Few Russian politicians commanded such respect. Few of them were seen off on their last journey with such sincere sorrow and a sense of irreparable loss. And few of them were called great citizens. Evgeny Maksimovich Primakov occupied the highest positions in the state, led the government and led the country out of a severe crisis. He headed foreign intelligence shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union and saved this intelligence service from destruction. He became Minister of Foreign Affairs and laid the foundations of the diplomacy of modern Russia. He was an academic, and he also carried out secret missions, each of which could serve as the plot for a spy novel. But the man whom everyone saw on television had nothing in common with the Primakov whom friends and family knew and loved. Writer Leonid Mlechin devoted many years to studying this bright, talented, extraordinary personality. He is even called “the official biographer of Primakov.” In this book, Evgeniy Maksimovich appears as he was in real life. And the author tries to answer the question that he considers the most important: why did Primakov not become the president of the country?