"I was drafted into the army at the very end of the war and soon took part in hostilities as part of the 13th motorized rifle regiment. After the Victory, fate was pleased to assign me to serve in a special purpose unit - a regiment for the protection of the Moscow Kremlin. Having fulfilled my duty soldier's duty, I continued to serve in the rank of officer. On Olympus of the communist gods from Stalin to Gorbachev, I had to see everything, which, by the way, I would not have thought of talking about, if not for the “memoir literature roaring on all corners. To separate the truth from the slander, the obvious.” It will be impossible to escape from the imaginary, as I think, until statesmen heed the warning: if you throw a stone at the past, it will shoot at you. Therefore, I want to protect the good past, and show the bad in its light, so that it can serve as a lesson to someone. And most importantly, my memories are based not only on personal impressions, but also on the stories of many silent servants of the Fatherland, who, due to their modesty, here too, wished to remain in the shadows. I bow my head to them, alive and gone to another world, and I ask the readers - don’t blame me!” Sergei Krasikov

Sergei Pavlovich Krasikov’s book “Near the Leaders” is unique in its own way. It explores the phenomenon of Kremlin leaders. This research is not speculative. It is based on the author’s personal experience, his knowledge of the lives of people behind the Kremlin wall. The motley gallery of communist leaders includes not only the top officials - Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, Gorbachev, but also their inner circle. Having set himself the task of separating truth from slander, defending everything good that happened, and condemning the vileness that caused the collapse of a great country, the author, without betraying his principles, dealt with it in his own way. And although one cannot agree with the author on everything, the book does not lose its brightness because of this, and this is, perhaps, its main advantage. The publication is widely illustrated with photographs from the archives of the author and many of his colleagues in the Kremlin service.