Viktor Mikhailovich Sukhodrev can rightfully be called a legendary, “general” translator. For almost forty years, he was a personal translator for the political leaders of our country: Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gromyko, Mikoyan, Kosygin, Gorbachev. During their negotiations with Nixon, Kennedy, Carter, Nasser, I. Gandhi and many other prominent world political figures, he personified the intelligence, culture and diplomatic flexibility of the Soviet leaders. The last component of the activity of the “chief translator of the country” is especially important, since not only the solution of many pressing issues in international relations, but also overall peace on the planet (for example, during the Cold War era) depended on what the first person of the state said. , days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, etc.). The author offers the reader his vision, so to speak from a close distance, of the powers that be of that time. He talks about what kind of people they were, about their strengths and weaknesses, habits, about the impression they made, how they behaved not only in an official setting, but also in an informal situation, what is said behind the scenes, about what they are distinguished from us mere mortals.