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| -Obits- |
| Viktor Chernomyrdin, Fmr. Prime Minister, the 'Yogi Berra' of Russia |
| 2010-11-05 |
| Viktor Chernomyrdin was founder and the first chairman of Gazprom company, the longest serving Prime Minister of Russia (1992–1998) and Acting President of Russia for a day in 1996. He was a key figure in Russian politics in the 1990s, and a great contributor to the Russian transition from a planned to a market economy. From 2001 to 2009, he was Russia's ambassador to Ukraine. Chernomyrdin is known in Russia and Russian-speaking countries for his unique language style, containing numerous malapropisms and syntactically incorrect speech. Many of his sayings became aphorisms and idioms in Russian language, the most famous being his expression "We wanted the best, but it turned out as always". Some of his other greatest hits: Better than vodka there is nothing worse. From the very beginning there was nothing like that, and now there it is again. Better to be the head of a fly than the buttocks of an elephant. Always we in Russia have something standing that we don't need. There is still time to save the face. Later we will be forced to save some other parts of a body. Wine we need for health, and the health we need to drink vodka. Accuse of what? Of corruption? Whom? Me? Who? USA? What, did they, there, just wake up? My life has passed in the atmosphere of oil and gas. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |