Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov biography. Why didn’t Gromov strike in time? Gromov Boris Vsevolodovich son Maxim
A person can be a great artist, scientist, military leader, president, and this will always be considered the main and most important feature of his biography. But if we have never spoken to his wife, have not seen this man’s children, if the doors of his house have never opened before us, then we cannot say whether we know him. Family, home, children, beloved dog will reveal a person’s soul better than the most detailed story about him.
We invite you, dear readers, to visit the Governor of the Moscow Region, Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov. Our guide will be (you can’t break into private life without an invitation and an escort) Gromov’s old comrade and neighbor Pastukhov.
Many times I had to watch Boris Vsevolodovich escort his twin girls to school,” Boris Nikolaevich begins his excursion. - It looked especially touching when they were still little. This was a must see.
The school is nearby, just cross the square. They are talking animatedly about something, smiling at anyone, even a stranger: it immediately becomes clear that friendship, mutual interest and respect reign in this company.
Now the girls have grown up. Beauties, although not Komsomol members (which is a pity). They're studying at a university, and the next thing they know, they'll start getting married. But even now I often see my father with his daughters. Their relationship remained as trusting and tender, which, you see, does not happen often. But these girls are technically not even his children.
By the way, his boys went to Suvorov schools, both received higher military education.
I know Maxim less; he lives in Kyiv. But I know the youngest, Andryusha, well. He grew up before our eyes. Andryusha, in my opinion, is not a military man at all. And he went to Suvorovskoe, clearly breaking himself, only because he loved his father very much and wanted to be like him. And he entered the military academy for the same reason, and only after that he switched to civilian work, which Gromov did not interfere with. Their mutual understanding cannot be broken. After all, Gromov was always interested in the essence, not the form. He himself is a general, because this is his essence, which is best expressed in this life form.
I have no doubt that he would have become a significant person even if he had not chosen a military career. At his very core, he is a very strong and integral person, possessing a rare ability to properly organize life.
I also had the opportunity to see Gromov’s great joy. When little Lizochka appeared, this new light appeared in his window! What a holiday it was!
They often talk about him - the iron man. That's right... partly. For those who have seen him with children, it becomes clear that the iron man has a gentle and subtle soul. Children feel this unmistakably. Children and... people of art.
Galya Volchek - this great woman of the theater - is actually very picky and rarely engages in intimate conversations with anyone. She talks with Gromov for a long time and with such mutual attention that it becomes clear that these people are really interested in each other. Seeing them together, for some reason I thought - if only I could record their conversation (I understand that morally this idea does not stand up to criticism), undoubtedly, it would be extremely interesting for everyone!
So if there is an iron foundation in this person (there is, of course) - then this is the form of existence of a big boss in a responsible job. Without toughness, it is impossible to lead in our world. But his soul is something completely different. True, this is open to few, only especially close people.
He has the same emotional relationship with Sasha Yakushev, a great hockey player. But here another important component of Gromov’s soul comes into play. Like all athletes, Gromov remains in this unique field all his life. Athletes (smart and thinking, of course) always have something to talk about among themselves.
It is important to note that all this was not noticed by me today, when many are singing hosannas to the governor of the Moscow region. This was clear to everyone even in those troubled times when his career seemed to be irrevocably sliding down. When he was forced to look for his place in a radically changed world, devoid of the stable values that we used to focus on in our previous lives. But, no matter how difficult it was for Gromov, he never lost face.
Well, his wife Faya is a special story. Here I would prefer to remain silent. I don’t want to say what you think about when you see people loving each other. They somehow glow, or something... Well, how can I talk about it? I just want to silently look at them and watch...
I will only say that both Gromov and Faina, without a doubt, understand the enormous value of the world they both created. They alone can appreciate this, after the terrible shocks that they both had to endure. These people are clearly gifted with a rare talent for creating a prosperous family and maintaining a strong and bright home world for many years.
B.V. Gromov:
For me, the ideal of a family has always been our Saratov house on the banks of the Volga, in which my mother, grandfather, grandmother and we, three brothers, lived. This, truly, was our fortress. Here we always received help and protection, here we were taught what is good and right in life, and what is ugly and mean.
The patriarch of the family was the grandfather. The main rules, permissions and prohibitions came from him. You could get an answer to any question from him. Grandmother and mother seemed to be hiding in his shadow. But it seemed so only at first glance. We knew very well what quiet but undeniable power our quiet grandmother had in all matters of family life. And what is absolutely certain is that the whole atmosphere of the house, all its comfort and extraordinary pleasantness were connected precisely with her. So our main educators are grandparents. Mom worked with us less often. She simply did not have such an opportunity, since she worked very hard and came home only late in the evening.
Our ability to behave in the company of other people depended on our grandmother. She herself, well-bred in an old noble family, and then also professionally trained in housekeeping at the famous Saratov Institute for Noble Maidens, taught us everything that decent young people needed to know. From her we learned that there is also God above us, who constantly monitors everything that happens on earth, and sees all our pranks and good deeds, and, like a strict but wise father, is very worried about us. Therefore, a normal person should behave with dignity.
When I was very little, the God that my grandmother talked about seemed to me like my grandfather, or rather like my grandfather’s older brother, because in the icon He looked clearly older and, in addition to a mustache, also wore a beard. I must say that I really liked both grandfathers. So my childhood attitude towards God is also understandable.
A little later, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy made certain amendments to this idea of my family with his great novel “War and Peace.” And although I read the chapters dedicated to the war with the greatest enthusiasm, many scenes of family life, especially in the wonderful Rostov house, sank deeply into my soul. Even then it became clear to me that all families are unhappy and happy in their own way. My own future family seemed to me like that of Pierre Bezukhov and Natasha.
I, of course, was in love with Natasha Rostova and, to be honest, I could not understand what she, a beauty and a smart girl, found in the fat man and the bumpkin Bezukhov. I constantly compared all the girls I met with Natasha Rostova. I must admit that the comparison almost always turned out not in favor of the real girls.
The wise grandmother corrected this involuntary imbalance. My literary illness was, of course, familiar and understandable to her. She herself suffered from all this as a girl. I have already told how at one point she married me to my neighbor Natasha (the name was of great importance after all!).
During my later life, home and family, both the first and the second, became for me the main stronghold and reliable rear, which I strengthened as best I could and knew how.
It seems to me that our house now resembles the Saratov family of my distant childhood. And if my grandparents can see from somewhere... from there (my grandmother directly told me that she would always look after me), then I think that they should be happy.
I am happy in my family life.
Well, what does my Faina Alexandrovna think... It’s best to ask her herself.
- Faina Alexandrovna, where did you get such a rare name?
I have a quarter of Tatar blood in me. Faina was named after her grandmother.
My biography is the most ordinary: I was born and raised in Perm, after school I entered the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, and married a classmate, Alexander Krapivin. The husband then worked at a military research institute, on a commission that investigated the causes of plane crashes. Later, his colleagues found out the circumstances of the disaster in which he himself died.
- Your meeting with Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov took place under very tragic circumstances...
There was nothing tragic in the first meeting. We knew each other since 1982. My father-in-law Evgeny Ivanovich Krapivin and Boris Vsevolodovich studied together at the Academy of the General Staff. We all: the Gromov family, and I, my husband and his parents, lived in Moscow in the same house. Then the father-in-law was sent to Lviv to command the Air Force of the Carpathian District. Boris Gromov served not far from us in Ivano-Frankovsk, and then left for Afghanistan.
- When the tragedy happened, were you in Moscow?
No, that summer I went to Ukraine. I just had twin girls and I wanted them to gain strength.
On May 3, 1985, at 12 noon, my husband, his brother and father, General Krapivin, and Boris Vsevolodovich’s wife were with them, died in a plane crash. The men were flying to Moscow on business. Natasha also needed to go to Moscow.
Due to a dispatcher error, their plane collided with a passenger airliner flying on the Moscow-Vilnius route.
When this happened, my girls were not even two months old.
- Was there a premonition of trouble?
