Lieutenant General Sergei Nikolaevich Krylov. From lieutenant to colonel in the apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. At odds with Yeltsin

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Part twelve

The Minister's closest associate in reforming the country's internal affairs bodies was Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General of the Internal Service Sergei Mikhailovich Krylov. Other members of the Colleague also brought a lot of benefit, primarily the Deputy Minister - curator of operational police services, Colonel General of the Internal Service Boris Tikhonovich Shumilin.

However, the main generator of ideas, of course, was General Krylov. I spoke about these reforms in sufficient detail several pages above. I’ll say right away: I didn’t have to know him personally; our, so to speak, service levels were too different back then. With his ideas, most of which have not lost their relevance, and half a century later I became more familiar with them when I began teaching at the Academy.

My current task is extremely difficult, especially now, when the second volume of the fundamental work “Reforms and Reformers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR” has just been released, in which a worthy place is given to the role and place of the first Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, the founder and head of the Academy, Lieutenant General of the Internal Service Sergei Mikhailovich Krylov.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs tried not to talk too much about Krylov, about his tragic death, and at the time when Fedorchuk became Minister, the works of Sergei Mikhailovich, documents, photographs, everything that was connected not only with him, but also with many other practical and scientific workers of the “Shchelokovsky era” were mercilessly destroyed.

Only in 1999, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and the 80th anniversary of the birth of this extraordinary man, his selected works were published for the first time.

This is how some of the most respected staff officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs system characterized General Krylov at that time: Doctor of Law, Professor V.Z., already well known to readers. Vesely and retired police colonel Gurgen Aleksandrovich Ayrumyan, who for a long time headed the headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan, and then worked at the Ministry’s Headquarters for decades.

I quote: “In the history of the internal affairs bodies there have been few such people. He was a person who possessed the talent of a thinker, organizer, and teacher. A creative, searching, constructive personality, concerned about the fate of the Fatherland, striving for constructive changes, possessing high intelligence, enviable determination and will, conviction in the correctness of his views, and a sense of self-worth. Honored Worker of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, member of the Board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Lieutenant General of the Internal Service, first Chief of Staff of the Union Ministry, founder of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and its first head, professor.

He received his education at the Saratov School of the NKVD Troops. He graduated with honors. During the Great Patriotic War, he served as a platoon commander and company commander of a special-purpose regiment under the commandant of the Moscow Kremlin. In 1942, for successful actions at the head of a group of snipers on the Western Front, by order of the 49th Army, he was awarded the medal “For Courage”; in 1944, for participation in the heroic defense of the capital of our Motherland, he was awarded the medal “For the Defense of Moscow.”

Knight of two Orders of the Red Star and the Red Banner of Labor.

In 1945-1949 studied at the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze. He graduated with a gold medal. He loved and knew how to study. This was one of the deepest properties of his personality. He studied with greed and peasant tenacity all his life. From a young age he had phenomenal perseverance, a tenacious memory, excellent health, and extraordinary abilities.

In the certifications for a student at the Krylov Academy, we read: “... a young, extremely quickly growing officer with strong-willed qualities and determination... He works a lot and very productively to improve and expand his knowledge in addition to the mandatory academic course... Tactical thinking is well developed. He grasps the situation quickly. The decisions made are distinguished by clarity and expediency, he can logically justify them, set clear tasks for the performers and persistently implement them...” And one more thing: “In terms of his abilities and perseverance in achieving his goal, he stands out sharply among course officers.” (S.M. Krylov. Selected works (1967-1979). Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, M., 1999, pp. 5-6).

Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General of the Internal Service Sergei Mikhailovich Krylov

In connection with the stay of S.M. Krylov at the front at the head of a group of snipers of the Kremlin regiment, let me make some clarification. Until the early seventies, trips by snipers from rear units of the Red Army and NKVD troops to so-called sniper internships in the Active Army were not considered a stay at the front.

This approach to these servicemen was, of course, unfair. Snipers did not sit back in the second echelon; they were always on the front line, in the thick of the battle. They inflicted serious losses on the enemy and disrupted the command and control of units in a combat situation. Their main task was to identify and fire primarily at German officers, snipers, machine gunners, observers, etc.

Many snipers had military awards, but were not considered active participants in the war. By the way, irretrievable (killed, captured and missing) and sanitary (wounded) losses among the seconded snipers were also considerable.

Offended by such inattention, especially after front-line soldiers began to receive the corresponding badge in 1970, people unrecognized in their rights intensified appeals to party and Soviet bodies, to the Ministry of Defense, to the General Staff, to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR.

To correct the current situation, a special General Staff Directive was issued. It established that being part of sniper groups for combat training was counted as being at the front if the business trip lasted at least a month, and the serviceman was awarded a government award as a result of the trip.

All these criteria S.M. Krylov complied. He repeatedly went with his soldiers on long front-line missions. On duty, I read reviews from senior commanders about the high results of these trips. He was deservedly awarded the medal “For Courage,” which was rated very highly among front-line soldiers.

I know this firsthand, since I took part in the preparation of the corresponding conclusion, approved by the ministry commission. At a meeting of the Board, in a solemn atmosphere, General Krylov was presented with the badge of a participant in the Great Patriotic War by the Minister.

By the way, Sergei Mikhailovich was an excellent shooter even at a very advanced age. I saw targets at the Academy shooting range that he fired at thirty years after Victory Day. These were visual aids in shooting, since the vast majority of the holes were in the very center of the targets, as they say, in the top ten.

In September 1977, I had the opportunity to attend a lecture with which the head of the Academy always preceded the start of a new academic year. This event, like a great holiday, will forever remain in my memory. All employees and students of the Academy attended the lesson.

The ritual of this holiday of science was festive and solemn. On the Academy's parade ground, ceremonial boxes were lined up in full dress uniform. The first consisted of teaching staff; the subsequent ones consisted of students of all years of study. At the same time, the ceremonial boxes were formed so that police officers would go in one, and internal service officers in the other.

To the sounds of a counter march, in accordance with the requirements of the Military Regulations of the Armed Forces of the USSR, the Academy Banner was carried out and carried to the head of the column. In accordance with the established procedure, the personnel moved to Zoya and Alexander Kosmodemyansky Street to the facade of the Academy. During the passage of the column from the Academy to the Warsaw cinema, this street was blocked, and traffic passage along it was closed. But even then it was a very busy highway, which led to the only Voykovskaya metro station in the entire district at that time. Suffice it to say that there were two tram routes and several bus routes.

The weather was sunny and warm that day, so there were a lot of passers-by on the streets. They watched what was happening with pleasure and vigorously expressed their emotions.

The cinema canceled several daytime shows for this occasion. At the present time, when money, money and money again are at the forefront, I can’t even imagine how much of it would have to be paid for such a feast of knowledge. Then the approach to business was different.

The capital's authorities well understood what a great job the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs was doing in reforming the internal affairs bodies, and they met its requests halfway. Of course, the prestige of Sergei Mikhailovich, who enjoyed great authority among the Moscow power and cultural elite, also played an important role in this matter.

In a solemn march to the music with an unfurled Banner, led by Lieutenant General Krylov, the Academy personnel marched to the Warsaw cinema. Its auditorium was then considered one of the largest in Moscow and was filled to capacity.

