The personal security of the top officials of the states is selected by specially trained intelligence officers. But in the USSR there was a case when the role of the most trusted guard of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was played by … a cat.
LITTLE PERSON
It is known that Brezhnev was a staunch materialist and was very skeptical about stories about Eastern magicians who supposedly work miracles. In January 1969, when Brezhnev was on an official visit to India, at one of the receptions in the palace of Indira Gandhi, Soviet ambassador Nikolai Pegov showed Leonid Ilyich a little man of indefinite age:
“This is the Dalai Lama, the high priest of the Lamaist church in Tibet. He is in exile and is given shelter by Indira Gandhi. This person enjoys immense authority throughout Southeast Asia. He has tremendous magical abilities and has proven this more than once. For example, it puts people suffering from heart disease, asthma, and stomach ulcers into a hypnotic trance, and in just two sessions cures them from these ailments forever. Even our Kremlin doctors cannot do this.
But Brezhnev was not impressed. Then Pegov began to list other miracles that the Dalai Lama is capable of: reading a text with his eyes closed, without X-rays and analyzes, to determine all human diseases, to move small objects lying on the table with his eyes, and even to levitate, that is, to get off the ground and hover for a few seconds. air.
Magic tricks that do not fit into the framework of science left Leonid Ilyich indifferent. But the instant diagnosis interested him, and he asked the ambassador to introduce him to the Tibetan magician. Which was done immediately.
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ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS
When the hands of the Secretary General and the Dalai Lama closed in a handshake, the high priest did not let go of Leonid Ilyich's palm for a long time. And then, looking into his eyes, he said through an interpreter that the distinguished Soviet guest had a heart attack thirteen years ago, and even now his heart is not all right. He should pay attention to this organ, because in the future it may cause trouble.
The diagnosis was so accurate that the amazed Brezhnev told Ambassador Pegov:
- I can't imagine how he found out, but in 1956, being the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, I really suffered a heart attack! Exactly thirteen years have passed since then. And now the heart sometimes makes itself felt. Without doctors, I feel like he is caught. I wonder what else this clairvoyant can say …
When Brezhnev's request was translated to the Dalai Lama, he, still looking into the eyes of the Secretary General, continued:
- Judging by the line pattern on the palm of the distinguished guest, in the near future he will face mortal dangers that …
“The plane on which I’ll fly home will not otherwise fall,” Leonid Ilyich interrupted the interpreter with a laugh.
Without taking his eyes off his interlocutor's eyes, the Dalai Lama listened attentively to the translation of Brezhnev's remark and said that he would meet mortal danger not in the air, but on the ground. And more than once. Then he signaled to the translator to bend down and whispered something in his ear. Then the translator took a solemn pose and said with pathos:
- Mr. General Secretary, - most likely, the Dalai Lama deliberately omitted the name of the Communist Party, since it did not correspond to what he intended to offer, - His Holiness the Dalai Lama asks if you would deign to accept from him as a gift a certain being who endowed with the gift of foresight. Thanks to this, in the future, it will be able to save you from mortal risk when it threatens you.
GIFT OF THE DALAI LAMA
Obviously, the previous diagnosis made a big impression on Brezhnev, because he took seriously the offer of the mysterious gift:
- Of course, I will accept it and I will be very grateful, whatever it is, - assured Leonid Ilyich.
After that, the Dalai Lama said something to the monk boy, who rushed headlong out of the hall and returned in a minute or two with a large cage. In it sat a huge black cat, more like a panther.
What happened next was like some kind of magical ritual, in which none other than the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union took part. First, the Dalai Lama uttered some words that looked like a spell, then brought Leonid Ilyich's hand to the cage. The fluffy gift began to carefully sniff at her, now and then raising his huge yellow eyes at the Dalai Lama, now at the general secretary, as if he wanted to make sure that he correctly understood the order of the high priest.
When the acquaintance with Brezhnev's palm was over, the cat issued a short growl and, going up to the door, began to scratch it vigorously. Leonid Ilyich silently expected with interest what would follow. The Dalai Lama signaled and the monk boy opened the cage. The cat sprung up and jumped to the floor with a softness unexpected for its size.
