Читать книгу Tough Business - Владимир Баранчиков - Страница 7

Felix Andreevich is going on a business trip to Germany. Whether on business matters, or on his personal – we do not know. He made it clear that the management allowed it as a sign of past merits. Recently, he was in the hospital, apparently, he made a final decision for himself about his future fate. He showed me a picture of himself in Las Vegas. Las Vegas! Before leaving, he called Sergey and me and said:

– As you wish, but for the duration of the business trip I appoint the acting head of the senior – Vladimir Ivanovich.

Sergei clearly did not like it, he considered himself a favorite and so presented himself to others. I didn’t need it either, as it brought tension into our relationship. In addition, Oleg Borisovich was clearly on Sergei’s side: he gave me tasks for language skills, and then called Sergei to him for «information». Upon his return, Felix Andreevich quit, and we were left without a boss. But not for long.

Viktor Vasilyevich Voytalyuk is our new head of foreign trade. Without a doubt, this has strengthened the authority of our department. Graduate of the Higher Red Banner School of the KGB of the USSR named after Dzerzhinsky, Lieutenant Colonel. Among the positions held is Assistant to the Rector of Leningrad State University for International Relations. Who does not know, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin once held the same position.

Viktor Vasilyevich and I are about the same age, thanks to his personal qualities and experience, we immediately developed working and even friendly relations with Sergey and, I hope, with me as well. Viktor Vasilyevich has opened up new opportunities in the development of our business: for example, contacts at high levels in the space and nuclear fields are no joke. Suffice it to say that two heads of the Aerospace Consortium came to us for talks, including cosmonaut number two, Colonel-General German Stepanovich Titov. I had the good fortune to see the legendary hero in person and get his autograph on our letterhead. It was said that the meeting with the cosmonaut from the holding was attended by: the president, Voytalyuk and vice-president Amir – a dense brunette of typical Caucasian appearance. Despite the fact that Khazir Daudovich kicked his vice-president under the table, because he got the Hero of the Soviet Union so much with his questions after a glass of cognac that Herman Stepanovich – Doctor of Technical Sciences, associate professor – could not stand it and uttered a succinct scientific phrase:

– I’m going to have a drink and a snack here, and you, a Jew, go to …fuck you!

But the most important thing is that Viktor Vasilyevich brought us to a serious buyer from Moscow – let’s call him Andrey. I went to Moscow to establish contacts and negotiations. Andrey had direct access to the head of the Moscow Oil Exchange. A handsome, intelligent and educated young man with a degree from Leningrad University, he was optimistic about our cooperation. Potentially, he was ready to buy ten thousand tons of fuel oil, and Khazir Daudovich was ready to supply this fuel oil from the Grozny refinery. We signed a contract for the supply to the Svetogorsk Paper Mill and in August 1993 successfully fulfilled it. This was the first major contract in the history of our department, and its employees managed to survive this success with dignity. We were morally supported by the management and financially rewarded, although we had not been in trouble before – our salaries increased more than twenty times due to inflation, we were given coupons for free meals in the canteen «Rumb» and in addition to our «Lada» car we sometimes used the «Fords» of the management for official purposes. It was spectacular – to drive up, for example, to the Kirov district police department to resolve the issue, although I never got hung up on it. We gained self-confidence, and now no Holding service could oppress us. By the way, yesterday’s heroes from the investment department were fired for a failure in their work, one with a heart attack and bad consequences for the other. We smoked Dunhill, Marlboro and Camel cigarettes right at our workplaces and made plans for further conquests.