During the years of perestroika, when a wave of all kinds of accusations rained down on almost all people from the Stalinist entourage in the advanced Soviet press, the most unenviable fate fell to General Vlasik. The long-term head of Stalin's guard appeared in these materials as a real lackey who adored the owner, chain dog, ready, at his command, to rush at anyone, greedy, vengeful and greedy ...

Among those who did not spare negative epithets for Vlasik was Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva. But the bodyguard of the leader at one time had to become practically the main educator for both Svetlana and Vasily. Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik spent a quarter of a century next to Stalin, protecting the life of the Soviet leader. Without his bodyguard, the leader lived for less than a year.

From the parochial school to the Cheka

Nikolai Vlasik was born on May 22, 1896 in Western Belarus, in the village of Bobynichi, into a poor peasant family. The boy lost his parents early and a good education could not count. After three classes of the parochial school, Nikolai went to work. From the age of 13 he worked as a laborer at a construction site, then as a bricklayer, then as a loader at a paper mill. In March 1915, Vlasik was drafted into the army and sent to the front. During the First World War, he served in 167 Ostroh infantry regiment, for bravery in battles was awarded the St. George Cross. After being wounded, Vlasik was promoted to non-commissioned officer and appointed commander of a platoon of the 251st infantry regiment, which was stationed in Moscow.

During the October Revolution, Nikolai Vlasik, a native of the very bottom, quickly decided on his political choice: together with the entrusted platoon, he went over to the side of the Bolsheviks. At first he served in the Moscow police, then participated in civil war, was wounded near Tsaritsyn. In September 1919, Vlasik was sent to the bodies of the Cheka, where he served in the central apparatus under the command of Felix Dzerzhinsky himself.

Master of security and life

Since May 1926, Nikolai Vlasik served as a senior authorized officer of the Operational Department of the OGPU. As Vlasik himself recalled, his work as Stalin's bodyguard began in 1927 after an emergency in the capital: a bomb was thrown into the commandant's office building on Lubyanka. The operative, who was on vacation, was recalled and announced: from that moment on, he was entrusted with the protection of the Special Department of the Cheka, the Kremlin, government members at dachas, walks. Particular attention was ordered to be paid to the personal protection of Joseph Stalin. Despite the sad history of the assassination attempt on Lenin, by 1927 the protection of the first persons of the state in the USSR was not particularly thorough. Stalin was accompanied by only one guard: the Lithuanian Yusis. Vlasik was even more surprised when they arrived at the dacha, where Stalin usually spent his weekends. One commandant lived at the dacha, there was no linen, no dishes, and the leader ate sandwiches brought from Moscow.
Like all Belarusian peasants, Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik was a solid and well-to-do man. He undertook not only protection, but also the arrangement of Stalin's life. The leader, accustomed to asceticism, was initially skeptical about the innovations of the new bodyguard. But Vlasik was persistent: a cook and a cleaner appeared at the dacha, food supplies were arranged from the nearest state farm. At that moment, there was not even a telephone connection with Moscow at the dacha, and it appeared through the efforts of Vlasik. Over time, Vlasik created a whole system of dachas in the Moscow region and in the south, where well-trained personnel were ready at any moment to receive the Soviet leader. The fact that these objects were guarded in the most careful way is not worth talking about. The security system for important government facilities existed before Vlasik, but he became the developer of security measures for the first person of the state during his trips around the country, official events, international meetings. Bodyguard Stalin came up with a system according to which the first person and the people accompanying him move in a cavalcade of identical cars, and only the bodyguards know which one the leader is driving in. Subsequently, such a scheme saved the life of Leonid Brezhnev, who was assassinated in 1969.

"Illiterate, stupid, but noble"

Within a few years, Vlasik turned into an indispensable and especially trusted person for Stalin. After the death of Nadezhda Alliluyeva, Stalin entrusted his bodyguard with taking care of the children: Svetlana, Vasily and his adopted son Artyom Sergeyev. Nikolai Sidorovich was not a teacher, but he tried his best. If Svetlana and Artyom did not cause him much trouble, then Vasily was uncontrollable from childhood. Vlasik, knowing that Stalin did not give up to children, tried, as far as possible, to mitigate the sins of Vasily in reports to his father.
But over the years, "pranks" became more and more serious, and it became more and more difficult for Vlasik to play the role of "lightning rod". Svetlana and Artyom, becoming adults, wrote about their "tutor" in different ways. Stalin’s daughter in “Twenty Letters to a Friend” described Vlasik as follows: “He led the entire guard of his father, considered himself almost the closest person to him and, being himself incredibly illiterate, rude, stupid, but noble, in recent years he reached the point that dictated to some artists the “tastes of Comrade Stalin”, as he believed that he knew and understood them well ... His impudence knew no bounds, and he favorably conveyed to artists whether “he liked it”, whether it was a film, or an opera, or even silhouettes of high-rise buildings under construction at that time ... "" He had a job all his life, and he lived near Stalin" Artyom Sergeev in "Conversations about Stalin" spoke differently: "His main duty was to ensure the safety of Stalin. This work was inhuman. Always the responsibility of the head, always life on the cutting edge. He knew very well both friends and enemies of Stalin ... What kind of work did Vlasik have in general? It was work day and night, there was no 6-8-hour working day. All his life he had work, and he lived near Stalin. Vlasik's room was next to Stalin's room ... "In ten or fifteen years, Nikolai Vlasik turned from an ordinary bodyguard into a general heading a huge structure responsible not only for security, but also for the life of the first persons of the state.
During the war years, the evacuation of the government, members of the diplomatic corps and people's commissariats from Moscow fell on Vlasik's shoulders. It was necessary not only to deliver them to Kuibyshev, but also to place them, equip them in a new place, think over security issues. The evacuation of Lenin's body from Moscow was also a task that Vlasik performed. He was also responsible for security at the parade on Red Square on November 7, 1941.

