Gennady Burbulis has always been a mystery to me

Gennady Burbulis has always been a mystery to me. Even having met him personally, I could not understand how this soft, quiet and immersed man for a couple of years ascended to the incredible height of Russian politics. Yes, yes, there is no exaggeration. There was a moment when he was the second person in the state hierarchy. And it was he who connected Yeltsin’s political power to the reform potential of Gaidar. Without Burbulis, the reform of the beginning of the 1990s would look different, and, I believe, society would pay a great price for them.

I was not personally familiar with Yeltsin, but more or less understood the specific features of this type of politicians. I was only a little acquainted with Gaidar, but studied his activity in such detail that I could understand how he carried out reforms. However, the phenomenon of Burbulis was never revealed for me. It seems that this is the case when God sends an ordinary person to Earth to fulfill the mission, and he suddenly transforms, does the job and again goes into oblivion.

Burbulis knew how to speak poorly, delayed his performances and did not make meetings in the best way, but he knew how to select excellent speakers at the conference. Burbulis did not get along well with political opponents and could hardly have concluded effective compromises, but with an amazing instinct he picked up for the reform that the team that did the real work after several teams failed for the previous 5 years (1987–1991). Burbulis wrote several strange texts in political zophia (as he called it), but their originality testified to his absolute sincerity.

“I believe in myself. I believe in each of you and in all citizens of the Russian Federation and in our ability to live with dignity among people in your native country and in the modern world, ”wrote Gennady Eduardovich in a brochure, which is probably quite enough where it has been preserved, except for my home library. He believed in the best and signed his letters with a somewhat strange phrase: “To be good!” But today Vera is undermined by many. Maybe that's why it becomes difficult to live?