Nikolai Dolgopolov: Kissinger was coming to Paris and I promised to have at least a short, but definitely exclusive, interview with him – Rossiyskaya Gazeta

I asked for help and assistance from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But the Quai d’Orsay quickly rejected me with the elegance characteristic of the inhabitants of this country: contact the Americans, they organize this tour, not us.

I tensed up and remembered that I was dealing with an American journalist, or a deputy press attaché at the US Embassy, ​​or I don’t know who that bird was, but in meetings at the US Embassy she was the one who ruled. the seating arrangement for journalists. Including ours. Yes, it’s hard to imagine, but there were moments like that. We became tentatively friends with a lady at fashion shows, and suddenly she agreed to help on the condition that she send her questions in advance. She sent it and the clerk crossed out only two: about Kissinger’s ancestors and his nationality, saying everything else was correct.

The mastodon of great politics arrived in the capital of the French Republic and I was asked to appear at a meeting at his residence on a specific day and time. He appeared, the guard searched him very superficially, and he was let in before the shining eyes. Kissinger turned over the sheet of paper holding my questions in his hands. And he began to gallop with the fact that now the leaders of our countries meet a lot, talk incessantly, and with Presidents Nixon and Ford they not only chatted, but also did a lot. I remembered the Soviet-American Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty of 1972, the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems and the agreement on West Berlin.

Everything was going well, when suddenly a security guard entered the room, accompanied by a beauty. The mulatto or Arab, dressed in French style, was truly beautiful. The bodyguard whispered something in Mr. Henry’s ear. And beauty entered immediately. She works for a major newspaper, she was sent specifically to interview Mr. Kissinger, but was not allowed to see him. Well, please have mercy. And how clever the former Secretary of State was, he said that he and, I hope, his Russian colleague were not against it. What was left to do? The beauty sat next to me and she put her knees on her knees. Yes, there was no way to refuse here.

We move on to the second question. And suddenly the mulatto Arab began to roar. She was ordered to have a one-on-one conversation, but here… Otherwise, she would be fired from her. I swear that’s exactly what happened. I had to mutter that my paper was unlikely to cross paths with hers, and at first I didn’t care. Kissinger nodded. But his rival continued to insist: just her and the Secretary of State. Here Henry Kissinger demonstrated the supreme art of a negotiator. He suggested that we resolve the issue between ourselves and he would accept any decision, although he was sure that his Russian colleague would act chivalrously.

What was left to do? I left. There have been failures in fifty years of journalism. But like this – neither before nor after – I had never had so many noodles hanging from my ears.

More recently, on a TV show by pranksters Lexus and Vovan, in which he participated, they pulled an even more cunning trick on Kissinger, who happily celebrated his centenary. They pretended to be the wrong people and Henry Kissinger told them many unnecessary things. He seemed very amused.

Yes, even an old woman can get into trouble.