Material updated ↓
Many people call one of the most eccentric acts in the life of the first president of Russia an episode at an American airfield in 1989, when the politician allegedly relieved himself right on the runway. We have checked whether this information is correct.
As legend has it, in 1989, the future President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin, when he first came to the United States, in front of members of the Soviet delegation and shocked Americans, urinated either on the wing or on the chassis of the aircraft, and then, as if nothing had happened, he took the bouquet handed to him. This story is regularly mentioned along with other eccentricities of Yeltsin, such as conducting German orchestra and absence from the plane for negotiations with the Prime Minister of Ireland, because “he overslept and the security did not wake him up” (both incidents occurred in 1994).
You can read about this case, in particular, on the websites “Radio Liberty", "Gazeta.ru", TV channel "Constantinople", as well as in the magazine Esquire. Among others, a story from the United States is mentioned by a political scientist Sergey Kara-Murza, writers Tamara Mayskaya And Alexander Prokhanov.
On September 9, 1989, Boris Yeltsin, then still a people's deputy of the USSR, for the first time in his life went in the USA as a private citizen at the invitation of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Oberlin College, Johns Hopkins University, the Esalen Institute, as well as several members of the American Congress. The trip lasted nine days and caused a great stir both in the Soviet Union and overseas. In the USSR there were reasons for this: in addition to the foreign policy aspect, the internal party struggle that the ambitious and then very popular Yeltsin waged in absentia with the leadership of the CPSU led by Mikhail Gorbachev played a role.
After Yeltsin returned to the Central Committee, the parties and the Politburo began act statements outraged citizens about the behavior of the deputy on the other side of the Iron Curtain. The catalyst for the scandal was an article by journalist Vittorio Zucconi in a reputable Italian newspaper La Reppublica, where he spoke about Yeltsin’s incessant drunkenness in the USA (politician supposedly drank two bottles of vodka, four bottles of whiskey and countless cocktails in five days), about giving an inappropriate lecture at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, as well as purchasing numerous VCRs and videotapes. The article was reprinted in the newspaper "Is it true"
Yeltsin categorically denied these charges are likewise arrived political translator Harris Coulter, assistant Lev Sukhanov and the head of the Soviet-American exchange program at the Esalen Institute, Jim Garrison, who constantly accompanied him on the trip. The latter only stated that one evening Yeltsin and four other men drank a bottle of whiskey, and “this is not drunkenness.” Some expressive look Witnesses explained Yeltsin at a lecture in Baltimore by the almost complete lack of sleep on the trip (the schedule was very busy), as well as by the sleeping pills he took.
Subsequently Zucconi clarified that he could not confirm anything written with personal observations, since he was based on the stories of unnamed Russian emigrants, as well as on an article in The Washington Post. An American newspaper later published refutation from Coulter, Garrison and Stephen Mueller, President of Johns Hopkins University. And Alfred Ross, who allegedly spoke about video equipment and cassette tapes, turned out to be fictional character. However, many years later, Harrison stated, that most of the time in the USA Yeltsin was still “aggressively drunk.”
The story of defecating minor needs on an airplane in front of witnesses in the United States did not receive publicity at that time and began to spread a little later (in the Newspapers.com archive “Verified” could not find publications before 1991). It is believed that the incident occurred upon arrival in Baltimore from New York on the night of September 11-12. David Rockefeller's personal plane, on which Yeltsin flew, landed in Maryland around midnight. Soviet politician on the road accompanied, in addition to Sukhanov, Coulter and Garrison, USSR People's Deputy Viktor Yaroshenko, Komsomolskaya Pravda columnist Pavel Voshchanov, Chairman of the Board of the USSR Social Invention Foundation Gennady Alferenko and two bodyguards. Delegation in Baltimore met Johns Hopkins University President Stephen Mueller, City Mayor Kurt Schmoke and members of the public. By certificate Coulter, by the time he arrived in Maryland, Yeltsin was already “collapsed” from fatigue and “resembled a sleepwalker.”
