Page 340 - The Mirror of My Soul. Vol. 1

Nicolai Levashov. The Mirror of My Soul. Vol. 1. Born in the USSR

adventures with visas! But this did not bother us, we knew that it was true and we had

witnesses.

It turned out that the last week before our departure was very tense and full of
surprises. The base behaviour of Vladimir Mironov was a complete surprise and not only
for us. But at the same time, the action and words of the head of the OVIR, who
considered Mironov’s conduct mean and double-dealing, surprised us too, but
pleasantly. Otherwise, he would never have told us that Mironov had come to him in
order to do everything he could to prevent us from getting our departure permits.

Our last week in the USSR was so tense only because of Mironov’s sabotage. We
spend our last Saturday and Sunday before our departure at home. On Sunday I drove
my Mercedes for the last time and then put it into the garage which Nina and her husband
kindly put at my disposal. I paid the rent for the apartment for several months in advance
and we were ready to fly into uncertainty. America was another “planet” for us then and
although we knew a lot about this country, we were sure then that Soviet propaganda
intentionally distorted everything.

I thought that we would stay there several months and then come back. I could not
have imagined, and would never have believed it, if anyone had told me that I would
live in the USA for al-most fifteen years. Our friends visited us on Sunday and wished
us a nice trip and early in the morning, at 5.30, we went to Sheremetievo-2. Vladimir
Sergeev gave us a lift to the airport and our friends went in another car. There were not
many cars on Moscow roads in December, 1991 and we reached the airport without any
problems.

During the passport control we were asked whether we had foreign currency with
us. We answered positively and said that we had a thousand dollars each and were very
surprised when a customs officer demanded we deposit one thousand and six hundred

dollars, because according to the law we were only allowed to take two hundred dollars
per person. They said that the publication in the newspaper which informed us that
President Yeltsin “permitted” us to take one thousand dollars per person was not law for
them!

Thus, leaving the greater part of our money, Svetlana and I passed the border and
the custom control and got to the so-called neutral territory of the airport of
Sheremetievo-2. Going through custom control, they demanded that I open my suitcase
and, on finding nothing interesting, they let me put everything back. I quickly had to
cram all my clothes into the suitcase, thus throwing every-thing into disorder. But it was
the last unpleasant moment before our departure.

While we waited for our flight, we looked at the windows of the duty free shops

with curiosity. I looked with special interest at the windows with photo and video
equipment. Our flight was on time. The boarding was announced. We had our
documents and tickets checked for the last time and the bus drove us to the steps up to

the airplane. We settled in our seats as comfortably as we could (especially me) and in
ten or fifteen minutes our airplane was on the runway. It began its run… the last
shudder… and takeoff … we were flying toward uncertainty...
Nicolai Levashov
To be continued

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