I still remember that day to the smallest detail.
I was busy with my daughters, my husband came into our room and kissed one while I was swaddling the other. He didn't want to leave.
Then I went out onto the porch to see everyone off on their way. For some reason, our dog was very worried, barking and rushing into the car. I even had to drag her into the house.
When the minibus left, I went up to my room and suddenly burst into tears for some reason. There seemed to be no reason for tears, but she sobbed avidly, from the bottom of her heart.
At about three o'clock in the afternoon the phone started ringing off the hook. They called from Moscow with questions: where was the plane, did it take off?
When a friend of my mother-in-law came to us - as she explained: “To see the children,” an evil thought stirred in me. It’s customary among pilots: when a plane crashes, a woman comes first to the house of the victims so that their relatives are not left alone...
When they told me, I couldn’t even cry.
It turned out that the whole city already knew, but they didn’t dare tell us.
Then a lot of black Volgas arrived.
For two months I perceived the world as if through thick glass. Everything inside me is numb. Consciousness refused to accept that they were no longer there.
Boris Gromov buried his wife in Saratov (she was originally from there) and returned to Afghanistan. Before departure he came to see us.
- Was he trying to help?
He was the most important of those who helped, and soon became the only one. He supported us morally and financially. When I came to Moscow, I always came with flowers and gifts. As if he accidentally left money, put it under the phone or on the sideboard. He was leaving, and I had to move around alone.
The government has appointed a pension for children - 91 rubles.
Until I got a job at the Ministry of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy in 1987, money was very bad. I had to take things to a thrift store.
Three years have passed. Perestroika was already in full swing. One day Boris Vsevolodovich called and said that he had come to Moscow for a party conference, and at the same time brought his sons from Saratov. Can I show them Moscow? Of course, I agreed. On his next visit, it was already on the eve of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, he invited me to dinner at a restaurant.
And so, four years after all this horror, we began a close relationship.
- People who went through Afghanistan have a heightened sense of justice. Boris Vsevolodovich became a politician. In politics you need to be very thick-skinned...
At first, human meanness baffled Boris Vsevolodovich: they said one thing to his face, but did something completely different behind his back. But now we have experience, and there are real like-minded people.
- Does your husband listen to your advice?
Only in terms of wardrobe.
- There is a considerable age difference between you and your husband - 17 years. Doesn't this interfere with mutual understanding?
I don't notice the age difference at all.
- Are you saving money for a rainy day?
I don’t even want to think about a rainy day. I've had enough. And we save money only for the education of our children.
- Do you think love and money are compatible?
Compatible, but not interrelated. Money never interferes, but it does not guarantee happiness and mutual understanding.
- Do you have a big house. Probably you can’t do without servants?
We do not have servants and never have had them. A relative helps me with Lizochka, the rest of the household is on me. We need to feed everyone, clothe them and talk. Now I’m talking to you, but it’s in my head that I have English classes on Monday, which means I need to prepare food today.
- What do you do in your free time?
We try not to miss theater premieres and usually go to the conservatory two or three times a month.
Boris Vsevolodovich is not the kind of person who relaxes on the sofa. He mows hay at the dacha, rides a bicycle, and the girls taught him to roller skate. I'm not even talking about the car - this is a special passion.
- Do you drive a car yourself?
After the death of the first husband, the car remained. Then I learned to drive and got my license. But Gromov forbade me. It seems to him that I drive badly, he is afraid for me.
- Does your husband spoil you?
As in any happy family. Flowers, gifts and attention. But the main thing is that next to him I can relax and unwind. It seems like a small thing, but for me it is terribly important.
When I was alone with two girls, I didn’t have the opportunity to rest even a little. I lived in constant tension. Now the tension is gone and I feel at ease.
I try to create conditions for rest for my husband as much as possible. To do household chores: peel potatoes or go to the store - I don’t let him near him. I myself want to serve him. I don’t understand women who moan that their husband has gotten out of hand and won’t wash his plate, and this is not a man’s job. Home comfort is a woman's main concern.
- What qualities of Boris Vsevolodovich do you particularly like?
They say “a real man”. In my opinion, this is Gromov. Reliable, taciturn, non-petty. If he promised, he will definitely do it.
His character is especially evident in his interactions with children. Sometimes I yell at them, they get offended and sulk at me. Such tricks don’t work with Boris Vsevolodovich. They listen to him without any offense, although he never raises his voice. Respected.
Valya and Zhenya are twins. They are often given the same things, but in different colors. We have to draw lots to see who gets what. They do not recognize me as a judge. Only Gromov develops the procedure and conducts the draw.
When any difficulties arise, I start to worry. He says: “Relax and don’t get involved - you don’t need it.” And I calm down.
We’ve been living together for a long time, more than ten years, so we could get used to everything by now. But the magnitude of Boris Vsevolodovich’s personality still surprises me.
Boris had a wonderful family, says S.V. Gromov, wonderful children, everything was going as it should, and suddenly this terrible tragedy. His wife, Natasha, dies.
After Afghanistan, the whole country knew General Gromov. When people became aware of his family tragedy, many letters of support arrived. Including from young women with marriage proposals. He could have chosen anyone. But Boris acted as a resuscitator should have done - he himself, being in a serious crisis, becomes a support for the person who needs to be saved.
For many it looked more than strange. A promising young general marries a woman who has two children. He puts the weight of yet another grief on his already well-loaded cart (he himself has two sons).
Faina Aleksandrovna is a very smart, sweet, simply wonderful person, and it is truly a great success that they were able to form a strong family. But Boris didn’t even try to choose; he acted exactly as a person with his character and purpose in life should have acted.
He understood that a terrible double tragedy could be overcome together. And he saved not only the woman and her tiny twin girls, but also his mother-in-law, who actually survived a complete crash. Her husband and both sons died immediately.
B.V. Gromov:
It was an ordinary day. Somewhere around six o'clock in the morning. As usual, reports began on the operational situation and the combat situation. Reports poured in from all over Afghanistan, and (I usually received them myself) reports also came from the Afghan army, that is, everything was as usual...
Natasha might not have been on that plane. She had a ticket for a different date on a civilian flight. But Evgeniy Ivanovich Krapivin, my old friend and classmate at the General Staff Academy, called her and offered to fly together.
I knew about this and was glad that she would fly on the plane of the Air Force commander. Of course, I didn’t think about anything bad, but the degree of reliability here is much higher than on ordinary scheduled aircraft, and, in addition, from May 3, all flights within the Air Force were prohibited. As usual, flights were sharply reduced before the holiday to avoid any emergencies...
The An-26 took off from the ground. The chief air traffic controller over Lvov was calm; everything was in order at the facility entrusted to him. But, seeing on the locator screen a civilian plane that had come out of nowhere and was landing, he only managed to shout to his subordinate: “Where are you taking him?!”
The cosmonaut Bykovsky’s son was flying in the plane’s crew as a co-pilot, recalls Faina Gromova. - His parents met him. The plane was supposed to land at the Chkalovsky airfield in Moscow. Time passed - there was no plane. Valentina Mikhailovna, the wife of cosmonaut Bykovsky, started calling in a panic: where is the plane?! They told her that the plane was lost, now they would find it, it was somewhere in the sky.
I also started calling, they told me that the plane had landed in Ivanovo...
Then I saw a line of black Volga cars under the window. For a moment it seemed to me that everything had turned black, although it was day, May 3, the sun was shining...
“I learned about the tragedy somewhere around thirteen o’clock local Kabul time,” recalls Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov, “and they told me that only Krapivin crashed...
A message arrived that the commander of the Air Force of the Carpathian Military District had died. What plane was he on? In combat? On a transport? It wasn’t clear then. And at first I reacted to this only as the loss of a friend. And then, after a few minutes, the thought struck me that my wife was supposed to be flying on this plane...
Until that fateful day, the destinies of Boris Gromov and Faina Krapivina turned out quite well. The Gromovs had two wonderful sons. Maxim was already eight, Andrey was not five. Less than two months before the tragedy, Faina and Alexander Krapivin gave birth to girls, who were named after their grandparents - Evgeniy and Valentin.
