Servant of the People in Kyiv

"But Burkina Faso does have the potential to become our nail in Africa. You have to know that Africa has been the territory of Britain and France for a hundred years. We have tried to intervene before, but failed. Moreover, Burkina Faso has a small population and is very poor. It doesn't require too much money to satisfy its needs..."

Haniyev also knew that Gorbachev was a man of unyielding will. He had already decided to learn from the West and even wanted to dissolve the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the future, so it was impossible for him to care about the cause of socialism. However, when he thought that Sankara would soon die, Haniyev still couldn't bear it and continued to persuade him with gritted teeth.

Shevardnadze shook his head slightly. "It's useless. The General Secretary will never agree. Even if I try to persuade him, I won't be able to convince him because this doesn't fit in with the General Secretary's overall considerations."

"But Sankara is indeed a banner of our socialist cause, at least the only banner in Africa."

The fact that Shevardnadze was valued by Gorbachev and appointed as Foreign Minister shows that he essentially supports Gorbachev's line. Therefore, he did not think what Haniyev said made sense, but a direct refusal seemed to be disrespectful to Secretary Sherbitsky.

After a long pause, Shevardnadze said, "The Soviet Union's current diplomatic course has been determined. It was personally formulated by the General Secretary, and no one can change it. However, what you said does make some sense. If you really want to help Sankara, I can authorize you to contact the ambassador of Burkina Faso. Perhaps you can discuss with them another way to help Sankara."

"Other methods?"

"Yes, the Soviet Union cannot provide them with military or economic assistance, let alone loans. This means that Sankara will not receive official Soviet help. However, if you are optimistic about Burkina Faso's future, and we have opened up to private capital, you can help Burkina Faso seek some private support. As long as it's not excessive, I can endorse you."

Shevardnadze chuckled. "If you achieve something, it'll be your contribution, but that's difficult. Domestic private investors now prefer to cooperate with the government to develop downstream industries like natural gas, coal, and steel. Even those who want to do business abroad tend to focus on Khitan in the Far East. Impoverished and backward Burkina Faso holds little appeal for businesspeople."

Chapter 120 I Save Sankara Myself

After hearing what Shevardnadze said, Haniyev nodded reluctantly, knowing in his heart that his idea was a bit unrealistic.

The Soviet Union was no longer in the era of Xunzong, and it was impossible for Aizong to help Sankara. After all, the Soviet Union at that time was not as generous to its true love Cuba as it was in the past. How could it care about the small Burkina Faso?

However, Shevardnadze did not make his statement final. Haniyev's eyes lit up and he nodded, saying, "I am not Russian, nor am I a second-generation Red. I am a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

I make no secret of the fact that I still have faith in socialism. That's why I wasn't afraid of any difficulties during Chernobyl. After the disaster, I only thought about the safety of the people. Later, I went to Yalta as First Secretary. I also implemented economic reforms in accordance with the General Secretary's requirements, which greatly improved Yalta's GDP and people's lives. Now I have come to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Even if I am not very familiar with it, I still hope to make a difference and contribute to the Soviet cause. Please believe this, Minister. Even if the African Department is not that important in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I still hope to make some achievements!

A tree's shadow is like a person's reputation. Haniyev had already become famous in the Soviet political circle during the Chernobyl incident last year. After the General Secretary listed him and Yeltsin as advanced models of reform this year, Haniyev became even more famous. All Soviet officials believed that this young man's meteoric rise to fame was just around the corner.

Shevardnadze knew more and he completely believed what Haniyev said. His eyes changed and he looked at Haniyev solemnly.

"It's rare to find a young person like you. If all Soviet officials were like you, how could they be in such a passive situation now?

However, we have donated 300 billion rubles to Africa over the years, which is an astonishing figure, but there has been no return at all, so I still advise you to leave Burkina Faso’s mess alone…”

After leaving Shevardnadze's office, Haniyev went to the floor of the African Department.

Kuzhugaitsky quickly took Haniyev to his office. After sitting in the office for a whole morning, Haniyev realized that the so-called Second Department was actually just him alone. However, because Shevardnadze had ordered the basic diplomatic affairs of more than a dozen West African countries, including Burkina Faso, to be handed over to the Second Department, an internal meeting of the Africa Department was held at about 11 o'clock.

