In what year did Evdokimov crash. The death and funeral of Mikhail Evdokimov

Mikhail Evdokimov is a Soviet and Russian artist who performs in the parody genre and also reads humorous monologues. In addition, Mikhail Evdokimov is also familiar to the public as a singer, actor and TV presenter. The artist also started political career and even realized as a politician, becoming the fourth Governor Altai Territory.

Mikhail Sergeevich Evdokimov was born in December 1957 in Novokuznetsk (at that time Stalinsk) Kemerovo region. He grew up in a family of simple workers who, in order to feed and raise seven children, worked hard. My father was a laborer, my mother spent her whole life in the mine.

When Mikhail was one year old, the family moved to the village of Verkh-Obskoye, in the Altai Territory. Mikhail Evdokimov considered him his real homeland. Here he spent his childhood and youth. In Verkh-Obsky, he graduated from high school, after which he entered the Barnaul Cultural and Educational School, where he chose the balalaika department. To get a working specialty, Evdokimov completed a 4-week course for grinders and went to earn money at the Altai Motor Plant.

After army service in Nizhny Tagil, Mikhail Evdokimov worked for a year as the artistic director of a rural house of culture. And in 1979 he became a student at the Novosibirsk Institute of Trade. Here the artistic talent of this Altai nugget shone in full force. Soon, a charming red-haired guy was chosen as the captain of the KVN institute team. Here Evdokimov finally realized what he would like to do all his life.

To make a career and not waste time, Mikhail Evdokimov went to the capital. Here he made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the circus variety school, after which he returned home and completed his studies at a trade university. But the dream of becoming an artist has not disappeared. Therefore, in 1983, Mikhail Sergeevich again went to Moscow. And the capital accepted him: Evdokimov was taken to the regional philharmonic society as an artist of the conversational genre.

Humor and creativity

The artist's debut took place on Women's Day - March 8, 1984. Mikhail Sergeevich first appeared on the screen in the festive concert "Spark". From that moment on, his career developed rapidly. A few months later, the humorist was invited to the program “Around Laughter”. After several speeches, the whole country knew who Mikhail Evdokimov was.

For several years, the colorful comedian made people laugh with his parodies and hilarious monologues in the Around Laughter program. The most popular was the cycle “Village Stories”, or “Village Stories”, in which Mikhail Evdokimov appeared on the stage as a simple village guy from the people. He told funny cases about going to the baths, about hunting, fishing and ordinary problems faced by the villagers.

A distinctive feature of Mikhail Evdokimov's performances was a simple living language and an abundance of vernacular and dialecticisms - the artist sacrificed the literary character of speech for the sake of stage image. At the same time, the author's monologues of the humorist turned out to be so close to the audience that they instantly diverged into quotes and turned into sayings and aphorisms that people who are not familiar with the work of Mikhail Evdokimov mistake for village folklore.

In this regard, the audience was especially fond of the humorous monologue “After the Bath”, which Evdokimov reads on behalf of a citizen who got into the police. For example, the phrases “it’s not red itself, but its muzzle is red”, “melons-melons-melons”, “oh, I don’t know what to tell”, “my head dries itself after the bath”, “I’m going, I’m not touching anyone”, “ the mood all fell”, “reusable paddle” came into circulation precisely after they were said from the stage by Mikhail Evdokimov.

At the very end of the 1980s, Mikhail Sergeevich, who always dreamed of getting a higher theater education, entered GITIS. He continued to perform. Not one could do without him holiday concert which was broadcast by central TV channels.

In the early 1990s, a cinematic biography of Mikhail Evdokimov began. For 10 years he starred in 7 films. The most striking and memorable of them are “I don’t want to get married”, “Should we send a messenger?” and "About businessman Foma".

In the same years, it turned out that the artist was also talented in music. Evdokimov released records with his songs. The best of them are called “We must live”, “Get off, bad life!”, “House by the road” and “Countrymen”.

But the main thing in the work of Mikhail Sergeevich was the colloquial genre and parodies. In 1992, the artist founded the Evdokimov Theater. For 12 years he was its permanent leader. In 1994, Mikhail Evdokimov was awarded the title of Honored Artist of Russia.

Politics

Mikhail Sergeevich Evdokimov first thought about the career of a politician in the mid-1990s. During these years he ran for State Duma from Barnaul. But get on political Olympus succeeded only in 2005. The artist became the head of the administration of the Altai Territory. As experts noted, Evdokimov used the familiar image of an “honest man” in his election program, proclaiming the phrase “Jokes aside!” as the slogan.

His main rival, the current governor of the Altai Territory, Alexander Surikov, lost to Evdokimov in the second round, calling the artist's victory "Schwarzenegger's syndrome."