We lived in the same house,” says Gromov. - I’m in the third entrance with my family, and Faya is in the seventh. On Vernadsky Avenue...
Always, when it turns out that I drive past this house, this happens in my soul!.. - continues Faina. - I can’t even explain, such a whirlpool of feelings, all together... But this is not connected with Boris, but with the Krapivin family... Then even to assume...
It was a difficult time. Both were tormented by loneliness, emptiness, despair, and both needed to move on with their lives.
There is not a single man left in the Krapivin family. A young widow with two infants in her arms was entitled to a meager pension... Boris Gromov came to the rescue.
He always came for half an hour,” recalls Faina. “Sometimes it turned out that he came without me, and when I came in, I immediately realized that it was he, because only one person brought such flowers. He brought gifts. Children, me, mother-in-law. And he left the money... That’s how he did it, which we discovered when he was no longer there.
“My visits, and what I sometimes conveyed to them on occasion,” Gromov smiles, “all this has already organically entered my life, into my consciousness. I also have a family, where the girls are small, they have a mother and grandmother, who, as it were, became my family. Not in the sense that we have already connected our lives, but in the sense that... Well, I just kind of considered myself responsible...
All this, of course, was not very simple. I didn’t know how to behave, although I was very grateful for the help, but, to be completely honest, I didn’t make any plans and even decided to somehow move away a little... Although he was very handsome and I liked him, why hide it. But it was uncomfortable to even think about something like that...
In my opinion, everything grew smoothly... There was no such watershed, no clear line... Everything somehow came together at one point. I saw, of course, that she was a very attractive, interesting woman. I’ve never talked about this, and now... maybe this is the first time I’m saying it so directly... There’s beauty, and intelligence, and, above all, her decency and sincerity...
Of course, it’s easier for me, a man. For her, indeed... there was still a certain barrier, because they could say: “Yeah, that’s the kind of person you were chasing after...” This is not because I have delusions of grandeur, it’s just that there really are those who can say that, there are a lot of such “well-wishers” ... In this sense, of course, it was difficult for her ... to step over this barrier, so that it would not seem that she herself was in a hurry to arrange her life ...
Everything was decided between them before a long separation. General Gromov was leaving again. He was faced with a very difficult task: to withdraw Soviet troops from Afghanistan as soon as possible.
Before leaving, we met, and I told her... I said it directly... “I love you.” I was sure then and am sure now that she understood everything correctly. It seemed to me so... It seemed that she was waiting for this...
It was different then... A completely different environment. I just prayed that he would stay alive...
Gromov returned alive and well.
Newsreel footage of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the legendary passage of the army commander across the Amu Darya bridge, where his eldest son Maxim was waiting for him in the middle, went around the whole world.
It seemed that all the misfortunes were left behind and now nothing could stop him and Faina from being together. Only one question was never resolved, how their children would perceive their union.
“I have two little girls,” explains Faina, “and there are two boys there.” My girls are one thing; they are four years old. The boys were already big... Gromov, of course, had it harder. His children are older...
“We had a manly conversation with Maxim,” Boris Vsevolodovich objects. “I prepared for a long time and honestly told him everything. He answered absolutely calmly and even, it seemed to me, with relief that this had finally happened, that is, he was even happy. I didn’t talk about this with Andrey, he’s still small... In my opinion, it was just more difficult for Faya. The girls seemed, well, I don’t know how to say... a little wild, or something... They grew up in a women’s group, there were no men there. And suddenly some guy appeared who would live with them...
Meanwhile, General Gromov was appointed commander of the Kiev Military District. There they began to live as one big family. They were together and loved each other. It is most important. The Gromovs had neither a solemn engagement nor a magnificent wedding.
Naturally, I said that you and I need to formalize our relationship. Somehow it happened, the day was as busy as possible, I asked my assistant to arrange and bring this book from the registry office, in which you need to sign so that everything is according to the law. He brought it and I signed first.
One day his guarantor Yuri Vasilyevich appeared,” explains Faina. “He arrived with some kind of barn book and said: Faina Alexandrovna, we urgently need to put your signature here.” I ask: what happened? He just repeats his own words - it is necessary, it is necessary! He's such a man of few words. Right in the kitchen, next to me I have a cutting board... Here, he says, sign it.
Well, okay, okay, I signed, and he left.
And after work, at about ten o’clock in the evening... First a huge basket of flowers floated in, and then Gromov himself appeared and showed me his passport...
In the first months, I woke up in the middle of the night and just like that... with my hand... He’s next to me. My God, how happy I am!
Faina's daughters Valya and Zhenya immediately accepted Gromov unconditionally. True, they did not call him dad. One day they saw a children's film where the hero, the boy Borya, was named Buka.
Yes, there was such a character, his name was Borya,” Faina laughs. - And so the girls, apparently, decided that all Boris are Buki.
To this day, that’s what they call me - Buka. But I am glad and hope that everything will continue to be the same. I understand that this is easier for girls. Yes, I like it too...
It wasn’t easy for me,” Faina sighs. “I had to fight for recognition.” The biggest difficulties are with Andrey. I felt that he was avoiding me, I couldn’t do anything about it and I was very worried.
The fact is that Andrei had previously lived with his grandmother, Natasha’s mother, for a long time,” Boris Vsevolodovich reassures his wife. - And besides, he was there alone. And then suddenly there is such a big family and attention not only to him, but also to two girls who are younger than him. I think that there was also jealousy mixed in, which is not so easy for a child to overcome.
We walked towards each other in such a difficult way. - Faina looks long and intently into the distance. - I just see it in slow motion. Step forward, step to the side, step back.
Mistrust and wariness can only be overcome by love. We had enough sincerity and patience to earn the trust and affection of our very different children. Teach them to respect and love each other.
To be honest, I always liked pampering children. Everyone thinks that I am a tough person, they say that the military is all like that... To some extent, this is true. It is impossible to be soft in our life. It happens, and with children I am strict, out of necessity, in very rare cases. But most of all I love to pamper them and try to do it so that no one sees...
A note: Faechka, I left. Zhenya is sick, Valya is at school. Andrey will arrive today. Kiss, love. Beech.
What is fatherly love?
So many books have been written about motherhood. Songs and poems are dedicated to her, films are made about her. And about fathers - keep quiet.
Men themselves are partly to blame for this. In their younger years, they are more interested in careers, friends, and pleasures. And only in adulthood, when most of the children have already grown up, do fathers realize that they have missed something in life that will no longer be in life...
True, sometimes fate smiles at us once again and gives us an encore of all the delights of fatherly happiness.
Having a late child is a great success. The feeling that you are young again, full of strength and everything is under your control!..
The Governor of the Moscow Region, General Boris Gromov, talks about his youngest daughter Elizaveta.
How does early fatherhood differ from late fatherhood?
More complete awareness of what is happening. Consequently, the attitude towards everything that accompanies fatherhood is especially responsible.
The large age difference between father and child does not seem significant to me. For a child, dad is the dad, no matter how young or old he is. There are, of course, nuances, but all the pros and cons are relative. My eldest son Maxim is 30 years old, my youngest daughter Lizochka is seven. I don’t think any of them think about the difference in our ages.
When I found out that I would become a father... There was no happier person than me at that moment!
Faina Alexandrovna and I, to be honest, did not advertise the upcoming event. Only family and closest friends knew about this. They rejoiced and worried together and next to us. And today, after more than six years, I can say with sincere gratitude that their support was very important to us.
It wasn't easy to choose a name. Long family councils, discussions and even arguments were held. But through joint efforts they came to what the first president of the USSR called consensus, and settled on the beautiful name Elizabeth. That was my grandmother's name!
It is often said that the youngest child is always the most spoiled. I don't think we have that. For example, I myself am the youngest of three brothers. But mother, grandmother, grandfather never divided us by age. Everyone received equal shares of warmth and participation. I try to do the same too. But I would be lying if I said that the attitude towards Lizochka is the same as towards older children. She is everyone's favorite, she knows and feels it. But I can’t call her a spoiled child. She never tries to get her way by shouting and whims.