I don’t know how it was for others, but for me, who first heard the speech of the head of the Academy, it made an indelible impression. I was amazed by the power of his powerful intellect. During the two hours that his speech lasted, he never looked at any of his notes. The professor quoted Lenin by heart, whose works, as I was told, he knew well, and cited quotes from ancient philosophers and sages, Russian and Soviet classics.

He spoke with great conviction, I would even say, with inspiration. It was felt that the problems that he revealed to the officers listening to him came straight from the heart, that he himself deeply felt them and brought them to us, in general, still young employees, converting, as they say, to his faith.

Speech by the head of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR S.M. Krylova at a meeting, 70s

Sergei Mikhailovich devoted a lot of time to pressing problems of management in the internal affairs bodies. He explained the essence of the reforms being carried out in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said that headquarters should improve the organization of management of available forces and means based on an analysis and assessment of the operational situation. The apotheosis of analytical work should be the projects of the management decision of the corresponding manager. The headquarters should not command industry services, he said, its main and main task is to organize the successful work of the first leader.

The operational and official activities of the police and other services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs should be aimed, first of all, at crime prevention, based on the well-known postulate that it is easier to prevent a crime than to solve it. It is necessary to reorient all daily work to fulfill this requirement of the Minister.

Sergei Mikhailovich especially emphasized that many mature decisions can be made and the necessary recommendations can be sent to the localities. But this will be of little use if, in those areas where the success of the business is decided, there are no employees who are able to understand the policy of the ministry’s leadership as their own, if there are no people who are able to translate management decisions into practical actions with a sense of high responsibility.

It is very important to develop and implement scientifically based criteria for assessing the activities of internal affairs bodies, since they are the core condition for proper management.

Correctly defined criteria, Krylov said, mobilize personnel to solve the main, fundamental issues by which their activities are assessed. At the same time, erroneous criteria lead to an incorrect deployment of forces and means, incorrectly orient personnel, and therefore do not lead to positive results.

The main thread in the speech of the head of the Academy was the idea that in order to successfully fulfill the main tasks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs system in the internal affairs bodies, along with lawyers and teachers, psychologists, sociologists, mathematicians, specialists in the field of cybernetics and other fields of knowledge should also work. His idea that the most interesting discoveries will occur at the intersection of various sciences was completely confirmed.

Somewhere in the mid-seventies, with the approval of Sergei Mikhailovich, several graduates of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology were selected for positions as research assistants. As far as I remember, these were young police lieutenants Evgeny Zhenilo, Vladimir Minaev, Leonid Kheilo, Alexey Lebedev.

Time passed and life showed that the head of the Academy was not mistaken in his choice. Colonels Evgeny Evgenievich Zhenilo and Vladimir Aleksandrovich Minaev became doctors of sciences and professors, the latter, moreover, received a department under his command, and Colonel Alexey Lebedev took a high post in the State Courier Service of the Russian Federation.

Police Colonel Leonid Grigorievich Kheilo worked for many years at the department of management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Academy. He defended his dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences and received the academic title of Associate Professor.

The subject of his scientific research was the problem of developing mathematical models for predicting the operational situation in internal affairs agencies. Subsequently, Major General Heilo would serve for many years at the Ministry's Headquarters. After resigning, he now, as a state civil servant, continues to work fruitfully in the Organizational Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

They may ask me how I was able to reproduce the thoughts of Sergei Mikhailovich after only a few years. I'll be happy to answer. The fact is that the speech of the head of the Academy was recorded by stenographers, including an employee of the Headquarters, police captain Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Chukhutina, with whom we worked together for many years and were friends until her death in March last year. By the way, retired colonel Chukhutina died on her 75th birthday. This also happens in life, unfortunately. Eternal memory to her.

From this single meeting it was not difficult to conclude that Professor Krylov was a highly extraordinary and very gifted person. However, I immediately remembered the opinion that existed in certain ministerial circles in the early seventies that Sergei Mikhailovich had certain mental problems.

I think one of the reasons for this judgment was that some senior officials of the ministry, for a variety of reasons, did not want or were unable to appreciate the innovations of the Chief of Staff.

It is well known that Krylov and Karpets, one of the most prominent personalities of that time in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, could not find a common language. There were many employees from among the management staff of industry and functional services who either did not understand Krylov’s ideas or were simply jealous of the trusting relationship that he had with the Minister.

New trends that S.M. brought with him. Krylov, and their active support from the Minister, caused discontent among a certain part of the generals, among whom there were many people of the old school. Some of them saw in the Chief of Staff a danger to themselves and their loved ones.

I believe that Sergei Mikhailovich also made a mistake when, in the early seventies, too early, in my opinion, he began to probe the possibility of his appointment to the post of First Deputy Minister - Chief of Staff. However, this idea was absolutely correct.

In the army, the chief of staff at any level of command is always the first deputy commander, and only he can give orders on behalf of the commander. And this implies a completely different scope of rights and responsibilities for the chief of staff. In our case, Sergei Mikhailovich, being the Chief of Staff, did not have such rights.

It is known that the Deputy Ministers were also in no hurry to come under Krylov’s wing. They remembered well that several years ago he was a simple lieutenant colonel, an ordinary employee of the Higher School of the KGB of the USSR.

All this is now in the distant past, all this is well described in the books of Sergei Kredov and Maxim Brezhnev - the main researchers of that glorious period of the true heyday of the internal affairs bodies, which lasted a very short period of time - a little more than fifteen years.

Gradually, the Minister was inspired with the idea that since Krylov was the initiator of the creation of the Academy, even if he leads it, he would in fact prove that he was right. At the beginning of 1974, he was relieved of his post as Chief of Staff of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs and appointed Head of the Academy, although remaining, however, in the rank of a member of the Collegium.

The first graduating class of the Higher Academic Courses of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR

It would seem that a person has left for a new position, is busy with his brainchild, so leave him alone, let him work in peace and prove himself in a new field. Moreover, it was Krylov who laid the best traditions of this university; it was under his leadership that the Academy experienced its heyday.

Sergei Mikhailovich did everything to ensure that the Academy, not in words, but in deeds, became a management university of a new, previously unparalleled model, and took a number of extraordinary steps for this. He, like no one else in our system, understood that the face of any higher educational institution, its calling card, is the teaching staff. Therefore, he did everything in his power to increase the importance of this social institution to a level corresponding to its purpose.

At the suggestion of the head of the Academy, the Minister approved a new staffing table, which was radically different from that of the Higher School. Firstly, for the first time in the history of the department, general ranks were introduced for heads of departments. Secondly, all other positions, starting with senior lecturer, were assigned to the staff category “colonel”. At the same time, in the central apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, colonel positions were held only by the head of a department in the services of the ministry.

Salaries also differed significantly. At the Academy, their size was set higher than at the Ministry. For example, the position of a senior investigator, a senior officer in the military headquarters, a senior inspector in the criminal investigation department, the BHSS service, the Headquarters, and other operational services “cost” then 190 rubles, and in the fire department and private security departments - 170. For a senior teacher and The salary of an associate professor at the Academy was 230 rubles. The salaries of professors and deputy heads of departments were the same as those of heads of departments in the leading services of the ministry, and the official salary of department heads was 300 rubles. For those years, the difference in money is quite significant.

Krylov thought about what shape the Academy should take long before the decision to create it was made. Since his appointment to his new position in February 1974, time has seemed to compress for him. There was a little more than six months left until September 1, when the educational process was supposed to begin, and a huge amount of work lay ahead: curricula and programs had to be developed, and teachers had to be selected for the new tasks. These people needed to accept the ideological and philosophical innovations that Sergei Mikhailovich put forward, realize, perceive, and put them into practice.