The board of Mikhail Evdokimov is evaluated differently. Some experts argue that his approach to many of the problems that have accumulated in the region was unprofessional, so a crisis of power was outlined in Altai in a few years. In the spring of 2011, the regional council passed a vote of no confidence in Mikhail Evdokimov and his administration. The planned resignation had to be approved by the head of state.

There is another point of view. Evdokimov allegedly “stepped on” the well-established business interests of many representatives big business in Altai, including the destruction of drug trafficking, from which many representatives of the old government "feed".

Protracted conflict resolved unexpected death governor.

Personal life

The truth that the politician and the artist had not only a legal marriage surfaced after his death. The personal life of Mikhail Evdokimov hit the top news and was discussed for a long time in the yellow press after it turned out that he had two illegitimate children.

The eldest of illegitimate children is already adult daughter Anastasia, who chose journalism as her own path. The girl's family, as a result of the division of property after the death of Mikhail Evdokimov, was able to prove consanguinity and received an apartment on Rublyovka.

The youngest is the son of Daniel, born in 2004, whose mother was the black model Inna Belova.

Officially, the artist got married only once. His wife was Galina Nikolaevna Evdokimova. In this marriage, a daughter, Anna, was born. But, as it turned out, Mikhail Sergeevich had two secret romance. Nadezhda Zharkova gave birth to another daughter, Anastasia. And the dark-skinned Russian model Inna Belova became the mother of Evdokimov's only son, Daniel.

Death

On August 7, 2005, Mikhail Evdokimov's car crashed in an accident on the Biysk-Barnaul highway, which subsequently caused the death of the artist. The official cause of the tragedy was that the driver lost control and the Mercedes went into a ditch. The driver, the guard and Evdokimov himself died on the spot. Galina's wife survived with multiple injuries.

The funeral of the 48-year-old artist and politician took place in the native village of Mikhail Evdokimov, Verkh-Obskoye.

A criminal case was opened on the fact of the accident. Law enforcement officers and observers became suspicious that the incident was an accident, although officials in the first days after the accident completely denied any possibility that the tragedy was deliberately set up.

This theory has some circumstantial evidence. Firstly, shortly before the accident, Mikhail Evdokimov, after a conflict with the regional internal affairs bodies, lost his escort vehicles. Secondly, the governor himself, shortly before his death, told his relatives: he knows that he will soon be killed. The wife and children of Mikhail Evdokimov also spoke out in favor of this theory.

However, the investigation did not consider the version of a rigged accident and, moreover, did not begin to look for motives for such an action. Although journalists and a number of politicians expressed the idea that Mikhail Evdokimov thoroughly crossed the path of one of his colleagues with his fight against corruption and drug trafficking from neighboring Kazakhstan.

In memory of this tragedy, the film crew of the detective series Citizen Chief in the third season showed a plot that was clearly based on this accident, albeit with a note that all coincidences are coincidental. In the series, the characters are investigating the death in an accident of the governor with the consonant surname Akimov.

Concerts are also regularly held in memory of the artist. In December 2017, a concert was held in the Siberia Concert Hall in Barnaul in honor of Mikhail Evdokimov's 60th birthday.

Filmography

• 1986-1987 - "The Koloboks are investigating"
• 1991 - "Memories of the Cow March"
• 1993 - "About businessman Foma"
• 1993 - “I don’t want to get married!”
• 1996 - "Full House and Co"
• 1997 - "Don't play the fool"
• 1998 - “Should we send a messenger?”
• 2000 - "Old nags"

Monologues

• 1987 - "After the bath"
• 1988 - "Mother-in-law"
• 1991 - "Our whole life is a parody"
• 1991 - "Broad Soul"
• 1997 - "Love"
• 1999 - "Debt"
• 1999 - "The Case"
• 2001 - "For ducks"
• 2001 - "Discrimination"
• 2001 - "Sobriety Day"
• 2002 - "No time to live"
• 2002 - "Joker"
• 2003 - "Grandfather"
• 2003 - "At night"
• 2003 - "Inventor"

According to the preliminary version, the accident occurred due to the fault of the driver of the official Mercedes of the governor: he violated a number of rules traffic, including significantly exceeded the speed. While avoiding a collision with a Toyota Sprinter, the car went into a ditch and crashed into a tree.

There was no traffic police escort next to the governor's car, as well as flashing beacons on the Mercedes. As Mikhail Evdokimov admitted in an interview with RG, he "couldn't get used to driving with flashing lights." But, as the inhabitants of the region know, he preferred fast driving: a Mercedes-500 with a state number "O 100 OO", which he inherited from the previous head of the region, moved along the highway at a speed of about 200 kilometers per hour. The governor left his native village of Verkh-Obskoye for the village of Polkovnikovo - there were to be held festive events dedicated to the 70th anniversary of cosmonaut German Titov. The tragedy occurred 15 kilometers from the village of Zonalnoe, at the crossroads of the highway. At about 11 am local time, the driver Ivan Zuev, before turning to the village of Pleshkovo, began to overtake the Toyota Sprinter. However, the Toyota turned left at the crossroads, and in order to avoid a collision, the governor's driver was also forced to sharply turn the steering wheel. As a result, the Mercedes, hitting the Toyota on a tangent, flew into a ditch at great speed (according to eyewitnesses, it flew about 20 meters over the roadside without even crushing the grass) and crashed into an old birch with its engine compartment. The airbags deployed along the perimeter of the car, but they were torn apart by a powerful blow.