Assassination attempt in Gagra

For all the years that Vlasik was responsible for Stalin's life, not a single hair fell from his head. At the same time, the head of the leader’s guard himself, judging by his recollections, took the threat of assassination very seriously. Even in his declining years, he was sure that the Trotskyist groups were preparing the assassination of Stalin.
In 1935, Vlasik really had to cover the leader from bullets. During a boat trip in the Gagra region, fire was opened on them from the shore. The bodyguard covered Stalin with his body, but both were lucky: the bullets did not hit them. The boat left the firing zone. Vlasik considered this a real assassination attempt, and his opponents later believed that it was all staged. As it turns out, there was a misunderstanding. The border guards were not informed about Stalin's boat trip, and they mistook him for an intruder.

Cow abuse

During the years of the Great Patriotic War Vlasik was responsible for ensuring security at conferences of heads of participating countries anti-Hitler coalition and he did his job brilliantly. For the successful holding of the conference in Tehran, Vlasik was awarded the Order of Lenin, for the Crimean Conference - the Order of Kutuzov I degree, for the Potsdam Conference - another Order of Lenin.
But the Potsdam Conference became a pretext for accusations of misappropriation of property: it was alleged that after its completion, Vlasik took various valuables from Germany, including a horse, two cows and one bull. Subsequently, this fact was cited as an example of the irrepressible greed of the Stalinist bodyguard. Vlasik himself recalled that this story had a completely different background. In 1941, the Germans captured his native village of Bobynichi. The house where my sister lived was burned down, half the village was shot, eldest daughter the sisters were driven away to work in Germany, they took the cow and the horse. The sister and her husband went to the partisans, and after the liberation of Belarus they returned to their native village, from which little was left. Stalin's bodyguard brought cattle from Germany for loved ones. Was this an abuse? If you approach with a strict measure, then, perhaps, yes. However, Stalin, when this case was first reported to him, sharply ordered that further investigation be stopped.

Opala

In 1946, Lieutenant General Nikolai Vlasik became the head of the Main Directorate of Security: a department with an annual budget of 170 million rubles and a staff of many thousands. He did not fight for power, but at the same time he made a huge number of enemies. Being too close to Stalin, Vlasik had the opportunity to influence the leader’s attitude towards this or that person, deciding who would get wider access to the first person, and who would be denied such an opportunity. In 1948, the commandant of the so-called “Near Dacha” was arrested Fedoseev, who testified that Vlasik intended to poison Stalin. But the leader again did not take this accusation seriously: if the bodyguard had such intentions, he could have realized his plans a long time ago.

Vlasik in the office.

In 1952, by decision of the Politburo, a commission was established to verify the activities of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR. This time, extremely unpleasant facts have surfaced that look quite plausible. The guards and personnel of the special dachas, which had been empty for weeks, staged real orgies there, plundered food and expensive drinks. Later, there were witnesses who assured that Vlasik himself was not averse to relaxing in this way. On April 29, 1952, on the basis of these materials, Nikolai Vlasik was removed from his post and sent to the Urals, to the city of Asbest, by the deputy head of the Bazhenov forced labor camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs Why did Stalin suddenly back down from a man who had honestly served him for 25 years? Perhaps it was all the fault of the leader's growing suspicion in recent years. It is possible that Stalin considered the waste of state funds for drunken revelry to be too serious a sin. Be that as it may, very difficult times came for the former head of Stalin's guards ... In December 1952, he was arrested in connection with the "doctors' case". He was blamed for the fact that he ignored the statements of Lydia Timashuk, who accused the professors who treated the first persons of the state of sabotage.
Vlasik himself wrote in his memoirs that there was no reason to believe Timashuk: "There was no data discrediting the professors, which I reported to Stalin."

Could Vlasik extend the life of the leader?