At the meeting, Kuzhugaitsky introduced Haniyev to more than 30 leading colleagues of the African Department, and then announced the division of labor in the Second Division. He also formulated a plan for relevant departments to actively cooperate with the Second Division and hand over work.

Haniyev also clearly knew that his Second Department would be responsible for ten West African countries, including Burkina Faso. These were countries separated from other departments. However, these countries were all small countries. Except for Ghana and Guinea, there were some Soviet-aided projects and engineers left in the local area. The Soviet Union and the remaining countries were only nodding acquaintances, and in diplomacy, they only sent telegrams to greet each other during the holidays.

For a behemoth like the Soviet Union, too many countries in the world asked for food after establishing diplomatic relations with it.

When the Soviet Union attacked and the United States defended, the Soviet Union was naturally rich and powerful, exporting revolution everywhere and supporting its younger brothers. Anyone who changed their flag and joined the Soviet Union would surely be given a lot of money. But now the Soviet Union is a landlord and has no surplus food, not to mention that it has such a general secretary.

After a quick mental breakdown, Haniyev knew that his work in the African Department was very leisurely. Apart from the aluminum mine in Guinea and the talent training center in Ghana, which still required the African Department to contact him for information, there was no business in the remaining countries at all. If he wanted to do something, he had to develop it on his own, such as helping Sankara.

Burkina Faso is a landlocked country and has nothing to show for it. However, Haniyev still found a possibility from his memory to leverage Soviet private capital. That is, Burkina Faso has many gold mines, but they are limited by technology and equipment and cannot mine them at all. It was not until the 21st century that they really improved their economic situation by mining gold.

Russia's gold mines are also well-known internationally. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the largest Rilsk Nickel Company became a private company owned by the children of high-ranking officials. Later, oligarchs headed by Potanin emerged by embezzling state-owned assets. They left the Rilsk Nickel Company and established many gold mining and sales companies such as "Polar Gold" and "Onexim Group".

Haniyev vaguely remembered this period of history. Although the Rilsk Nickel Company still belonged to the Soviet Union, as Gorbachev's reforms progressed, this large state-owned company must have been infiltrated by those future oligarchs.

Therefore, as long as it is profitable, Rilsk Nickel will definitely provide money, manpower and equipment to cooperate with Burkina Faso. He knows that as long as he can persuade Sankara to give Burkina Faso's gold mine to Rilsk Nickel for development, even if it is a 50-50 split, or to mine for a few years to pay off debts, and finally transfer equity to Burkina Faso, as long as Burkina Faso's gold mine needs workers and needs food, drink, defecation and urination, it will always bring economic benefits to Burkina Faso, solve the labor problem, and improve the national economy, which will always ease the class contradictions in Sankara's implementation of socialism.

The more Haniyev thought about it, the more excited he became. He positioned himself as the future president of the Republic of Ukraine, so now he had to find ways to establish relationships and friendships with international political strongmen. What's more, if the Soviet Union's Rilsk Nickel Company was attracted by the gold mines in Burkina Faso to attract some private capital to develop there, he could also take the opportunity to get a piece of the pie. By then, he would have both the money and face, and he could also establish a deep friendship with Russia's future oligarchs. No matter how you look at it, it would be a win-win situation.

“Since the Soviet government is unwilling to help Burkina Faso, I will save Sankara myself!”

Having made up his mind, Haniyev first found the director and asked for a few clerks from his second department. He then asked the clerks to notify the embassy of Burkina Faso and arrange a time for a meeting.

Then Haniyev wrote down the information about the future gold tycoon and Russian oligarch Potanin in his memory and prepared to ask his colleagues in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inquire about this person.

Haniyev could not remember Potanin's full name and identity. He only knew that he was an official within the system. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he transformed himself into the largest shareholder of the Rilsk Nickel Company, and then led several other shareholders to quickly become Russia's wealthy oligarchs.

However, the Soviet Union and Khitan have one thing in common, that is, in the process of privatization, ordinary people and small leaders are absolutely impossible to become the people who embezzle state-owned assets. It must be high-ranking officials and children of high-ranking officials.

Rilsk Nickel Company is the largest state-owned gold mining company in the Soviet Union. Potanin, who can occupy the largest share of the company, must be no ordinary person. Haniyev firmly believes that Potanin must have been the top figure in Moscow.

