Died on the night of December 13 Andrei Mikhailovich Zakharov. The heart stopped. For almost three years, he was in Abu Dhabi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation, provided for her interests in the country with dignity, actively and efficiently. He always worked hard, was calm, balanced, strict, easy to communicate with, respected by emirate officials and in the diplomatic corps. At the beginning of last year, we celebrated its 65th anniversary in the Abu Dhabi residence under the Russian flag.
The high rank of Ambassador of a great country Andrei Zakharov carried easily, without falling into bosses. Performing important state tasks, the diplomat conducted a great analytical work based on deep memory and extensive knowledge. He did not shut himself off from everyday troubles, took care of employees and fellow citizens, maintained and maintained contacts with people close to him. The ambassador treasured ties with Arab colleagues for decades since the mid-60s, when he first mastered the Arab East at Damascus University.
The three of us writing these lines of grief in connection with such an unexpected, stunned all of Andrei’s friends his sudden departure from our lives, met a novice Arabist in the Syrian capital. We have maintained friendly relations with him for over 40 years, not only being in Moscow, but also in different Arab capitals. At rare meetings, he opened to everyone his warm, sincere friendly hugs, wherever he worked, whatever posts he held. No matter how the time of the meeting dates is shared, he remembered everyone, remembered everyone with a kind word, found time to tell and ask about common friends and acquaintances, invited him to his old parents' apartment in one of the famous houses of Starokonyushenny lane, inhabited by famous Soviet leaders.
Andrei's father said that he named his youngest son in honor of the former member of the Politburo Andrei Andreevich Andreev, under whose leadership he himself worked. The son went along the path of his father. After graduating from the Institute of Oriental Languages at Moscow State University named after M.I. Lomonosov in 1966, defending his Ph.D. thesis, he worked in the Committee of Youth Organizations under the Komsomol Central Committee, in the apparatus of the Central Committee of the CPSU, in the field of developing solidarity with the peoples of the Arab countries and always remained kind, open, benevolent.
Andrei Zakharov gave 25 years of his life to the Russian Foreign Ministry. He is well remembered by Algeria of the 80s, the rise of relations with which he served for four years. He spent almost a decade in Egypt, in fact fulfilling the duties of head of the Russian diplomatic mission in recent years in Cairo.
Professor, academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, writer Leonid Medvedko recalls for our magazine that he was connected with Andrei Zakharov for more than 40 years, which was and remains part of more than half of his own life. "I met a student Andrei Zakharov in the first half of the 60s in Syria. He studied at Damascus University and simultaneously took two internships - one as a future diplomat at the Embassy of the USSR, the other at the TASS department, which I headed in Damascus," the memoirs of a famous Russian Arabist who wrote a dozen books on relevant Middle Eastern topics. "I was amazed at how much he managed to do - to study, get acquainted with the country and people, to delve into the essence of complex Middle Eastern problems, to find time to expand his circle of friends. Even then he was collecting materials for scientific work that formed the basis of his future dissertation. student and subsequent years, he proved himself as a thoughtful erudite diplomat, scientist and public figure.In all three fields, he managed to reach the heights.
Andrei Mikhailovich Zakharov was a high-class specialist - a connoisseur of the entire Arab world, including Mashrik and Maghrib - from the Persian Gulf to the Atlantic Ocean. Having visited many Arab countries, he knew the region firsthand and not from books. His professional growth as a politician, diplomat and scientist was in the process of constant creative work.
At our last meeting in Moscow, Andrei said with regret that during the organization of the first visit of the head of the Russian state Vladimir Putin to Abu Dhabi, he could not attend at least, in his opinion, an important event in the history of Russian-Arab relations - held in the emirate Sharjah consecration of the site for the construction of the first Russian Orthodox church on the shores of the Persian Gulf. He considered this action tantamount to the consecration of the "Russian hectare" on the shores of St. Jordan. According to him, all Russian-speaking Christians and Muslims living in the UAE and in the neighborhood with the Emirates regarded this step as the appearance of a new Jerusalem on the shores of the bay.
I managed to include the story about this in our book with my son Sergei Medvedko, "The East is a close affair, Jerusalem is a holy thing." It so happened that the publication of the first copies of the book coincided with the tragic news of the death of Andrei Zakharov. Yes, it was the East that made us close in life. To further consolidate this proximity, Andrei invited us this year to make a joint pilgrimage to the “New Jerusalem” in Sharjah on the shores of the bay. Alas, the plans are not destined to happen. The dream did not come true.
I want to say about Andrei Zakharov in the words of Mayakovsky: he "did not live out his earthly life." When death finds a person in the service of the cause of his life, it is customary to say about him that he did not leave, but only "left the race, remaining faithful to the chosen path." Perhaps this is the way to live, so as not to die. Andrei will live in the memory and hearts of all those who knew and loved him.
Keeping the memory of a friend who suddenly departed, you begin to realize in a new way the whole depth of the wisdom of the Sufis: “When the heart mournes the loss, the spirit is able to rejoice at what you keep in the soul” ...