And then he sat down at Brezhnev's feet, recognizing him as his new master. At that moment, Ambassador Pegov, fearing that the beast would scratch the Secretary General, tried to approach him. But the cat turned in his direction and hissed threateningly. The ambassador hastily retreated.
The Dalai Lama smiled broadly, nodded his head approvingly, and addressed Brezhnev with a small speech. Its meaning boiled down to the fact that, judging by the behavior of the cat, he not only recognized Leonid Ilyich as a new owner, but also began to fulfill his duties to guard him. In the future, Brezhnev should remember that if the cat comes up to him, he starts rubbing against his legs, and even more so grabbing the leg, this means that he warns the owner of the impending mortal danger. If the cat dies, then the owner will not live long.
- You should keep it at home, and feed only raw meat and only from your hands. Your biofields should merge together. Then his instinct for self-preservation will spread to you, and when a threat to your life arises, the cat will behave as if he were saving his own.
- But what if I have to go on a business trip abroad for a week? Brezhnev asked, puzzled. - Who will feed him then?
- In that case, take the cat with you. Consider that he is your guardian talisman and therefore must always be within reach. Otherwise, the cat will lose its foresight and turn into an ordinary household freeloader. Of course, it will be pleasant to stroke him, but he will not be able to warn about the danger.
BAPTISM OF FIRE
The secretary general and the security cat returned to the Soviet Union in the same plane. At a dacha in the District, where Leonid Ilyich lived with his family for most of the year, the Lama (as the cat seer was called) was given a whole room. The cat walked freely throughout the site, but did not let anyone near him, except for Brezhnev, who twice a day treated him to a huge piece of veal with blood.
For the first time, the cat demonstrated its amazing gift less than a month after it began to protect the secretary general. All the morning of January 22, 1969, the Lama did not leave Leonid Ilyich a step, rubbed against his legs and from time to time piteously mewed in a hoarse bass. On that day, a solemn meeting of the cosmonauts Shatalov, Khrunov, Eliseev and Volynov was to take place. Before Brezhnev left for the Kremlin, the cat began to rage, grabbed his trouser leg with his teeth, so persistently that he had to be put on a chain.
All the way from Vnukovo-2 airport to the Kremlin, Leonid Ilyich was perplexed: what could infuriate the always calm Lama? And in the end I remembered the warning of the Dalai Lama. Just in case, without explaining the true reason, Brezhnev said to Kosygin and Podgorny who were accompanying him:
- What are we, comrades, rushing forward? Whom do people meet, us or astronauts? Come on, Nikolay, - he turned to the driver, - immediately rebuild and stand at the end of the column!
Meanwhile, on the radio broadcasters on the streets, the announcers, reporting on the movement of the government cortege with the cosmonauts, said that the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was in the second car.
When the cavalcade of "seagulls" entered the Kremlin through the Borovitsky Gate, a man in a police uniform rushed from the cordon to meet the second car and opened fire with two hands to kill. Fortunately, he did not know about the rebuilding of the motorcade and aimed at the second "seagull", in the window of which he saw the cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy, who looked like Brezhnev. The terrorist fired 14 shots, killing the driver and lightly wounding the cosmonauts of Beregovoy and Nikolaev. So Leonid Ilyich was convinced of the Lama's visionary abilities.
SLICE OF VEAL FOR LAMA
The second case, when the guard cat saved the life of its owner, occurred on February 20, 1970. In the morning Lama burst into the secretary general's bedroom and, like a year ago, began to rub against his legs, meowing plaintively. And when a little later Brezhnev was about to leave the house, he began to grab his teeth at the cuffs of his trousers. This reminded Leonid Ilyich of the behavior of the seer cat on the day of the assassination attempt on January 22. He decided to test his visionary abilities once again, canceled the departure and stayed at home.
Soon Brezhnev was informed by radiotelephone that a military truck flew out from the side of the road along which the General Secretary ZIL was traveling. The driver from the government garage escaped the collision, but the car turned around, and she crashed sideways into a trailer parked on the side of the road. The guard, who was sitting in Brezhnev's place, had half his head blown off.
