History, unfortunately, always remains an instrument of today's politics, and whoever controls the past controls both the present and the future. But time is inexorable. The current Third Great Russian Troubles, with its confusion, devastation, temporary leaders and eternal problems, with its bloody wars, disasters, coups and conspiracies, will also disappear into the past. The Great Troubles will be a thing of the past, but according to the immutable law of history, it will be invisibly present in the lives of all future generations of Russian people, just as it is present now. And is a simple and literate Russian person with his hopes, fears, joys and sorrows doomed to disappear into nothingness, leaving no trace for inquisitive descendants? Will no one really be interested in what thoughts overwhelmed a resident of Russia at the end of the 20th century, whether he had a soul not for official presentation, but for his own use? It seems that our descendants may turn out to be more inquisitive and kinder than we could count on in our unsettled and cruel times. It is to their attention that the relevant and witty aphorisms of Leonid Shebarshin are brought to their attention, which are interesting simply because their author headed the foreign intelligence of the KGB of the USSR for many years.