We meet with a successful politician Sergei Tigipko in his mansion, located in a picturesque hilly area, on the outskirts of Bezradichi, which is near Kiev. Contrary to expectations, in the neighborhood of any castles, fortresses and five-meter stone fences - an ordinary village with the usual rural houses. A narrow asphalt road leads to the gate, which offers a wonderful view: an ideally cut English lawn, to the right - a forest, to the left - a young orchard, a gravel path leading to an elegant cottage built in the tradition of modern European design.
Despite the early morning (there are still no eight), the house and its inhabitants and the successful politician Sergei Tigipko have long woken up. Everyone has his own job: seven-year-old Timothy is going to school, four-year-old Asya is fed up with porridge and dressed to take to the kindergarten. Nowhere in a hurry is only a lovely baby Leonti, who attentively follows what is happening from the most convenient observation point - mother's hands.
Waiting for the owner of the house, I look around: a spacious bright office with a fireplace, photographs of children on the walls, a white grand piano, book shelves. On the shelves - Andrey Bitov, Sergei Dovlatov, John Steinbeck, Dmitry Bykov, Graham Greene, Lev Gumilev, William Faulkner, Gogol, Remark, Kafka, Proust, Thackeray ... It can be seen that the books in this house have a special attitude.
Watching through the huge, full-length window on the sun-drenched emerald lawn, I do not notice how Sergey Leonidovich enters the room.
Wonderfully you have here: space, easy breathing ...
I liked it right here, too. It was the year 98, I was staying with a friend who lives nearby. Someone from his colleagues said that a place is being sold here. I stopped by and bought it. For such a small money, that now even somehow funny to remember. I saw it - I liked it - bought it.
Do you take all decisions in this way?
I would not say so. Although I take decisions often and I can say that I like it. If the decision is fatal for me - say, to change the sphere of activity, to go into politics, to become a banker or a civil servant - then it requires a thorough thought-out, balance.
In such cases, do you rely on your own opinion or do you listen to someone's advice?
I listen to everyone, but my decisions are unequivocally mine, I answer for them myself. This is my life, and I'm used to building it myself.
Sergey Leonidovich , tell us about your family. Who surrounds you in this beautiful house?
Wife Victoria and three children: the eldest son Timothy, he turned 7 on October 1, daughter Asya - her 4 years old, his birthday was on August 18, and the youngest, Leonti, he is 11 months old, and he just started walking. I was told that yesterday the corridor passed by myself.
Timothy is a schoolboy?
Yes, this year I went to first grade. At us now the intense period because it should get used to a new schedule, a rhythm of a life, new duties. He's quite an active guy, because of what he gets a lot of comments. But I see that he is trying very hard.
And what is Asya busy with?
Nurse takes her to the garden for half a day. Asya is engaged in music, dancing, swimming. She's still in the hunt. And we try to use it.
Children are friends?
Probably, like all children: one can not do without each other, and when they come together, some quarrels begin, claims to leadership. You must definitely share something.
I think the attention of parents. By the way, are you a strict father? Demanding or indulging children?
I try not to jerk them into small things. Here they have complete freedom. But the children have a framework, definitely. I can not allow them to go on their heads.
Maybe I'm more affectionate towards my daughter. It seems to me that girls require a slightly different approach, more gentle. And the guys have already had years with 5-6 to feel a kind of limiter. Here is a very important personal example. If children see that I am a responsible person, organized, these qualities should be transferred to them.
But all the same, the most important thing in the upbringing of children for the successful policy of Sergei Tigipko is to be sincerely interested in their affairs. And in no case can parents, especially those who have financial means, buy off children - toys, things, recreation, a good school, etc. Most often this turns children into golden youth, which becomes, as I say, non-working.
You reason with knowledge ...
From the first marriage of a successful politician Sergei Tigipko is the eldest daughter of Anya, who is 25 years old. To my happiness, it does not apply to golden youth. She is a working person, she is doing something she loves, she is conducting a serious project herself, we have excellent relationships, we often see each other, I'm proud of her, and she knows it.
Children have a big age difference. Over the years, has something changed in your methods of education?
I think I have become more democratic. More calm. Now I understand what to do. Although, on the other hand, there is a catastrophic lack of time to communicate with children ...
We see each other in the morning, although not for long (but a joint breakfast at 7.30 is a pleasant ritual), less often in the evenings: as a rule, when I come home, the children are already asleep. Only one day remains - Sunday.