I do not want to say goodbye. Sorry dear Andrew! "
Algeria became the first country to which Andrei Zakharov arrived in 1983 on a long diplomatic trip as an adviser to the USSR Embassy in ANDR. Konstantin Dudarev, Director General of the Stroytransgaz OJSC branch in Saudi Arabia, shares his memories. Zakharov headed the sector that developed political relations between the USSR and Algeria, including relations between the ruling parties of the two countries - the CPSU and the Algerian National Liberation Front. This work was familiar to him and was close in what he was doing in Moscow, in the International Department of the CPSU Central Committee. But it’s one thing to work in a “decision-making body” - the central office, analyzing information coming from many sources and preparing relevant proposals, and it’s quite another thing abroad when you need to collect and process this information in the country itself, preparing it for sending “to the Center”. “I happened to witness with what interest and“ taste ”Andrei took up new responsibilities. For a person who was accustomed to do everything on his own, the transition to this research work was not a problem. He was interested in a new country, fresh specifics and creative tasks. Rich in oil and gas, Algeria, which played an important role in the life of the region, was of great interest to the leadership of the USSR within the framework of Soviet geopolitics.In addition, Algeria at that time was one of the centers where the interests of the great powers, the Arab pa and the African continent. There were large international congresses and conferences.
Andrei’s vast experience working with leaders of the Palestinian resistance movement, with the Syrian and Iraqi Ba'ath parties, with the communist parties and other influential political forces in the Arab region was useful to him in the best way possible to understand the essence of the processes that took place, to objectively evaluate them and draw up relevant conclusions.
In the early 80s, many Soviet journalists from TASS, APN, State Radio and Television, Pravda, Izvestia, Komsomolskaya Pravda, and Truda worked in Algeria. Everyone was young. Life was in full swing. Often communicated with families. It is impossible not to note the touching parental feelings of Andrei, who was a frequent guest of journalistic “gatherings,” towards his two little daughters, one of whom was born already in the “Algerian time”.
The friendly disposition to colleagues, the emphasis and even some exaggeration of their merits has always distinguished Andrei Zakharov. These his sincere friendliness, benevolence, goodwill will forever remain in the memory of his friends. "The United Arab Emirates became the crown of Andrei Mikhailovich Zakharov’s professional career. He turned his life on the earth, being at the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to this, probably , the most dynamically developing Arab state in the Middle East, however, a significant, if not large, part of its quarter-century journey to the top of its diplomatic career has passed through Egypt.
With Andrei Zakharov it was easy to interact not only with peers. Rafael Bikbaev, a spokeswoman for the Rusiya al-Yaum television channel, considers it fortunate that he had the opportunity not only to work, but also to communicate with Andrei Mikhailovich during the Egyptian period of his ministry to our country. According to Rafael Bikbaev, who headed the ITAR-TASS branch in the Nile country, it was in Cairo - the heart of the Arab world - during meetings with Egyptian politicians or in the quiet office on the second floor of the Russian embassy in the metropolitan area of Dokka that the path of his professional take-off was finally determined, the "spurt" itself, which, alas, so unexpectedly ended.
“The first time I met this diplomat, previously unknown to me, I don’t remember what for 15 years ago, the journalist recalls. I, a rather young then Tassovsky correspondent, was immediately bribed by Andrei Mikhailovich’s manner of communication. This slender, open person with a direct posture very clearly formulated the idea, was invariably calm and friendly, in his judgments and actions the handwriting of an Arab professional was accurately guessed.
My young friends, diplomats, who served under the leadership of Zakharov, then a cultural adviser, unanimously noted his severity and exactingness. At the same time, they literally unanimously spoke of his justice, impartiality and the absence of what used to be called "comchancia". I was convinced of this from personal experience when I came to Egypt for the second time. Andrei Mikhailovich then held the post of adviser-envoy (and subsequently actually served as the head of the diplomatic mission in connection with the ambassador’s illness), and our communication became more dense.
First of all, I should note the invaluable help provided by the actual head of the diplomatic mission in preparing an exclusive interview with the ARE President Hosni Mubarak ITAR-TASS and the television program "Formula of Power". And in solving a huge number of current problems, one could always rely on the support and assistance of Andrei Mikhailovich.
I had to communicate with him in an informal setting. Zakharov respected the work of a journalist, was easy to communicate and had an excellent sense of humor. We were united by love for Egypt. I will never forget how, before leaving from Cairo to Ottawa, where I was transferred by decision of the ITAR-TASS leadership, he said goodbye: “I think you will come back here.” He was right. I returned to Cairo for the third time, but this business trip was already without his good presence.
Unfortunately, Andrei Mikhailovich - Specialist and Worker with a capital letter, just a Good Man is no longer with us. He took with him into eternity something elusive, inherent only in the Middle East and the self-consciousness of Russian people in this region.
We will miss you very much, Andrei Mikhailovich! "
In the Emirates, Andrei Zakharov prepared and secured a historic visit to Abu Dhabi last September by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He strove to develop this highest diplomatic achievement on the path to implementing the agreements reached during the visit.
Life did not give a term to the diplomat. It remains to grieve and regret.
Text: Victor Lebedev
Photomaterials: V. Lebedev
Embassy of the Russian Federation in the UAE, editorial archive