Lizochka, like all children today, loves outdoor games, books and cartoons. You never know what she will come up with and offer in the next minute. Therefore, I simply accept its rules and join the next game.
They say that for the younger ones, the problem of fathers and children is much more acute. I know very well what the problem of fathers and children is, because I have two adult sons and two adult daughters. There are no such problems with Lisa yet. But Faina Alexandrovna and I have a lot of experience, so I think we’ll cope in the future.
The most severe punishment for Lisa is her father's frowning eyebrows. For now this is enough, and I suspect that I am not capable of more.
Well, when she cries... Oh, this is a difficult test for me. It's heartbreaking, it's a shame.
If you remember how we raised our older children... Why remember. The youngest - she is the youngest. After all, Lisa does whatever she pleases not only with us, but also with her older brothers and sisters.
It’s just work... Unfortunately, I have some things to do that cannot be postponed for any family reason. There's nothing you can do about it. At such moments it is difficult for me...
What am I most afraid of... A lot. I don't even want to talk about it.
The main thing I hope for is for myself, for our friendly family, for relatives, friends and associates. They won't give up and won't let you down.
What can I give to my beloved baby? First of all, Love, that’s right, with a capital letter. Everything else - care, responsibility, demandingness - are only derivatives of love for children. Everything we have and who we become is laid down in childhood.
As I get older, for some reason I remember our post-war childhood more often. There are people around who have returned from the war. These were our heroes. We looked at them with delight and dreamed of becoming the same. The films I watched, the books I read were all about the war.
It was a great shame and pity that the real, big war took place without our participation. When will you wait for another one now? This is what I was afraid of as a child! Most of all I was afraid that I wouldn’t get the war at all. It was simply scary to think about it. We were terrible militarists and patriots in childhood, and all our games are war.
Children's dreams come true. I wanted to go to war. Got it. I wanted to become a general. Became. Although in adult life it did not look so romantic.
Well, life principles were given to me by my grandparents - the main people in my life.
Here was such a case.
In the old house, it stood next to the church and was called the priest’s house; Marya Petrovna lived below us on the first floor. An old, old, very pious grandmother.
When it happened that everyone left, they left me with her. It seemed to me that I sat with her for a very long time. There were icons and lamps all around, and I looked at them with interest.
Marya Petrovna always treated me to some special fragrant tea (she probably made it herself from herbs and flowers) and gave me the most delicious “cake” I’ve ever tasted in my life. It was a large piece of round black bread, spread with margarine and sprinkled with sugar. The sugar was in lumps. She crushed it in a bronze mortar. The deliciousness is amazing!
Marya Petrovna always repeated: “Live so as not to anger God.” These words stuck in my memory.
Then I asked my grandmother how to live so as not to anger God.
My grandmother explained to me that God gave people ten commandments that must be observed. Then you will be a good person, and God will not be angry with you. It is most important. And she repeated these commandments to me more than once.
As a child, not all of them were clear to me. For example, about your neighbor’s wife. But on the whole, I completely agreed with God and believed that decent people live exactly like this, according to the commandments. Including my mocking grandfather, who was a convinced materialist.
Hearing his grandmother’s biblical instructions, he shouted from the kitchen: “You’re spreading the religious dope again!” He was joking, and we understood it. Grandma wasn't even angry.
I try to live by the commandments even now and am convinced that a person should go through life in such a way as not to disgrace his parents, but for his children to become a person whom they would not be ashamed of, but remember with love and pride.
It is also necessary, to the best of your ability and ability, to benefit the society that raised you, your people and country. Well, in general, all this is fully included in these simple and brilliant commandments, by which everyone who considers himself a decent person must live
Biography of Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov - young years.
Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov was born on November 7, 1943 in Saratov. He and his older brother Alexei were raised by their grandfather, Dmitry Fedorovich. As Boris Vsevolodovich himself recalls, the main merit of his grandfather in raising him and his brother was the desire to instill in them the rules of good manners from childhood: he demanded respect for himself as the head of the family, and respect for women, mother and grandmother. Although the grandfather never used the “belt method,” the boys were slightly afraid of him, but they received a real male education. Dmitry Fedorovich wanted Boris and his brother to receive a legal education, but fate decreed otherwise.
In 1955, Boris Gromov and his brother Alexei, as the sons of an officer who died in the Great Patriotic War, were sent to Saratov, and then to the Kalinin Suvorov School. Thus, Gromov’s military biography, one might say, began at the age of twelve. Gromov later spoke about his first serious military training as a good school, obtained thanks to the most experienced teachers who sought to provide not only knowledge, but also to educate real officers. In addition to the main program, the school's students studied ballroom dancing, music, and studied art history and aesthetics. Most of all, Gromov gravitated toward military disciplines. An important aspect of the training was the compulsory knowledge of the English language - everyone, both students and teachers, were required to speak only English, which, as Gromov later recalls, often led to anecdotal situations, since not all teachers spoke English, but the students themselves, who spoke at first with grief in half, only a sense of humor saved me.
After successfully graduating from college in 1962, Gromov entered the Leningrad Military School, from which he graduated in 1965, receiving the rank of lieutenant.
Then Gromov enlisted in the troops of the Baltic Military District. At first he was a platoon commander, then became a company commander of a motorized rifle division. In the very first years of his service, Gromov proved himself to be a talented and highly gifted commander, and in 1969, as a promising employee, he was sent to study at the Military Academy in Moscow. Gromov graduated from the academy with honors and, starting in 1972, continued to serve in the North Caucasus Military District as chief of staff of the 9th Motorized Rifle Division.
Over the years of military service, Gromov became a professional military man; the army strengthened his will and largely influenced the formation of his personality.
The facts of Gromov’s military biography speak for themselves: In 1975, 1977 and 1979, he was awarded the ranks of major, lieutenant colonel and colonel ahead of schedule.
In 1980, Gromov was sent to Afghanistan. There, for two and a half years, he was commander of the fifth motorized rifle division. In 1982, Gromov received the military rank of major general and continued to improve his military skills by entering the Military Academy of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces.
Gromov becomes First Deputy Commander of the 38th Army of the Carpathian Military District. Since March 1985, he has served for a year with the rank of general for special assignments of the Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces in Afghanistan, and then for another year as commander of the 28th Army of the Belarusian Military District.
In 1988, one of the most honorable events in Gromov’s biography occurred - he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Gromov received this honorary award for the brilliantly carried out Operation Magistral. Once again proving himself to be a first-class professional, Gromov successfully withdrew his troops from warring Afghanistan, suffering virtually no losses. The operation carried out by General Gromov went down in history as one of the exemplary examples of military achievements, and was subsequently described in all textbooks on military tactics and strategy as a clear illustration of the manifestation of highly professional actions of the commander.
Biography of Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov - mature years.
In 1989, Gromov was awarded the military rank of colonel general. He is appointed commander of the Kyiv Military District. In the same year he was elected people's deputy of the USSR. In 1991, he held the post of First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, then, in 1991-1992, First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, and from 1992 to 1994, Deputy Minister of Defense.
Fundamental disagreements soon arose between Gromov and the Minister of Defense. Gromov openly criticized the senior generals on issues related to military reform and the Chechen war. This led to his resignation from the post of Deputy Minister of Defense. Gromov was transferred to the position of Chief Military Expert at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Being a military professional and a widely erudite, experienced leader, with a good command of English, Gromov quickly joined diplomatic activities.
In December 1995, Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov was elected to the State Duma. In January 2000, he became governor of the Moscow region.
The personal life of Boris Vsevolodovich is full of drama. His first wife died, and he was left with two sons, the youngest of whom was only five years old at that time. Then followed many years of loneliness, which ended with his second marriage. Gromov married a woman who was left a widow after the same disaster that claimed the life of his wife. He adopted her two daughters. In 1998, a daughter, Lisa, appeared in the Gromov family.
Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov, Soviet and Russian military leader and politician, Hero of the Soviet Union, chairman of the All-Russian organization "BATTLE BROTHERHOOD", was born on November 7, 1943 in Saratov. His father was a military officer who died in 1943. In 1955, following his older brother, he entered the Saratov Suvorov Military School, but the educational institution was soon disbanded, and Boris Vsevolodovich was transferred to the Kalinin SVU, which he successfully graduated in 1962. Three years later, Gromov graduated from the Leningrad Higher Combined Arms Command School named after S.M. Kirov and was sent to the Baltic Military District (Kaliningrad).
He began his service as a platoon commander and then became a company commander of a motorized rifle division. In 1969, Boris Gromov was sent to study in Moscow, at the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze, from which he graduated in 1972 with honors. Served successively as a platoon, company, battalion, regiment, and division commander. He received the military ranks of “major”, “lieutenant colonel”, and “colonel” ahead of schedule. At the age of 39 he received the military rank of major general. In 1984 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces with a gold medal.
The geography of his service is very extensive: after the Baltic states - the Turkestan, North Caucasus, Carpathian and Belarusian military districts. But the central place is occupied by Afghanistan, where he took part in hostilities for a total of more than five years. At one of the meetings with veterans, Gromov admitted that he still remembers almost every day he spent in Afghanistan.
In 1987-1989, he commanded the 40th Army, that is, the entire limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan. In 1988, for the successful conduct of Operation Magistral (to lift the blockade from the city of Khost besieged by Afghan rebels), Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In 1989, Gromov led the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. It was he who developed the escape plan through the Salang Pass. Moscow ordered an artillery strike on the positions of the field commanders, with whom the command of the Soviet troops had secretly agreed on neutrality during the withdrawal of units. To avoid serious bloodshed, Gromov ordered a strike on the empty gorges. As a result, the withdrawal operation was completed without losses. According to his colleagues, Boris Gromov’s main task was always not to lose people.
The legendary general, assessing the events of those times, considers them a political mistake. “It is not clear for whose sake and for what they brought troops into this country in 1979. And in general, everything connected with the deployment of military formations anywhere: to Afghanistan in ’79, to Moscow in August ’91, to Grozny at the end of ’94, did not lead to anything good,” - notes Gromov.
After the successful operation, Gromov was awarded the rank of Colonel General and appointed commander of the Red Banner Kyiv District, where he was elected People's Deputy of the USSR.
At the beginning of 1992, Boris Vsevolodovich was appointed first deputy commander of the general purpose forces of the United Armed Forces of the CIS. In the same year, he became Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation and held this position for about two years. He repeatedly spoke out sharply against the ill-considered use of troops in the Chechen Republic and condemned the “barbaric choice of military means” used there. In December 1994, he submitted his resignation, but it was not accepted. In 1995, Boris Yeltsin signed a decree seconding Gromov to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a chief military expert with the rank of deputy minister. After this, a new political stage began in the life of a military officer.
In 1995, Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov headed the federal list of the socio-political movement “My Fatherland” and was elected to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, and became a member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs.
In 1996, he became Boris Yeltsin's confidant in the presidential elections. He stood at the origins of the veterans' movement in Russia. Since 1997, he has headed the All-Russian public organization of veterans “BATTLE BROTHERHOOD”.
In October 1999, Gromov was nominated as a candidate for the post of governor of the Moscow region and won the second round of voting, which took place in January 2000. In March 2012, at the end of his third term as governor of the region, Gromov announced his intention to leave the post of governor of the Moscow region after the expiration of his term in May. In 2012, he was approved as a deputy of the Moscow Regional Duma, and then as a senator from the Moscow region in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.
In June 2013, the Central Election Commission of Russia registered Boris Gromov as a deputy of the State Duma of the sixth convocation from the United Russia party. After the elections to the State Duma of the 7th convocation, he resigned as a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov is the author of numerous publications on the history and practical development of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. President of the International Association “Twinned Cities”. He was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II, III and IV degrees, the Order of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star, the Order of Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, and the medal For Military Merit. Honorary citizen of Saratov (since 1989). Master of Sports in handball. Married for the second time, he has five children. Gromov’s two sons from his first marriage, Maxim and Andrey, also decided to become military men. Maxim graduated from the Kiev SVU, and then from the Kiev Combined Arms Command School, colonel. Andrey graduated from the Moscow SVU.
Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov(b. 1943, Saratov) - Soviet and Russian military leader and politician, deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the VI convocation. Colonel General (May 9, 1989), Hero of the Soviet Union (March 3, 1988). Governor of the Moscow Region (2000-2012).
Born on November 7, 1943 in Saratov in a military family. Father - Vsevolod Alekseevich Gromov, died at the front in the year his son was born.
Studies
At the age of 12, in 1955, he entered the Saratov Suvorov Military School. In 1960, after the reduction of the Saratov school, he was transferred to the Kalinin Suvorov Military School in the city of Kalinin (now Tver), from which he graduated in 1962.
Graduated from the Leningrad Combined Arms Command School named after. S. M. Kirov, where he studied in 1962-1965.
Military career
After college he was sent to the Baltic Military District (Kaliningrad). He began his service as a platoon commander and then became a company commander of a motorized rifle division.
Four years later, in 1969, he was sent to study in Moscow at the Frunze Military Academy. He graduated with honors in 1972. After graduating from the VAF, he served as commander of the 1st motorized rifle battalion of the 36th motorized rifle regiment, chief of staff and commander of the 428th motorized rifle regiment and chief of staff of the 9th motorized rifle Krasnodar Red Banner Order of Kutuzov and Red Star division of the 12th Aktivskyi North Caucasus Military District Maikop. He received the ranks of major, lieutenant colonel and colonel ahead of schedule.
He continued his military education at academic courses at the M.V. Frunze Military Academy, which he graduated in 1978.
From 1982 to 1984 he studied at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR named after. K. E. Voroshilova, graduated with a gold medal.
During the war in Afghanistan, he served three times in units of the Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces (from February 1980 to August 1982, from March 1985 to April 1986, 1987-1989). Awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the successful conduct of Operation Magistral. He was the last commander of the 40th Army (1987-89), at the same time he was the representative of the USSR government for the temporary presence of Soviet troops in the DRA, and led the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
Beginning of political activity
In 1989, Gromov was awarded another military rank - Colonel General; in the same year, on February 15, he was appointed commander of the troops of the Red Banner Kyiv Military District.
At the beginning of 1989, a new supreme body of state power was created in the USSR - the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. In the same year, Boris Gromov was elected people's deputy of the USSR. Also in 1989, he was elected as a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee.
In 1990-1991 - member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine.
In 1991, the country launched a campaign for the election of the President of the Russian Federation. Candidate Boris Yeltsin chose as his partner, a candidate for the post of vice president, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, Colonel Alexander Rutsky. Another candidate, Nikolai Ryzhkov, made a similar choice in favor of the military man, speaking in conjunction with General Boris Gromov, People's Deputy of the USSR. Both Yeltsin and Ryzhkov sought in this way to expand their electorate, to attract voters who consider the armed forces as a factor of stability, a guarantor of maintaining order in the country. The elections took place on June 12, according to their results, the Ryzhkov-Gromov couple received 15% of the votes.
At the trial in the case, the State Emergency Committee stated that there was no order to storm the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. His testimony formed the basis for the acquittal of Valentin Varennikov. In October-December 1991, he was the head of the 1st Central Higher Officer Course "Vystrel" named after Marshal of the Soviet Union Boris Mikhailovich Shaposhnikov
From June 16, 1992 to February 13, 1995, he was Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. Pavel Grachev, who was then a minister, later recalled about the beginning of the First Chechen War: “It so happened that some generals - my assistants, deputies - for various reasons refused or were unable to lead the group and conduct combat operations. I don’t want to name their names..."
In August 1995, he was appointed chief military expert of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation with the rank of deputy minister.