They had to prepare, as they say, “on the fly” a huge amount of different materials, primarily curricula and programs, lectures, seminars and practical classes, departmental and academic command and staff exercises, various teaching materials on each topic being studied, etc. .

While working at the Academy, I became close friends with my fellow countryman, Professor Alexander Pavlovich Ipakyan, with whom we had not known each other before. I remember once, during a friendly party at his house, Alik, as his closest people call him, told me how enthusiastically they worked then.

Quite recently, Valerian Zyamovich Vesely spoke about the same thing to Maxim Aleksandrovich Brezhnev and me. He said that that short period of time, when they all worked in one team, tirelessly, remained in his memory as one of the brightest and dearest on his long and difficult career path.

The first place then came to the work of creating a general management unit, the basis of which were three leading departments (general theory of management, head - Doctor of Law, Professor Colonel of the Internal Service Georgiy Georgievich Zuikov; departments in the Ministry of Internal Affairs - Department of Internal Affairs, head - Major General of Police Sergei Ivanovich Ryazanov , who previously headed the Headquarters of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate; departments in the city district internal affairs agencies - head of police colonel Vesely, before his appointment to the Academy - deputy head of the information and analytical department of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs Headquarters).

The main work on the preparation of educational programs and plans for the unit of management disciplines, along with the heads of the departments mentioned above, was carried out by Professor Boris Sergeevich Bushuev, candidates of legal sciences Valery Leonidovich Burmistrov, Vadim Dmitrievich Malkov, Sergei Efimovich Vitsin, Gerold Mikhailovich Maksimov, Igor Borisovich Ponomarev. G.A., already known to readers, also worked on solving this problem. Tumanov, A.P. Ipakyan, N.N. Kipman, other employees.

The Department of Management Psychology was headed by Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Colonel Akhmed Ismailovich Kitov, who arrived from the Military-Political Academy. Guiding documents on problems of management psychology were developed, along with A.I. Kitov, a young scientist at the time, who soon became a professor, Alexander Ivanovich Papkin, and a number of other psychologists. Unfortunately, I don’t know their last names.

The overwhelming majority of management departments were staffed by staff officers. This measure was forced, since there was not yet a theoretical basis for managing internal affairs bodies, so it was necessary to empirically develop educational materials, and this could only be done by people with practical experience in organizing the fight against crime, and in different regions of the country.

Thus, from the Ministry Headquarters, experienced workers arrived, subsequently doctors of sciences, professors Gennady Artashesovich Avanesov and Yuri Miranovich Antonyan, as well as Anaida Mikhailovna Popova and Gleb Armenakovich Mkhitarov; from the Moscow region and Leningrad - deputy chiefs of staff of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate Viktor Vasilyevich Tuflin and German Alekseevich Romanov, from Klin near Moscow - the head of the city department German Alekseevich Pakhomov, from Moscow - the head of one of the police departments Vasily Pavlovich Ananchenko.

After completing his postgraduate studies and defending his Ph.D. thesis, Anatoly Fedorovich Maydykov, who had previously worked as the head of the Pervomaisky District Department of Internal Affairs of Novosibirsk, was appointed to the position of senior lecturer at the Department of Management of City Regional Internal Affairs Agencies in 1974. Subsequently, he became a professor and, with the rank of major general of police, worked for several years as deputy head of the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for academic work.

These people became the ideologists of the future science of management in the internal affairs bodies. They created it with their enthusiasm, their charisma, their experience, their practical knowledge. And they succeeded.

Generals Aleksey Vasilyevich Seregin and Evgeny Fedorovich Dorokhov, an experienced criminologist, Doctor of Science, Professor Colonel of the Internal Service Konstantin Eremeevich Igoshev, were appointed to the positions of deputy heads of the Academy. They also made a significant contribution to the formation and development of the Academy.

The focus of the head of the Academy was constantly on the issues of personnel selection for the departments of industrial management. The Higher School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had experienced teaching and research personnel on the problems of operational and service activities. Existing curricula, plans, and educational materials should have been brought into line with the management, which was done.

From the Higher School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Academy, such significant figures for our system as Doctors of Law, professors Vitaly Georgievich Bobrov, Valery Mikhailovich Atmazhitov, Vladimir Andreevich Lukashov, Fedor Savelyevich Razarenov, Nikolai Alekseevich Struchkov, Rafail Samuilovich Belkin, Dmitry Vladimirovich Grebelsky, Vladimir Fedorovich Kirichenko, Lev Ivanovich Spiridonov and many other highly qualified teachers.

The Academy was also replenished with civilian specialists. From there came, in particular, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Pavlovich Kositsyn, sociologist, Professor Inga Borisovna Mikhailovskaya, philosophers Doctor of Sciences Vasily Vasilyevich Varchuk and Candidate of Sciences, Associate Professor Alexey Petrovich Gladilin, my good old friend.

The process of selecting future students was no less difficult. After long discussions, the Minister approved the proposals of the head of the Academy on this issue. It was decided that the first faculty (training the leadership of the republican and regional apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Internal Affairs Directorate and the central apparatus) would be staffed with employees at the rank of chiefs of staff, sectoral and functional services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Internal Affairs Directorate, and Internal Affairs Directorate. The second faculty (training of management personnel for municipal internal affairs agencies) enrolls employees who have experience in management and operational work in this part of the system.

The efforts of Sergei Mikhailovich Krylov, his associates, the entire teaching staff and researchers bore good fruit. Only among the first graduates of the Academy (1976) Magomed Gitinovich Abdurazakov, Mikhail Terentyevich Bersenev, Viktor Efimovich Vlasov, Alexander Valentinovich Osminin, Ivan Grigorievich Sardak, Valery Anatolyevich Uryvaev became lieutenant generals.

The rank of major general was awarded to Eduard Eremeevich Airapetov, Ernst Omurzakovich Basarov, Viktor Petrovich Bomonin, Gennady Ivanovich Boyarkin, Nikolai Petrovich Vodko, Oskian Arshakovich Galustyan, Mikhail Klimentyevich Gubsky, Beksoltan Beslanovich Dziov, Gennady Aleksandrovich Lutsenko, Leonid Pavlovich Pasechnik, Alexander Nikolaevich Proko fiev, Mikhail Parfenovich Prostov, Vladimir Grigorievich Rubtsov, Alexander Sergeevich Rusakov, Evgeniy Kuzmich Salmin, Vasily Nikolaevich Fedoshchenko.

It is not for nothing that the first release of “chicks of Krylov’s nest” is still called the general’s. There were, however, those who, during their studies, managed not only to receive diplomas of completion of the 1st Faculty, but also to defend their Ph.D. dissertations. We are talking first of all about Valentin Alekseevich Malyutkin, who later became a professor and head of the department of management of municipal internal affairs bodies of the Academy, as well as about the above-mentioned O.A. Galustyans.

I cannot help but say that the creation of the Academy led to the organization of another higher educational institution in the Ministry of Internal Affairs system. On the basis of the 5th faculty (fire-fighting and safety engineers) of the Higher School, in the same 1974, the Higher Fire-Technical Engineering School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR was organized. Since 2002, this educational institution has been called the Academy of Fire Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia.

However, Krylov’s well-wishers did not calm down, especially after Yu.M. came to the post of Deputy Minister in the fall of 1977. Churbanov, son-in-law L.I. Brezhnev, who began to oversee the personnel service. Naturally, the Academy was also under his leadership.

