Table of contents:
- General Secretary's first kiss
- Passionate kisses addressed to women
- And Castro and Thatcher are against
Video: Kisses of Brezhnev: How Tito suffered from the General Secretary, and why Fidel Castro did not part with his cigar with him
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The tradition of triple kissing dates back to the times of Ancient Russia. For a certain time, this tradition was forgotten, but Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev decided to resume this ceremony of greeting. His kisses have become a proverb, and many photographs and newsreels have come down to our time, which show how sincerely the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee kissed his foreign (and not only colleagues). Someone accepted such a manifestation of friendship with favor, but for someone it was a sheer punishment.
General Secretary's first kiss
In 1968, Palestinian politician Yasser Arafat visited the Soviet Union. Leonid Brezhnev, who by that time had lured the post of General Secretary for 4 years, was delighted with this man and was very disposed towards him. Perhaps this is why, and also following the Russian tradition, therefore, he could not resist and gave the guest kisses. This was the first three-fold kiss of the General Secretary of the Central Committee. From that moment on, the history of Brezhnev's trademark kisses began.
If the first kiss was successful, then the second became a real nuisance for the head of Yugoslavia. During Leonid Ilyich's visit to this country, he decided to demonstrate his warm feelings to Joseph Tito. But it seems he did not calculate the strength. According to eyewitnesses, after the kiss of the Soviet leader, Tito's lip burst and blood came out.
One of the most memorable kisses of Leonid Brezhnev happened with the leader of the GDR, Erich Honnecker. The threefold greeting has become a sign of peace and friendship between states.
The artist Dmitry Vrubel on this occasion already in 1990 created graffiti on the Berlin Wall, which he called “Lord! Help me survive among this mortal love."
Passionate kisses addressed to women
Brezhnev was not indifferent to the female sex, so he could kiss not only the leader of the state, a man, but also a lady. The first to whom the secretary general did such an honor was Indira Gandhi, the leader of India. His threefold "attention" really touched the woman. A photo of the kiss can be seen in Indira's apartment, which has now become a museum.
However, Leonid Ilyich also paid attention to mere mortals, and they were not against it either. The choreography teacher became the second foreigner who learned how Brezhnev kissed. The woman handed flowers to the Soviet leader after his speech, and he was so emotional that he could not resist and kissed her in front of everyone.
And Castro and Thatcher are against
It is worth saying that not everyone was impressed by such behavior of the Secretary General. Many found the most non-trivial ways to avoid such popularity. So, Fidel Castro, fearing that he would be laughed at in his homeland, got out of the plane, at the ladder of which Brezhnev was waiting for him, with a cigar in his teeth. I didn't have to kiss.
The leader of Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu, outright refused to embrace and kiss Leonid Ilyich. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was not so straightforward, but she was able to dodge the secretary general's kiss.
Yuri Andropov was Brezhnev's comrade-in-arms and often saw his smacking. When the KGB chairman was nearby, he watched with a smile and even applauded. However, he once spoke very negatively about the kissing of the secretary general. And when Leonid Brezhnev traditionally kissed another leader who had a cold at that time, Andropov called this behavior an abomination.
And do not think that the kisses of Secretary General Brezhnek have sunk into oblivion with him. The first (and last) president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, continued this tradition. In 1986, Erich Honecker was again honored to receive a kiss only from the new Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev.
And in continuation of the Brezhnev theme, the story of why in the USSR they drank a lot under Brezhnev and how they fought against alcoholism in "perestroika"
Recommended:
Rogvolodovich, not Rurikovich: Why Prince Yaroslav the Wise did not love the Slavs and did not spare his brothers
In the official historiography, Yaroslav the Wise for a long time appeared to be an almost sinless ruler, the creator of legality in the Russian lands. In our time, he is already accused of sending several of his brothers to the next world in order to occupy the Kiev throne. But was it only the desire for power that drove Prince Yaroslav? If you look at the history of his family, then everything that happens is more like revenge … to his father. Bloody revenge for bloody atrocity
Why Viktor Tsoi's first wife could not forgive him, and why did the musician introduce his women
Viktor Tsoi became a unique phenomenon in Soviet culture in the 1980s. And what to tell, and now the songs of the leader of the group "Kino" do not lose their relevance, and the image of the musician himself has become cult. Being an informal person, the artist did not differ in his usual approach in his personal life and, for example, did not see anything bad in introducing his wives - the former, with whom he had not even filed a divorce, and the new one. True, each of them understood such frankness in their own way
Forbidden romance of Brezhnev's niece: Why a relative of the Secretary General was not allowed to marry
Her life has never been easy, and her relationship with the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee did not at all guarantee her a happy life or some unthinkable privileges. But she received slaps and slaps from people quite often, and not always in a figurative sense. Lyubov Brezhnev has lived in the USA for a long time, but still remembers with bitterness the times when she desperately fought for her feelings, which were never allowed to develop into something more than a romance
Unfulfilled dreams of Alexei Buldakov: Why the main general of cinema did not become a pilot and did not play Beethoven
For 37 years of his film career, Alexey Buldakov managed to play more than 120 roles. However, for fans, he will forever remain the main general of our cinema. The artist, who was "popular" both by official status and, most importantly, by the real attitude of the audience towards him, passed away, having recently celebrated his 68th birthday. In this review, I would like to recall how the creative career began and how the personal life of the actor developed, who created the cinematic image of the beloved Mikhalych
As Khrushchev showed his mother to the world Kuzkin: did the secretary general knock on the podium at the UN with his boot?
The most popular myths about Khrushchev are stories about how the secretary general promised the West to show Kuzkin's mother and banged his boot on the podium at a meeting of the UN General Assembly. However, these stories are more fictional than real facts. On October 12, 1960, the most stormy and sensational meeting of the UN General Assembly really took place. And Khrushchev's speech was the most emotional, but in fact, everything did not happen exactly as they later wrote in the newspapers