In about three days, Haniyev became familiar with his colleagues and asked all of them to inquire about Potanin, the son of a high-ranking official who worked in a department in Moscow.

However, Moscow is too big, and Potanin's surname is repeated frequently. It is difficult to identify this person without his full name, so Haniyev's colleagues did not provide Haniyev with any useful information.

In a blink of an eye, it was the day for the meeting between Haniyev and the ambassador of Burkina Faso. Ambassador Coulibaly of Burkina Faso came to Haniyev's office early. He accepted the president's request and kept asking for aid and loans in Moscow, but he kept hitting a wall. This made Ambassador Coulibaly very anxious and discouraged.

After receiving Haniyev's invitation, Coulibaly was very happy. He did not think that the director of the African Department was too low in rank to help him. First of all, when he had been treated coldly, a little warmth was very rare. Secondly, after getting to know Haniyev, Coulibaly also felt that someone admired by the General Secretary of the Soviet Union must be able to help him.

So when he met Haniyev, Ambassador Coulibaly was very confident. He held Haniyev's hands tightly with both hands and said words of thanks in halting Russian.

Seeing that Coulibaly was alone, Haniyev frowned slightly and asked, "Why didn't the ambassador bring an interpreter?"

Coulibaly gave an embarrassed smile and said, "I'm the only one in our embassy, ​​and my Russian is already the best in the country."

Haniyev nodded as if he was not surprised, and then invited the ambassador to sit down.

Due to Coulibaly's limited Russian, Haniyev did not beat around the bush, but directly stated his willingness to help them, and also stated the conditions under which Burkina Faso needed to hand over the gold mine.

"We can send people to survey the veins for you. Once we find the gold, we'll provide the personnel, money, and equipment to mine it. You can be responsible for the surrounding services, and we can share the profits from the mined gold. This will be a long-term benefit for Burkina Faso, definitely much better than a one-time aid or loan. What do you think, Ambassador?"

Even without Haniyev's persuasion, Coulibaly, who had already experienced the cold stares and ridicule, nodded and said, "No matter how good the gold mine is, we can't mine it alone. I think your proposal is very good and I am willing to promote it."

"Your Excellency the Ambassador is indeed a man of vision. Please give me your answer as soon as possible."

"I'll send a telegram to President Sankara as soon as I get back, asking him to agree. If he agrees, I'll let you know right away."

After seeing off the ambassador of Burkina Faso, Haniyev became a little anxious.

"I've made my promise, but whether I can actually carry it out is still an unknown. What if Sankara agrees and I still can't contact the Rilsk Nickel Company? That would be an international joke..."

Chapter 121 Potanin

He was just a small director of the African Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He had no control over the Rilsk Nickel Company either in terms of position power or personal connections, so he could not really make this happen. If he used Sherbitsky's connections, it might be possible, but it would more likely make Gorbachev have other ideas. What's more, Sherbitsky had already reminded him to keep a distance from him when he came to Moscow.

"We must find Potanin as soon as possible. He's the one who embezzled the huge state-owned assets of the Rilsk Nickel Company a few years ago. He must have the connections and power to influence the Rilsk Nickel Company now. We must find him and ask for his help!"

Professional matters must be done by professionals. This is what Haniyev firmly believes. Therefore, he believes that if he wants to promote Rilsk Nickel's investment in Burkina Faso, he must find Potanin.

After sitting in the office all day, Haniyev returned to the cultural apartment with a frown.

Since Haniyev had generously given the doorman a pack of cigarettes when he first moved in, the doorman immediately opened the door upon seeing Haniyev come in, took off his reading glasses, and greeted him: "Haniyev, why do you look unhappy today?"

Haniyev shrugged. "Nothing. I've been looking for someone lately, but I can't find him."

"Who? Your relatives or friends? Maybe I can help you."

Haniyev sighed softly. "I don't know his full name, I only know his last name is Potanin. He should be about my age. Maybe he works in a ministry or bureau..."

"Maybe?"

The old man chuckled, turned around and took out a big notebook from the house.

"I've lived in the Cultural People's Apartment for over forty years. This is the registration book for everyone who's lived there over the past forty years. I remember there were several Potanins listed there, all important figures. Perhaps they have some connection to the Potanin you're looking for."