By the way, the transfer to another area of ​​work of Konstantin Ivanovich Nikitin, who, since the re-establishment of the Union Ministry, had been responsible for this important area of ​​work for more than ten years and had not discredited himself in any way, was a complete surprise and very unpleasant news for many of us.

However, most of us had yet to fully appreciate the rapid career growth of Yuri Mikhailovich. As I already wrote, he began his service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the modest position of deputy head of the political department of places of detention, and already in February 1980 he became the first deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR with the military rank of colonel general. It must be borne in mind that Yuri Mikhailovich did not have a military education, and he did not serve in military service.

As knowledgeable people note, a very hostile relationship immediately developed between Krylov and Churbanov. In this regard, let me quote from the book “My Father-in-Law - Leonid Brezhnev,” which Yuri Mikhailovich wrote after his release from prison. “...Krylov was constantly in captivity of some unrealizable (for internal affairs bodies) ideas. The staff didn't like him. But he completely charmed Shchelokov; Shchelokov passed off some of his ideas as his own; my comrades (members of the Collegium) and I considered them not only dubious, but also harmful. Krylov “received a general” and considered himself almost the first person in the ministry.

And so, when his activities became completely unbearable, all members of the Collegium unanimously demanded that the minister Krylov leave his post... A compromise decision was made: to appoint Krylov as head of the Academy and leave him as a member of the Collegium; He was a candidate of sciences, I don’t remember which ones, most likely military, although I can’t say what new things he contributed to the construction and strengthening of the Armed Forces.” (cited from the book: Reforms and reformers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. Part II. - M., Center for social and charitable programs for supporting veterans and disabled people of law enforcement agencies “Zvezda”, 2016, pp. 110-111).

The quote is small, but there is so much slyness in it: remember the words “...me and my comrades (members of the Board)...”. So, Churbanov became a member of the Collegium only in 1977, more than three years after Sergei Mikhailovich was appointed to the Academy.

Before that, he was the head of the Political Directorate of Internal Troops. I am sure that at that time he had more than enough responsibilities to privately take an interest in the reforms taking place in the police and evaluate their effectiveness. What ideas of Sergei Mikhailovich the Minister presented as his own - the author, unfortunately, does not specify, acting on the old proven principle: “I say, well.”

At the beginning of 1979, a large ministry commission came to the Academy to check its activities, which regularly reported to Churbanov about its work and, naturally, carried out all his instructions, which boiled down to one thing: to spread rot on Krylov. As far as I know, the inspectors were not assigned any other task.

The commission was most interested in issues of financial and economic activity. Needless to say, the activities of rear services are an important component of the functioning of any large structure. However, in my deep conviction, when inspecting any higher educational institution, and even more so a unique one like the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the main attention should be paid to the organization and quality of the educational process, as well as the level of scientific research. Moreover, the Deputy Head of the Academy for Logistics was directly responsible for economic support.

Knowing the biased attitude of the Deputy Minister towards the head of the Academy, the commission members dug the earth, looking for shortcomings, which, moreover, were often exaggerated.

When the final meeting on the results of the audit began, the chairman of the commission asked Sergei Mikhailovich how much time he needed to speak. He replied that he was asking for one hour. Churbanov immediately cut his time by half.

Further events developed as follows. A few days later, the general was summoned to the Personnel Department and one of the middle-ranking officials, at least not the head of the department or, in extreme cases, his deputy, announced to Sergei Mikhailovich that he had been removed from his post.

Krylov was aware that his enemies would do everything to deal with him. However, this mocking conversation greatly hurt the pride of the front-line general, a member of the Collegium, a professor, a man who made a great real contribution to reforming the entire system of internal affairs bodies of the country.

He tried to explain to the Minister, but he did not accept him, since he himself was being treated in the hospital at that time. This was another strong blow to Sergei Mikhailovich’s pride.

On April 19, the Academy celebrated the next anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin. For Krylov, this date has always been special. He had great respect for the founder of the Soviet state, knew his works well, and even often quoted him in private conversations.

The ceremonial meeting was chaired by the Secretary of the Party Committee of the Academy, Colonel of the Internal Service Viktor Mikhailovich Kukushin, later a professor, Doctor of Science.

When the meeting was already in full swing, the door opened and S.M. entered the assembly hall. Krylov. He was in full dress uniform, with all the awards on his chest. The hall fell silent, in complete silence Sergei Mikhailovich walked forward and sat down on the podium.

He immediately wrote a note asking for the floor and handed it to the first deputy head of the Academy, Major General of the Internal Service, Professor Konstantin Ivanovich Varlamov. Varlamov and Kukushin read it and asked the head of the department, Professor Kositsyn, with whom Krylov had friendly relations, to sit next to him and try to calm him down. Kositsyn told Sergei Mikhailovich that after the meeting they would gather in a narrow circle and listen to him. To this, Krylov, who was dismissed from his post, wrote a second note, the meaning of which was as follows: “I again ask you to give me the floor, I must say goodbye, this my academy."

After this, the secretary of the party committee interrupted the meeting and declared the meeting closed. Then, after the tragedy, Kukushin and Varlamov explained that, seeing the state in which Sergei Mikhailovich was and, knowing his strong and decisive character, they were afraid that after saying goodbye he might commit suicide right on the podium.

Professors Tumanov and Vesely, one of General Krylov’s most beloved students, approached him, took him into his office and asked permission to be with him. Sergei Mikhailovich ordered them to stay in the reception room and invite Kositsyn and Varlamov to him. According to Vesely, the generals stayed with him for about twenty minutes, and immediately after they left, a shot rang out. When everyone ran into the office, they saw that the bullet had hit Sergei Mikhailovich right in the heart.

The deputy head of the Academy, a combat officer who went through the entire war, an honorary citizen of the city of Poltava, Doctor of Military Sciences, Professor Colonel of the Internal Service Pavel Grigorievich Skachko, standing in the office of the head of the Academy, said: “Well done. He is a real officer” (Reforms and reformers of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, part II, p. 123).

This is what Krylov wrote in his suicide note to his friend, the famous television journalist Lev Aleksandrovich Voznesensky: “...I’ll tell you in my dying hour: I believed in ideals, but they were trampled upon; I believed in justice, but it was crucified; I believed that only work and honor determine the value of the human person, but this turned out to be a deep mistake. I, an idealist and romantic, found myself bankrupt in this world.

I have no strength to live. If a person's faith and hope are killed, he is a corpse.

God! How I worked! How he burned, how he fought! And the nobler the goal, the more inspired the work, the greater the hatred of those in power.

I fertilized with my talent and fantastic work the intellectual desert of the internal affairs bodies...

…Goodbye! Life is the triumph of truth. If she is killed, insanity sets in, and therefore death...

...loving you

S. Krylov.

P.S. Death is also a struggle for life” (S. Kredov, title op. pp. 146 - 147).

This letter is evidence that Sergei Mikhailovich’s death was not spontaneous; he made the decision about it in advance. And, of course, this note is the best proof that Lieutenant General Krylov’s psyche was completely fine. Taking one's own life is the lot of the strong.

And immediately, as if by magic, all persecution of the Academy stopped. No one remembered abuses, personal indiscretion, etc. And indeed, the desired has been achieved, therefore, as they say: “... it’s all over, forget it.” And so it happened. The heads of the departments were informed that their presence at the funeral of Sergei Mikhailovich was undesirable. At the cemetery, however, they were all there.