On March 5, 1953, Joseph Stalin passed away. Even if we discard the dubious version of the murder of the leader, Vlasik, if he had remained in his post, he could well have extended his life. When the leader became ill at the Near Dacha, he lay for several hours on the floor of his room without help: the guards did not dare to enter Stalin's chambers. There is no doubt that Vlasik would not have allowed this. After the death of the leader, the "case of doctors" was closed. All of his defendants were released, except for Nikolai Vlasik. In January 1955, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR found Nikolai Vlasik guilty of abuse of office under especially aggravating circumstances, sentencing him under Art. 193-17 p. "b" of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 10 years of exile, deprivation of the rank of general and state awards. In March 1955, Vlasik's term was reduced to 5 years. He was sent to Krasnoyarsk to serve his sentence. By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 15, 1956, Vlasik was pardoned with the removal of a criminal record, but in military rank and the awards were not restored. “Not for a single minute did I have evil in my soul against Stalin.” He returned to Moscow, where he had almost nothing left: his property was confiscated, a separate apartment was turned into a communal one. Vlasik knocked on the thresholds of offices, wrote to the leaders of the party and government, asked for rehabilitation and reinstatement in the party, but was refused everywhere.

Secretly, he began to dictate memoirs in which he talked about how he saw his life, why he did certain things, how he treated Stalin.
“After Stalin’s death, such an expression appeared as“ the cult of personality ”... If a person who is the leader of his affairs deserves the love and respect of others, what’s wrong with that ... The people loved and respected Stalin. He personified a country that he led to prosperity and victories, wrote Nikolai Vlasik. - Under his leadership, a lot of good things were done, and the people saw it. He enjoyed great prestige. I knew him very closely... And I affirm that he lived only in the interests of the country, in the interests of his people.” “It is easy to accuse a person of all mortal sins when he is dead and can neither justify nor defend himself. Why, during his lifetime, no one dared to point out to him his mistakes? What hindered? Fear? Or were there not these mistakes that had to be pointed out? What Tsar Ivan IV was formidable about, but there were people who dearly loved their homeland, who, without fear of death, pointed out to him his mistakes. Or were brave people transferred to Russia? - so thought the Stalinist bodyguard. Summing up the memoirs and his whole life as a whole, Vlasik wrote: “Without a single penalty, but only encouragement and awards, I was expelled from the party and thrown into prison. But never, not a single minute, no matter what state I was in, no matter what abuse I was subjected to while in prison, I did not have anger in my soul against Stalin. I perfectly understood what kind of atmosphere was created around him in the last years of his life. How difficult it was for him. He was an old, sick, lonely man ... He was and remains the most dear person to me, and no slander can shake the feeling of love and the deepest respect that I always had for this wonderful person. He personified for me everything bright and dear in my life - the party, the motherland and my people. "The posthumously rehabilitated Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik died on June 18, 1967. His archive was seized and classified. Only in 2011, the Federal Security Service declassified the notes of the person who, in fact, stood at the origins of its creation.

Since May 10, a series about the fate of the head of Stalin's guards has been unfolding on Channel One. His life really deserves a big movie.

The film was directed by Alexei Muradov back in 2015 according to the script by Valeria Baikeeva (with the participation of Alexei Pimanov). In the center of the plot is the fate of Nikolai Vlasik. He was played by Konstantin Milovanov, his beloved woman Asya - Olga Pogodina, Stalin - Levan Mskhiladze.

A native of the village of Bobynichi, near Grodno, Kolya Vlasik was destined to become one of the most influential, but inconspicuous people of the era. For more than twenty years, he headed the leader's guard and was his close, confidant. He valued friendship and remained faithful to it, although at other moments of his life, his position, it would seem, did not allow for the manifestation of understanding and even compassion for the "enemies of the people." And in his life there was a place for a huge tragic love ....

In life real person, Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik, there were many events, people, clashes. However, fate did not spare a person close to Stalin.

On December 16, 1952, he was arrested in connection with the doctors' case. Motivation - "provided treatment for members of the government and was responsible for the reliability of the professors." In the criminal case of Vlasik it is indicated: “Until March 12, 1953, he was interrogated almost daily (mainly in the case of doctors). The audit found that the accusations against the group of doctors are false. All professors and doctors have been released from custody. Recently, the investigation into the Vlasik case has been conducted in two directions: the disclosure of secret information and theft material assets... After the arrest of Vlasik, several dozen documents marked “secret” were found in his apartment ... While in Potsdam, where he accompanied the government delegation of the USSR, Vlasik was engaged in hoarding ... "

In January 1955, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR found Vlasik guilty of abuse of office. Naturally, "under particularly aggravating circumstances." He received 10 years of exile and was stripped of his general rank and awards. True, soon, under an amnesty, his term was reduced to five years, and already in 1956 he was pardoned with the removal of a criminal record. But the title and awards were not returned to him.

In his memoirs, Vlasik wrote: “I was severely offended by Stalin. After 25 years of impeccable work, without any reprimand, but only encouragement and awards, I was expelled from the party and thrown into prison. For my boundless devotion, he gave me into the hands of enemies. But never, not for a single minute, no matter what state I was in, no matter what bullying I was subjected to while in prison, I did not have anger in my soul against Stalin ... "

Nikolai Sidorovich lived in Moscow, was buried at the New Donskoy Cemetery - he died on June 18, 1967. In 2000, by a decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia, the 1955 sentence against Vlasik was canceled and the case "due to the lack of corpus delicti". In 2001, his daughter received all the awards once confiscated from her father ...

