The talented man Yastrzhembsky Sergey Vladimirovich, a politician, diplomat, film director, amazes with the steep turns of his biography and the ability to live and work with full dedication and for his own pleasure. We will tell you about how his professional and personal path took shape, how he came from the spheres of supreme power to the creative world of cinema and what he does today.
Childhood and family
Yastrzhembsky Sergey Vladimirovich was born in Moscow on December 4, 1953. His father was a career military officer, colonel, led the military representation in the MiG aircraft manufacturing company, and together with Sergey’s mother he gave lectures at the Central Museum named after V. Lenin. By their origin, the Yastrzhembskys are descended from the Belarusian gentry who lived in the Brest Voivodeship. The ancestor of Sergei Vladimirovich lived in Grodno and was recognized as a Russian nobleman, as evidenced by an entry in the noble genealogy book. In an approximate translation from Polish, the family name means "Hawks".
From early childhood, Sergey demonstrated humanitarian inclinations. He loved foreign languages, geography and history. The family had a summer house in Istra, where the boy spent a lot of time. In high school, Yastrzhembsky was a Komsomol activist and spent minutes of political information in the classroom. His father listened to western radio stations, but severely scolded his son for the political jokes told. From an early age, Sergei understood the serious importance of official information and status.
Education
At the end of the school, Yastrzhembsky Sergey Vladimirovich enters the prestigious Russian university, at MGIMO, at the faculty of international law. Even in his institute years, he stood out against classmates, among whom was now the richest businessman Alisher Usmanov, MGIMO rector Anatoly Torkunov, a major official Sergei Prikhodko. During his studies, Yastrzhembsky was able to access a special repository of the institute library, where he could read books that were not accessible to the general public. Also, during his studies, he began to regularly travel abroad, which was almost an unprecedented thing in those days. He was assisted in this by the Committee of Youth Organizations, secretly closely cooperating with the KGB. Despite this, Yastrzhembsky managed to bring forbidden literature from abroad, including thanks to him the book of dissident Andrei Amalrik got to Moscow. In his student years, Sergey worked as a lecturer in the field of political education. This allowed him to travel around the whole country and hone his skills in public speaking, which in the future would be very useful for him. At the same time, Yastrzhembsky studied well and in 1976 he graduated from MGIMO with honors. But he couldn’t enter graduate school in his native university, as he refused to be distributed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Therefore, Sergei entered the graduate school of the Institute of the International Labor Movement, where he quickly wrote a dissertation in Portugal.
The beginning of the way
At the end of the graduate school, Yastrzhembsky Sergey Vladimirovich came to work at the Academy of Social Sciences as a junior research fellow. But he didn’t want to do further science, he dreamed of living work “in the field”, i.e. Abroad. Therefore, he gladly accepted the offer to work in Prague. Here he held the position of referent, deputy executive secretary of the journal Problems of Peace and Socialism. In the Czech Republic, he served 7 years, during which time his communist worldview was greatly shaken. Yes, and times contributed to free views.
Diplomatic activities
In 1989, Yastrzhembsky returned to Moscow and entered the service in the international department of the CPSU Central Committee as a senior referent. This was another career step. The next step is to work in the embassies. But life has made adjustments to the plans of the future diplomat. The party was living its last days, the system began to crumble, and Yastrzhembsky went to work in Megapolis magazine, then worked in the VIP magazine, in the Fund for Social and Political Studies, in the Information and Press Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But this whole kaleidoscope was just a search, for these two years he was looking for an opportunity to return to the diplomatic path. And when the place of the ambassador in Brazil was vacated, he began to collect things for the move. But a longtime friend in Czechoslovakia, Alexander Udaltsov, talked him out about the possibility of traveling to a new country. So in 1993, the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Slovakia, Sergey Yastrzhembsky, appeared. In this status, he worked for 3 years, during this period he organized an official visit to the country of the President of the Russian Federation B.N. Yeltsin, and this was for him the next step in his career.
