Vladimir Yakunin - The Treacherous Path - An Insider's Account of Modern Russia

and Talgo 1

tariff system 1, 2, 3, 4

and Ukraine 1

Russo-Japanese War 1

Ryzhkov, Nikolai 1

RZD (Rossiiskie Zheleznye Dorogi) see Russian Railways

Sailors, Association of 1

St Petersburg

demise of 1

name change 1

port of 1, 2

US opinions 1

violence in 1n

water filters in 1

Sapsan line (Russian Railways) 1, 2, 3, 4

satellites 1

Saudi Arabia 1

Sayano–Shushenskaya power station 1

Second World War 1, 2, 3, 4

secret service agents 1, 2, 3

Semibankirschina (the seven bankers) 1

Serdyukov, Valery 1

Severomuysky Tunnel 1, 2

Shakhanov, Dmitry 1

shareholders 1, 2, 3

shipyards 1, 2, 3

Shoygu, Sergey 1

Shuvalov, Igor 1

Siberia 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Siluanov, Anton 1

Sobchak, Anatoly 1, 2n, 3, 4

Sochi Winter Games (2014 Olympics) 1, 2, 3, 4

social networks 1

socialism

ideas of 1, 2, 3

values 1, 2, 3

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr 1, 2

South Korea 1

South Ossetia 1

Sovershayeva, Lyubov 1

Soviet Union

end of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

national republics 1n

system 1

Spain 1

Spitak earthquake 1

statues, destruction of 1

Stiglitz, Joseph 1

Syria 1n

Systems

banking 1, 2

healthcare 1, 2

judicial 1

legal 1, 2

political 1, 2, 3

railway 1

transport 1

Talgo 1

Tallinn, Estonia 1, 2, 3, 4

Tatarstan 1, 2n

technology, development of 1

Temp (organisation) 1, 2n

terrorism 1, 2, 3, 4

think tanks 1, 2

Tobolsk 1

Tolstoy, Leo 1

Toni, Oleg 1, 2, 3

topography 1, 2, 3, 4

trade unions 1

Trans-Korean Railway 1

Trans-Siberian railway 1, 2, 3

Transcaucasia 1

Transport, Ministry of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

transport system 1

Troikas 1n

Trujillo, Rafael 1

Trump, Donald 1

tsars 1

Tuapse–Adler rail line 1, 2

tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) 1

Ukraine 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Ulyukaev, Alexey 1

Umarov, Dokka 1

Union of Railways of CIS countries 1

United Kingdom 1, 2

United States

cultural difference 1

and Gorbachev 1, 2

power of 1

press 1

and Russia 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

and Russian diplomats 1

US–Baltic Charter 1

USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) see Soviet Union

Ust-Luga 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Ventspils, Latvia 1

violence 1, 2

violence in 1

Vladivostok 1

Voloshin, Alexander 1, 2

vospitanie (education) 1

Vostochny 1

vouchers (state asset) 1

war 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

War and Peace (Tolstoy) 1

water filters 1, 2

waterways, internal 1

WCP (Working Communist Party) 1, 2

weather 1, 2, 3

Werner, Professor Richard 1

West, the

influence of 1, 2

and Russia 1, 2, 3, 4

Western Europe 1

White House, shelling of 1, 2

Working Communist Party (WCP) 1, 2

World Bank 1, 2

World Trade Center, New York 1

Yakovlev, Alexander 1

Yakunin, Andrey 1

Yakunin, Viktor 1

Yakunin, Vladimir

background 1, 2, 3

Baltic Shipping Company 1

businessman 1

Dialogue of Civilizations 1

economy speech 1

health 1, 2, 3

KGB 1, 2

Ministry of Transport 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

on morality 1, 2

Nevsky Express incident (2009) 1

New York 1, 2, 3

North-West Inspectorate 1

and Putin 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

on religion 1, 2

returns to Russia 1

Russian Railways 1

and Serdyukov 1

and Siluanov 1

Spain 1

and United States 1

Yakunina, Natalia 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Yeltsin, Boris 1

and Gorbachev 1

government 1

inner circle 1

presidency 1, 2, 3, 4n, 5, 6, 7

Ust-Luga 1

‘wishful thinking’ 1

Yugoslavia 1

Yumashev, Valentin 1

Yumasheva, Tatyana 1

Zhukov, Alexander 1

Zhukov, Georgy 1

Zyuganov, Gennady 1

First published in Great Britain in 2018 by

Biteback Publishing Ltd

Westminster Tower

3 Albert Embankment

London SE1 7SP

Copyright © Vladimir Yakunin 2018

Vladimir Yakunin has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the publisher’s prior permission in writing.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher would be glad to hear from them.

ISBN 978–1–78590–377–9

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

In 2008 I was given a stark reminder of the way in which an entire language can come to bear the weight of history on its shoulders. It was a time when we had been doing a great deal of work with Siemens. But one thing puzzled me: I remember asking their CEO Peter Löscher why it was that during meetings Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had been born in East Germany and was known to speak fluent Russian, confined herself to communicating through a translator. My policy has always been: if I know one word in Chinese, I will use it; if I know three words in German, I will use them. Why would you not? I could not understand why someone who knew Russian as well as her should not employ it when she was in Russia – it was as if she were in the grip of some kind of phobia.

Two weeks later a friend of mine sent me a letter saying that the chancellor wanted to meet me in Berlin. She greeted me at the door of her office’s antechamber, and immediately began to talk to me in Russian. ‘She said, Mr Yakunin, you’re right, I do have a phobia about speaking in Russian. When I was a young girl my bicycle was stolen by a Soviet soldier and ever since then I have felt what I suppose is animosity towards Russians.’ ‘Mrs Merkel,’ I replied immediately, ‘There is a large department store around the corner. If I thought for one second that it would heal your wound, I would rush across and buy every single bicycle they have, but I’m not sure it would help.’

All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, a youth organisation dedicated to beginning the process of creating model Soviet citizens. It operated, to employ a sporting analogy, almost like a feeder club for the main CPSU. Membership was considered highly desirable and the sons and daughters of people such as priests were barred from joining.

The OGPU and NKVD were two of the forerunners of the KGB.

Three-man-strong commissions who in the Soviet Union were employed as instruments of extra-judicial punishment. They were permitted to effectively bypass much of the existing legal apparatus – including the defendant’s right to a full trial, legal aid or the presumption of innocence – in order to secure quick convictions.

The name by which the Second World War is known in Russia.

The popular name for the building that contained the headquarters of the KGB.