The driver and bodyguard (seven business trips to Chechnya, the father of a three-month-old son), sitting in front, died on the spot. Mikhail Evdokimov also died immediately - as it was later established, his cervical vertebrae were broken.

Only Galina Evdokimova, who was sitting behind the driver, survived - she had fractures of both legs. The man who was driving a Toyota Sprinter (five were driving in this car, including two children), stopped and tried to help the victims. However, he was unable to open the doors of the Mercedes, which were jammed by the impact.

AT operational services in the first seconds after the accident, calls from eyewitnesses began to arrive - the Barnaul-Biysk highway is very busy. They also provided the license plate number of the damaged vehicle. Ten cars immediately drove to the scene from Biysk: rescuers, " Ambulance", UGPS, as well as the police, the FSB and the prosecutor's office. A helicopter from the Center for Disaster Medicine arrived a little later. Galina Evdokimova was hardly evacuated from the car and was taken to the hospital in the village of Zonalnoe in an ambulance. A few hours later, when it became clear that her life nothing threatens, she was sent by helicopter to the city hospital of Barnaul No. 1. Now the state of the governor's widow is characterized as "stably grave."

Only at about five o'clock in the evening, local time, the rescuers got the body of Mikhail Evdokimov out of the wrecked Mercedes and sent him to Barnaul by helicopter. It took another two hours to extract the corpses of the driver and the guard - they were taken to the regional center by road. The operational-investigative group, which includes employees of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Siberian Federal District, as well as the Department of the Prosecutor General's Office, continued to work at the crash site until late in the evening. A criminal case has been initiated under Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Violation of traffic rules resulting in the death of two or more persons).

The investigation of the tragic incident was taken under personal control by the presidential envoy in the Siberian federal district Anatoly Kvashnin. To find out in detail the causes of the tragedy, members of a specially created commission headed by Lyubov Burda, deputy plenipotentiary representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Siberian Federal District, left for the Altai Territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday sent a telegram of condolences to the Altai Territory. In particular, it says: "The death of Mikhail Sergeyevich is an irreparable loss for his family and friends, for everyone who knew and highly appreciated this bright, talented and charming person." Also yesterday, the head of the presidential administration, Dmitry Medvedev, who is spending his vacation in Altai, visited the wife of Mikhail Evdokimov, Galina, in the hospital.

After the first reports of the death of the governor, a flurry of calls hit the media and the regional administration. The catastrophe gave rise to many rumors in the Altai Territory. Versions have appeared that the death of Governor Yevdokimov was not an ordinary traffic accident. The press service of the administration of the Altai Territory was even forced to make an official statement and explain that Mikhail Evdokimov died in an accident that was not rigged. Indeed, so far there is no reason to believe that Evdokimov's death was the result of someone's malicious intent.

The confrontation between Mikhail Evdokimov and the legislative branch of power began immediately after the inauguration of the new governor. Mikhail Evdokimov did not live up to the expectations of the local elite, depriving many of its representatives of the high posts they previously held. Therefore, any of his miscalculations resulted in repeated scandals at meetings of the Council people's deputies. In the spring of this year, for example, the deputies twice - in March and in April - assessed the work of the administration with a "deuce" and passed votes of no confidence to Yevdokimov and his team. In May, a new vice-governor, Mikhail Kozlov, came to Evdokimov's administration, and at the same time, the restructuring of the bureaucracy began. Evdokimov even offered to resign in May to all members of his administration (since the deputies were twice dissatisfied with the work of his team) in order to start anew the formation of the regional government. At the same time, Evdokimov invited the deputies to participate in the creative process, however, Alexander Nazarchuk said that "the regional Council did not participate in any activities related to the formation new administration under the leadership of Mikhail Sergeevich Evdokimov, will not participate.

In the meantime, the duties of the governor are entrusted to Mikhail Evdokimov's deputy, Mikhail Kozlov. He already had telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin. Kozlov also discussed the current situation with the head of the presidential administration.

The last appearance of Mikhail Evdokimov among ordinary residents was sport games in his homeland in the village of Verkh-Obskoye, which took place at the very end of last month. On the evening of July 31, Evdokimov sang for about 40 minutes for fellow villagers and guests of the holiday at the rural stadium.