Haniyev's eyes lit up, and he nodded with a smile. "Yes, Potanin came from a noble family, and he probably lived in an apartment for intellectuals. You're right, Mr. Gorky."

That’s right, the gatekeeper’s name was Gorky. According to him, his parents gave him this name because they admired Gorky. Unfortunately, he did not achieve decent results like Gorky, and just worked as a gatekeeper in an apartment for intellectuals for his entire life.

After the old man and the young man looked through the information registration book for a long time, Haniyev found eight Potanins. Among these eight families, only one is still living in the cultural apartment, and the rest have moved away.

After screening the information he had, Haniyev kept three Potanins.

One was my neighbor, a professor of philosophy at Moscow University. Another had already moved away and was a senior official in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The last one was the Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade.

Based on various information, Haniyev feels that the future oligarch Potanin can only be one of these Potanin's sons, and among the three most reliable people now, the one most likely to be Potanin's father should be the leaders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

Although the family of the Moscow University professor is also very impressive, compared with senior officials in the ministries, the oligarch is more like the son of a ministry leader.

To express his gratitude, Haniyev bought some sausages and vegetable salad, and came to Gorky at night with a bottle of vodka. The two of them drank until midnight.

The next day, Haniyev's phone rang as soon as he woke up.

As soon as I picked up the phone, Gorky's voice came from the microphone.

"Haniyev, Professor Potanin is back and at the door. Come and see if you're looking for him."

Haniyev quickly agreed, put on a shirt and ran out.

After exchanging a few words with the old professor with gold-rimmed glasses, Haniyev realized that the Potanin he was looking for was not the professor's family member.

After returning to the house to wash up, Haniyev took the address given by Gorky and prepared to try his luck at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

When he arrived at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, after asking around, he learned that Secretary Potanin was not there, so Haniyev had to go to the Ministry of Foreign Trade again.

As he approached the building of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Haniyev saw that the bustling scene here was different from that of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

At this time, it has been more than two years since the economic reforms promoted by the General Secretary began. Especially since the opening of foreign investment this year, the Ministry of Foreign Trade has become the hottest department today.

In the compound of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, all kinds of luxury cars came in and out, and many of the people sitting in the cars were British, Hungarians, Czechs and Americans.

Haniyev didn't have a car, so he had to walk across the parking lot to the first-floor lobby.

Just as I was about to look for an office to ask, I saw two men in suits walking out of an office intimately.

The older man said in broken Russian, "Thank you for your help. We at Siemens are very pleased to be able to import this batch of high-quality iron ore from Donbass. We are also willing to maintain a long-term friendship with you, Mr. Potnin!"

The younger man smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm here with you. The General Secretary has now allowed foreign investment. As long as you can afford the price, we won't be stingy with our resources and will sell them to you!"

Haniyev suddenly stopped in his tracks as he looked at the slick demeanor of this young man, who was about his own age. He smiled faintly, "That must be him. Turns out Potanin's father was the Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, and he also works there. No wonder he was able to easily embezzle state-owned assets after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Ministry of Foreign Trade is the most prosperous department these days..."

Haniyev followed the two men into the yard, and only approached them after the German Siemens representative left and Potanin turned around.

"Hello, Mr. Potanin!"

Although Potanin did not recognize Haniyev, he shook hands with him naturally and asked with a smile: "Hello, what's your name?"

"I am Viktor Haniyev, Director of the Second Department of the African Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

A smile suddenly appeared on Potanin's face. "So you are Secretary Haniyev. I know you are looking for me to help you learn from Yalta's reform of small cities. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Haniyev secretly praised Potanin's high emotional intelligence. Even if he just met him, he could make him feel like spring breeze.

"We..." Haniyev pointed to the ground.

Potanin slapped his forehead and said, "I didn't think it through. I have a meeting with a friend at 10:30. We still have an hour. Let's go to my office and talk."

With that, Potanin took Haniyev to his office.

After a few pleasantries, Potanin asked, "To be honest, before I met you, I always admired your ability and courage. Whether it was your fearlessness and selflessness during the Chernobyl nuclear leak or your boldness in governing Yalta, seeing you in person today makes me admire you even more. Excuse me, how old are you this year?"

"I was born in 1960 and am 27 years old this year."

