Anastasia Ivanovna Filatova (, , 4 February 1920 – 21 October 2001) was the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

wife A wife (: wives) is a woman in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until their marriage is legally dissolved with a divorce judgment; or until death, depending on the kind of marriage. On t ...

of the

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

n leader

Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal (; 17 September 1916 – 20 April 1991) was a Mongolian politician who led the Mongolian People's Republic from 1952 to 1984. He served as General Secretary of the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party from 194 ...

Early life

Filatova was born in Sapozhok in

Ryazan Oblast Ryazan Oblast (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Ryazan, which is also the oblast's largest city. Geography Ryazan Oblast ...

into a family of five. Soon after leaving school, she moved to Moscow, where she became a

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

organizer within the Ministry of Trade. In 1941, she had a fiancé, who served in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

at the front. After they separated in 1943, she met Tsedenbal while he was visiting.

First Lady

In Mongolia, she was first received with caution as many considered her to be a kind of Soviet overseer, keeping an eye on Mongolian politicians.Leonid Shinkarev, Tsedenbal Filatova Khoyor: Hair Durlal, Erh Medel, Emgenel (Munkhiin Useg Publishing, Ulaanbaatar 2004). Her marriage to the leader of Mongolia was in itself considered a conduit of the influence of Nikolai Vazhnov (Soviet ambassador) and with the blessing of the Premier

Khorloogiin Choibalsan Khorloogiin Choibalsan (8 February 1895 – 26 January 1952) was a Mongolian politician who served as the leader of the Mongolian People's Republic as the Prime Minister of Mongolia, chairman of the Council of Ministers (premier) from 1939 unt ...

. Keeping a low profile in the 1950s and the 1960s, Filatova aspired to a

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

role of her own in her later years. She relied on the authority of her husband to subtly influence the Mongolian political landscape. She also built up connections with officials such as

Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov (; – 8 November 1986) was a Soviet politician, diplomat, and revolutionary who was a leading figure in the government of the Soviet Union from the 1920s to the 1950s, as one of Joseph Stalin's closest allies. ...

(who served as ambassador to the MPR at this time) and relied on the influence of Soviet leader

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...

whom she regularly "begged" for funds for a Palace of Pioneers and Young Technicians, pioneer camps, swimming pools and a Children's Fund. The First Lady's Fund became one of the main institutions of the country.

Later life and death

Filatova lived in Moscow with Tsedenbal after he fell from power and after he died in 1991. When she arrived in Ulaanbaatar from Moscow to attend Tsedenbal's funeral, the Mongolian prosecutor's office attempted to interrogate her upon arrival. During her last years, she lived in poverty and was often forced to sell her things in order make ends meet. Moreover, her eldest son Vladislav died unexpectedly when Anastasia was in the hospital in 1999. She died there on 21 October 2001, outliving her husband by 10 years. She was buried at the

Vagankovo Cemetery Vagankovo Cemetery () is located in the Presnensky District of Moscow, Russia. It was established in 1771, in an effort to curb 1770–1772 Russian plague, an outbreak of bubonic plague in Central Russia. The cemetery was one of those created ou ...

in Moscow.

Legacy

The Wedding Palace in Ulaanbaatar and the Ulaanbaatar Hotel was allegedly built on her initiative. The Nairamdal International Children's Center, located on the Bayangol Valley 30 km from Ulaanbaatar, was built in 1970s, which is the brainchild of Filatova. The center aimed to host international summer youth exchange programs with both Eastern bloc and Western countries. A statue of Filatova is erected in front of the center.

Sources

*Shaken Nadirov, 1984 god (Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, 1995) * Sergey Radchenko, "Mongolian Politics in the Shadow of the Cold War: The 1964 Coup Attempt and the Sino-Soviet Split", Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 8 (No. 1).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Filatova, Anastasia 2001 deaths 1920 births People from Sapozhkovsky District Soviet emigrants Immigrants to Mongolia 20th-century Mongolian women politicians 20th-century Mongolian politicians Burials at Vagankovo Cemetery