“Shchelokov was shocked by Krylov’s death. He was very upset about his departure. I felt guilty that I did not accept him when he asked for a meeting... Later, with the involvement of a large audience... there was an analysis of the activities of the Academy and the deceased S.M. Krylov in the light of the test results. The head of the Department of Administrative Bodies of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union N.I. was invited to it. Savinkin. According to the testimony of the secretary of the party committee of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs V.S. Svistunov, he told him that “he doesn’t see any serious violations” (Reforms and reformers of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, part II, p. 124).

Recently I was looking for the necessary paper in my archive and came across a photocopy of the poem “Gulliver and the Lilliputians,” which was written at one time by one of the smartest staff officers of that time. I was struck by the fact that this poem was dated April 19, 1969, exactly ten years before the death of General Krylov.

The verse is long, I will not quote it in full, I will give only a few lines:

"In the calm kingdom of the Lilliputians

Many years have passed without troubles

Without fresh thoughts, new measures,

But then Gulliver appeared.

He was surprised for some reason

The careless laziness of the Lilliputians...

With barely concealed excitement

He stunned them with an offer

Get out of the mud into the light...

“Yes, I won’t let you rot in the swamp

I call you good, but you won’t go -

I am ready to fight for you...

I'm not afraid to argue with the thunderstorm,

I'm not afraid to build in the desert,

On the day of Sergei Mikhailovich’s death, his colleagues and students gather at his grave at the Vagankovskoye cemetery. Every year there are fewer of them, but the memory of him lives on. If I’m not mistaken, in September 2009, a bust of Lieutenant General Krylov was installed on the Academy’s parade ground. As I was told, the general’s wife Vera Tikhonovna and daughter Irina Sergeevna were present at the opening.

It’s good that justice finally prevailed, the only bad thing is that it was done so late and in a closed area. In my opinion, the monument to Sergei Mikhailovich should have been installed not inside, but at the entrance to the Academy, so that it would be open to public viewing. In addition, it is high time to name the Academy after S.M. Krylov, its founder and first boss. This idea was in the air more than ten years ago, but whether it will be realized is unknown. Most likely no. If they wanted to, they would have done it long ago.

Some time ago, a table medal was released, which depicts a portrait of Sergei Mikhailovich, on the back of the medal there is the inscription: “For contribution to science and management practice.” Simultaneously with the commemorative medal, a commemorative badge of the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia “Sergei Mikhailovich Krylov” was issued, which was awarded to many employees and veterans of the Academy.

The idea of ​​issuing a commemorative medal and badge was put forward by a graduate of the Academy, retired police major general Vladimir Nikolaevich Krasilnikov, who for many years headed the headquarters of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Sverdlovsk Region. By the way, in the general’s office there were three portraits: N.A. Shchelokova, S.M. Krylov and the Russian Minister of Internal Affairs, Army General A.S. Kulikov, under whose command Krasilnikov fought in Chechnya.

He also developed relevant projects. Vladimir Nikolaevich spent a lot of time and effort to bring this idea to its logical conclusion. At first, unfortunately, it did not arouse much enthusiasm, but then overnight the point of view of the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Academy of Management changed to the opposite. Naturally, the help of sponsors was needed and, fortunately, they were found. Many thanks to these people unknown to most of us!

Today V.N. Krasilnikov is the chairman of the Public Council under the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Sverdlovsk Region. A man of irrepressible energy, he does a lot to perpetuate the memory of veterans. In particular, for the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory in Yekaterinburg, edited by Vladimir Nikolaevich, the book “Great Victory” was published, which tells about all the veterans of the Great Patriotic War who served in the internal affairs bodies of this region.

Not long ago, the leadership of the Academy changed again. I would like to think that its new chief, Major General of Police, Doctor of Technical Sciences Andrei Nikolaevich Konev, understands well the extent of responsibility that fell on his shoulders and will do everything to raise the role, importance and authority of the Academy of Management in the training of leading personnel of internal affairs bodies for a modern level.

To be continued

Briefly about the author. Savvinov Alexander Georgievich, born in 1940. In 1965 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov. He served in the internal affairs bodies for about 40 years. From 1970 to 1988 he served in the central apparatus of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs (Personnel Administration, Headquarters, Inspectorate Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs). Then he worked as a teacher at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. He was awarded 16 state and departmental medals and the badge “For excellent service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.” Retired internal service colonel. Since 2001 - Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Informatization.

In January 1974, the former “first deputy minister without portfolio” Sergei Mikhailovich Krylov was appointed head of the Academy of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. This is an honorary exile with preservation of face (he was left on the board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs). It seemed that Krylov would no longer play any noticeable role in the department.

However, it turned out differently.

In 1974, the academy was just being created on the basis of the Higher Police School. Will it turn out to be the first most important university of the Ministry of Internal Affairs? Unknown. But Sergei Mikhailovich aims at much more. He dreams of creating a higher education institution for training a new type of managerial personnel. The best - if not in the country, then in the system of law enforcement agencies - for sure.

The timing is favorable: Moscow is preparing to host the 1980 Summer Olympics. This means that in preparation for the Olympics, the academy can significantly expand its base, build new and reconstruct old structures and buildings. Valery Mikhailovich Sobolev is transferred from Kaliningrad to help Krylov. Actually, Valery Mikhailovich was going to take a higher position than the deputy head of the academy, but he was literally intercepted by Krylov at the airport (how can one not recall the corresponding footage from “Seventeen Moments of Spring”). Sobolev has long known Deputy Prime Minister Ignatius Trofimovich Novikov, the head of the Olympic organizing committee, and he can do a lot for the academy. The minister continues to meet Krylov’s wishes. But Shchelokov fully sympathizes with what he has planned. Thanks to the support of the minister, his old comrade has the opportunity to invite the teachers and specialists he needs. The head of the academy has strong arguments for the invitee: an apartment, another title, the prospect of defending a dissertation, publishing books... But the main thing, of course, in this project is the irrepressible energy and talent of Sergei Mikhailovich Krylov himself. Very little time will pass, and he will turn the place of his “exile” into the front line, where both the creative, scientific, pedagogical, and bureaucratic forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will come together in battle.

The reader already has some idea of ​​how wide a range of disciplines the academy’s students studied and what scientific problems were solved within its walls. Krylov’s associates will write about it this way (in the preface to the collection of selected works of the teacher, published many years after his death): “From the rostrum of scientific conferences... academicians and scientists from various branches of scientific knowledge spoke: philosophy and cybernetics, economics and sociology, psychology and law, pedagogy and ethics, and finally, management itself. Next to the scientists, outstanding leaders of various sectors of the national economy, culture, and law enforcement system shared their experience. The attention with which the Academy was surrounded was due, first of all, to the personality of its leader, his intellect, erudition, inspiration, and creative daring.” S. M. Krylov will cease to be a figure of silence earlier than N. A. Shchelokov, so there will be a tendency to attribute to Krylov the most important innovations that were introduced in those years in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This is, of course, far from the case. But there is no exaggeration in the words just quoted.

Well-known television journalist Lev Voznesensky (nephew of Stalin’s Politburo member Nikolai Voznesensky, repressed as part of the “Leningrad case”) shares his impressions of visiting the academy: “You walk along its corridors and hear: behind this door there is a lecture on criminal legal psychology, and behind the other - on applied mathematics, the next one - on the organization of crime prevention, and another one - on the Russian language and literature... A huge role in broadening the horizons of the Academy's students was played by the People's University of Culture organized in it, headed by the world-famous and popularly beloved composer Aram Ilyich Khachaturian. The departments of the university were headed by the greatest masters of art.”

