Galina, the only daughter of Brezhnev, was the apple of her father's apple. "Gałoczka," as he called her, ended up in a mental hospital as a deranged alcoholic.
She never dreamed of a party career. She was much more attracted to art. She even intended to become an actress, but papa wouldn't let her. Despite this, Galina spent her life among the Soviet bohemians and preferred artists to officials. She was the heroine of so many scandals that her father began to say: "With one eye I watch what is going on in the country, and with the other - Galina."
Men of the Kremlin princess
For the first time, Galina married in 1951 at the age of 22. Leonid Brezhnev was the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova. His daughter studied at the philology department of the State University of Chisinau. She met her husband when a traveling circus came to town. She went to the show and fell in love with the acrobat and strongman Yevgeny Milayev. He was a widower, 20 years her senior. He was raising three-year-old twins.
The couple soon got married, and Galina left Chisinau with the circus. She returned after a year with her little daughter Wiktoria, who was brought up by her grandparents - Leonid and Wiktoria. Galina herself until the beginning of the 60s accompanied her husband as a garment clerk. Thanks to her, Miłajew made a brilliant career. He was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, and later became the director of the circus on Aleja Vernadskiego in Moscow. However, the marriage broke up due to his infidelity.
His daughter's turbulent love life made Leonid Brezhnev despair.
In 1962, 33-year-old Galina remarried. Her chosen one was 18-year-old illusionist Igor Kio. They got married in Sochi, where Kio happened to be performing. Brezhnev was furious. On his orders, KGB officers entered the hotel room where the couple was staying. They tore the page from the ID with the stamp confirming the marriage. The wedding was quickly canceled , but Igor and Galina met for another 3 years.
Supernatural intervention
His daughter's turbulent love life drove Leonid Brezhnev to despair. He himself has been faithful to his wife Victoria all his life. The last resort for the worried father was ... the clairvoyant and magician Wolfgang Messing. The Secretary General of the Central Committee of the PKZR turned to him with a request for a supernatural intervention - so that Galina would finally find a decent husband. There was one condition - the man should have any "serious profession", as long as he was not an artist.
It is not known whether magic worked or it was just a coincidence, but soon the woman met Yuri Churbanov - a prison service officer. For Galina, he divorced and left two children, though not necessarily driven by gusts of heart. For Churbanov, the wedding with the "first daughter" of the Soviet Union meant a quick rise . Soon the modest major was promoted successively to the rank of colonel, lieutenant-general and colonel-general. Then he became deputy minister of internal affairs of the USSR.
Leonid was faithful to his wife Victoria all his life.
Galina, however, was not happy in this relationship. She was still attracted to bohemian men. That is why she romanced with the outstanding ballet dancer Maris Lijepa and the circus performer Boris Buryaca.
Diamonds are a woman's best friend
Galina loved expensive jewelry. She was often in the best jewelry stores. As the daughter of the Secretary General, she had access to the articles under the counter. When she had no money, she paid with promissory notes. The store managers agreed to this willingly. It was only after Brezhnev's death that it turned out that his daughter had incurred debts in the amount of - a trifle - 800,000 rubles. For comparison:the monthly salary of an engineer was then 130–150 rubles.
Galina and her friends, the wives and daughters of Kremlin dignitaries, always knew when prices would rise. Right before her, they bought wholesale quantities of jewelry, which they then resold for a higher price. However, over time, Soviet stores, even those supplying the party elite, were no longer sufficient for Galina. The woman started buying trinkets smuggled into the USSR from the West. Then she developed an appetite for antiques, often obtained illegally. Galina and her friends, including Boris Buriac's lover, even founded a criminal group that years later became known as the "diamond mafia".
One evening at a party, Galina met the widow of the writer Alexei Tolstoy, wearing diamonds that had once belonged to Louis XV. After some time, the woman was robbed. Thieves disguised as militia officers appeared in her apartment. They overpowered the owner and her housekeeper. Soon after that, Moscow was shocked by the news of the brutal murder of the famous actress Zoya Fedorova, the owner of beautiful diamonds . The perpetrators were not found, but the ring belonging to the victim was seen on Galina Brezhnev's finger many times ...
The "Diamond Mafia" also robbed the lion tamer Irina Bugrimova. Suspicions fell on Galina and her "friends". Shortly after this crime, a courier carrying treasures from the Bugrimowa collection in his stomach was detained at the Sheremetyevo-2 international airport. The detainee stated that he had received valuables from Boris Buryat, who was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Obviously, no one touched the daughter of the Secretary General.
A sad end to the "Kremlin princess"
In 1985, with the advent of perestroika, hard times came for the once omnipotent Yuri Churbanov. He was accused of corruption and abuse of power. In January 1987, the man was arrested and legally sentenced. Galina divorced Jurij in 1991 while he was still in prison.
Galina Brezhnev intended to become an actress, but her father did not allow her to do so
For years, Galina had been habitually drinking alcohol. In August 1994, her daughter Wiktoria came to her apartment, accompanied by a psychiatrist, who prepared the appropriate documentation and sent Galina to a psychiatric hospital. Wiktoria explained her decision to place her mother in the facility:
[mother] called me every day drunk and complained that her companions had robbed her for a glass . I would go to her, buy food and give some money. In the morning everything was repeated over and over again. In her apartment I always found some homeless and alcoholics (...). [L] okatorów [block] are not used to accepting drunken quarrels. One morning the host of the house called me and urgently called me to my mother (...). Tenants poured out on the platforms, the militia stood at the bottom. Noise, hustle and bustle, the whole floor in broken glass. It turned out that our mates from the glass broke the glass in the cage door when they left the house in the morning. Someone called the police station (...) .
The neighbors stated that they would not agree to drunken brawls in their block. Wiktoria, who had repeatedly placed her mother in rehab, understood that more radical steps should be taken. She put her in psychiatric hospitals. Galina died in the facility four years later.