Deputy of the State Duma (1996-1999)
In December 1995, he stood for election to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the second convocation. The “My Fatherland” association topped the list, but it was unable to overcome the 5 percent barrier. However, Gromov himself was elected to the State Duma in the Saratov electoral district.
In 1995-1999, Gromov was a member of the Duma faction “Russian Regions”, chairman of the subcommittee on arms control and international security of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs.
Elections 1999-2000
In September 1999, Gromov was included in the federal list of the Fatherland - All Russia electoral bloc to participate in the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the third convocation. But already in October, Gromov was nominated by a group of voters as a candidate for the post of governor of the Moscow region.
On December 19, 1999, elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the third convocation and elections of the governor and vice-governor of the Moscow region took place - Boris Gromov participated in both.
In the elections to the State Duma, Gromov (OVR) was elected as a deputy.
In the elections of governor and vice-governor of the Moscow region, the couple Boris Gromov (State Duma deputy, Fatherland) and Mikhail Men (State Duma deputy, Yabloko) received 20.65% of the votes, taking second place. Chairman of the State Duma Gennady Seleznyov (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) and academician of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences Vladimir Kashin received slightly more - 27.6% of the votes.
The second round took place on January 9, 2000. The pair Gromov - Men received the support of the Union of Right Forces and gained 48.09%, the pair Seleznev - Kashin gained 46.39%.
On January 28, 2000, in connection with his election as governor of the Moscow region, Gromov resigned as deputy. His mandate was transferred to A.P. Vladislavlev.
Governor of the Moscow Region
First term (2000-2003)
On March 16, 2000, Gromov announced that he would support acting President Vladimir Putin in the presidential elections.
In the first months of Gromov's governorship, there was a confrontation between the administration of the Moscow region and Guta Bank.
Second term (2003-2007)
In June 2003, Boris Gromov announced his intention to run for a second term as governor of the Moscow region.
On August 28, at a conference of the Moscow regional branch of the United Russia party, it was decided to invite Gromov to head the party’s regional list in the State Duma elections. In September, he was included in the federal list of the United Russia party No. 1 in the Moscow Region regional group to participate in the elections to the State Duma of the fourth convocation.
On September 17, 2003, deputies of the Moscow Regional Duma granted Gromov’s request to shorten his term of office and scheduled elections for the governor of the Moscow region for December 7, 2003, in order to combine them with parliamentary ones (Gromov’s term of office was supposed to expire in February 2004).
On October 2, Gromov announced that he intended to run for governor again as an independent candidate. By November 6, the current governor Gromov had collected the 80 thousand voter signatures required by law to register as a candidate.
On December 7, 2003, elections of deputies to the State Duma of the third convocation and elections of the governor of the Moscow region took place on the same day. In the elections to the State Duma, Gromov was elected as a deputy, but again refused the mandate. He also won the gubernatorial elections with 83% of the votes. In second place was the candidate “against everyone” (9.69%), in third place was Alexey Mitrofanov (4.12%).
On December 23, 2003, Russian President Putin included Gromov in the Presidium of the State Council of the Russian Federation.
On November 22, 2005, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko awarded Boris Gromov with the Order of Friendship of Peoples.
At the end of November 2005, 62-year-old Gromov officially joined the United Russia party at the party congress in Krasnoyarsk. The presentation of the party card took place in December.
On April 28, 2006, Boris Gromov signed a decree on the construction of a section of the Moscow-St. Petersburg toll highway through the Khimki forest, according to which it was necessary to cut down 1000 hectares of forest. This caused a strong public outcry and a protracted conflict around the Khimki forest.
Third term (2007-2012)
The powers of the second five-year term of the governor expired, in accordance with the law, only in 2008, but already on April 18, 2007, reporting to Vladimir Putin on the situation in the region, Gromov turned to the President of the Russian Federation with a question of trust. On May 2, 2007, Vladimir Putin submitted to the Moscow Regional Duma (elected in March) the candidacy of Boris Gromov for approval as head of the government of the Moscow region. On May 4, 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin was appointed governor of the Moscow region for a third term with the wording “in connection with successes in the development of the region.” Gromov's candidacy for the post of governor was unanimously supported by deputies of the Moscow Regional Duma of the 4th convocation, all 50 parliamentarians voted for him.
However, already at the end of 2008, speculation arose about Gromov’s imminent resignation. In December 2008, the media reported that Gromov would allegedly be appointed ambassador to Ukraine, but this information was later refuted.
At the beginning of 2009, the Moscow region faced a financial emergency. By June 1, the debt of the Moscow region amounted to 155.2 billion rubles, exceeding the maximum permissible amount by 1%. At the same time, Gromov was forced to dismiss his first deputy, Vice-Governor Alexei Panteleev (formally, Panteleev went on vacation of his own free will, followed by dismissal). Also in early July, Gromov publicly stated that there was “not much money” left in the Moscow region budget for the region’s current expenses. “There will be no improvement. It will only get worse. The life we lived before must be forgotten,” the governor said.
On July 2, 2010, Boris Gromov originally commented on the traffic collapse on the Leningradskoye Shosse: “I fly in a helicopter. You also need to buy helicopters instead of cars - you don’t need roads.”
On September 1, 2010, Gromov announced that he insists on the construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg highway through the Khimki forest.
On February 9, 2011, the newspaper “Vek” reported with reference to representatives of the public movement “Gromov. NO": "Governor Gromov demanded that presidential candidate Vladimir Putin receive 75% of the votes in the March 4 elections. Thus, he intends to make amends for the failure of the United Russia party in the last State Duma elections: the party in power received less than 33% of the votes, which is almost 2 times less votes compared to 2007.” “The current governor and his entourage,” say activists, “count that Vladimir Putin’s resounding success in the Moscow region on March 4 will give hope for the reappointment of Boris Gromov.”
Last weeks as governor
Officially, Boris Gromov's last 5-year powers as governor of the Moscow region expired on May 11, 2012. In accordance with Art. 26.1 of the Federal Law of July 11, 2001 No. 95-FZ “On Political Parties” consultations of a person authorized by the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev with the United Russia party on the issue of nominating candidates for the position of governor of the Moscow region are held no later than 45 days before expiration of the governor's term of office, that is, until March 19. Proposals for candidacies are submitted to the President of the Russian Federation no later than 40 days before the expiration of the governor’s term of office, that is, before March 24.
In this regard, already in March, after the presidential elections, which Vladimir Putin won, the question arose about a new candidacy for the post of governor. Gromov’s departure from the governor’s post did not become any sensation, since due to the large number of unresolved problems in the region that had accumulated during the 12-year period of his governorship, the end of his career had been predicted for the last few years.
Experts named among the possible successors to the Moscow region governor the head of the Ministry of Transport Igor Levitin, the head of the Ministry of Regional Development Viktor Basargin, the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources Yuri Trutnev and the head of the Supreme Council of United Russia, ex-speaker of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov. On March 30, 2012, the head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Sergei Shoigu, announced his readiness to become the governor of the Moscow region if this post is entrusted to him by decision of the President of Russia with the support of the parliament of the Moscow region.
In fact, Gromov’s resignation was not only not rushed, but also clearly delayed; it should have been done a long time ago. Judging by the problems accumulated in the region, by the growing regional budget deficit, by the mood of citizens, in the end, the resignation of Boris Gromov should have happened not just yesterday, but the day before yesterday. The situation in the Moscow region is already so tense that you just need to hurry up with this personnel decision, otherwise “angry citizens” will appear here too.
This is how leading expert of the Center for Political Conjuncture, political scientist Pavel Salin assessed the future prospects of Boris Gromov:
Judging by the fact that Gromov is of advanced age, but at the same time not yet an old man, he can hardly count on any position in the nomenklatura. Most likely, he will go to the GR structure of some large company that has interests in the Moscow region, and will work there as a “notebook,” since over the course of 10 years he has placed quite a lot of his people in key positions in the region. The new governor will not be able to quickly replace them, and Gromov will have 1-3 years to be able to directly call some official who owes him a career in the Moscow region and ask him for something. This is what he will feed on. In principle, a standard career for this type of retiree.
