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A. I was appointed as a deputy minister, thrown down from the ninth floor to the fourth floor of this building. About a day later, somebody turns up offering me privileged access and other products. I didn't let him take more than two steps inside my office. I said to him, "You're not to blame. I understand why you were sent to me, but I have principles. I am against such things. Don't ever come here again."
Of course, I have not refused all the privileges, to be quite honest. It is one thing to refuse foodstuffs, access to special stores and various services, but I have not refused an official car, a dacha, a small wooden house in the area where ministers reside and special health services. Among other ministers, nobody else has followed this example.
Q. What inner motivation drives you when you deal with all these issues?
A. It may seem trivial to you, but I really want us to have a state that is socially just. Really. And I want to fight for this.
Q. That is not trivial. Have you had this conviction since childhood?
A. Well, of course, but not as intensively as today. The feeling sharpened , over the course of time, as I started to learn more, as I came across wide polarities in living standards. So I am a fervent advocate of social justice. It is essential for the very moral and psychological climate of society. No special means are required, but sacrifices on the part of certain kinds of people are essential. We have to sacrifice ourselves. I don't consider this a slogan. Public interests are higher than personal interests. In a month I may be elected to the Congress of People's Deputies and would therefore no longer be a minister. Today I don't know where I will find work. This doesn't bother me. Things are easier in your country. A political figure may have his own farm, some capital, a factory -- and he is not afraid to abandon all this for a while -- and not even lose it, if he is elected to the Senate or the House of Representatives. He can work there for a while and then go back to his property. He feels quite safe. But I don't even have a ruble saved up.
Q. Was there something very striking that happened in your life that got you going on your present path?
A. There were a number of dramatic moments in my life. For example, I decided to travel all around the Soviet Union without a kopek in my pocket, just to see it. It was in 1952. I traveled and observed during the three summer months. To have a checkbook while traveling is one thing. It is quite another to own only a student card identifying me as a student of the Urals Polytechnical Institute. This taught me a lot, for instance, when I traveled on the roof of a railroad car without a ticket, when I spent the night in sheds with poor and homeless people. That is how I traveled, although it seems impossible to imagine.