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Why Presidents Are Sometimes Late but Never Sick

© Sputnik / Vladimir Rodionov / Go to the mediabankRussian President Boris Yeltsin (right) and his chief of protocol Vladimir Shevchenko (left). (File)
Russian President Boris Yeltsin (right) and his chief of protocol Vladimir Shevchenko (left). (File) - Sputnik International
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Russian Former Chief of Presidential Protocol Vladimir Shevchenko, a man who has stood behind Soviet and Russian state leaders, told about the protocol officers' stocks of watches, revealed how heads of states chose presents for each other and explained why they are sometimes late and why they hide their sicknesses.

Vladimir Shevchenko was responsible for advising the presidents on matters of national and international diplomatic protocol. He created the modern protocol procedures for USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, advanced it during Russian President Boris Yeltsin's rule and became the presidential advisor of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev. In an interview to Lenta.ru, Shevchenko revealed some secrets of the protocol service's work.

Protocol and the etiquette are related, but are different concepts and can be easily confused, explained the former head of the Kremlin's protocol.

For example, during the recent G20 summit, new British Prime Minister Theresa May forgot to hold out her hand first for the Russian President. However, the slight was not her fault: 

"Of course, a lady should be the first to extend a hand, no matter what position she is holding. As far as I know, May had diplomatic work experience, but it was her first time appearing as the country's leader. I think that the excitement affected her… as well as the poor work of her protocol service. The protocol team should warn the leader what conventionalities will be faced at the international level. Sometimes we start to blame the presidents in these blunders, oblivious to the fact that this may be a mistake of their team."

One issue he raised was that a head of state should never be seen as weak or sick, as it causes panic to gloating. Such was the mistake of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who Shevchenko thinks she is to blame herself, he noted:

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"If you feel bad, it is better to cancel the event and not to go to the tribune coughing, grabbing a glass of water and fainting. President Yeltsin was ill after his four heart attacks, too. But, when he was feeling bad, we tried to refrain from communicating with the press. He said himself: 'Why should I go there and look improper?' Everyone has the right to this weakness," Shevchenko said.

A lot of things depend on the team that works with the leader; being on time or late in particular, Shevchenko stressed:

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"In this respect, the protocol service is especially essential, but only if it is very close to the president. In the morning the chief of protocol must personally talk over the schedule with the head of state. My working day began with a President Yeltsin's plans: we looked through it and discussed the events. If something did not work, the most important thing was to warn the person that the meeting would be canceled."

While being the chief of presidential protocol, Shevchenko was very attentive to schedules: "I had everything arranged very simply: the protocol service officers and the guys from the FSO (Federal Protective Service) would have walked all the routes on our own feet in advance and calculated the extraneous time in case of traffic jams or other surprises."

Thus, President Yeltsin was never late and he could never understand why someone else might be late, Shevchenko said.

Being president also means sleepless nights, according to him. This applies not only to particular hard periods: "Yeltsin permanently slept two or three hours a day — a habit developed. He woke up and started to think, revise the documents. From time to time, I have received calls in the night to come over and help."

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Shevchenko also told about Yeltsin's interesting habit involving his wristwatches: "Boris Nikolayevich often took off his watch and presented it to the person he liked. So, I always carried about five of those as a reserve in a briefcase. They were inscribed with 'From the first Russian president.' In those times, our mechanical watches were the best, not even Swiss ones were better."

Gift duty rests of the shoulders of protocol service officers, too.

"In general, it is very delicate work to choose a suitable gift. We previously worked with traditional painting handicrafts: Gzhel, Khokhloma, Dulevo porcelain, as well as with samovars and weapon. For example, Queen Elizabeth was presented a real samovar with coals, which was a complete copy of the one owned by Leo Tolstoy," the former chief of presidential protocol revealed.

As soon as the preparation for the visit began, the protocol service together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs studied the hobbies of the guests, he explained: "It's quite dangerous, because many people chose this path. I visited three US Presidential Centers: Bush Sr., Reagan's and Clinton's one. There I saw piles of caps, cowboy hats and golf clubs. Yeltsin received hundreds of tennis rackets and ball machines."

"Contrariwise, it was necessary to look for autobiographical highlights. We gave Bill Clinton a saxophone from Gzhel. You should have seen the reaction! He is a very emotional man; so he grabbed the gift and did not even trust his guards to take it."

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Sometimes the gifts can be "alive." In February, Putin gave an Akhal-Teke horse to the Bahraini king. And Yeltsin once was given a bear, Shevchenko recalled: "I came to work and could hear from the window someone's growling. I looked out, and there was a bear sitting on a chain in the yard."

It turned out that right after the President praised a bear in Siberia for its beauty, the animal was immediately given to him as a present. According to the former head of protocol, the fluffy gift was sent to a zoo.

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