How the September 11 terrorist attack in New York killed a pensioner in the Moscow region

Pensioner Viktor Barkov became the only Russian who died due to the September 11 tragedy in his apartment in the Kolomensky district. A terrorist attack in New York gave a man a heart attack - Viktor Kuzmich died while watching the news, at the very second he saw on TV how the twin towers of the World Trade Center were falling. He was sure that his eldest son Mikhail was in one of the towers at the moment. Mikhail was late for that meeting, but was unable to get through to his parents to warn them about it.

Фото: Depositphotos

In 2003, I accidentally met the widow of Viktor Kuzmich, Rimma Nikolaevna Barkova. Friends told me the details of her husband’s death, I tried to call her for some time, and then the photographer and I just went to visit her in the village of Provodnik near Moscow, not far from Kolomna. Rimma Nikolaevna was not angry about the unexpected visit, did not refuse to meet, but on the contrary, she quickly poured us hot tea and treated us to delicious jam, which she had just finished pouring into jars.

Well, I will not let you in, since we always have problems with the phone. After all, my Misha could not get through to us and warn you that everything was alright with him ...

The Barkovs lived not just modestly, but very modestly. The fact that the eldest son of Rimma and Victor occupied a very respectable position in the Russian government was reminded only by photographs that were placed here and there - on one of Mikhail with Gref, on the other with Mikhail Kasyanov when he was prime minister, here Japan, Yemen, Austria... But in general - a modest small apartment for Russian pensioners, no better than others. Rimma Nikolaevna is a retired teacher. Viktor Kuzmich was also a former teacher. A couple of months before his death, he suffered two heart attacks at once and the doctors strictly ordered - no stress, even the most minimal! Mikhail knew about this and called his parents at every opportunity. He was unable to reach them by phone only once - on September 11, 2001. At that time, communications in New York were not very good.

I remember how for a long time I myself could not get through by phone from distant Novosibirsk to a small town in New Jersey, when my sister Victoria lived then. She was the first from our family to move to the USA for permanent residence in the summer of 2001. Vika still has a photograph in her archive that she took as soon as she arrived in New York - she and her classmate Olya are standing against the backdrop of the Twin Towers. Immediately after arriving, Victoria went to live in nearby New Jersey, and Olga got a job selling newspapers and magazines at a kiosk located very close to the site of the terrorist attack, and remained in New York.

When the terrorist attack happened, Olga’s mother, a sweet woman named Juliet, called me and said that her daughter had disappeared during the terrorist attack - the phone was turned off and she was not calling. Soon, Olga’s name appeared on the list of missing Russians, which was published on the website of the Russian Embassy in the United States. My sister was completely fine, except for shock - she was just planning to visit this place in the coming days.

Killed fortunately ...

Before getting a job in the USA, Mikhail Barkov headed the department for legal support of foreign economic policy Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation. He was considered one of the most intelligent specialists, and therefore in May 2001 was appointed to the position Russian trade representative in New York.

From 2001 to 2004, Mikhail Barkov was the sales representative of Russia to the USA

РMikhail called his parents almost every day, in his busy schedule he found time so as not to wake him up. On the eve of the terrorist attack, September 11, he dialed them as usual and said that he was about to fly from Washington to New York to hold a meeting with American businessmen at the World Trade Center, which was scheduled for nine in the morning on September 2001, XNUMX. He promised to surprise him with photographs - Rimma Nikolaevna and Viktor Kuzmich loved looking at photographs of their son taken abroad. And they themselves traveled with pleasure - their sons did not deny them this. The Barkovs' youngest son, Nikolai, is a famous lawyer.

We didn't turn on the TV or even listen to the radio all day! - Rimma Nikolaevna told us. - That’s what’s surprising... Although usually our day always began with news. But then everything went somehow differently: Vitya was reading a book, I was making jam.

At eight in the evening the pensioners decided to finally find out the latest news. We turned on the TV and were speechless - the Twin Towers were collapsing on the screen.

“Vitya just looked and immediately began to fall back... I screamed, grabbed his hand, I felt it, but there was no pulse. Then the doctors told me that he died instantly - his heart stopped immediately. But before that, the doctors repeated everything to me - no stress, no stress. And I kept thinking - where will they come from? We live so quietly! He and I got married in 1951, that is, in 2001 we were supposed to celebrate fifty years... We even got married to him, though we didn’t tell anyone this - why?

The body of 72-year-old Viktor Kuzmich was taken to the morgue. Rimma Nikolaevna miraculously did not go crazy then - her husband died, and the eldest son, who could have been in one of the towers, did not call... Mikhail got through to his parents at night and decided to wake him up. Then it turned out that the meeting had been postponed - they did not have time to prepare the necessary documents.

Upon learning of the death of his father, Michael immediately called his superiors in Moscow. He really wanted to have time for the funeral.

The very next day, Mikhail Kasyanov himself called me,” Rimma Nikolaevna recalled. — He was then the head of the Russian government. Behind him is German Gref, who was then the Minister of Economic Development and Trade, because his son reported directly; all Russian trade missions abroad are under the jurisdiction of this ministry. They expressed their most sincere condolences and offered to help me. They said that they would do everything possible so that Mikhail could fly to the funeral. But for some reason my youngest son Nikolai and I immediately thought that he wouldn’t be able to do it...

The help of even very high-ranking people did not help Mikhail Barkov - although even Putin was concerned about his arrival in Russia, he was able to get to his father’s grave only a year later.

They brought us a lot of gifts later, both from Gref and from Kasyanov, and they helped install a very good monument for the anniversary, but it’s not all about life, it’s all about death...,” Rimma Nikolaevna then finished her story.

I have been involved in journalism since 1999. I remember almost all my characters, the circumstances of filming and the atmosphere of the events. Barkov’s story is the only one in which I also remember a phrase from the material about them. It was 2003, I was studying at the directing department, and after arriving from Kolomna, I quickly wrote a text for the newspaper where I was working then, and ran to the university.

The material made an excellent impression on the newspaper's management - what texture! The photographs from Anatoly were beyond praise. I noticed and described little things - the orange shade of the curtains, because of which the whole room was flooded with a very warm light, the calendar that had not been turned over since 2002, the dissonance that was created by the expensive TV and the modest furnishings of the apartment... It was decided to put the article on the first page, it had to attract the attention of potential readers - of course! But before doing this, the editor made just one edit - she added two phrases that, as it seemed to her, better reflected what happened then:

“Stra11's September tragedy of September 2001 did not pass by the Russians either. Fortunately, only one person died. ”

I didn’t dare to call Rimma Nikolaevna later and ask if she had read what I wrote about her and Viktor Kuzmich, if she liked the photographs. I just couldn’t dial the number of the woman who, it turns out, lost her husband “fortunately”...

PS Odnogruppnitsa sister found among the survivors. That day she did not go to work.

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