The image and values of power in the memoirs of the political leaders of modern Russia: Sergey Stepashin

The article examines the political memoirs of Sergey Stepashin, published in 2022, in the context of the politics of memory and on the basis of the images of state power and political leaders circulating in modern Russian society. An active participant of the political events of the 1990s S. Stepashin played a significant role in investigating the circumstances of the emergence of GKCHP, in the activities and reform of the KGB. By the mid-1990s S. Stepashin, as deputy head and head of law enforcement agencies, and counterintelligence, was directly involved in the settlement of the military conflict in Chechnya. After the ministerial portfolios of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1999, he was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister, and at the end of April he replaced E. M. Primakov as Russia’s Prime Minister. Revealing the specific details of political decision-making and the political backstage of the 1990s, S. Stepashin offers a vivid and balanced description of the socio-political situation in the country and the political views of certain participants in the events. In his memoirs, the events of the epoch receive an author’s interpretation. His memoirs make a significant contribution to the understanding of the political culture and political traditions of Russia in the 1990s.