Last night, at a meeting in the regional administration, a funeral commission was created. So far, it has been tentatively decided that the civil memorial service will take place on Tuesday, August 9th. The place of burial will be coordinated with the relatives of Mikhail Evdokimov - it is possible that his grave will be in Verkh-Obsky.

By the way

Mikhail Evdokimov became the fourth head of the region who died tragically in recent history Russia. On April 28, 2002, the Governor died in a plane crash. Krasnoyarsk Territory Alexander Lebed. October 18, 2002 on Novy Arbat hitman shot the governor of the Magadan region Valentin Tsvetkov. On August 20, 2003, a helicopter crashed in Kamchatka, on board of which was the governor of Sakhalin, Igor Farkhutdinov.

Valery Chikov,
screenwriter, director:

Did Mikhail Evdokimov and I discuss his entry into politics? Would this tragedy have happened if he had not left the stage? .. Firstly, you can’t escape fate. And secondly, with such a scale of personality, it became a bit crowded for him on the stage.

A man is interested in passion. It doesn't matter if it's cards, football, women or hunting... He also had a passion - football. And cinema. Because he grew up in countryside. And when the film was brought to the village, it was a real holiday, a whole breakthrough into another world. In one village he watches, say, Gaidai's comedy, the projectionist transports it to another, Misha gets on a bicycle and rolls after him ... This boyish love lived in him all the time.

In my films "About businessman Foma", "Shouldn't we send ... a messenger" and "Don't play the fool" Mikhail Evdokimov played his main film roles and made his debut as a film actor. In the film "About Businessman Foma" he played a rural machine operator who decided to step into capitalism along with all of Russia, but his whole business was destroyed and burned. It was a parable story about how new economic relations enter our lives like a hunched freak. Then we shot the second picture "Don't play the fool" with him, as a man went to catch logs, and fished out a barrel of alcohol. He threw a holiday in his village, the men went on a spree, fought, - again they burned everything. In the third film, Should We Send Us... a Messenger, Yevdokimov's hero, a bankrupt farmer, goes to the president to talk with him about how to equip Russia. As a result, he picks up a homeless boy at the crossroads and brings home to his wife. That is, the moral result of his trip is just to pick up an orphan... There were other plans. Far. He said: "Come to Altai, let's make a movie. I will act for free - I can’t pay for money, I now hold an administrative position ..." I promised: Misha, I'll be free now, and we will definitely do something ... But see how it all turned out...

In the film "About businessman Foma" Vitaly Leonov played with him. Vitaly Leonov has died. We phoned my wife, found out where he was buried, went with Misha to the cemetery. It was in the spring. Misha was not yet such a megastar, but people already recognized him. We crawled along this cemetery, got dirty, could not find Vitaly Leonov's mound - the graves there are numbered like hell ... We go out onto the paved path, suddenly we see - a monument to Andrei Sakharov. And we stand with flowers, knee-deep in clay. Misha then says: "Valera, next time we'll bring Vitalik, let's put it here." We stood, kept silent, went to the car ... Now Misha himself has to carry the flowers ...

He lived, and I knew that if someone had a misfortune, he would never refuse to help his friends. His people sometimes let him down, sometimes even betrayed him, but he could forgive weakness - to come down to understanding, to be higher ... An absurd, insulting and incredible loss.

On Sunday, August 7, Governor of the Altai Territory Mikhail Evdokimov with his wife, driver Ivan Zuev and security guard Alexander Ustinov were driving from the village of Verkh-Obskoye (Smolensky District) to the village of Polkovnikovo (Kosikhikhinsky District) to the homeland of cosmonaut No. 2 German Titov. The tragedy occurred at the turn to the village of Pleshkovo (Zonal district), 29 km from Biysk.

11.10 . According to the official version, Evdokimov's Mercedes is on high speed(180–200 kilometers per hour) went to overtake the Toyota Sprinter Marino. The Toyota driver began to turn left, not yet seeing the governor's car. "Mercedes", dodging "Toyota", tangentially hooked her left side and flew off into a ditch. Having flown 20-25 meters in the air, the car hit the ground and crashed into a birch. When the car fell, a hole was formed half a meter deep. The governor, driver and bodyguard died instantly. The governor's wife survived with broken legs and other injuries.

An ambulance of the central regional hospital of the Zonal district received a call from the scene. It was reported that the wounded Galina Evdokimova was in the car. A hospital paramedic and a driver drove to the scene of the tragedy in an ambulance. The paramedic then reported the patient to the Altai Regional Center for Disaster Medicine.

11.30. The ambulance arrived at the scene of the tragedy. The paramedic Svetlana Lapshina declared the death of the governor, the driver and the security guard, stopped the traumatic shock, and performed the primary surgical treatment of the damaged parts of the body of Galina Nikolaevna Evdokimova.