You have a reliable rear - wife. It gives children what, perhaps, you do not have time?
Yes, Vika does a lot of them, almost completely leads all organizational work in schools, kindergartens, sections ... Rest, life, and much more - everything is on it. Of course, the main communication in children is with my mother. Well, often grandmothers are present - Vikina and my mother.
It is believed that the happiest children are those who grow up surrounded not only by their parents, but also by grandparents. That's right, in the love of two generations, and matured a full-fledged personality.
I agree with this. Indeed, there is a connection of generations, there is a transfer of information, maybe at some even fluid level, and I like it.
Tell me, what kind of a child were you? In what family did they grow up, in what atmosphere?
My childhood broke up in two stages: before the death of my father and after. I was 10 years old when he died. We had a very successful, correct rural family. My parents worked hard.
We, the children, had their own responsibilities in the home, we knew what strict discipline was. But at the same time we lived in nature, in such expanse!
From childhood I was responsible for myself and my younger brother, the difference with which is only a year and a half. He took him to the kindergarten, took it from there, constantly looked after him and felt responsible for him. After the death of my father, we lived with his grandmother for a year and two or two, because my mother and my older brother went to Chisinau, to our uncle and aunt. My brother needed to enter the university, to study.
That's when I realized what it's like to work really. My grandmother and I took 3.5 hectares of sunflowers and 3 hectares of corn and processed them all summer. I then earned the first money. I remember giving you more vegetable oil.
And when they moved to Chisinau, to my mother, it became easier?
Would not say. It was quite a difficult period. We lived on the outskirts, in cramped conditions. To feed three children, my mother worked for one and a half rates as a senior nurse in a psychiatric hospital. They paid more there, and so she pulled us out.
Did you try to avoid unnecessary complications?
I can not say that I was a problem child. Although he was not a good boy. But I studied quite successfully.
What subjects did you like? Still, more humanitarian: literature (loved to write essays), history, geography. It was easy and with pleasure.
Judging by your wonderful library, your love for literature has not passed.
The library is formed by trips, from each I bring something new, we order a lot on the Internet. If time allows, I can spend half a day in a bookshop, choosing novelties.
What are you reading right now?
Periodically successful policy of Sergei Tigipko absorb some directions. Now I got carried away by the eastern authors. It's interesting to dive into another world: Afghanistan, Turkey ... This is a completely different culture, life's foundations, which are not always clear to us. Often, because of this misunderstanding, we are trying to impose our positions with clumsy methods. This can not be done. I believe that through literature you learn tolerance, understanding.
And besides the literature, I'm fascinated by the author's cinema - for two years I sponsor retrospective shows of films in the style of arthouse.
I wonder why?
For the body, I like physical activities, and this, I believe, is a gymnastics for the soul and mind.
Do you discuss with someone read what you saw?
I can discuss with anyone. But I would not say that I need it. It's important for me to think things over. The fact is that with active life you feel a lack of personal freedom. I want to be alone, watch a movie, read a book. For me, this is much more important than talking.
I'm always sharing something, giving some energy. This is the lot of leaders. If you want to achieve something, the information must be transferred - you must always give it away. As a generator: in the morning you get a volume of energy, and during the day it is completely consumed.
And how much do you need to recover?
Six or seven hours is enough. But I need an hour in the middle of the day for sports. And necessarily a Sunday bath with a broom, a good steam. On Sunday morning it is necessary to take a walk with the children, make some shish kebabs with them, build a hut, weld an ear, go camping into the forest ... I worked for 3 years without holidays. This is enough for me. And if a vacation is an exotic, an island, a sea or a mountain, a forest? It's always something active. In the winter - skis, and with good loads. Most often after skiing I sleep, then I go to the gym. If summer is something related to water. In breaks - always reading, I'm picking up a suitcase of books on vacation.
Sergei Leonidovich, tell us about your wife. How did you meet?
We met at friends. I was married then. But there were feelings, then - relationships, and I divorced. Vika and I began to live together.
Is it difficult to radically change the way of life?
Highly. Especially when there seems to be no reason for this, there are no complaints about the previous family, his wife. But when feelings arise, then, I believe, they should be trusted. You need to live on the basis of what you feel. It is clear, there are also children, but today I already know for sure that it is possible to combine: good relations with children and, as they say, a new life. For men, however, there are certain rigid obligations: the first - to provide materially for the old family; the second is to keep the relationship with the children.