On March 23, 2012, Boris Gromov announced that he had decided to appeal to the President of Russia and the Supreme Council of the United Russia party with a request not to consider him as one of the candidates for the post of governor of the region for the next period.
Forbes, summing up the 12-year reign of the Governor-General, notes: “the concentration of economic problems and corruption scandals in Gromov’s domain seems desperately high even by Russian standards.”
Senator
On May 10, 2012, the Moscow Regional Election Commission approved him as a deputy of the Moscow Regional Duma. On May 12, 2012, by decree of the new governor of the Moscow region, Sergei Shoigu, he was appointed representative in the Federation Council from the government of the Moscow region. On June 26, 2013, the powers of Senator B.V. Gromov were prematurely terminated by a resolution of the Chairman of the Federation Council V.I. Matvienko.
State Duma Deputy
On June 21, 2013, the Central Election Commission of Russia registered Boris Gromov as a deputy of the State Duma of the sixth convocation from the United Russia party. The vacant deputy mandate was offered to Gromov after the early termination of the parliamentary powers of a member of the United Russia faction, Dmitry Sablin, who resigned from the lower house of parliament of his own free will. The head of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Churov, personally presented Gromov with the certificate of a State Duma deputy of the sixth convocation. Gromov received the mandate despite the fact that in December 2011, immediately after the State Duma elections, he refused it. This became possible after in March 2013, the Constitutional Court of Russia determined that the governing body of a political party, if it has objective reasons for this, has the right to deviate from the order of candidates when transferring the vacant mandate of a State Duma deputy. In the regional group “Moscow Region” of the United Russia party list in the State Duma elections, Gromov was number 1, and Sablin was number 5.
Family
On May 3, 1985, in a plane crash that occurred with an An-26 military aircraft taking off from Lvov to Moscow, and which, due to an error by the air traffic controller, collided with a Tu-134 flight Tallinn-Lvov-Chisinau, Boris Gromov’s first wife Natalya Nikolaevna tragically died. He was left with two sons: Maxim (born in 1974) and Andrey (born in 1980).
In the same An-26 crash, the commander of the Air Force of the Carpathian Military District, Evgeniy Krapivin, Gromov’s classmate and friend from studying at the General Staff Academy, and his sons Andrei and Alexander were killed (among the dead were also a member of the military council of the district, the chief of staff of the Air Force, the son of cosmonaut V. Bykovsky and other people). The Gromov and Krapivin families were friends; in Moscow they generally lived in the same house. After the death of the male half of the family, Faina Krapivina, the widow of Alexander, was left alone with two twin girls, Zhenya and Valya, who were 2 months old on the day of the plane crash. After the tragedy, Boris Gromov and Faina tried to support each other. Their common grief brought them closer together. In 1990, after five years of loneliness, Gromov, no longer young, married for the second time to Faina, whose family he helped after the tragic death of her husband and father-in-law. He adopted Faina's children - twins Evgenia and Valentina. And in 1998, his daughter Lisa appeared in his family. The girl's godfather was the then mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov.
The eldest son Maxim graduated from the Kiev Suvorov Military School, then took a course at the Kyiv Combined Arms Command School (the school was liquidated in 1992), and currently continues to serve in the army with the rank of colonel.
The younger one, Andrei Gromov, studied at the Moscow Suvorov Military School, after which he transferred to the Faculty of Law of the Military University.
Income reports
Gromov’s total income for 2002 was 1,270,000 rubles.
Gromov’s officially declared income for 2009 amounted to 2.22 million rubles.
Social activity
Since 1997, he has been the leader of the All-Russian public organization of veterans “Combat Brotherhood”.
Criticism of Gromov as governor of the Moscow region
Bankruptcy of the Moscow region
One of the episodes for which Gromov was criticized is associated with the figure of Alexei Kuznetsov, who 2000-2008. headed the regional Ministry of Finance (since 2004 - in the rank of Deputy Prime Minister). Previously, from 1990 to 1998, Kuznetsov held a number of senior positions in Inkombank, which went bankrupt in 1998. Kuznetsov’s activities in the mid-1990s. was the subject of a trial in the United States, where he, along with other top managers of the bank, was suspected of large-scale embezzlement of money from depositors and shareholders of the bank, including American companies, for personal needs. In July 2008, Kuznetsov suddenly resigned (Gromov immediately accepted) and left the country. In August, it became clear that Kuznetsov was suspected of having dual citizenship - the Russian Federation and the United States, which is legally prohibited for government officials. Subsequently, it turned out that Kuznetsov may be involved in numerous financial frauds, mainly with real estate near Moscow, which he allegedly appropriated and registered in the company of his wife Jeanne Bullock, a US citizen (who also hastily left the country after her husband). In the fall of 2009, it was reported that Kuznetsov was an accomplice (or even an organizer) of a criminal group that stole at least 3 billion rubles from the regional budget. Then we started talking about the theft of 27 billion rubles from the regional budget. According to the auditor of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, Sergei Ryabukhin, “the volume of violations identified as a result of the control event is within 92 billion rubles.”
Indirectly, some media shifted Kuznetsov’s unproven guilt onto Gromov, suggesting that the governor could not have been unaware of his subordinate’s financial fraud and his dual citizenship (which is prohibited for civil servants), while allowing him to leave the country. There is information that Kuznetsov is the creature of the Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who back in 2000, through Vladimir Putin, recommended him to Boris Gromov. Some journalists believed that Kuznetsov's machinations led to financial problems in the region, and drew parallels between the Kuznetsov case and the downgrade of the Moscow region's credit rating by Standard & Poor's from BB to B-.
The fact that Alexey Kuznetsov was wanted did not prevent him from celebrating the New Year at the Courchevel resort together with the President of the Russian Olympic Committee Leonid Tyagachev, Presidential Administrative Officer Vladimir Kozhin and the Director of the FSO, Army General Yevgeny Murov.
Later, the abolition of transport benefits for pensioners and increases in tariffs, in particular for travel on electric trains, were attributed to the “financial difficulties of the Moscow region,” which in January 2010 caused widespread public protest, and the decision was cancelled. It was established that the Minister of Transport of the region Pyotr Katsyv, whose son Denis Katsyv was previously accused of laundering $60 million in the Israeli bank Hapoalim (which is recognized as the “largest bank money laundering scam in the history of Israel”), was involved in shifting the financial burden onto pensioners. made a deal with the investigation, paying the Israeli authorities 35 million shekels. Denis Katsyv is also listed as the founder of several companies registered in Moscow or the region and specializing mostly in the field of road transportation and transport services, in the very industry that his father oversees. Pyotr and Denis Katsyv also figured in the scandal with the raider takeover of the Stroydormash pilot plant in Khimki near Moscow.
Kuznetsov from the budget of the Moscow region, and not only Kuznetsov, fortunately for us, did not steal a single penny... this is confirmed by official documents from the Accounts Chamber and other federal regulatory organizations... If Kuznetsov stole, then it was outside the budget of the Moscow region, and the government in general . It's his own business
Gromov declared that the ex-Minister of Finance was not involved in theft from the budget. “Moskovsky Komsomolets”, 06/30/2011.
Land fraud
Also, several heads of administrations of cities in the Moscow region and their subordinates were convicted of large-scale fraud with land and real estate during Gromov’s reign. In recent years, the Moscow region has often been called in the press “a champion in debt and corruption.”
Khimki forest
Boris Gromov was also criticized for the decision “On measures for the construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg expressway and the development of associated territories”(No. 358/16 of April 28, 2006), according to which, during the construction of the road, it is planned to cut a clearing 6 km wide in the Khimki forest. Environmentalists believe that such massive cutting down of trees for the construction of commercial buildings along the highway under construction is unnecessary.