11.40. The governor's wife was transported to the Zonal Central District Hospital. Here further inspection was carried out and specialized assistance was provided.

13.44. The Mi-8PS helicopter (governor's cabin helicopter) with the doctors of the regional center for disaster medicine on board flew to the village of Zonalnoe.

14.33 . The pilots picked up the appropriate landing site, dropped off the doctors. After that, the pilots received a command to fly to Belokurikha. There they were supposed to take on board Dmitry Medvedev, the head of President Putin's administration, who was vacationing there. While already over the Belokurikha heliport, the pilots received a message that Medvedev would not fly on this side, but would leave the resort as part of a motorcade. The helicopter returned to Zonal.

15.30. Free Course journalists arrived at the scene of the tragedy. The body of Mikhail Evdokimov, covered with a blanket over his head, lay on a stretcher next to the wrecked car. Vice-governors Mikhail Kozlov and Alexei Sarychev, who were at the scene of a car accident, in violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation, arbitrarily banned video and photography and ordered the journalists to be removed from the cordon line.

At five o'clock in the evening Evdokimov's body was loaded into an ambulance and taken to Barnaul. After that, for another hour, the bodies of the driver and the guard were removed from the car.

16.40 . The helicopter with Galina Evdokimova on board, accompanied by doctors from the regional disaster medicine center, landed near the village of Belmesevo, which is located near Barnaul. The helicopter with the patient was met by the staff of the regional hospital on the reanimobile. After that, Galina Evdokimova was taken to the Altai Territory clinical hospital, where she was met by the chairman of the health committee Oleg Krivolutsky and the head of the neurosurgical department of the hospital Dmitry Dolzhenko.

Around 19.00 On the same day, Oleg Krivolutsky reported that Galina Nikolaevna was conscious. Her condition is serious, but stable and controlled. Refusing to talk about the time needed to restore the woman's well-being, the chairman of the regional health committee paid tribute to the clear and efficient work of the doctors of the Zonal Central District Hospital, the regional center for disaster medicine.

8 august

The region was preparing to say goodbye to Mikhail Evdokimov. Boards with a portrait of the tragically deceased governor and the dates of his birth and death were mounted on the Barnaul Square of the Soviets. Employees of the administration of the city of Barnaul were preparing the Palace of Sports for the funeral ceremony. On the first floor of the regional administration building, a portrait of Mikhail Evdokimov is installed in a mourning frame, flowers are placed next to it. Late in the evening it became known that on August 9 to say goodbye dead governor Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives.

10.00. People began to run into the Sports Palace. Until that time, the leaders of the administration of the region and the city had already said goodbye to the governor. With intelligence officers in the morning on the square. Sakharov was instructed: how to organize the flow of people, which streets to block ... Policemen blocked the entrances of nearby houses to prevent unauthorized persons from entering them.

Approximately around 10 am it became known that a large delegation of famous Russian actors, sportsmen, businessmen. Among them were Oleg Mityaev, Radik Shakirov, Vladimir Vinokur, Regina Dubovitskaya, Alexander Mikhailov, Anatoly Zabolotsky, Sergey and Elena Makarov, Vladimir Litvinov, Lev Leshchenko, Alexander Dostman, Alexander Marshal, Alexander Pankratov-Cherny, Vladimir Semikin, Alexey Prudnikov, Evgeny Lovchev.

Vice-governors Anatoly Polonsky, Sergei Shabalin, Mikhail Kozlov, Alexei Sarychev, Bishop of Altai and Barnaul Maxim, as well as all heads of the regional administration departments, laid wreaths at the coffin of Mikhail Evdokimov. Also present at the Sports Palace were the brother of the late Konstantin with his wife and the daughter of Mikhail Sergeevich Anna.

10.30. The line of people on the street near the Sports Palace has already stretched to the Yaroslavna store on Socialist Avenue. Nothing frightened people: neither the heat, nor the long standing in line. By 3 p.m. there were 15,000 people on the street. To get to the coffin of the governor, one had to stand in line for at least two hours in the terrible heat. Many became ill. People approached two ambulances that were on duty on the square named after. Sakharov, measured the pressure, sniffed ammonia and ... returned to the queue.

15.19. The plane of Russian President Vladimir Putin landed at the Barnaul airport.

15.53. The President entered the Sports Palace, where the farewell ceremony for Mikhail Yevdokimov was taking place. With a bouquet of red carnations, he went to the coffin of the governor and laid flowers. Then he expressed condolences to his family and friends, talked with the daughter of Mikhail Sergeyevich. And at 15.56 he left the Sports Palace, from where he went to a meeting with the chairman of the regional council of people's deputies Alexander Nazarchuk and acting. First Vice-Governor of the Altai Territory Mikhail Kozlov.

