few women? – this is a question not so much for me as for the parties nominating lists and for voters. The state cannot force voters to vote for anyone. Society must decide for itself who represents its interests.
- Do you admit the possibility that a “color revolution” may occur in Russia?
A “color revolution,” like revolution in general, occurs when insurmountable barriers arise between the state and society. That is, when they don’t hear each other. Currently, power is more open than ever before. “Color revolutions” occur when the government does not hear the voice of the people. The authorities are now, on the contrary, convincing society to make their choice - to come and vote.
- Do you think elections in Russia will ever be held via the Internet?
I do not exclude this possibility. But I very much doubt it in the near future. Firstly, the Internet is not accessible to the entire population. Secondly, the problem of security comes up. We live in a country of enormous extent, and the slightest glitch or virus will be enough for data to be lost or distorted.
- More than 40 city, district and village youth parliaments have already been elected in the Rostov region. How do you feel about this kind of association?
Youth must be present in power. And the government should be as close as possible to its voters. Young people often have no idea of the responsibility that deputies bear. And work in such parliaments will demonstrate to them, not in words, but in deeds, the complexity and responsibility of power, when they will have to answer not only to themselves and their conscience, but also to their voters.
- In the Rostov region, the practice of functioning youth precinct election commissions has been in place for 4 years. What is more important for the work of the Central Election Commission – experience or youth initiative?
Experience without initiative is dead weight. You probably know the biblical parable about talent buried in the ground?
Initiative without experience is like a child who wants to run, but has not yet learned to even crawl. Both are important. Like two hands on a person. Tell me, which hand is more important: the right or the left? Maybe you will say that it is right, but are you ready to cut off the other one? Of course not. And it’s the same here. Experience and initiative must become mutually communicating vessels. Experience gives direction to initiative, and implemented actions multiply experience.
- How did you see your future at the age of 20-25?
At twenty years old I was a student at the Faculty of Physics at Leningrad State University. At twenty-five, I not only graduated from university with a degree in physics, but also graduated from the faculty of journalism. So I can say with full responsibility that physicists are also lyricists. But seriously speaking, I, like almost all young people, wanted to be useful to society. Of course, at the age of twenty and twenty-five, I also did not imagine that I would become Chairman of the Central Election Commission. I wanted and became a teacher, worked in the scientific field - at the Aerospace Equipment Design Bureau "Intergal" of the Leningrad State University.
- Have you ever been to the Rostov region, what are your impressions of the Don land?
I had to. I associate the Don land primarily with the Russian expanse, with the vast territory, the breadth of the Russian soul. In some ways, I agree with Gumilyov, who argued that a territory influences the psychology of the people inhabiting it. The endless breadth corresponds to the spaciousness and cordiality of our people. All the Rostovites I have met are just like this: honest, brave and open.
- What advice would you give to our young readers?
Don't be afraid to take action. But know that you will have to bear responsibility for every action. Every day we make our choice. And lack of action is also a choice. We are responsible not only for ourselves, but also for our loved ones. And our actions not only relate to us in themselves, they concern our loved ones, and sometimes even complete strangers to us. If we talk about elections, then perhaps the future of our entire country will depend on just one vote.