After hearing all this, Leonid Ilyich asked the telephone operator on duty to connect him to Indira Gandhi. Without explaining anything, Brezhnev turned to her with a request to find a pretext and award the Dalai Lama with some Indian order. Then he called the kitchen and told them to bring an extra piece of veal for the Lama.
DOUBLE PUNCH
A year later, the feline guardian angel for the third time helped the secretary general to avoid mortal danger.
In early 1971, Brezhnev received an invitation from President Georges Pompidou to pay an official visit to France. At this time, not finished off by the former French president, General de Gaulle, the members of the OAC terrorist organization, who had gone into an illegal position, decided to remind themselves of themselves by a double attempt on the life of Pompidou and Brezhnev.
On the day of the departure of the general secretary, the seer cat behaved calmly until Leonid Ilyich went to get into the car that was supposed to take him to Vnukovo-2. And then the Lama seemed to go berserk. As before, he grabbed Brezhnev by the cuffs of his trousers with his teeth, meowed desperately, and then suddenly calmed down and stared at the owner with his huge yellow eyes, as if he wanted to tell him something very important. In addition, he did not allow himself to put on a collar, to which he was accustomed, leaving with Brezhnev on trips abroad.
The unusual behavior of the cat forced Brezhnev to be vigilant. He called the chairman of the KGB Yuri Andropov and, without explaining anything, asked if there were any new alarming data on France. Andropov hesitated a little, and then said that half an hour earlier he had received a report from foreign intelligence about an attempt by the Oasovites to assassinate Pompidou and him, the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
By this time, Brezhnev already believed in his visionary cat so much that, without hesitation, he decided to postpone the visit. The Lama was also right this time: two days later, a message appeared in the press about the arrest of the conspiracy participants who were preparing an attempt on Pompidou and Brezhnev.
DEATH OF A CAT
Ten years have passed, during which the guard cat was constantly with Leonid Ilyich, but he never gave an alarm signal. In the spring of 1982, going to Tashkent for the festivities dedicated to the presentation of the Order of Lenin to the Uzbek SSR, Brezhnev, as always, took Lama with him.
On the morning of March 23, the secretary general was supposed to visit several sites, including an aircraft plant. But then they decided not to go there, because the program was too busy, and the guards at the plant were removed. However, the planned visits were handled quickly, there was still a lot of time before lunch, and Brezhnev suggested that the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan, Rashidov, still stop by the aircraft plant.
General Ryabchenko, the chief of the secretary general's security, who was in the car, objected to this:
- Leonid Ilyich, you can't do this right now. It takes time to regain security. And besides, they report to me from the residence that your pet Lama has just gone crazy. Raging, has already bitten all the guards, - he said as a final argument, knowing that all visits Brezhnev conducts or cancels, depending on the behavior of his Tibetan cat.
But Brezhnev did not listen to the general, answering harshly that he should take care of the protection, and he would deal with the cat himself. Leonid Ilyich could not even imagine that, for the first time not paying attention to the behavior of the Lama, he would put himself at mortal risk.
At the plant, getting out of the car, Brezhnev with Rashidov and bodyguards moved to the assembly shop. As they passed under the wing of an almost finished plane, the people gathered in the forests began to move after them. Suddenly there was an eerie grinding sound. The rafters surrounding the plane could not bear the weight of the crowd, and the huge wooden platform collapsed, covering Brezhnev and Rashidov! And people also rolled on top of them.
Fortunately, the playground did not crush anyone. Leonid Ilyich was lying on his back, next to him was Rashidov with a broken head. For some reason, General Ryabchenko glanced at his watch: it was 13 hours 23 minutes.
The bodyguards raised Brezhnev with great difficulty. He refused to go to the hospital, and he was taken to the residence. There, sad news awaited him. Exactly at 13 hours 23 minutes, the seer cat, having bitten a metal leash with his teeth and biting the guards who were trying to hold him down to blood, ran out into the street and threw himself under the wheels of a passing car.
After the death of Lama, Leonid Ilyich's health deteriorated sharply. In November of the same 1982, Brezhnev died. The Dalai Lama's prediction came true.
Sergey PAVLOV
Secrets and Riddles Magazine