Closer to 16.00 the leadership of the region decided to extend the civil memorial service until 18.00 - the flow of people did not stop.

16.30. President Vladimir Putin went to the regional clinical hospital, where he visited the governor's widow Galina Yevdokimova.

18.20. Carried out of the Palace of Sports closed coffin with the body of Mikhail Evdokimov and put it on a pedestal. The funeral cortege, accompanied by buses and cars of relatives and officials, headed to the village of Verkh-Obskoye.

Along the way funeral cortege people go out to meet him, throw flowers on the road. Before everyone locality The cortege slows down to 20 km/h, and at intervals moves at a speed of 80 km/h.

22.40. In Biysk, people saw off the governor with flowers, candles and lanterns in their hands. The cortege made only one short stop - at the entrance to the city. Before that, there was one more stop - at the turn to the village of Pleshkovo, where Mikhail Evdokimov died.

23.50. The cortege with the coffin of Mikhail Evdokimov arrived at small homeland governor - to the village of Verkh-Obskoye.

Anatoly Kvashnin, Plenipotentiary Representative of the President in the Siberian Federal District, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, Governor Novosibirsk region Victor Tolokonsky, Governor of the Kemerovo Region Aman Tuleev, State Duma Deputy Nikolai Kharitonov, Evdokimov's colleagues in the acting department.

8.52. From the house where Mikhail Sergeevich lived, they carried out the body. Only close people said goodbye to him: friends, relatives. There are about 300 people in total.

9.05 . The coffin with the body was carried to the village stadium. The column of mourners with flowers in their hands stretched for almost three kilometers.

10.15. The funeral service for Mikhail Evdokimov began at the stadium. The funeral service was served by Bishop Maxim of Barnaul and Altai.

10.19 . The funeral rally began. The first to speak were presidential envoy Anatoly Kvashnin and artist Valery Zolotukhin.

On Sunday, the governor of the Altai Territory, former pop artist Mikhail Evdokimov, crashed in a car accident. The Mercedes, in which the governor and his wife, his driver Ivan Zuev and bodyguard Alexander Ustinov were, crashed into a tree on the Biysk-Barnaul highway. All of them, except for the wife of the governor, Galina Evdokimova, died on the spot. The press secretary of the deceased head of the region, Nikolai Pimenov, has already stated that what happened was "an accident and nothing more." However, the tragedy could have been provoked, including political reasons. Perhaps it was because of them that the governor was not so long ago deprived of the escort vehicles of the traffic police and security.

On Sunday morning, Mikhail Evdokimov was heading from his native village of Verkh-Obskoye to the village of Polkovnikovo for celebrations in honor of the 70th anniversary of cosmonaut German Titov. The governor left late - this was one of the reasons that his driver was in a hurry. Evdokimov preferred to drive a cocoa-colored Mercedes-500. The 1995 car was in excellent condition. During trips through the fields of the region, the heads of the districts on the "Volga" always lagged behind the governor's cortege. This time the Mercedes was flying at about 200 km/h. The regional traffic police have already stated that the governor's driver grossly violated the rules of the road: despite the continuous dividing line, he went to overtake the Toyota Marino Sprinter.

For some reason (presumably there was another car in the oncoming lane, and the driver was trying to maneuver to avoid a collision), the Mercedes hit the Toyota, and then threw it off the road. The governor's car flew through the air for another 10-15 m - the grass in this place was not even flattened - and then crashed into a birch standing on the side of the road with all its might. The impact was so strong that the deployed airbags burst.

Evdokimov, who was sitting in the back seat on the right, died instantly - from a fracture of the cervical vertebrae. Immediately killed and the driver with a bodyguard. Galina Evdokimova, who was sitting behind the driver, received broken legs and spent several hours next to dead husband, sandwiched in a mangled car. All the passengers of the Toyota, which was overtaken by the governor's driver, survived. It was they who called the ambulance and the police. Rescuers took more than 6 hours to remove the bodies of the dead from the car.

As Izvestia found out, the accident could have been provoked not only by the driver's violation of traffic rules. A few days before the tragedy, the traffic police escort vehicles were taken away from Evdokimov, just designed to "clear" the road in front of the governor's car and exclude the possibility of traffic accidents. Officially, the leadership of the Internal Affairs Directorate did not motivate their decision in any way. Yesterday acting The governor of the region, Mikhail Kozlov, has already stated that the deprivation of the governor of escort vehicles by the leadership of the regional police department was "unmotivated."

What could actually be the reasons why the governor was deprived of escort vehicles? As an assumption, the next version is being actively discussed. At the end of July, the head of the Internal Affairs Directorate, Vladimir Valkov, was summoned to Moscow, where, according to unofficial information, he was offered to leave his post. Evdokimov did not intercede for Valkov. Maybe, the real reason there was a personal insult - in any case, it was after Valkov's return from Moscow that Evdokimov no longer saw the escort vehicles.