Who was Vlasik - near Stalin? Indeed, his shadow. When he was arrested in December 1952, he uttered a prophetic phrase: "There will be no me, there will be no Stalin! ...". Two months later, on March 1, 1953, the strange death of Stalin followed, the mystery of which historians are still unraveling.

Here is what its producer Alexei Pimanov says about the film: Vlasik is a symbol of the era. At first, an incredible rise, huge power, and then a fall, a prison, a Gulag. In prison, he was “shot” twice, tortured by round-the-clock children's crying behind the wall, which he could not stand. As Vlasik's daughter said, "he entered the cell as a gallant general, and left as a decrepit old man."

Even before the start of work on the film, Alexei Pimanov was in for a real journalistic success and, in general, a sensation: - Nadezhda Nikolaevna Vlasik, the daughter of Nikolai Sidorovich, was still alive (in fact, a niece, but adopted by Vlasik). We filmed it for the series of documentaries "Kremlin-9". Nadezhda Nikolaevna lived in a small apartment, a stone's throw from the Belorusskaya metro station. She did not live well, she was very sick. Unobtrusively, extremely delicately, they began to help her, took care of her. A few months before her death, she called me and asked me to come. I arrived. Word for word ... I listen to her, and she suddenly says: “Alexey, but go to the closet. There is a suitcase, lying upstairs without a handle, so leatherette.

I took it, open it and say: “What is this?” And there are such scattered notebooks, scraps of paper with pencil marks, napkins on which the notes were. I ask again: “What is this?” She says, "Father's Diaries." That is, she did not give them to anyone for fifty years. I was the first to hold them in my hands. They were very difficult to decipher because he wrote very sketchily. It was still necessary to guess who he had in mind ... In general, his own epic ... Now Vlasik's diaries are in the archive Federal Service protection.

Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik. Born May 22, 1896 in Bobynichy, Slonim district, Grodno province - died June 18, 1967 in Moscow. Head of Stalin's security in 1931-1952. Lieutenant General (1945).

Nikolai Vlasik was born on May 22, 1896 in the village. Bobynichi, Slonim district, Grodno province (now Slonim district, Grodno region).

Comes from a poor peasant family.

By nationality - Belarusian.

At the age of three, he remained an orphan: first his mother died, and soon his father.

As a child, he graduated from three classes of a rural parochial school. From the age of thirteen he began to work. At first he was a laborer for the landowner. Then - a digger on railway. Next - a laborer at a paper mill in Yekaterinoslav.

In March 1915 he was called to military service. He served in the 167th Ostroh Infantry Regiment, in the 251st Reserve Infantry Regiment. For bravery in the battles of the First World War he received the St. George Cross.

In the days of the October Revolution, being in the rank of non-commissioned officer, together with a platoon, he went over to the side of Soviet power.

In November 1917, he entered the service of the Moscow police.

Since February 1918 - in the Red Army, a participant in the battles on the Southern Front near Tsaritsyn, was an assistant company commander in the 33rd working Rogozhsko-Simonovsky infantry regiment.

In September 1919, he was transferred to the bodies of the Cheka, worked under direct supervision in the central office, was an employee of a special department, a senior authorized officer of the active department of the operational unit. From May 1926, he worked as a senior commissioner of the Operational Department of the OGPU, from January 1930 - an assistant to the head of the department there.

In 1927, he headed the Kremlin's special guards and became the de facto chief of guards.

This happened after the emergency, about which Vlasik wrote in his diary: “In 1927, a bomb was thrown into the building of the commandant's office on Lubyanka. At that time I was in Sochi on vacation. The authorities urgently called me and instructed me to organize the protection of the Special Department of the Cheka, the Kremlin, as well as the protection of government members at dachas, walks, on trips, and pay special attention to the personal protection of Comrade Stalin. Until that time, with Comrade Stalin, there was only an employee who accompanied him when he went on business trips. It was a Lithuanian - Yusis. Calling Yusis, we went by car with him to a dacha near Moscow, where Stalin usually rested. Arriving at the dacha and examining it, I saw that there was a complete mess. There was no linen, no dishes, no staff. There lived one commandant at the dacha.

“By order of the authorities, in addition to the guards, I had to arrange the supply and living conditions of the guarded. I began by sending linen and crockery to the dacha, arranging for the supply of food from the state farm, which was under the jurisdiction of the GPU and located next to the dacha. He sent a cook and a cleaner to the dacha. Established a direct telephone connection with Moscow. Yusis, fearing Stalin's dissatisfaction with these innovations, suggested that I myself report everything to Comrade Stalin. This is how my first meeting and first conversation with Comrade Stalin took place. Before that, I only saw him from afar, when I accompanied him on walks and on trips to the theater, ”he wrote.