Voznesensky asked his friend Krylov: why is he so concerned that academy students regularly visit theaters, concerts, and museums?

And this is what he answers:

“I want to create such a corps of senior officers of public order protection agencies, for whom breaking the law, raising a hand against a person would be internally impossible, since the person himself, his life, rights and dignity would always remain an unconditional moral value in their minds and souls.”

Police officer for whom internally it is impossible to break the law, to raise a hand against a person... Brilliantly formulated.

Who should be involved in the education and upbringing of the future super-policeman? Before the eyes of the author of the book is a shorthand recording of the speech of the head of the academy at a meeting of the department of management of city and regional internal affairs agencies. The meeting took place on January 3, 1977. Krylov gives farewell to the newly appointed heads of the department: Vesely, Maydykov and Kutushev. Here are the requirements, according to the speaker, that the head of the academy’s department must satisfy:

“The head of the department is the most qualified, widely educated person. This is a spiritually rich specialist who deeply knows his field of knowledge, its theory and practice. This is a generator of ideas, a person with an analytical, creative mind, capable of creating spiritual values, breaking new paths in science; he is a brave innovator who knows how to find what is typical and natural in the seeming chaos of facts and events and, on the basis of this, construct new theories that adequately reflect practice and illuminate its path. The head of the department, together with his team and at the head of it, not only creates science, but also bears full responsibility for the recommendations that the department gives. Therefore, when we today congratulate comrades Vesely, Maidykov and Kutushev on their appointment to these high positions, we emphasize, first of all, the exceptionally great responsibility for the work that is entrusted to them. I would like to once again recall Lenin’s words that a leader asserts his authority not by the power of power, but by the power of greater competence, greater energy, greater talent, efficiency, and greater experience.”

In other words, those who will train future super-policemen must also constantly improve themselves! They will have to work hard 12–15 hours a day in order to cover in two to three years the distance covered by their colleagues from other universities in seven to ten years. And, of course, what kind of department heads are they, what kind of teachers are they if they don’t study Montaigne’s “Essays” and Bernal’s work “Science in the History of Society”? “You cannot be a manager,” Krylov continues to instruct, “without reading Emerson’s “Twelve Principles,” Fayol’s “General and Industrial Management,” Gastev’s “How to Work,” Kerzhentsov’s “Principles of Organization” and Paramonov’s “Learning to Manage.” It is necessary to read books written primarily by people who themselves governed, for the science of management was born, to a greater extent than other sciences, from experience. It is necessary to include in the list of books the works of outstanding teachers - Jan Amos Comenius, Pestalozzi, Ushinsky, Makarenko, Sukhomlinsky.”

Enough for a teacher at the department of city and regional authorities? No, he must also educate his listeners by personal example, appearance and behavior, for which he still has to study a considerable amount of literature. “It would be good if the department created a permanent seminar at which you would discuss topical issues of your spiritual and scientific self-education. This will expand the front of your spiritual search. You must certainly keep in mind that the road to the high title of teacher lies through titanic work.”

Truly titanic work lay ahead of the meeting participants. To top it all off, Sergei Mikhailovich sets a goal for those present: to defend their candidate’s dissertations in two years, and for comrades Vesely and Kutushev to defend their doctoral dissertations. A dissertation should become a book of life for everyone...

It’s probably possible to become a good manager at the level of a city district internal affairs agency without reading Emerson’s “Twelve Principles of Productivity.” But the head of the academy’s conviction to the contrary is noteworthy. After all, this incorrigible maximalist is creating the best management university in the country. In 1977, it seems to him that the goal has already been achieved. He dreams that at the demonstration in honor of November 7 on Red Square, the column of universities will be opened by representatives of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and is taking practical steps in this direction. An academy teacher is the most prestigious of professions, in his opinion. General and professor Oskian Galustyan (“Voskan” - for friends) keeps in his archive a humorous note that Krylov gave him at a meeting of the Ministry of Internal Affairs board in 1978. On the back of the business card, Sergei Mikhailovich writes to Galustyan (then the chief inspector of the headquarters, forced to constantly travel to the regions with inspections): “Voskan! Never mind these business trips! Go to the Academy - you will be a professor, beginning. departments! This is better than the Minister of Armenia.” (O. A. Galustyan, who belonged to the first graduate of the “general faculty” of the academy, would later become the first deputy minister of internal affairs of Armenia.)

However, not everyone approved of Krylov’s maximalism. Opposition to him was also ripe in scientific and teaching circles, not only in the administrative circles. Some authoritative specialists were not eager to work under the leadership of Sergei Mikhailovich, bearing in mind the peculiarities of his character. For example, Vladimir Filippovich Nekrasov, later a doctor of sciences, professor, author of the most valuable studies on the history of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, rejected Krylov’s offer to become his first deputy. V. F. Nekrasov recalls: “He was a peculiarly deep man with remarkable qualities of mind, a broad, philosophical view of many things. Large, demonic personality. To a certain extent, it is a find, a diamond, but a very unique one. His head was designed amazingly, he had a great many ideas, but sometimes he had to be pulled back. He did a lot for the Ministry of Internal Affairs.” Despite such assessments, Vladimir Filippovich did not go to the first deputy head of the academy, he was sure that they would not work well together.

A prominent criminologist, Anatoly Ivanovich Alekseev, himself headed the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1990–1994. Under Alekseev, a collection of Krylov’s scientific works was published for the first time. “Although,” says Professor Alekseev, “he essentially had no scientific works, mostly reports. Sergei Mikhailovich, for all his enormous merits, was a somewhat adventurous person. But a sense of proportion was not always respected. Let's take for example a similar educational institution - the Higher Police Academy in Germany. Students study there for a year in classrooms, then return to practice. Everything is economical and thoughtful. Our graduates of the main - “general” faculty, after two years of full-time study, had big problems with distribution. While the future general is studying for two years, who will hold his position? But not everyone wants to change region. We sometimes placed graduates in positions lower than they held before entering the academy. Therefore, I made a proposal: limit classroom training to a year, and then send the student to an internship in the field under the guidance of a teacher.”

Despite the criticism, largely well-founded, of the activities of Sergei Mikhailovich Krylov as head of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there is no doubt about the fact: he created this university, laid down its best traditions, and under his leadership the academy experienced its heyday. Evidence of this is the monument to Sergei Mikhailovich, which was unveiled on the territory of his brainchild in September 2009. 30 years after his death.

Around 1978, the conviction began to mature in a number of authorities that “order must be restored” at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The “restoration of order” was supervised by Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Yu. M. Churbanov. It was Churbanov who was most often charged with what happened next. He himself does not agree with them. Yuri Mikhailovich sets out his version of events and his assessment of Krylov’s personality in his memoirs, which were written in the late 1980s, when their author was serving a sentence in a colony near Nizhny Tagil. His word:

“One of the most serious accusations brought against me by the press today is the suicide of General Krylov, a member of the board of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. There is, they say, even a documentary film on this topic. Now, perhaps, I’ll tell you how everything really happened.