"Oh, you are only one year older than me, but your achievements make me very envious. You have achieved such outstanding results at such a young age. I want to learn more from you in the future."

Haniyev smiled and spoke modestly, and also praised Potanin a few times.

Potanin was delighted by Haniyev's compliment. He said, "Since you don't mind, we'll be friends. I'm a third-generation Moscow native. My father was the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade. No one knows Moscow better than I do. Since you're new here, tell me if you need anything. I can help you."

Haniyev smiled and nodded, then expressed his idea of ​​coordinating the resources of the Rilsk Nickel Mine Company, integrating Soviet private capital and even foreign capital, and jointly investing in gold mines in Burkina Faso.

After hearing this, Potanin fell into deep thought. He asked Haniyev a few questions about Burkina Faso and then stood up and walked around the office twice.

"Secretary Haniyev, your proposal is very bold, but I think it has great prospects!"

After saying this, Potanin sat down again.

"I'm in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and understand our central government's economic reform policies best. We've liberalized foreign investment and allowed joint ventures, but Western countries don't look favorably upon us. They're only willing to buy our raw materials, such as iron ore, gold, oil, coal, grain, fur, timber, and so on. Our Ministry of Foreign Trade has had a lot of business over the past year, earning a lot of foreign exchange for the Soviet Union..."

We have never invested on our own, nor have we ever pooled foreign investment. But I think if we don’t do it now, we will definitely go down this path in the future.”

Haniyev pursed his lips and nodded. Potanin continued, "I don't know much about Burkina Faso. Aside from Egypt, I'm not familiar with the rest of Africa. But since you mentioned Burkina Faso has gold mines, I believe your vision and ability are correct. Burkina Faso needs us now, and we in the Soviet Union have no shortage of gold mining equipment and technicians. If we can get the president of Burkina Faso to cede more than half of their shares, I don't need to look for foreign capital. I can find Soviet private capital to invest on my own."

The heavy stone in Haniyev's heart suddenly fell to the ground: Professional matters must be done by professionals.

After the two men chatted for a while, Potanin glanced at his watch and spread his hands. "It's been a real pleasure chatting with you, Secretary Haniyev. I've received a lot of guidance and help. But I have something else to do later. Could you please leave your phone number so we can keep in touch?"

Haniyev took out a pen from his pocket and wrote down the phone numbers of his dormitory and office on the notebook brought by Potanin. Potanin also copied the phone numbers of his office and home and handed them to Haniyev.

As he was seeing Haniyev off, Potanin said, "I'll tell my father about our idea this afternoon. After getting his approval, I can contact the Rilsk Nickel Company directly. The engineers and workers there are invaluable. I can find funding and contact the factory for equipment. If you're interested, you can invest in everything."

Haniyev smiled slightly and nodded. "This is an attempt at private business. The more shareholders, the better. Go ahead and do it. I'll handle the negotiations with Burkina Faso. We'll act separately and, with our own efforts, I believe there will be a good result."

The Soviet Union was a planned economy. Even after Gorbachev came to power and began economic reforms in 1985, it has only been two and a half years, and the economic development model of the entire Red Empire is still based on the ten-year planned economy and rationing system. Ordinary people rely on ration coupons and meager rubles to exchange and buy bread in people's stores, while officials can use their privileges to enjoy a superior life.

Gorbachev's starting point for reform was good, similar to Pol Pot's, but the implementation process and results were far more important than the starting point.

At this time, the lower classes of the Soviet Union were complaining and had lost confidence in socialism. They demanded reforms and even the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Senior officials, having seen life in the West, became even more dissatisfied with their own lives and longed for more wealth and freedom.

The current Soviet Union has not yet reached the stage of public-private transformation. Even if it allows private business and foreign investment, they are all small-scale. Even if Soviet officials want to make money, there are not many ways. At least they cannot embezzle state-owned assets now.

However, Haniyev found Potanin and proposed the idea of ​​opening a gold mine, which could provide a replacement for Potanin and many high-ranking officials who were jealous of the Rilsk Nickel Company's daily wealth. That's why Potanin was so concerned about it. Haniyev firmly believed that finding Potanin would allow him to use him for his own purposes.

The reason can be summed up in one sentence: no one doesn't love money, especially the future oligarchs who have proven to have no bottom line.