The official name of his position has changed several times due to constant reorganizations and reassignments in the security agencies:

From the mid-1930s - head of the department of the 1st department (protection of senior officials) of the Main Directorate of State Security of the NKVD of the USSR;
- from November 1938 - head of the 1st department in the same place;
- in February-July 1941, the 1st department was part of the People's Commissariat for State Security of the USSR, then it was returned to the NKVD of the USSR;
- from November 1942 - first deputy head of the 1st department of the NKVD of the USSR;
- since May 1943 - head of the 6th department of the People's Commissariat of State Security of the USSR;
- since August 1943 - the first deputy head of this department;
- from April 1946 - head of the Main Security Directorate of the USSR Ministry of State Security;
- since December 1946 - head of the Main Directorate of Security.

Nikolai Vlasik for many years was Stalin's personal bodyguard and lasted the longest in this post.

Coming to his personal guard in 1931, he not only became her boss, but also adopted many of the everyday problems of the Stalin family, in which, in essence, Vlasik was a family member. After the tragic death of Stalin's wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, he was also a teacher of children, practically performed the functions of a majordomo.

Svetlana Alliluyeva wrote sharply negatively about Vlasik in the book Twenty Letters to a Friend. At the same time, he was positively assessed by Stalin's adopted son Artyom Sergeev, who believed that the role and contribution of N. S. Vlasik was not fully appreciated.

Artem Sergeev noted: “His main duty was to ensure the safety of Stalin. This work was inhuman. Always the responsibility of the head, always life on the cutting edge. He knew very well both friends and enemies of Stalin. And he knew that his life and the life of Stalin were very closely linked, and it was no coincidence that when he was suddenly arrested a month and a half or two before Stalin's death, he said: “I was arrested, which means that soon there will be no Stalin”. And, indeed, after this arrest, Stalin lived a little. What kind of work did Vlasik have in general? It was day and night work, there was no 6–8 hour working day. All his life he had work, and he lived near Stalin. Next to Stalin's room was Vlasik's room ... He understood that he was living for Stalin, in order to ensure the work of Stalin, and therefore the Soviet state. Vlasik and Poskrebyshev were like two props for that colossal activity, not yet fully appreciated, that Stalin led, and they remained in the shadows. And Poskrebyshev was treated badly, even worse - with Vlasik.

Since 1947, he was a deputy of the Moscow City Council of Workers' Deputies of the 2nd convocation.

In May 1952, he was removed from the post of head of Stalin's security and sent to the Ural city of Asbest as deputy head of the Bazhenov forced labor camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Arrest and exile of Nikolai Vlasik

The first attempt to arrest Vlasik was made in 1946 - he was accused of wanting to poison the leader. Even for a while he was removed from office. But then Stalin personally figured out the testimony of one of the employees of the MGB and again reinstated Vlasik in his post.

Nikolai Vlasik was arrested on December 16, 1952, in connection with the case of doctors he was arrested, because he "provided treatment for members of the government and was responsible for the trustworthiness of the professors."

Until March 12, 1953, Vlasik was interrogated almost daily, mainly in the case of doctors. Later, an audit found that the accusations against the group of doctors were false. All professors and doctors have been released from custody.

Further, the investigation into the Vlasik case was conducted in two directions: the disclosure of secret information and the plunder of material values. After Vlasik's arrest, several dozen documents marked "secret" were found in his apartment.

In addition, he was charged with the fact that, while in Potsdam, where he accompanied the government delegation of the USSR, Vlasik was engaged in hoarding.

The following data speaks of the scale of the hoarding: during a search in his house, they found a trophy service for 100 people, 112 crystal glasses, 20 crystal vases, 13 cameras, 14 photographic lenses, five rings and a “foreign accordion” (this was recorded in the search protocol).

It was established that after the end of the Potsdam Conference in 1945, he took three cows, a bull and two horses out of Germany, of which he gave his brother a cow, a bull and a horse, his sister a cow, and his niece a cow. The cattle was delivered to the Slonim district of the Baranovichi region by train of the Security Department of the USSR Ministry of State Security.

They also remembered that he gave his cohabitants passes to the stands of Red Square and government theater boxes, and connections with persons who did not inspire political confidence, in conversations with whom he disclosed secret information "concerning the protection of the leaders of the party and government."

On January 17, 1955, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR found him guilty of abuse of office under especially aggravating circumstances, sentencing him under Art. 193-17 p. "b" of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 10 years of exile, deprivation of the rank of general and state awards.

Under an amnesty on March 27, 1955, Vlasik's term was reduced to five years, without loss of rights. Sent to serve exile in Krasnoyarsk.

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 15, 1956, Vlasik was pardoned with the removal of a criminal record, but he was not restored to military rank and awards.

In his memoirs, he wrote: “I was severely offended by Stalin. After 25 years of impeccable work, without any reprimand, but only encouragement and awards, I was expelled from the party and thrown into prison. For my boundless devotion, he gave me into the hands of enemies. But never, not for a single minute, no matter what state I was in, no matter what bullying I was subjected to while in prison, I did not have anger in my soul against Stalin.

Last years lived in the capital. He died on June 18, 1967 in Moscow from lung cancer. He was buried at the New Donskoy Cemetery.

On June 28, 2000, by a decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia, the 1955 verdict against Vlasik was canceled and the criminal case was dismissed "due to the lack of corpus delicti".