Work in the Kremlin
In 1996, the newly elected President Yeltsin formed his team, A. Chubais proposed the new person, Yastrzhembsky, as the press secretary. Boris Nikolaevich remembered him in Slovakia and gave his consent to the appointment. For two years Sergey Vladimirovich worked with Yeltsin. It was a very difficult time, the President was ill, made mistakes that needed to be leveled, smoothed out. Yastrzhembsky did it professionally and with dignity. After the 1998 default, a partial change of the presidential team takes place and the spokesperson receives his resignation.
But the former assistant to the President of the Russian Federation was not expelled from the retinue of the first person. He only went into the shadows for a while, for a while he went to the Moscow Government, to Yuri Luzhkov.
After Vladimir Putin came to the Kremlin, Yastrzhembsky again returns to the highest echelons of power. He creates and leads the Office of Emergency Information Situations. He accounted for coverage of such emergency situations as the tragedy with Kursk, and the seizure of Nord-Ost by terrorists. He also worked in negotiations with the Americans on the fight against international terrorism. After the presidential election in 2004, Yastrzhembsky becomes an assistant to the President of the Russian Federation and a representative of the Russian Federation in negotiations on the development of relations with the European Union. In 2008, D. Medvedev took the chair of the President of the Russian Federation; Yastrzhembsky did not see himself in his team. But he did not see other attractive posts. The only place he would like to work is the UN, but V. Churkin, a close friend of Sergei, worked there as a representative. Therefore, he did not start talking about this with Putin. He made a strong decision for himself and simply left all posts to nowhere.
Trophy hunting
Since serving in Slovakia, Sergey Yastrzhembsky has been a passionate hunter. This hobby allowed him to escape from the problems of everyday life, to experience the excitement and pleasure of trophies. In the most difficult times, he always went on a safari. So after the resignation in 1998, he went to Africa, where he met his second wife. And in 2008, having left all posts, he also went in for hunting. But now he could make a hobby the main business of his life. Yastrzhembsky is very successful in hunting. On his account about 300 large animals, his trophies are inscribed in the book of the international safari club. He is among the individuals who received the trophies of the Big African Five: buffalo, elephant, rhino, lion and cheetah. Such a hunt is the business of wealthy and strong people. As a member of the international safari club, Yastrzhembsky participates in large hunts around the world. Starting with an African safari, I went hunting on all continents. He calls his best hunt for a bear trip in Kamchatka. Sergei Vladimirovich is an active supporter of reforming the practice of hunting in Russia, which is now undergoing completely barbaric methods.
Movie
In addition to hunting, Yastrzhembsky was fond of photography and video, for 20 years he has been shooting animals and hunters, loves aerial photography. And he decided to combine his two favorite things. And in 2009 he opened the film studio "Hawk-film", which specializes in the filming of documentaries about animals and hunting, ethnic cultures. He conceived and shot the cycle “Out of Time”. The series is dedicated to the endangered cultures of Africa, the author set himself the goal of creating a kind of Red Book of the black continent. Yastrzhembsky makes films, the purpose of which is to pay attention to the extermination of nature, animals, and peculiar cultures.
Filmography
On account of Yastrzhembsky more than 60 film projects, now he is working on a new tape. His legacy is the film “Blood Tusks” about the barbaric methods of elephant hunting in Africa, films about Russian Old Believers, about Siberian shamans, and the television project “Magic of Adventures”.
Africa
In the life of Yastrzhembsky Africa occupies a very important part. He has been hunting here for many years, loves African nature, knows a lot of interesting things about local life, even he met his wife here. The result of his passion for this continent was the film "Africa: Blood and Beauty." In it, Yastrzhembsky talks about the traditions and specifics of life of the indigenous tribes of this part of the world. The film was the result of many years of expeditions and filming. And “Out of Time”, a series of 8 parts, shows the cultural features of the endangered African peoples. The topic that interests Sergey Vladimirovich is rare and small nations.
Awards
Sergey Yastrzhembsky received many awards for his public service: medals, thanks from the President of the Russian Federation, the Order for Merit to the Fatherland, the French Order of the Legion of Honor.
As a documentary filmmaker, Sergei Vladimirovich earned several prestigious awards: he was twice awarded the Golden Eagle, winner of international awards and prizes.
