Беловежская пуща: как Кравчук занял кресло пьяного Ельцина

[grey_dolphin]

Дэвид Ремник (ныне - редактор New Yorker) красочно описывает атмосферу Беловежских соглашений: "Meanwhile, "Yeltsin got very drunk", according to someone close to the negotiations. "Yeltsin was so drunk he fell out of his chair just at the moment that Shushkevich opened the door and let in Burbulis, Kozyrev, and the others. Everyone began to come into the room and found this spectacular scene of Shushkevich and Kravchuk dragging this enormous body to the couch. The Russian delegation took it all very calmly. They took him to the next room to let him asleep. Yeltsin's chair stayed empty. Finally, Kravchuk took his chair and assumed the responsibility of chairman. When Kravchuk finished his short speech to everyone about what has been decided, he said, "There is one problem that we have to decide right away because the very existence of the commonwealth depends on it: dont't pour him too much". Everyone nodded. They understood Kravchuk perfectly." (David Remnick, Resurrection: The Struggle for a New Russia, Random House, 1997, P.27)

Очень колоритный момент, выглядит почти как сцена из художественного фильма. Впрочем, подтверждения этого эпизода из других источников я не видел...

Сама книга так себе, заметно уступая предыдущей книге Ремника "Мавзолей Ленина", за которую тот получил Пулитцеровскую премию (сиквел, как часто бывает, оказался слабее оригинала)