Who is Krylov? How did he end up in the ministry? Krylov came to the internal affairs bodies from the KGB Higher School; someone from the committee leadership recommended him to Shchelokov as an efficient, energetic and well-written person. Was he efficient? What do you mean by efficiency? If a person comes to the ministry at night, alerts his subordinates, including the stenographer and typist, and works out his ideas, arguing that the ministry needs these ideas in the morning, and then these ideas turn out to be worthless and go into the trash, then I I wouldn't call it performance. This, if you like, is the humiliation of a person.”

Let us note: for his curator, the head of the academy is an alien, dangerous person with worthless ideas. One can imagine what it was like for Sergei Mikhailovich in the last months of his life.

“Krylov was constantly in captivity of some unrealizable (for internal affairs bodies) ideas. The staff didn't like him. But he completely charmed Shchelokov; Shchelokov later passed off some of his ideas as his own; my comrades (members of the board) and I considered them not only dubious, but also harmful. Krylov “got a general” and considered himself almost the top person in the ministry. And when his activities became completely unbearable, all members of the board unanimously demanded that the minister Krylov leave his post. We were also supported by the department of administrative bodies of the CPSU Central Committee (who would doubt that in this conflict the department of the Central Committee would not be on Krylov’s side. - S. TO.). By this moment, Shchelokov himself was ready to dissociate himself from Krylov, but Krylov, undoubtedly, knew how to hypnotize and feel Shchelokov’s pain points well. (Later it turned out that he also suffered from epilepsy.) A compromise decision is made: to appoint Krylov as head of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and leave him as a member of the board; he was a candidate of sciences, I don’t remember which ones, most likely military, although I can’t say what new things he contributed to the construction and strengthening of the Armed Forces. This is how Krylov appeared within the walls of the academy.”

This part of the memoirs characterizes, first of all, their author himself. By the way, Sergei Mikhailovich did not suffer from epilepsy. Now about the main thing - what happened within the walls of the academy.

“There was complete chaos there. I began to receive serious signals about Krylov’s arbitrariness, about his disrespectful attitude towards people, about personnel leapfrog, etc. But one visit from Krylov to the minister - and everything was closed. The only light in his window was the minister: neither Churbanov, nor Bogatyrev or Zabotin, nor other “deputies” existed for him. Then I wrote a memo to the minister: I consider it advisable to inspect the Academy in full. At first the minister refused me, but not outright, but carefully wrote a resolution: not to refuse, but to temporarily abstain. Signals from the Academy continued to arrive. I write a second report, but it is also buried. Then I said to Shchelokov: “Comrade Minister, if you do not give permission to check the Academy, I will report to the department of administrative bodies, and let them judge us there.” Here, apparently, he could no longer do anything, especially since I enlisted support from the Central Committee department. We formed an authoritative commission, which included the heads of a number of departments: the task was to objectively check the Academy in all respects. And the deeper we dug, the more negativity we found (is there any other way? - S.K.). Change of personnel, protectionism, but we got into the biggest jungle when we got acquainted with the issues of the financial and economic activities of the Academy. The furniture sets that were bought for the Academy migrated to Krylov’s apartment, and there were also two color televisions that belonged to the classrooms - so, if we take only one aspect of economic activity, a criminal case could be brought against Krylov.”

Financial and economic activities, no doubt, are a weak point in any organization. These are not “ideas” with which (and which) you still need to be able to understand; the deeper you dig, the more negative you find, otherwise it simply cannot happen. The time will come when Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov will be prosecuted for his financial and economic activities, and Churbanov himself, in a certain sense, too. And you won't make excuses. In conditions of total Soviet deficit, the leader almost inevitably found himself at the mercy of a clever business executive. After Krylov’s death, a set of furniture and color televisions will be found in the academy’s service apartment (according to the testimony of the former head of the Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I. Ya. Drozdetsky). The savings in the family of Lieutenant General Krylov, according to the story of his daughter Irina Sergeevna, could be enough to purchase a Lada car.

Sergei Mikhailovich could have justified himself, but he considered it beneath his dignity. In front of whom?! He didn’t think anything of Churbanov. From the memoirs of Yuri Mikhailovich, it is at least clear that the minister by that time had exhausted the possibilities of protecting the head of the academy. He again found himself practically alone against everyone. This was his fate.

“The minister went on vacation and was resting in the Moscow region, Krylov tried to break through to him, but the minister did not accept him, as if making it clear: decide without me. I called Krylov to my place and asked: “What are we going to do, Sergei Mikhailovich?” Besides me, the chief of personnel, General Drozdetsky, was in the office. It should be noted that Krylov behaved very nervously. He told me that he was ready to part with this position, but asked to remain at the academy as a teacher; I say: “Okay, the minister will return and resolve all the issues.” Krylov left my office... I think suicide is a thoughtful step on Krylov’s part, especially since after his death, amorous affairs were also revealed.”

Yuri Mikhailovich is not precise in details. The conversation he described with Krylov apparently took place in the office of the head of the academy about a week before the fatal shot rang out (General Drozdetsky clarifies). But it's not about the details. The main thing is that the fate of Sergei Mikhailovich was decided by a person who understood little about his activities. No matter how many mistakes Krylov made in his life, you cannot envy his lot.

Oskian Arshakovich Galustyan, at that time already the deputy head of the Main Personnel Directorate, witnessed Krylov’s first clash with the deputy minister supervising him.

“Krylov and I sat in the minister’s reception room and talked. Churbanov appears in the reception room. He says: “Sergei Mikhailovich, why are you going to the minister, bypassing me?” And Krylov fundamentally ignored Churbanov, he was irritated by this, he tried to break Sergei Mikhailovich. I also had misunderstandings with Churbanov on this basis. The minister treats him well, he can call and give instructions. It is not always convenient to report this to your immediate superior. He finds out, starts to sulk - I act behind his back. Doesn't call for a while. But I tried to smooth out these contradictions. Churbanov will be offended and leave. But Krylov was not going to smooth things over; he went ahead through life.”

Taking advantage of the fact that there are complaints against Krylov, including from the academy itself, Churbanov begins a comprehensive inspection of the educational institution.

Sergei Mikhailovich knows better than anyone what a ministerial inspection is; he himself was once the “chief inspector” of the ministry. The chiefs of the main departments accused Krylov of biased checks. And now this tool is turned against him. An extremely difficult period came in the life of Sergei Mikhailovich. The “Selected Works” of S. M. Krylov contains the text of his note addressed to the minister (which did not reach the addressee). Krylov writes:

“The check is being carried out under the banner of returning the Academy to a Higher School, turning the Academy into an ordinary police university. Everything that is unusual, everything that is new, is not only questioned, but ridiculed. Let's say, why do we need mathematical control methods? Why do we need a department of literature and art? Why is a general theory of control needed? Etc., etc. I am in the position of a person accused of some kind of deviations, of some kind of sins, because I am not following the path that the Higher School had taken up to this time. But this path was not formulated by me, this path was formulated by time, by the imperious demands of life... I have been in an environment of persecution and suspicion for 12 years now. What they didn’t say about me! When we were building a management system, building headquarters, creating duty units, organizing analytical work, etc., these insignificant, illiterate people, angry and envious, said that I was crazy, that nothing that was being done would take root. Everything took root, everything turned out to be correct... With what diligence they attack the Academy, because it is new, unusual, bold. 5–8 years will pass, and all this will become commonplace, everyone will understand that it is necessary. Well, how do I feel? I'm a human being. I am deeply convinced that we have built a magnificent Academy that we can be proud of. I invested my mind, my soul’s passion, sleepless days and nights into this Academy. And now these money changers are rampaging through this temple of ours... I don’t care about myself and never did. But as for the matter, I must say the following: the commission, if it is guided only by the interests of the matter, must give the highest assessment to what the Academy has done, I repeat: the highest... "

But the outcome of the struggle is predetermined. It’s not just bureaucrats and “insignificant, illiterate people” who are against Krylov. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is simply tired of this boiling cauldron of passions. Sergei Mikhailovich finds himself alone again. After a meeting of the board at the ministry, he approached his old friend V. M. Sobolev: “Everyone abandoned me, and you abandoned me...” Valery Mikhailovich, who “didn’t abandon him,” justifies himself: “I’m not calling because I have enough to do.” . Galustyan also notices Krylov’s serious condition: “He came to see me in a very bad mood. I told him: “Don’t pay attention.” I still kick myself for not finding any other words. Sometimes one word can save a person.”