Yaroshenko in his book “Five years next to the president" and Sukhanov in work "How Yeltsin became president"described in great detail that trip to the USA in 1989. They say nothing about the prank at the Baltimore airport. Alferenko did not write memoirs about the future president of the Russian Federation. However, entrepreneur and people’s deputy of the USSR Artyom Tarasov in his book “Confession of a capitalist”mentions “good friend Venya” (immediately making it clear that the name has been changed), who organized Yeltsin’s trip to the USA and allegedly witnessed a scandalous situation near the plane. Most likely, Tarasov means Alferenko, who was his partner for the Mosintek company and actually organized the visit from the Soviet side. True, Tarasov’s story is filled with dubious details - for example, there were apparently no photographs of the incident, which, according to him, the American journalist managed to take.
Finally, Pavel Voshchanov, the fourth citizen of the USSR to accompany Yeltsin on the trip, wrote a book entitled “Notes of a Political Rogue" In it, he tells in detail how Yeltsin, having stepped off the ramp and looked around, sharply turned in the opposite direction and went behind the plane, and his subsequent actions were revealed by a stream running from under the aircraft. “And then something even more incredible happens - Yeltsin, fastening his fly as he goes, comes out from behind the plane and, extending his hand in greeting, heads towards those greeting them as if nothing had happened. It’s already night, but for some reason he says his invariable: “Huten Morhen!”, which finally finishes off the lady with flowers. She makes some kind of wheezing, which should be understood as a greeting “Welcome!”, and, avoiding a handshake, thrusts a bouquet of flowers into the guest, which has become a meaningless attribute,” the author concludes his story about this episode.
How later claimed Yeltsin’s long-term security guard Alexander Korzhakov (he did not travel to the USA), there is no documentary evidence of this act, but it did take place: “As luck would have it, no one ... had a camera or a movie camera - there were only people writing. Everyone saw this, there were a lot of witnesses, but they couldn’t capture it...” Korzhakov himself, according to him, received information from one of the trip participants, but did not name the witness.
As for confirmations from the American side, Russian sources usually mention “Confidential Memorandum to selected colleagues and friends regarding Boris Yeltsin's trip to the United States,” allegedly compiled by the American curator of the visit, Jim Garrison. This document covers Yeltsin's visit in detail, and about the incident at the airport it is said: “When the plane landed, Yeltsin walked down the ramp, but instead of greeting the waiting delegation, he walked along the runway to the tail of the plane and, turning his back to us, began to urinate on the rear wheels of the plane. Shocked, we stood in awkward silence, not knowing what to think. Yeltsin returned without saying a word, shook hands with the officials, received a bouquet of flowers from a young woman and climbed into a waiting limousine. Everyone pretended as if nothing had happened. The members of the delegation were taken to the university where they were supposed to stay.”
There was no confidence in the authenticity of this document, because, as noted in his book, “Death of an Empire“US Ambassador to the USSR in 1987–1991 Jack Matlock, deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR began receiving his “Russian translation” anonymously by mail from Switzerland shortly after Yeltsin’s trip, and the text itself is full of negative characteristics regarding the politician. According to Matlock, the paper could well have been the product of the KGB. In the US press of those years, no references to the “Verified” memorandum were found (despite reports of publication in a number of American newspapers). However, in the State Archive of the Russian Federation stored typewritten version of the letter in two languages. Note that at least the full version of the memorandum, contrary to Matlock’s words, appeared no earlier than March 1990, as follows from its text.
Verified contacted the alleged author of the Confidential Memorandum, Jim Garrison, via email. He had not previously heard of a document with that title, but after reading the text, he characterized it as a compilation of his private messages made by an unknown person. He denied authorship of some of the statements in the text. Nevertheless, Garrison confirmed that the story with the future president of the Russian Federation at the Baltimore airport actually happened.
Thus, information about Yeltsin’s action is confirmed by the American organizer of his trip and one of the members of the Soviet delegation. In addition, there is a story about the impressions of another participant in the trip from the Soviet side from his good friend. It is important to note that Viktor Yaroshenko and Lev Sukhanov, who did not mention this incident, later worked closely with Yeltsin (Sukhanov was his assistant for nine years, Yaroshenko was a political ally and close friend), so they could omit this detail simply out of respect for the Russian president. In all likelihood, this incident actually happened.
Update from 11/13/23: Confirmation of the verified case from Jim Garrison, the organizer of Boris Yeltsin’s trip on the American side, has been added to the text.
Cover photo: "Yeltsin Center»
Read on topic:
If you find a spelling or grammatical error, please let us know by highlighting the error text and clicking Ctrl+Enter.
