President's killer

It turns out that it is very easy to kill the head of state: you just need to find out where he will be on a certain day, take a gun and go to the meeting place - his numerous guards will not even have time to do anything

Recently, something strange has begun to happen in the world - attempts on the lives of heads of state have become more frequent. So, in early August, the house of Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin was shelled in the dead of night - the criminals fired several bullets from a pistol, which got stuck literally a few centimeters from the bedroom window of the “main Moldovan.” According to experts, the killers simply miraculously missed the glass. And a couple of weeks earlier, neo-fascist Maxime Bruneri shot French President Jacques Chirac with a carbine during the Bastille Day celebrations. Did the killers have a chance to kill leading government officials?
Our correspondent met with the person who, perhaps, best understands this problem - Alexander Shmonov, who on November 7, 1990 attempted to assassinate the then head of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev.

“Do you want to commit a terrorist attack? No one
don’t talk about it!”
“It seems to me that Bruneri had a great opportunity to destroy Chirac. Just imagine: the president was standing in an open car and slowly driving past a crowd of people - he was just the perfect target for this guy hiding among hundreds of people. It didn’t cost him anything to aim and hit the bull’s eye. But he missed. Apparently, Maxim is not a very accurate shooter. But I'm glad it happened this way. Because I think that you cannot kill a ruler elected by the people, even if someone doesn’t like him.
— What about the President of Moldova? Could he have been hit?
- Hardly. More likely they just wanted to scare him or just some drunk people were playing around.
— Who else do you think they will try to remove in the near future?
— I think that the head of Israel, Ariel Sharon. Of course, these will be Palestinians. Rather, with the help of a sniper - because they expect bombs from them and everything is carefully checked.
— By the way, recently, for some reason, single individuals have been constantly attempting to assassinate presidents and there are practically no conspiracies. Why do you think so?
- Because it’s harder to spot a single person. A group of people is always more dangerous for the participants in this secret society. Someone could give it away, let it slip, and again, with the current level of listening devices, there is always a chance that the secret services will reveal the secret of the assassination attempt. While they are organizing everything, they are already covered. But it is more difficult to expose one person - no one knows about his intentions. He is always more invisible - just a face from the crowd. Conspiracies are usually carried out by those who are visible - officials or the mafia.
“I heard that you were also looking for a partner.”
- Yes, that's true. In the evenings I sat down with men on trains, on buses, in bars and said that I had an acquaintance who wanted to kill Gorbachev. And if a citizen wishes, then I can bring them together. But no one agreed - they looked at me like I was an idiot. And then I realized that if I was alone, then I had a better chance of hitting Mikhail Sergeevich.
- And you immediately decided to shoot him?
- No, at first I wanted to throw a bomb at the car with the president. But then I thought that it would be difficult - after all, several cars usually leave, and it is not clear which one he is sitting in. I can kill other people too. Then I decided to use the gun. And it was easy - for several days I went to the shooting range and trained. Then he took his double-barreled hunting shotgun, hid it under his coat and went to the demonstration dedicated to November 7th. I reached the mausoleum, where Gorbachev stood on the podium, and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew 3 meters above his head. I began to aim a second time, and at that moment such a small sergeant pounced on me, the gun jerked - and missed again! And only then the rest of the KGB officers arrived, tied me up and dragged me to GUM - there was a special KGB office in the basement.
"Saddam Hussein could be poisoned"
— But why do you think assassination attempts on presidents have become more frequent now?
— To be honest, I don’t understand this myself. If, say, they wanted to kill Fidel Castro, then everything is clear - after all, most often the lives of dictators are at risk. Why kill a democratically elected president? I think that money, rather than ideas, probably plays a big role here - apparently, this is beneficial for someone.
—Who else, besides Sharon, will they try to kill?
— It seems to me that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Firstly, the US has already announced that it will try to destroy it. Secondly, this leader has upset too many people. And thirdly, even in Iraq they are not particularly happy with him. It seems to me that most likely the assassination attempt will be organized by one of the residents of this country - either by order of the States, or of their own free will.
- And how will this be done?
“Although the American intelligence services are saying that a bomb will be dropped on Hussein, it seems more likely to me that the killer will be one of the people close to him. Maybe he will be poisoned like Khattab.
— Would you agree to participate in a group of conspirators who are preparing an assassination attempt on a foreign leader?
- No, this is their internal matter - I will not interfere. But I would like to help if possible with advice.
— Do you think that an assassination attempt on Vladimir Putin can now be organized just as easily as an assassination attempt on Gorbachev?
- No, much more difficult. Because then everyone knew that twice a year - on May 1 and November 7, Gorby stood on the podium from 10 to 12 o'clock. You could just come there at that time and shoot. But now this is not the case. So it is simply impossible to kill Putin.
Marina ANDRIENKO.

Reference
Alexander Shmonov was born in 1952 in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) . He worked as a mechanic repairing and maintaining ventilation and air conditioning systems at the Izhora plant. In October 1990, he left there in order to go to Moscow and kill USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev. He shot at him twice, but didn't hit him. Shmonov was detained and sent to Lefortovo prison, but soon a psychiatric examination declared him insane, and Alexander Anatolyevich was transported to a mental hospital in St. Petersburg, where he spent almost 5 years - he was released only in the summer of 1995. Now he has his own apartment renovation company and is the head of the Party of Supporters of Non-Involuntary Psychiatric Treatment of Non-Criminals.