On the day of the anniversary, Alexander Prokhanov received a phone call from the president.
Photo: Alexander SHPAKOVSKY
… – Alexander Andreevich, hello. This is Prokhanov’s biographer – Gamov.
– Hello, biographer.
– I am a journalist from the Kremlin, after all. And I know almost everything about the Kremlin. And about Projanov. Is it true, yes, that on Sunday, February 26, his 85th birthday, in the afternoon, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin called him personally at his house?
– Yes Yes…
And I am absolutely proud of this circumstance.
When we were sitting at the table with our relatives, the president just called at this solemn moment. And so I was very flattered by this call.
– Tell me, in the same place as always, right? Well, I know the technology, they said on the phone: “This is the Kremlin switchboard. Alexander Andreevich, we connect … “
– Exactly!
How long did this conversation last?
– You know, I didn’t realize it.
In a word, it was very important for me, it was informative.
– Tell me, please, can I at least find out the agenda, on what? Why suddenly? He probably decided not just to congratulate you? He, apparently, wanted to check something, consult about something? It’s no coincidence that he…
– Sasha, there were no secrets, of course. It was a congratulation, very warm, cordial. And, I repeat, she flattered me that she called me.
– And you?
– I said that for a long time… I have witnessed such transformations, transformations. And, in a good way, I’m surprised by this.
He told him different, about himself, maxims. And he remembered the case when at the Valdai Forum (in October 2022 – AG) I asked him what the Russia project meant to him. And he said that Russia is destiny, not a project.
And so we talked about it.
– What other thing?
– He told me a story, small, of his genesis, of his destiny. About his great-grandfather, who, as part of the Russian troops, during the Turkish war, approaches the Danube, was ready to force him and forced him.
He read me an excerpt from a military order – an appeal to soldiers, which said that the battle for Russia, even the death of Russia, is a great honor.
And I was in solidarity with him in every possible way, because for me Turkish wars are also wars, my grandfather fought near Kars and received an honorary award weapon there.
In a word, it was a short conversation between two compatriots, one of whom is the president.
– Tell me, what did you wish, what did you advise Vladimir Vladimirovich?
– I have no advice for him. just support.
Tips are not support. The advice is generally considered to be an intrusion into the management process or into some kind of intellectual reflection.
And they usually get in the way.
– Accept.
– Speak correctly: without advice we will manage. Like this.
And therefore the only thing that my reaction, well, not to yesterday’s call, but to today’s events and the role of the president in these events, is the desire to support him in every possible way.
And in this case, I have … such a poem for him, which I called “The Angel of Chersonese.”
– You read it?
No, of course I didn’t read it. But she didn’t even talk about it. But you asked me what he would do, so if he asked me, he might read it.
But this poem, in any case, written, will be transmitted to the world, to society.
This will be my contribution, to his zeal, to his formidable, painful and arduous patriotic work.
– Can you – a couple of lines? Because Vladimir Vladimirovich listens to our programs quite often.
– I only remember the first verse. It sounds like that;
You were a slave to a ghostly galley,
And heard the creak of their magical oars.
There was a confessor of the sacred faith,
Craftsman of unknown trades…
Well, and besides, the angel of Chersonese appeared. And in this world ocean, where storms rage, where bad weather rages, the ark of salvation has emerged – our Russia.
– Thank you very much, Alexander Andreevich. Excuse me that I not only receive you before the anniversary, but also after the anniversary.
– With God, Sasha. I hug.