Life is so complicated and multifaceted! .. What at first seems a tragedy, then it turns out to be possible. Both for men and women. Of course, the gap is painful. Who passed through it, I think, hardly passed softly and easily. But, in the end, you understand that your decision is correct.
You are a romantic person?
Dreamer - for sure. Whatever I thought, at first I dream about it a lot, I think, I paint how it will be. A romantic is it? I do not know. Perhaps the second marriage allows you to say that yes.
Some of the men prefer to see in the wife a keeper of the hearth and mother of their children, and someone flattered when the wife took place as a professional, as a bright individuality. And your wife, what is it?
Despite the fact that Vika "closes" all the questions about the house, she is also a successful business man, has long been in business and is earning herself very well. She constantly generates ideas, and I see that she is interested in a fairly wide range. She is well versed in music - from classical and jazz to electronic and alternative. She is interested in art house cinema (I must say that she once planted me on him), she manages to go to film festivals and dreams of making her own.
Considering that her business is far from being female (construction, equipment, production), she is actively interested in new technologies, attends specialized exhibitions, and is looking for new topics. I think she knows how to create a busy life. She is easily trained, knows Italian, French, English, German. In general, the abilities are clearly present.
So there must be a person next to you?
I am convinced that a man should try to reveal the identity of a woman. And even if this person is obvious, support is still needed.
Tell me, Sergei Tigipko in the family and Sergei Tigipko at work, with colleagues and subordinates - are different people?
I do not think I'm very different. I allow myself the luxury of being as it is, natural. At work - first of all. I can not speak from the rostrum alone, but think differently. I do not get any populist things. And I'll tell you frankly: I do not want to break myself. I want to remain a whole person.
The only thing , at home I'm softer, of course. Because - children, rest. There is no such concentration on something, there is no hard regime. At me in day happens on 14-16 meetings, sometimes 4-5 interviews, moreover and direct ethers. So you need to keep yourself in a constant tone, under control. And only in the evening you relax a little. But I do not think that I change much.
Sergei Leonidovich, what can you do with your hands?
Once I laid bricks, I know how to drive a tank, I can cook, especially something from meat, more salads, eggs, eggs. By the speed of cooking potatoes, I'm generally a world champion. In the hostel I learned. What else? I can work very well with a shovel, I can work with an ax very well, I can work very well with a saw. I can shoot. The nail to kill - easily, the outlet to disassemble - elementary (I once worked part-time as an electrician in the hostel). He worked as a commandant, as a loader at a meat-packing plant, at a market-a student brigade unloaded watermelons and melons. That is, I have a lot behind my back.
And you can also be a mountain ski instructor and a tennis coach.
In tennis, I can suggest some things, I probably can, but this is already a theory. Now I'm not playing. My back started to hurt, and I realized that I did not like tennis so much that it affected my health. I switched - loaded my back, and now I feel fine, I do other sports and I get no less pleasure.
And skis are still fond of?
Yes, I love skis, I'm not afraid of any mountains.
Where do you go for a drive?
Was in many countries at ski resorts.
In Europe, the best skiing in Courchevel, and not because there are going to the oligarchs, but real! For those who like skiing, I think this is the best place in the Old World. But the most wonderful skating was in America, in Aspen. The most magnificent descents are very wide, tall, long. True, it's very cold.
And if you choose: cold or warm?
Heat.
Whiskey or wine?
In the winter - whiskey, in the summer - wine.
Cat or dog? Dog.
A lark or an owl?
I do not know ... Somewhere in the middle. Some morning owl, or I do not know what to call it.
February 13, 2010 you turn 50 years old. Usually it's common to sum up the jubilee.
In fact, I was born on February 14, on Valentine's Day. But it turned out that they wrote me a day earlier.
And about the anniversary ... There will be no results, I'm still not interested in letting them down. Because I'm on the march, I'm still at work and I'm not going to leave. I'll start making the results in 80 years. And before that time I will work actively. Where I can be useful. I see what can be done in the country, and I know how to do it, unlike many, by the way. The most important is that my work should be effective, so that the work will produce results so that Ukraine is competitive, modern, successful.
I feel completely self-sufficient and confident in the correctness of what I'm doing.