Читать книгу Kremlin bride - Валерий Жиглов, Valeriy Zhiglov - Страница 4

After obligatory military service in Soviet army, I began working in a research institute, where many WWII veterans were working. One of them was Andrei Rublev, a former reconnaissance officer.

Time to time, talking privately, he used to tell about some of his adventures, how he, together with his wartime friends, was sent to the enemy territory to gather important secret information about enemy. Only few were lucky enough to come back safe after such reconnaissance raids.

However, those who did make it, and brought priceless information about enemy, the information that was critical for successful military actions by the Soviet Army, were questioned, sometime even humiliated, to disclose those who might be converted by Germans.

When Andrei Rublev, shortly before the end of the war, came back from the enemy territory, he faced a false accusation and sent to do time in one of those remote Stalin’s concentration camps in Siberia. He had to work cutting trees first, and then he took part in constructing strategic military facilities.

In late 1950s, he was rehabilitated by court after long time in the camp, and freed earlier than expected. Having come back to his town, he found job and also began studying a university course that he attended in the evenings after work; he completed the university course successfully, and was hired by a scientific research laboratory in Central Asia.

Andrei Rublev really liked his new job of a science researcher, and he even successfully got the degree in science. Those, who knew him well, were sure everything goes well in his life after hard times he went through.

Andrei Rublev’s wife was a nice woman, and he loved her very much. That was the time when a film crew was working in our area making the movie “White Sun of the Desert”, which later became very popular. As it became known later, one of the senior film crew members was introduced to Andrei Rublev’s wife during some public event, they fell in love, and she abandoned her husband and left those lands to live with her new love.

One would think a former reconnaissance officer, who survived the oblivion far more severe than an unfaithful woman, should easily forget her and continue his life. However, the family tragedy pushed threw him off his stride completely. The betrayal from those who are beloved is always harder to overcome.

He became alcohol addict, and he no longer cared about anything, and soon he was looking like a homeless person. One day, he left for a lunch break, but did not come back, and his colleagues began looking for him. They found him in a utilities room. Andrei Rublev hung himself.