According to Izvestia, Evdokimov was very nervous about this. According to people from his entourage, for the last two weeks he lived in suspense and constantly demanded that the Internal Affairs Directorate return his escort vehicles to him. Whether it was a premonition, now it's impossible to know. The story of the governor's escort was loudly discussed among the political elite of Barnaul, but then it was regarded as another amusing detail in the complex picture of the relationship between the branches of regional power (as Izvestia repeatedly wrote, there was a sharp conflict between the governor and the deputies of the regional parliament).

At the time of the accident, there were no traffic police cars next to Evdokimov's car either. Head of the Federation Council Committee on CIS Affairs, former governor Leningrad region, Vadim Gustov called this fact strange. "The governor's car ... should be accompanied by a traffic police car. The governor is a statesman, and the loss of such people costs the state dearly," he told INTERFAX. Most of the governors of the Russian regions are accompanied by traffic police officers.

Another detail: according to Mikhail Kozlov, the same head of the regional police department a week ago ordered to deprive the governor of his bodyguards. Previously, bodyguards created a two-three-meter "exclusion zone" around the governor. But during the recent Shukshin readings, the impossible happened: some drunken citizen easily got to Evdokimov and grabbed his hand. He wanted to shake hands with the governor.

Within two weeks, President Vladimir Putin will have to decide on the candidacy of the new governor of the region. But so far, people in the region are so shocked by what happened that there is no speculation in near-political circles on the topic of who could become Mikhail Evdokimov's successor. Apparently, there is no answer to this question in the Kremlin either - it was assumed that the problem with the controversial governor would be dealt with closer to winter.

Mikhail Evdokimov's funeral is likely to take place on August 10. So far, neither the place nor the time of farewell to the governor has been precisely determined. Former colleague Yevdokimov Evgeny Petrosyan commented on the tragedy yesterday: “I don’t know if it’s fate or deliberate circumstances. At least for everyone with whom I managed to talk, what happened does not fit in with the natural course of events.”

Evdokimov had the opportunity to leave the Altai Territory

Mikhail Sergeevich Evdokimov was born in the city of Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Region, on December 6, 1957. However, the village of Verkh-Obskoye in the Smolensk region of the Altai Territory, where he spent his childhood, was always considered his native. Evdokimov started working at the Altai Motor Plant.

Finished after the army Siberian University consumer cooperatives, specialty "economist-manager". However, instead of an economist, he became a stage actor.

One of his most famous characters is "a man - a red muzzle." Evdokimov said that he came up with the image of a peasant after talking with the inhabitants of his native village. Evdokimov regularly appeared in the Full House program until he was elected governor of the Altai Territory in 2004. His election campaign was held under the slogan "Jokes aside!". Evdokimov was one of the last popularly elected governors.

His relations with the regional parliament did not immediately develop. This year, the Altai Territory experienced one of the most acute political crises, during which the regional deputies expressed their distrust of him. Based on the decision of the deputies, Russian President Vladimir Putin had the right to dismiss Governor Yevdokimov. However, after lengthy consultations in the Kremlin, Mikhail Evdokimov remained at the head of the region.

The Governor is survived by his wife and daughter.

The mayor of Barnaul also died in a car accident

The tragedy of Governor Yevdokimov is not the first such case in the region. On March 22, 2002, Barnaul Mayor Vladimir Bavarin died on the Barnaul-Gorno-Altaisk highway. The Mayor's Range Rover skidded off the slippery highway during a sharp turn and veered off the road despite high concrete blocks. The car fell on the roof, Vladimir Bavarin received injuries incompatible with life. He died two hours after the accident. With him, as with Governor Evdokimov, at that moment his wife was in the car. She stayed alive. No results of the investigation into this matter were made public.

Governors fight

At least nine governors have already been in car accidents of varying severity: Yevgeny Nazdratenko, Vasily Bochkarev, Nikolai Fedorov, Mikhail Mashkovtsev, Alexander Khloponin, Boris Zolotarev, Nikolai Vinogradov, Nikolai Denin, Yuri Evdokimov. Some car accidents were accompanied by numerous victims. The motorcades of Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matvienko and Secretary of the Security Council Vladimir Rushailo turned out to be participants in major accidents.

The original of this material
© "Kommersant", 08.08.2005, Mikhail Evdokimov left the track. The driver of the governor beheaded the Altai Territory

Deaths of heads of regions

April 28, 2002 head of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Alexander Lebed died in a plane crash. In the Yermakovsky district, a Mi-8 helicopter with the governor, his assistants and journalists collided with a power line pylon during landing and crashed to the ground. Eight people died. On January 6, 2004, the Krasnoyarsk Regional Court found guilty of "violating the rules of traffic safety and operation of air transport" Mi-8 commander Takhir Akhmerov and co-pilot Alexei Kurilovich. They were sentenced respectively to four and three years of probation. In July 2004 Supreme Court dismissed the complaint of Mr. Akhmerov. In April 2005, the Krasnoyarsk Regional Court cleared Mr. Kurilovich's conviction.