…We’ll pause before the denouement. In the meantime, a few touches to the portrait of Sergei Mikhailovich Krylov.

Sergei Krylov was born on December 31, 1919. The father is a shepherd, the mother is illiterate. Since childhood, I loved to read - I went to the library ten kilometers away. Subsequently, he will claim that an educated person is obliged to read six thousand books in his life, and he himself read an average of a book a day, says his daughter Irina Sergeevna. Sergei Mikhailovich graduated from both the Border School and the Academy named after M.V. Frunze with a gold medal.

Despite his visual impairment, Krylov had sniper abilities. He began fighting in the Great Patriotic War in a sniper unit, then he was transferred to the Kremlin regiment, to the guard of Marshal K. E. Voroshilov. The ability for marksmanship was passed on to his grandson. It's hereditary.

Irina Krylova: “My father and I often walked around Moscow. He told me: do you know what kind of mansion this is? Built by architect so-and-so for merchant so-and-so. He had a brilliant knowledge of old Moscow and the history of Russia in general. And he was an amazing father. For my birthday, in January, he gave me a basket of the most unusual flowers. Gladioli are not easy to get in winter even now, but he got them somewhere. He was an artist throughout his life..."

Photographs of Krylov, people who knew him recall, do not convey the living features of his appearance. Deep-set, myopic eyes, bald... But in life he had magnetism, the ability to hypnotically influence people. Women liked him. He had a very handsome figure and was athletic. If possible, every day, his daughter recalls, he ran cross-country races up to ten kilometers, in the morning or evening, depending on the circumstances. Forty minutes of gymnastics is a must. He played tennis well. Sergei Mikhailovich had excellent health and took great care of him. General Galustyan recalls: Krylov used to run after work, that is, usually late at night, from the academy to the Voikovskaya metro station (about five hundred meters), where the driver of an official car was waiting for him. One can imagine how surprised the rare passersby were when a man in the uniform of a police lieutenant general ran jogging towards them at night... Sergei Mikhailovich was considered by many to be a very strange person, to put it mildly. He knew about it, but he was not going to change.

“My father had no intention of dying, I know that for sure. He made plans and even consulted with me, a fourteen-year-old girl. After retiring, he intended to write books. With his abilities and connections, my father would not have been left idle,” says Irina Sergeevna.

Nevertheless, what happened happened.

Just the day before, on the evening of April 18, 1979, colleagues who communicated with Sergei Mikhailovich did not notice anything special in his behavior. At that time, only a narrow circle of people knew that the decision to resign Krylov had been made, but had not yet been announced (they were waiting for the minister to return from vacation). It is premature to arrange an official farewell for the boss. On April 19, Friday, a solemn meeting is scheduled at the academy dedicated to the next anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin. It is conducted by the first deputy head of the academy, K.I. Varlamov. Suddenly, Krylov appears in the hall - in full dress uniform and (they whispered to the organizers) with weapons. He sends a note to the presidium in which he asks for words and the opportunity to say goodbye to the banner of the academy. Sensing something bad, Varlamov quickly cancels the event. Sergei Mikhailovich goes into his office. After some time, a shot is heard. Krylov is found in the rest room, shot in the heart. On the table is a note addressed to Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov. In the last minutes he thought about him. And I thought: “Damn you, you took the Academy away from me.”

What if Sergei Mikhailovich was given the opportunity to speak at the meeting? Subsequently, some believed that his suicide was caused by the final humiliation - the refusal to give him his word. No, the decision had been made by that time. Farewell letters were written: on the way to work, the driver, at the request of the boss, dropped two envelopes into the mailbox. It is known to whom at least one of the messages was addressed - television journalist Lev Voznesensky. Here it is:

Dear friend, Lev Alexandrovich!

This is my posthumous letter I address to you. Among the many people who surrounded me, I chose you because, in my opinion, you embody the ideals to which everything bright, everything honest, everything real strives.

You are bright and true, like a real communist. You inspired me until the last minute.

I’ll tell you in my dying hour: I believed in ideals, but they were trampled upon; I believed in justice, but it was crucified; I believed that only work and honor determine the value of the human person, but this turned out to be a deep mistake. I, an idealist and romantic, found myself bankrupt in this world.

I have no strength to live. If a person's faith and hope are killed, he is a corpse.

God! How I worked! How he burned, how he fought! And the nobler the goal, the more inspired the work, the greater the hatred of those in power.

I fertilized with my talent and fantastic work the intellectual desert of the internal affairs bodies. I made this nonentity, whose name is Shchelokov, a social figure - and for all this I pay with my life. This world does not deserve a better life. This is a world of slaves, lackeys and careerists.

Goodbye! Life is the triumph of truth. If she is killed, insanity sets in, and therefore death.

Don't forget my family.

I wish you happiness and success.

loving you

S. Krylov.

R.S. Death is also a struggle for life.”

I don't want to argue with the author of the suicide note. But it is quite obvious: before “taking away” the academy, you need to “give it”... Sergei Mikhailovich Krylov was able to demonstrate his talents precisely in the Ministry of Internal Affairs under Minister Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov. “By and large, it was a sin to complain about Minister Krylova,” says Igor Yakovlevich Drozdetsky. - Shchelokov made Krylov a lieutenant general and entrusted him with responsible posts. At the KGB higher school, Sergei Mikhailovich, at best, would have risen to the rank of colonel.”

General Galustyan, who respects both, believes so: “If there had been no Shchelokov, there would have been no Krylov. Nikolai Anisimovich was looking for just such a person, so he invited him to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and quickly promoted him.”

Perhaps this fact should be noted. According to a very knowledgeable source, even when he was chief of staff, Sergei Mikhailovich in a narrow circle could allow himself to speak disparagingly about the minister, whom, they say, it was he, Krylov, who “fertilizes with ideas.” Rumors about this reached the minister. It's easy to imagine his reaction. However, to the credit of Nikolai Anisimovich, he knew how to rise above personal grievances and, as we have seen, supported his like-minded person to the last opportunity. When Sergei Mikhailovich’s widow, Vera Tikhonovna, came to the building at 6 Ogareva, she received an audience with the minister without delay. The time will come, and Vera Tikhonovna will come to console Shchelokov at that difficult moment...

In September 2009, Sergei Mikhailovich Krylov - excuse the prettiness - returned to the academy he created (which is now called the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia). This is true. Let us remember once again his ideal: a policeman, internally incapable of breaking the law, raising a hand against a person. The ideal is unattainable, but those who dreamed about it deserve a monument.