Cloning of Cherkizovsky market
After the closure of the notorious Cherkizovsky market in the summer of 2009, Moscow approved the construction of one of its successors - a huge wholesale market in Kotelniki, completely ignoring the protests of a large number of local residents and the obvious violations of the law by the developer. On the site of the future market there were to be social facilities: schools, kindergartens, medical institutions and a sports complex. However, dirty money, crime and the catastrophic social consequences of the future market for Gromov turned out to be significantly more important than the well-being of the region’s residents. In parallel with this, in the region, instead of the Cherkizovsky market, the construction of at least three more was planned (Mosrentgen village, Abramtsevo village, Balashikha). The wholesale and retail market "Lilac Balashikha", whose name reflected continuity with the closed "Cherkizon", located on Sirenevy Boulevard, was built in the shortest possible time in the urban district of Balashikha (head V. G. Samodelov). Its territory is located on the very border with Moscow and Reutov. The construction of the market in the security zone of a large main water pipeline, supplying water to about 200 thousand residents of the capital, was accompanied by numerous violations of legislation and regulations, as a result of which the functioning market began to pose a potential threat of a major man-made disaster.
Transport problems and their solution according to Gromovsky
In one of his speeches, Gromov advised Muscovites to buy helicopters:
“I fly in a helicopter. We need to buy helicopters instead of cars - we don’t need roads.”
Podmoskovye Corporation
On April 1, 2011, based on the statement of the First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Moscow Region, Igor Parkhomenko, dated March 31, about bringing the Eksmo publishing house to criminal liability under Articles 319 and 129 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (insulting a government official and slander), it was seized by employees of the Moscow Region Central Internal Affairs Directorate from the warehouse publishing house, almost the entire circulation of the book by Forbes correspondent Anna Sokolova, “Corporation Podmoskovye: How the richest region of Russia was ruined.” This caused widespread public outcry. After the investigation, the first deputy chairman of the Moscow region government, Igor Parkhomenko, at whose request the circulation was confiscated, was refused to initiate a criminal case against the author and publishers who allegedly slandered the official. On April 21, the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Moscow Region returned to the Eksmo publishing house the edition of the book that had been seized from the warehouse.
On May 26 and 27, 2011, at the time of the gathering of the Moscow region elite, protests took place in Moscow demanding the resignation of Governor Gromov. The main slogan of the residents: “Governor B. Gromov resign!” The actions became the start of a protest campaign for residents of the Moscow region as part of Social movement “Gromov. NO". The movement was created as an inter-party association of residents of the Moscow region and seeks the resignation of Boris Gromov from the post of governor and the restoration of order in the Moscow region. The rally on May 26 was stopped by bandits who rammed the organizers' car, attacked the protesters, beat them and destroyed posters. On May 27, police officers detained activists, although the action was coordinated, and unknown persons staged provocations.
Allegations of violations of election legislation in the Moscow region
On October 24, State Duma deputy Gennady Gudkov published the abstracts of a report on October 6, 2011 in the Odintsovo district of Moscow Region Governor Boris Gromov with a plan to prepare for election fraud in the Moscow Region. According to Gudkov, violations are not limited to one report: “On September 15, the regional Minister of Press and Information Sergei Moiseev “instructed” 56 editors-in-chief of regional and municipal media in approximately the same style. As a result, in the Moscow region, the multi-party system has been de facto abolished, the activities of opposition parties and social movements “inconvenient” for the governor are prohibited, and preparations for rigged “elections” are in full swing.”
On November 25, Novaya Gazeta published a retelling of B.V. Gromov’s speech at a meeting of representatives of the sphere of vocational education of the Moscow region with its governor and Minister of Education L.N. Antonova at the Government House of the Moscow Region in Krasnogorsk on November 23. Gromov said that United Russia's rating in the Moscow region is about 30% and that he sees no objective reasons for such a decline in indicators.
The ratings of United Russia are being damaged by the actions of our competitors - the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party, A Just Russia - who (almost no one knows about this) are organizing a conspiracy to take away power from United Russia. We must not allow this to happen. If United Russia does not receive an absolute majority of votes in the upcoming elections (and it will win in any case), then this will turn into a disaster for the country.
Awards
- Hero of the Soviet Union, with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (March 3, 1988)
- Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree (November 6, 2003) - for his great contribution to the strengthening of Russian statehood and the socio-economic development of the region
- Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III degree
- Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (November 7, 2008) - for his great contribution to the socio-economic development of the Moscow region and many years of fruitful work
- Order of Honor (March 30, 2012) - for his great contribution to the socio-economic development of the region and many years of conscientious work
- Two Orders of the Red Banner
- Order of the Red Star
- Order "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" III degree
- Medal "For Military Merit"
- Medal "For Merit in Perpetuating the Memory of the Fallen Defenders of the Fatherland" (Russian Ministry of Defense, 2008) - for his great personal contribution to perpetuating the memory of the fallen defenders of the Fatherland, establishing the names of the dead and the fate of missing military personnel, demonstrating high moral and business qualities, diligence and reasonable initiative, providing assistance in solving problems to perpetuate the memory of the fallen defenders of the Fatherland
- Medal "For Impeccable Service" I, II, III degrees
- Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise IV Art. (Ukraine, February 12, 2014)
- Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise V Art. (Ukraine, November 7, 2003)
- Medal "10 years of the Armed Forces of Ukraine"
- Order of Friendship of Peoples (Belarus, November 22, 2005) - for significant contribution to the development of economic, scientific, technical and cultural relations between the Republic of Belarus and the Moscow region of the Russian Federation
- Medal “In memory of the 10th anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan” (Belarus, February 13, 2003) - for his great personal contribution to the development and strengthening of interaction between the movements of veterans of the war in Afghanistan of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation
- Medal "Loyalty" (Afghanistan, November 17, 1988)
- Certificate of Honor from the President of the Russian Federation (July 4, 2009) - for great work on socio-economic support for war participants and combat veterans
- Order of Glory and Honor, 1st class (2012)
- Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir, 1st degree (2008) - in consideration of special services to the Moscow Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church and in connection with the 65th anniversary of his birth
- Order of the Holy Blessed Prince Daniel of Moscow, 1st degree
- Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh
- Order of the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Dimitri Donskoy, 1st degree
General Boris Gromov is one of the few who managed, while remaining true to himself and his ideals, to stay afloat. Having lived through Afghanistan, he always opposed any attempts to resolve issues within the country using force. But, unfortunately, they did not always listen to him.
Childhood and studies
Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov is a hereditary military man, a native of Saratov. His father never saw his son - he died on his birthday, November 7, 1943. At twelve years old, the boy entered the Suvorov School in Saratov, his hometown. An example for him was his older brother Alexey, who by that time was already a Suvorov veteran. Two years before graduation, the school in Saratov was abolished, and he and his company were transferred to complete their education in Kalinin (modern Tver).
At the end of it, at the age of nineteen, Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov was drafted into the army. Then he continued his studies at the Leningrad Higher Combined Arms Command School named after Sergei Kirov, which in 1991 was renamed St. Petersburg, and eight years later was liquidated by a decree of the Russian government.
Beginning of a military career
After completing his training, Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov was seconded to a military district in the Baltic states, where he rose from a platoon commander to a company commander of a motorized rifle division. In his youth, General Gromov gained the opinion of himself as a talented, ambitious and promising young officer. Therefore, he was sent to study further, at the Moscow Military Academy named after Mikhail Frunze. The training ended with a honors diploma, after which Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov returned to his native military unit in Kaliningrad, where he headed the battalion.
Two years later he was promoted to chief of staff of the regiment, and from 1975, for five years, he served in the military district of the North Caucasus, where he commanded a regiment for two years and then headed the divisional headquarters. There he received the rank of major.
"Hot spot" - Afghanistan
Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov made a serious and rapid breakthrough in his military career during the armed conflict in Afghanistan, where he was promoted three times in rank. In 1979, a ten-year conflict began on the territory of the Muslim state, where the state forces of the republic, united with a contingent of Soviet troops, encountered armed resistance from the Mujahideen, who were supported by the forces of the North Atlantic Alliance and the leading UN then qualified the actions of the Soviet army as military intervention.