October 18, 2002 in Moscow on Novy Arbat Governor of the Magadan region Valentin Tsvetkov shot dead. The version about the connection between the murder and conflicts in the distribution of profits from the capture of marine biological resources is recognized as the main one. In April and July 2003, the alleged organizers of the murder, Artur Anisimov and Sergei Filipenko, were detained, according to the investigation, they "protected" the fishing enterprises on Far East. After the term of detention limited by the Code of Criminal Procedure expired, the accused Filipenko was released on bail, and Artur Anisimov in December 2004 was sentenced by the Presnensky Court of Moscow to three years in prison for another crime - fraud. In December 2004, a resident of Vladivostok was arrested Saratov region Masis Akhunts, who is considered an assistant to the perpetrator of the murder. Four more people are on the federal wanted list.

August 20, 2003 Governor killed in plane crash Sakhalin region Igor Farkhutdinov. Mi-8 of the Kamchatka helicopter airline "Khalaktyr Airlines" crashed on the western coast of the peninsula on the way to Severo-Kurilsk. Another 13 leaders of the region, three businessmen and three crew members were also killed. The cause of the disaster is the actions of high-ranking passengers, who forced the pilots to deviate from the course. As a result of the inspection by the commission of the Ministry of Transport, flight certificates were canceled not only for Khalaktyr Airlines, but also for two other Kamchatka airlines.

August 17, 2004 on vacation in Sochi head died of a heart attack Astrakhan region Anatoly Guzhvin. Returning to the room from the volleyball court, he felt unwell, an ambulance was called. Arriving doctors pronounced him dead.

May 9, 2004 President killed in terror attack at Dynamo Stadium in Grozny Chechen Republic Akhmat Kadyrov. The explosion thundered on the central tribune of the stadium during a concert on the occasion of the Victory Day. The chairman of the State Council of Chechnya, Khusein Isaev, and seven other people were also killed. On November 8, 2004, the organizer of the murder was killed by the security service of the President of Chechnya and the republican OMON in the village of Shamil-Yurt, Vedensky district. field commander Suleiman Ilmurzaev (Khairulla).

Evdokimov Mikhail Sergeevich

Born on December 6, 1957 in the city of Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Region. Father, Sergei Vasilyevich, is a worker. Mother, Anna Petrovna, was born in 1924, worked at the mine. Six brothers and sisters. In 1958, the family moved to the village of Verkh-Obskoye in the Smolensk region of the Altai Territory. After graduating from school, Mikhail Evdokimov studied at a cultural and educational school, then worked as a grinder at the Altai Motor Plant, and as an administrator in the dining room. He served in the army in Nizhny Tagil. In 1978-1979, he served as artistic director of a rural house of culture in the village of Ust-Katun in the Smolensk region of the Altai Territory. In 1979 he entered the Novosibirsk Institute of Trade, was the captain of the KVN team. In 1981, he dropped out of school and left for Moscow, for which he was expelled from the institute. Subsequently, in the 2000s, he nevertheless graduated from the Institute of Trade, by that time renamed the Siberian University of Consumer Cooperatives (specialty - "economics and management at the enterprise").

In 1981, he unsuccessfully entered the Moscow Circus Variety School. In 1983 he was invited to the Moscow Regional Philharmonic as an artist of the conversational genre, and then to the Mosconcert. March 8, 1984 debuted on television in holiday program"Spark". Since 1989 he has been working in the concert and theater company "Music". Fame came to the artist in 1989 after participating in the television program "Full House". From 1992 to April 2004 he was the director of the Evdokimov Theater LLC. He starred in several films: "Game without trump cards" (1981), "I don't want to get married" (1993), "About businessman Foma" (1993), "Don't play the fool" (1997), "Should we send a messenger?" (1998), "Old Nags" (2000). He made author's programs "Enjoy Your Bath" ("Channel One"), "Mikhail Evdokimov in the circle of friends" ("Russia"), "Don't be bored!" ("Russia"), "We must live" (TVC).

In January 2004, he announced his participation in the elections of the governor of the Altai Territory, scheduled for March 14. On April 4, 2004, he won in the second round, receiving 49.53% against 46.29% from the current governor Alexander Surikov. On March 31, 2005, the local parliament passed a vote of no confidence in the governor and asked the president to remove Mikhail Evdokimov from office. However, Vladimir Putin advised the conflicting parties to reach an agreement.

National artist Russian Federation. Widow - Galina Nikolaevna, housewife. Daughter Anna graduated from the Moscow humanitarian University majoring in international tourism.