General Director of Dynamo Makhachkala Shamil Gazizov in an interview with , he talked about the period of life in the USSR, as well as the reaction to the collapse of the Union.
Gazizov was born in 1968 in Bashkortostan. Before Dynamo, he worked as general director of Ufa and Spartak Moscow.
— You managed to live a significant part of your life in the USSR. How do you remember this period?
— I studied and trained at that time. It was my life. In 1991 the USSR collapsed, I was around 23 years old then. I just finished my studies.
— What do you think life was like in the Soviet Union?
— Everyone who remembers the USSR was young then. And the memories are good, because then you were healthy and strong, the opportunities were different. Maybe something was missing. But I remember this with certainty: you were proud to be a citizen of the USSR. Wherever you were, you felt this powerful feeling. The patriotism was enormous. It’s clear that everyday life was a little different… But that’s okay, we managed.
— How did you perceive the collapse of the USSR?
– Nobody understood what was happening. And this lasted several years. Once – and everyone finds themselves in another reality, as if something had been cut off. It’s like a dream within a dream. And a few years later you look – and it turns out it’s true. The 90s were chaos. And to reach the 2000s, we had to survive this terrible chaos.
– How did you survive?
– GOOD. I’m an athlete, I wasn’t offended. My company protected me. This became apparent to me almost immediately in the early 90s.
— I read that you began your professional journey trading sugar and petroleum products.
– Yes, it was. There was also a catering business. And not bad! He was involved in a lot of different things.
— Have you ever met and collaborated with criminal authorities?
— We didn’t need to cooperate, but we collided, yes. At that time it was difficult to avoid this.
—Has your life ever been threatened?
– Not really. Everyone was walking around in some sort of danger. But I served in the army from 88 to 90. There was a men’s team there. We already had to learn to live there.
This probably influenced his character. You come and think that you are a great athlete and calmly run and jump all the time, and then they hit you in the head once – and you realize that life is a little different. I had all the time to think about life.
— Did you see the shooting in the 90s with your own eyes?
“There is probably no one who has completely avoided this in Russia,” Gazizov told .
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