In October 2001, the awards confiscated by court order were returned to Vlasik's daughter.

Nikolai Vlasik ( documentary)

Personal life of Nikolai Vlasik:

Wife - Maria Semyonovna Vlasik (1908-1996).

Adopted daughter - Nadezhda Nikolaevna Vlasik-Mikhailova (born 1935), worked as an art editor and graphic artist at the Nauka publishing house.

Nikolai Vlasik was fond of photography. He is the author of many unique photos Joseph Stalin, members of his family and inner circle.

Bibliography of Nikolai Vlasik:

Memories of I. V. Stalin;
Who led the NKVD, 1934-1941: a reference book

Nikolai Vlasik in the cinema:

1991 - Inner circle (as Vlasik -);

2006 - Stalin. Live (as Vlasik - Yuri Gamayunov);
2011 - Yalta-45 (as Vlasik - Boris Kamorzin);
2013 - The son of the father of peoples (in the role of Vlasik - Yuri Lakhin);
2013 - Kill Stalin (as Vlasik -);

2014 - Vlasik (documentary) (as Vlasik -);
2017 - (as Vlasik - Konstantin Milovanov)

On the Russian First The channel this week released the series “Vlasik. The Shadow of Stalin”, based on historical events. The film tells about the life of the chief of security Joseph Stalin - Nikolai Vlasik, an influential man, but who knew how to remain invisible, who became a kind of shadow of Stalin. The film was directed by Alexey Muradov and produced by Alexey Pimanov. In the life of Nikolai Vlasik, as the filmmakers note, there were many women. And in the life of almost every one of them in this difficult time there was a place of tragedy. In an interview "Moscow-Baku" the performer of the role of the prima of the musical theater, the fatal mistress of Nikolai Vlasik, Victoria Maslova spoke about her unusual auditions for the role, her love for the Caucasus and her childhood in Kazakhstan.

Victoria, in the TV series “Vlasik. The Shadow of Stalin, you play the prima of the musical theater Angelina Vitkovskaya (Vitka), the mistress of Stalin's security chief Nikolai Vlasik. Can you please tell us how this role came to you?

I had a very interesting and unusual statement for the role. I was called in for an audition. I had read the script before and liked it. I was very worried, because they didn’t send me my sample text. I arrived in anticipation that now they will give me the words, I will learn them and I will try out in a new role for myself. She came and met Alexei Muradov. We, as they say, shook hands, and then he says: "Don't worry, there won't be any text, we'll just talk." I was surprised, tensed. He, seeing my surprise: “Nothing, there are a couple of simple questions that I know you will answer.” I agreed. The first question was this: Am I ready to be naked in the scene (my heroine stays half-naked most of the time in the film ( laughs)). I say: “Well, of course, if necessary, to emphasize the character of this character. Yes, it’s not a problem, in fact, I’m not shy, ”I answer. To which Alexei says to me: “So, the second question. Are you ready to say goodbye to your beauty and be ugly - with rotten teeth and so on and so forth? Basically, don't be yourself. My eyes lit up. Not a bit of a doubt, without hesitation, I said: “Yes, of course, I’m ready!”. He says: “You know, you are one of the few actresses who agreed to this. And you're the only one who was so happy about it. Therefore, you are approved, we will work. These are some of my unusual experiences. I still remember. It was the most ridiculous, fastest and most memorable statement of my life ( laughs).

About Vitka ... I wanted my heroine to be completely different from me. Amplitude development was important to me. The actor always wants the role to develop - starting with something small, and ending with something huge. Or vice versa. And in the role of Vitka, this is, and this is why she is interesting to me. Also, I period Russian history, which is shown in the series, is not indifferent.

And I am very grateful to the producer of the series - Alexei Viktorovich Pimanov for this role. It is interesting that in the same period when I was invited to audition for Vlasik, I auditioned for another Pimanov film, Dolly the Sheep was angry and died early ... Such trust is very pleasant.

Here the male characters say about her: “Look, snake, she ... She dreams of surpassing Lyubov Orlova, dreams of a great career and wants Vlasik to help her in this somehow » . What do you think of Vitka's character? Can we say that she is ready for anything for a career and a beautiful life?

Yes, men say “She is a snake ...”, because Vitka is a beautiful woman who attracts men and takes advantage of the fact that she is good. Still, she's an actress. And if a man sees an artist on stage, and even singing, it is unlikely that he will resist her. And she skillfully uses it. Everyone wants to have it, but not everyone succeeds, and many do not like it. Therefore, I think that "Snake" is more of a male reaction of despair ( laughs).

As for the fact that Vitka is ready for a lot for the sake of her career ... I repeat, she is an actress. Today, actresses have the right to choose what to play, how to behave. And at that time the choice was small. To get on stage, the actress had to behave in a certain way.

Vitka belongs to the type of women who are ready to lie down in order to achieve their goal. And she goes ahead with both men and in the profession. She sees how men react to her and weaves ropes out of them. Here is such a character. And it was very interesting for me to get used to this role.

