Family secrets of Secretary General Brezhnev (15 photos)

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev held the highest post of the Soviet Union - the position of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee from 1966 to 1982. No one had ever stood at the helm of the USSR for so long. Who were the people who surrounded the leader in the most intimate, family atmosphere?

Large Brezhnev family. In the first row: wife Victoria Petrovna and Leonid Ilyich himself with his great-granddaughter Galya, in the second: son-in-law Yuri Churbanov, grandchildren Victoria (daughter of Galina) and Leonid (son of Yuri), Galina with brother Yuri, Elena (wife of Leonid), daughter-in-law Lyudmila (wife Yuri), grandson Andrey.

Parents

Leonid Ilyich's father and mother - hereditary workers Ilya Yakovlevich Brezhnev and Natalya Denisovna Mazalova - were born in what is now the Kursk region.

Brother and sister

Younger brother - Yakov Ilyich Brezhnev (1912-1993). He didn’t look much like Leonid Ilyich: short, reddish. He worked at a metallurgical plant as the head of a rolling shop, then at the USSR Ministry of Ferrous Metallurgy. He was successful with women. He had the nickname “wedding brother” - he was invited to feasts, and undertook to solve the personal affairs of the petitioners. He was forcibly treated for chronic alcoholism and the mental disorders that arose on this sad basis. Yakov has two daughters from his first marriage - Elena and Mila, and a daughter from his second.

Sister - Vera Ilyinichna Brezhneva (1910-1997). Since moving to Moscow in 1966, she has not worked; she was married to Nikifor Andreevich Grechkin, an engineer.

Lyubov Yakovlevna Brezhneva

Daughter of Yakov Ilyich from his second marriage. She became famous for her connections with foreigners. In 1990 she emigrated to the United States, and in 1999 she published a book of memoirs, “The Secretary General’s Niece.”

Victoria Petrovna Brezhneva (Denisova)

In 1925, technical school student Leonid Brezhnev met Victoria, a student at the Kursk Medical College. In 1928 they got married. Despite her husband’s career, Victoria Petrovna devoted all her time to the household, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

In 1929, their daughter Galina was born, and in 1933 their son Yuri was born.

Galina Leonidovna Brezhneva

She was distinguished by an extremely strong, passionate, restless character. Over the years of her life, the leader’s daughter worked in the circus, in the Novosti press agency, in the archives department of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the rank of advisor-envoy, and at Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. Galina Leonidovna was only officially married three times and became famous for her high-profile romances.

The first husband, acrobat-strongman Evgeny Milaev, was 20 years older than Galina and raised two children. For his sake, the daughter of the first secretary (at that time) of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova ran away from home and traveled around the country as a circus dresser. From this marriage, Galina Leonidovna’s only daughter, Victoria, was born. The second husband, 18-year-old illusionist Igor Kio, was 15 years younger than Galina. However, their official marriage, which infuriated Leonid Ilyich, lasted only 10 days...

In 1971, Galina Brezhneva married Lieutenant Colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yuri Churbanov, who was 7 years younger than her, left his wife and children for her, and became his second wife. This was her third marriage.

In 1987, Churbanov was arrested on suspicion of corruption and expelled from the ranks of the CPSU, sentenced by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property. While he was serving his sentence, Galina Brezhneva filed for divorce and division of property.

During her third marriage, Galina began a high-profile affair with the artist of the Romany theater "Romen" Boris Buryatsa. At that time, the daughter of the Secretary General was already over 50, and her lover was 17 years younger than her.

Galina abused alcohol, and after her father’s death she found herself under virtual house arrest at her dacha. She was treated in a psychiatric clinic, where she died in the summer of 1998.

Victoria Milaeva

In the photo: Brezhnev with his granddaughter Victoria (to the left of the Secretary General), her second husband Gennady Varakuta and great-granddaughter Galya.

Victoria's first husband, Mikhail Filippov, worked in the Ministry of Foreign Trade, then in a bank. Today he lives in Malta. The second husband, Gennady Varakuta, rose to the rank of KGB lieutenant general. After 1991, he divorced Victoria, a businessman.

Galina Filippova

In 1973, Victoria Evgenievna had a daughter (great-granddaughter of Leonid Brezhnev) Galina Filippova. In the photo she is on the lap of her grandmother and namesake Galina Brezhneva.

General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev with his wife Victoria Petrovna and great-granddaughter Galya.

Galina Filippova today

She graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, was married, became addicted to alcohol... After many years of treatment in a psychiatric clinic, she lost all her property. Today she lives in a modest apartment in the Moscow region, which one of her relatives bought for her.

Yuri Leonidovich Brezhnev

Yuri Brezhnev was born in 1933. Highlight of his career: Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade of the USSR. All my life I have been collecting porcelain dogs. There are four grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. He died in 2013 at the age of 80.

His wife: Lyudmila Vladimirovna Brezhneva, in her youth was a pretty, snub-nosed blonde with delicate pink skin. She behaved modestly. Unlike other nomenklatura wives of the Soviet elite, she is smart and well educated.

They had two sons: Leonid (born 1956) - a teacher at the Chemistry Department of Moscow State University, a businessman, he has three daughters (Alina, Maria) and a son Yuri, a businessman.

The youngest is Andrei Yuryevich Brezhnev (born 1961), economist and Russian politician, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Social Justice.

Andrey Yurievich Brezhnev

Grandson of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev, son of Yuri Brezhnev, Soviet economist and Russian politician. In 1983 he graduated from the Faculty of International Economic Relations of MGIMO.

His first wife Nadezhda Lyamina later became the wife of banker Alexander Mamut. Son Leonid works as a translator in the military department, and son Dmitry graduated from Oxford University. The second wife's name is Elena.

Leonid Ilyich with his wife and grandson Andrey at the dacha, 1971.

Leonid Yurievich Brezhnev

Grandson of Secretary General Brezhnev, son of his son Yuri. Does business. In the early 2000s, he lived in his grandfather’s apartment at 26 Kutuzovsky Prospekt. Entrepreneur. Married four times, three children.