Putin’s powerful idol – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

The year is 1783.

Potemkin has just annexed Crimea on behalf of his mistress Catherine the Great.

– The goal was for the empire to become as big as possible, author and historian Halvor Tjon tells NRK.

Catherine the Great – who was Empress of the vast Russian Empire allowed herself to be persuaded by her lover ten years younger to go south:

When Peter the Great expanded Russia to the West, Potemkin believed that Russia should take over Crimea and the land on the Black Sea in the south.

– They wanted Russia to become one of them The most powerful countries on the European continent and in the northern hemisphere. This was Eighteenth century, and then you did not have ideas about democracy or self-determination as we have today.

She was 44 years old, and he was 10 years younger than her.

He was not only her lover, but also Catherine’s closest friend, political advisor, military strategist, army commander and tsar’s adjutant.

The power couple had great ambitions:

Their ultimate plan was occupation Constantinople and the creation of a new empire with the Greek population, and a new Byzantine Empire. The old dream of the Russians was to make it happen control of the Bosphorus Strait.

The Kremlin called him

– Potemkin is the link between now and then, says Simon Sebag Montefiore, and refers to Army Commander R.The good of the land and the foundations of the cities over which the fighting is now taking place.

When the British author published the book Potemkin and Catherine the Great In 2000, he was surprisingly approached by President Putin’s office in the Kremlin.

Putin just came to power and read the autobiography. He was very interested to know more about her Potemkin and The invasion of Crimea.

to CNN Montefiore stated that Putin wanted a summary of how Potemkin and Catherine II would seize Crimea and land in southern Ukraine.

Putin was very happy, says the author.

building

– After all, Potemkin is one of the most remarkable figures of the eighteenth century in European history. It was very important for the fact that the period during which Catharina II ruled was a great success, from her point of view, of course, says Tjønn.

Potemkin founded and planned the cities of Kherson, Odessa, Mykolaiv, Mariupol, Dnieper, Simferopol and, not least, Sevastopol, the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet which was also built by the field lord.

The original Muslim population was displaced. New residents brought in:

– Potemkin brought colonists from Europe. They spoke German, Greek and even Swedish from Estonia. New residents also came from Bulgaria, Serbia and Russia. sOtjomin also invited Jews to settle there NovorossiyaNew Russia, as he and Katharina called the newly conquered territory, says Tion.

Harem and sex stories

The couple led an eccentric and dissolute life. the They lived together for a short time, but continued to live separately with new lovers. Messages between them went back and forth quickly. They wrote about politics, war and love.

Potemkin was known for his appetite for all that life had to offer. The list of young women was long. He also allegedly had affairs with five of his nieces. And although Prince Potemkin fought several bloody battles against the Turks, he loved several aspects of their culture, not the least of which was the harem.

Because the Russian prince did not want to be inferior to the Sultan, and also acquired a harem of women.

The eccentric Potemkin did exactly as he pleased. Among other things, he met people in morning clothes and even bare feet.

– He is described as adventurous, brooding, energetic, generous, intelligent and sharp, knowledgeable. He must be a very honest person. But she was also lazy and ineffective at times. Tjønn says there is speculation about whether he suffers from bipolar disorder.

Tjønn says he can retreat to a monastery and meditate. Katarina became restless and had to pull him out of monastic life and depression. Then he returned with energy like a volcano.

body move

Potemkin died from overwork and an unhealthy lifestyle at the age of only 52 while traveling in present-day Moldova. He died in the grass in the arms of his favorite niece.

But the corpse and the remains would have lived another life. Potemkin made enemies over the years. In particular, the son of Catherine Paul 1 fiercely disliked the prince. Paul ordered all memories of his mother’s favorite and co-tsar to be erased.

Eventually their memory faded, as their way of life did not fit with the spirit of the nineteenth century and when Russia became communist after the 1917 revolution.

Also read: Made Catherine the Great an executioner in Ukraine

Again he is in contention, now in Ukraine where the paths of the Russian conqueror are again removed.

Last fall, his relics were transferred from the Church of St. Catherine in Kherson. Russian forces moved the remains to the other side of the Dnieper.

According to Simon Sebag Montefiore, his remains have been moved several times over the past 250 years because the prince and squire were such a controversial figure.

– But I never thought they would steal his remains again. It is strange because no one would have touched his grave now, Montefiore says By Russian freelance journalist Mikhail Zygar.

But Montefiore thinks he knows why this happened:

– My idea is that they are considering burying the remains in a large cemetery in Moscow. You can imagine a burial site with all the names of the regions conquered by Russia, such as Mykolaiv, Mariupol, Dnipro and all the cities he founded. Not least the Crimea. So I guess that’s why the body was taken.

sources: Letters appeared in Simon Sebag Montrefiore’s biography of Prince Grigory Potemkin and Empress Catherine.