Vitkovskaya... Vitka... after all, she is bigger than Vitka, such an appeal suits her better. She is, in fact, such a girl, and the audience will understand this later. A girl in the sense that love is not alien to her. She is not just a calculating woman. I don’t want to call her a bitch, because she is quite charming in her actions. Yes, she is misbehaving. But she is all in the fact that she is happy in every manifestation. This is her buzz, she exists like that. So she set a goal and with pleasure, with the desire and thirst to achieve this, she goes to her. Vitka is not a negative heroine. She may not like Vlasik's wife, or someone else, but she exists, she exists and does not do global evil. Yes, she deliberately made one woman unhappy, but who knows (Victoria says with some mystery - ed.) How it will turn out, right? (laughs)

Overall, the series shows the drama of each of its characters. That's what I liked about the script. Even Stalin is shown in it from a human point of view. Not as a leader, a machine, but as a person. Therefore, the filmmakers focused on his relationships with people - with family, friends, others. This rarely happens today.

- I understand that Angelina Vitkovskaya is not a historical character?

No, that's why it was easier for me than for those actors who played historical characters. They needed to be similar in behavior, in gait, and some other things. Unlike them, I had the right to everything ( laughs). My character didn't cling to the story.

But Angelina Vitkovskaya probably had a prototype, because, as you know, Nikolai Vlasik had a lot of mistresses.

How was it working with Konstantin Milovanov (playing the role of Nikolai Vlasik) and Daniil Spivakovsky (playing the role of the artist Vladimir Stenberg, who decorated the parades on Red Square) in those very scenes where you have to be naked?

Very comfortable. In general, I have always been lucky with partners, for which I am grateful to fate. Never in my life was it that I came to the site and there were some problems. Danya Spivakovsky is a wonderful artist. We quite calmly coexisted together on the site. The same with Kostya Milovanov. For all that, neither Daniil nor Kostya knew each other before this project. With Danya, we played a scene in a restaurant and our next meeting was what is called an embrace in the truest sense of the word. Filming wasn't easy. But he never made me feel somehow awkward, just like Kostya. He is very gentle, very interesting and kind person.

In general, what is the feeling of playing in such a film based on historical events, in a film in which Stalin, Beria appear ...?

Amazing feeling. People then thought differently. Certainly I would not want to live in this terrible time- a time of deprivation, lack of opportunities and some kind of endless battle. We fight all our lives, but this Stalinist period - before the war, during it, after - is some kind of endless battle. But it was infinitely pleasant, cool and interesting to play the heroine of that era.

And... as a woman, I absolutely love the costumes of that time - all these hats with a veil, I like red lipstick, a minimum of makeup on my face, except for scarlet lips, red nails. I think it's incredibly feminine. With all this, the arms and legs of my heroine may be covered, but still the image remains incredibly sexy. And it's out of time. All this fatality, femininity is inherent in me.

AT ordinary life I fully feel like a woman and others allow me to feel beautiful and desirable - a woman to the tips of her nails. It's nice. But I'm definitely not Vitka (laughs).

In general, everyone in our film crew was passionate about their character. We met with many artists from Vlasik on other projects, talked about Vlasik, everyone was waiting for him and everyone talked about how much they love their character. For me, the role in this series was a serious step forward in the profession, before that I had not had such roles. It was internally, as an actor, incredibly interesting to me.

-After filming, did your attitude towards Stalin change?

Stalin is, of course, a figure, a personality. But it's impossible to say that I like it or dislike it. The figure is ambiguous. I repeat, thank God that I did not live at that time.

Stalin in the series was perfectly played by the wonderful actor Levan Mskhiladze. It was incredibly interesting for me to watch him work. This is another Stalin. . . with Caucasian character.

Emotionally difficult for me was the final scene of Vitka - her last appearance. Apparently, I was so internally closed off from her pain that it was difficult for me to throw out the emotions that she should have had. And I remember how Alexey Muradov came up to me, talked to me, said: “Relax, don’t think about anything, just do as you see fit.” And it seems to me that in the end we have achieved the desired effect. In general, everyone in this series was not laughing, I'll tell you (laughs). Because the deadlines were quite tight, the material was heavy. Everyone was tense and really wanted to do a quality job.

-Have you been to the Caucasus?

Despite the fact that I was born and raised in Kazakhstan, this is also my motherland, I love her very much and have unlimited respect, the second part of my childhood, which I spent among my family places on the banks of the Don - near Rostov-on-Don. It's almost the Caucasus laughs). In any case, the closeness is obvious. Therefore, I adore Caucasian cuisine and cook very well myself. I am delighted with the Caucasus, and Caucasian men are incredibly gallant, sometimes even too much ( laughs). And Levan, as a true Georgian, including. No woman can, of course, not react to this.

I have never been to Baku, but just before your call, I was talking to people from Baku who invited me to the Azerbaijani capital. If it works out, I'll be sure to come. I love Azerbaijan very much.

-If you were born in Kazakhstan, then perhaps Turkic culture and traditions are close to you?

