(3 of 7)
I was very upset. It was one thing for Mikoyan to be put in charge of the investigation, but how could this be set in motion so casually -- and in the presence of Podgorny, who after all was one of those mentioned as part of the plot?
A few days later, Mikoyan summoned Sergei and Galyukov to his apartment, where he greeted them coolly and ordered Sergei to take notes. Galyukov recounted his tale, adding that over the previous few days Ignatov had grown agitated because Khrushchev had not left yet for his vacation in the Crimean resort of Pitsunda. Galyukov's conclusion: the plot would begin in earnest while Khrushchev was away.
A heavy silence had fallen over the room. Mikoyan sat there thinking as though we weren't even there. Finally he turned to us. "Everything you've said is very important. You've shown yourself to be a genuine Communist . . . I want only to say that we also know Nikolai Viktorovich Podgorny, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, Alexander Nikolayevich Shelepin and other comrades as honest Communists who without even a shred of doubt have devoted all their strength to the good of our people, to the good of the Communist Party, and we continue to regard them as our comrades in arms in the common struggle." Seeing that I had put down my pen, Mikoyan snapped, "Take down what I just said!"
Galyukov in bewilderment looked at Mikoyan. There was fear in his eyes. Turning to me, Mikoyan concluded, "Write up your notes from this conversation and send it to me. I'm leaving for Pitsunda. You can bring the report there. Don't show it to anyone -- not to a single person. I will tell Nikita Sergeyevich about all of this, and we'll decide what to do."
The next morning, when I reached the last page of the report, I decided to omit Mikoyan's final declaration since it didn't fit with the overall tone. And then I went off on vacation. An hour or two after I got to my father's dacha, we went by Mikoyan's house to pick him up.
"I brought the report, Anastas Ivanovich," I said. "What should I do?" My father responded for Mikoyan: "When we get back, you give it to Anastas." Only much later did I figure out the cause of Father's attitude. He did not want to believe that such a thing could happen. These people who were accused had been friends of his for decades. If he couldn't trust them, whom could he trust? Besides, he was infinitely tired and had neither the strength nor the desire to get into a struggle for power.
I gave the report to Mikoyan. Later that night he asked me to come see him. In his bedroom he opened a wardrobe and, kneeling down, pulled out my report from under a big pile of clothes. "Everything's written down here correctly," he said. "Only add at the end my words about how we have complete confidence in, and no doubts whatsoever about, the honesty of Comrades Podgorny, Brezhnev and the others, and that we don't accept the idea < that any sort of separatist action on their part is possible. Sit down and write that."
He watched me write it out. When I finished, he said, "Now put your signature on it."
I was astonished. "Why? This isn't an official document."