Hunting in all ages has been one of the favorite pastimes of the male half of humanity. The hunting trips of the Russian sovereigns were distinguished by a special scope. Back in the 16th century, Ivan the Terrible chose Tver forests full of wild animals and game birds for "Okhotsk affairs". Then the first "hut" - a tall Russian tower, was erected in the places of the future famous hunting farm Zavidovo.
The Soviet leaders also loved hunting. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was not against indulging in bloody passions and shooting at live targets. Of course, the scope of the hunt itself was rather modest: Lenin and his comrades chose a small hut in the village of Shoshi, closer to the Moscow border. But already in 1929, Joseph Stalin signed a decree on the organization of the Kremlin hunting farm: it was located on an area of 20,000 hectares and belonged to the Moscow military district. This is how a new era of Tver lands began: Zavidovo received the official status of the country's main hunting base.
Marble hut
Stalin himself, by the way, did not like hunting, considered it an empty occupation, but the inner circle of the new leader gladly went to shoot in the protected forests.
During the war, the main hunting sector fell into decay. They tried to revive it, but the development stopped until the accession to the "Soviet throne" of Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev.
Nikita Sergeevich was a well-aimed and reckless shooter, he preferred duck hunting. In addition, it was he who was the first of the Soviet leaders to bring Zavidovo to the "international level": heads of foreign states began to come here to hunt.
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, having become general secretary, involved Marshal Georgy Grechko himself in the reconstruction of Zavidovo. The territory of the reserve has increased by as much as six times, the military repaired the roads and kept them in perfect condition, the border of the Zavidovo reserve was protected from casual passers-by and passers-by. New buildings appeared: a "hut" was erected for the first persons with interior decoration of marble and precious woods. We rebuilt a mansion and a hotel with a cinema hall and billiards for 12 rooms - for guests, a hostel for staff.
Promotional video:
Brezhnev continued Khrushchev's undertakings, and "hunting diplomacy" became an integral part of the Soviet leadership. The leaders of friendly countries and parties traveled here, here for the first time the ice of the Cold War between the USSR and the USA melted: Leonid Ilyich held a working meeting and negotiations in 1974 with American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Zavidovo. In addition to negotiations, they decided to entertain the distinguished guest by hunting a wild boar. Kissinger turned out to be an inexperienced hunter and at first tried to refuse the offered entertainment. He found various reasons: Russian coldness and lack of suitable clothing, inability to handle weapons. But Brezhnev was adamant in his hospitality, promised to give instructions on shooting himself, ordered to find clothes for the Russian winter at the guard. Equipped in a padded jacket and earflaps, Kissinger turned out to be a rather stupid student,I had to put him on the sidelines as a "foreign observer." Making fun of himself, the American secretary of state later talked about the death of a wild boar from a ruptured heart at the sight of "such an unlucky hunter."
But not only high-level diplomacy flourished in the government "hut" in Zavidovo. Intrigues of a local, Soviet scale were woven here: issues of internal politics, internal party struggles, and removal from power were resolved. By the way, the removal of Nikita Sergeevich was also prepared by Brezhnev in the "hunting lodge." Members of the Presidium of the Central Committee were invited to hunt, but secret negotiations awaited them: Leonid Ilyich probed the ground, marked his supporters with plus signs on the list, and political opponents with minus signs.
Boar ambush
Of course, Brezhnev visited the main hunting base not only for diplomatic games. Leonid Ilyich was a truly passionate and "cultured" hunter, as the huntsmen called him. The general secretary did not destroy the beast in vain and did not mindlessly fire. Unlike Khrushchev, a fan of duck hunting, Brezhnev preferred to hunt a wild boar, although he did not miss the ducks. He was an excellent shot, he could sit in ambush on the tower for hours. But the towers in Zavidovo were also made especially for the "first" - insulated and comfortable. On the radio, the huntsmen warned of the approach of the beast.
No longer Zavidovsky, but a Crimean huntsman, Alexander Kormilitsin recalled hunting with the top officials of the state. Almost all of them smoked. Brezhnev preferred Novost cigarettes. Smoked and in ambush on the tower. And then the Crimean huntsmen went for a trick: they smoked at the feeding grounds not far from the towers, and scattered cigarette butts next to the food so that the boars got used to the smell of tobacco.
In general, Alexander Kormilitsin recalled Leonid Ilyich and hunting with him very warmly, noted his excellent knowledge of the Crimean hunting economy and simple human qualities - attention to people, care. For example, knowing that an employee of a certain tower had a little daughter, the secretary general took gifts for her. After Kormilitsin's complaints about the unarmedness of the gamekeepers during the hunt of high-ranking officials, Brezhnev ordered the issuance of weapons to them.
Passion in arms
Leonid Ilyich had a passion directly related to hunting - weapons. By the way, this helped the heads of foreign powers always hit the bull's-eye when choosing gifts. During his visits, Brezhnev was most often presented with weapons. It was kept in three safes at a dacha near Moscow in Zarechye. For bird hunting - imported smoothbore guns, for big game - imported and Tula rifled rifles. There were not so many loved ones - 3-4 guns of each type, all in all, the depths of the safes were hiding about a hundred barrels! The US gunsmiths gave the Secretary General a special gift: on two exclusive revolvers richly engraved and trimmed in gold and ivory were unique serial numbers - LIB1 and LIB2 (the abbreviation of the capital letters of the name is Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev).
Another weakness of Brezhnev is cars. He loved to dash, he loved speed and extreme. On the sly from the guards, he could run away with the huntsman and drive with the breeze through the hunting grounds.
With age, Leonid Ilyich became more and more sybarite, his health did not allow him to shake over potholes in UAZ cars. The question arose about a comfortable car. An order was issued to the management of the Gorky Automobile Plant: to create a comfortable SUV for the secretary general. "Gazovtsy" coped with the task, connecting the famous "Volga" GAZ 24 with nodes from the UAZ-469. The hunting "Volga" was assigned its own individual index: GAZ-24-95, and was simply called "mongrel" behind the back.
Campfire kitchen
Like any real hunter, Leonid Ilyich loved to brag about trophies, often wrote down the number of animals killed in his personal diary. On the day of a successful hunt, he shot up to 15 ducks and up to five wild boars! But it must be taken into account that a huge army of assistants - gamekeepers and beaters - was involved in this success. Brezhnev's record is considered to be one of the wild boar hunts in Belovezhskaya Pushcha: on that day he killed 15 animals. There are legends that the animals were almost tied up for hunting. But these are nothing more than idle stories.
The trophies were first tested thoroughly. Only healthy specimens, shot the day before, got into the kitchen. Former Kremlin chef Nikolai Morozov shared the secrets of "cooking by the fire." To roast the wild boar over a fire quickly, the cooks pre-steamed the meat in the oven and brought it to the hunting ground in boxes with other food. Such a "copy" was prepared much faster. The trophies themselves were shared between the hunters after verification.
Elena BERKU