I was born in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, lived there until I was 8 years old. It is also interesting that half of my family - on my father's side - are all Don Cossacks, they also go back to the Turkic peoples. Therefore, Turkic is insanely close to me. And I love it very much.

Since childhood, Nauryz - (in Azerbaijan - Novruz) - is my favorite holiday. And to this day it remains so. I remember very well how, being quite a baby, my family and I celebrated Nauryz. It has always been a huge party. There were elegant yurts. There were so many delicious things in each of them! And, of course, my favorite Nauryz dish is baursaks (dough sweets). Even 22 years after I left Kazakhstan, during my visit, the first thing I picked up was baursaks. When I saw them, everything inside me shook, bubbling ...

We have an unbreakable tradition in our family - we often make manti and beshbarmak. Of the hot dishes, beshbarmak is my favorite. And almost every holiday we put it on the table. We observe Kazakh traditions. And I don't think I'll ever forget them. Kazakhstan is a separate milestone in my soul. I can’t even say that this is some kind of separate piece in my heart, this is an absolutely strong milestone in my soul. I often think about Kazakhstan. This country is still my home.

Victoria, it seemed to me that you like sports. In social networks, you appear either in boxing gloves, or at hockey, or with sports commentators Vasily Utkin and Viktor Gusev ...

I will say this: I love sports, but, unfortunately, I have not been involved in them for a long time. It's been like a year now. Of all the sports, I would definitely prefer boxing. This, as they say, is my sport.

I have never done boxing before. Once trained for several weeks in sports complex along with the stuntmen, because during the filming of the film "Not a Women's Business" in one of the scenes I had to fight. I was trained by a professional boxer. I remember him asking, “Have you ever boxed before?” I say no, I didn't. Them: “Strange. You've got a good shot" ( laughs).

As for hockey... and the photos that are published on social networks, this is a project that we filmed for the MATCH TV channel, in which I played the prototype of Tina Kandelaki. They shot one pilot episode, I think it should come out soon.

Biography, life story of Vlasik Nikolai Sidorovich

Vlasik Nikolai Sidorovich - head of security.

Childhood and youth

Nikolai Vlasik was born into a poor peasant family on May 22, 1896 in the village of Bobynichi (Slonim district, Grodno province). He received a modest education - he graduated from three classes of a rural parish school. Nikolay began to work at the age of 13. He was a laborer at the landowner, and a digger on the railroad, and a laborer at the Yekaterinoslav paper mill.

Service

In the spring of 1915, Nikolai Vlasik was called up for military service. For the courage and courage shown during the hostilities of the First World War, he received an honorary award - the St. George Cross. During the October Revolution of 1917, non-commissioned officer Vlasik sided with the Soviet government. In the same year he became an employee of the Moscow police.

At the end of the winter of 1918, Nikolai Sidorovich ended up in the Red Army. In the fall of 1919, Vlasik was transferred to the central office of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR. In May 1926, Nikolai Vlasik received the position of senior commissioner of the Operational Branch of the Joint State Political Administration under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. At the beginning of 1930, he became a department assistant in the same department.

In 1927, Nikolai Sidorovich became the head of the Kremlin's special guard, in fact, the head of the personal guard. In the mid-1930s, Vlasik was approved for the post of head of the department of the first department of the Main Directorate of State Security of the NKVD of the USSR, and then the head of the entire first department. In November 1942 he became the first deputy head of the first department of the NKVD of the USSR; in May 1943 - head of the sixth department of the People's Commissariat of State Security of the USSR; in August 1943 - first deputy head of the department of the People's Commissariat of State Security. In the spring of 1946, Vlasik became the head of the Main Security Directorate of the USSR Ministry of State Security (Main Security Directorate). In 1947, Vlasik became a deputy of the Moscow City Council, a deputy of the working people.

CONTINUED BELOW

In the late spring of 1952, Nikolai Vlasik was removed from his duties as head of security and sent to Asbest as deputy head of the Bazhenov forced labor camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.

A family

The wife of Nikolai Sidorovich was called Maria Semyonovna (years of life - 1908-1996). The couple raised their daughter Nadezhda (born in 1935). She was an adopted daughter for Vlasik, but the relationship between them was truly warm and kindred.

In mid-December 1952, Nikolai Vlasik was arrested in connection with the pest doctors case (a criminal trial initiated against doctors accused of conspiring and killing Soviet leaders). The reason for the arrest was that it was Vlasik who provided treatment for members of the government and was responsible for the reliability of the professors. In January 1955, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR found Nikolai Sidorovich guilty and sentenced him to 10 years of exile and deprivation of state awards and the rank of general. In March of the same year, the term of Vlasik's exile under an amnesty was reduced to 5 years. Krasnoyarsk was chosen as a place for exile.

In December 1956, Nikolai Vlasik was pardoned by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The criminal record was removed, but in the awards and titles, it was decided not to restore it.

Nikolai Sidorovich was fully rehabilitated only in June 2000. The Supreme Court of Russia overturned the verdict against Vlasik for lack of corpus delicti. The confiscated awards of Nikolai Vlasik were handed over to his daughter Nadezhda in 2001.

Last years of life and death