How it was №1 28.11.1998 (1998)

On October 4, 1980, at the 659th kilometer of the Moscow-Minsk highway, Hero of the Soviet Union, candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus Pyotr Masherov died in a car accident.

According to the official version, the accident occurred due to the fault of the truck driver - Nikolai Pustovit.

Video chronicle: Extreme braking of a Soviet-made car.

A passenger car damaged after a collision.

At the scene of the accident, a traffic police officer registers a traffic accident.

Pyotr Masherov with representatives of a foreign delegation.

Leonid Brezhnev presents Pyotr Masherov with the Hero star.

Funeral ceremony of Pyotr Masherov.

Studio: Investigators working at the scene of the accident concluded that the truck driver violated traffic rules.

However, why did the prominent statesman travel not in the armored ZIL, which was his due according to his position, but in a GAZ-13 "Chaika"?

According to Evgeny Osepchugov, a member of the commission for the technical examination of the car, Pyotr Masherov had a chance to survive in that accident.

Evgeny Osipchuk compares the technical features of the ZIL-114 and GAZ-13 cars.

According to Yuri Churbanov, the ZIL-114, which Pyotr Masherov usually drove, was being repaired, and his personal driver Evgeny Zaitsev had an attack of radiculitis the day before, which he did not tell anyone about, thereby violating the instructions.

Oleg Shklovsky reads out the instructions on the procedure for escorting a special-purpose vehicle.

Video chronicle: The government ZIL car drives along the streets of Moscow.

According to Yuri Churbanov, one of the cars accompanying Pyotr Masherov's motorcade violated the instructions: breaking away from the procession, it created a gap between the cars, which turned out to be fatal.

Everyone in the car died in the accident: Pyotr Masherov, his driver Yevgeny Zaytsev, and security officer Chesnokov.

According to Vladimir Kalinichenko, during the investigation, prescription glasses belonging to the driver Zaytsev were found in the car.

Synchro of the driver of the first car, from Masherov's escort - Oleg Slesarenko.

Describes the moment of the collision in detail.

This incident was not the first.

In 1976, under similar circumstances, an accident occurred on the same highway, resulting in the deaths of the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus Fyodor Surganov and the commander of the aviation of the Belarusian Military District Leonid Beda.

According to Vladimir Kalinichenko, the version about the guilt of the security officers of the KGB or the Ministry of Internal Affairs was not checked.

Recreates the investigative activities that were carried out at the scene of the car accident.

Talks about the experts involved in the investigation.

In his opinion, the actions of the driver Zaitsev in this traffic situation were correct.

Provides a number of other similar traffic situations, in particular, talks about the case that happened to Alexei Kosygin.

Anatoly Medvedev says that after the driver Yevgeny Zaitsev turned 60, Pyotr Masherov personally asked not to send him into retirement.

Talks about the training of special purpose drivers.

Provides his point of view on the accident.

Two weeks before his death, Nikulkin was removed from the post of chairman of the KGB of Belarus, and General Baluyev was sent from Moscow to take his place.

Pyotr Masherov advocated that Eduard Norman should head the KGB of Belarus.

Eduard Norman says that Pyotr Masherov did not like car escorts and preferred to drive without them.

Talks about the intrigues and political rivalry of some high-ranking officials in relation to Masherov.

Yuri Churbanov says that by the autumn of 1980, Leonid Brezhnev had written two statements to the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee about his resignation from the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

Brezhnev personally advocated for attracting younger personnel to the Politburo and called for a search for a successor.

The Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the Communist Party, Romanov, was considered as a candidate for Brezhnev's place.

Eduard Nordman suggests that Masherov had ill-wishers and even those who were glad of his death.

Yuri Churbanov, on the contrary, talks about the circle of political associates and comrades of Masherov.

Video chronicle: Statesmen whose death is in doubt: Fyodor Kulakov - Secretary of the Central Committee, member of the Politburo Fyodor Kulakov (on the podium).

Semyon Tsvigun - First Deputy Chairman of the KGB of the USSR. Zurab Pataridze - Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Georgia.

Stanislav Lekarev talks about the existence of such a phenomenon as political terrorism - talks about various methods that are used to eliminate unwanted political figures.

Does not consider the accident with the car in which Pyotr Masherov was riding as a set-up or specially organized operation, although does not exclude the possible "camouflage of the conduct under the circumstances." Vladimir Kalinichenko says that during the investigation of the causes of the accident, the GAZ driver Pustovit admitted that he was distracted at some point.

In particular, the maneuver of Zaitsev's emergency braking remains inexplicable.

Vladimir Kalinichenko recalls cases when the conclusions of the investigation, in his opinion, were questionable: he gives the example of the "suicide" of the head of one of the departments of the Central Committee Albert Ivanov.

According to Vladimir Kalinichenko, by the time they arrived at the scene of the accident, the KGB officers had seized some items.

Video chronicle: Funeral procession: Funeral ceremony of Pyotr Masherov on October 8, 1980.