A modern reader, even the most cultured and showing a keen interest in Russian history, has a rather vague idea about the personality of A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin - except from the novels of V. Pikul and N. Sorokina, as well as from the film series directed by S. Druzhinina "Midshipmen, go!." His name was almost completely and undeservedly forgotten - and not so much for some ideological reasons, but rather for historical negligence and underestimation of his personality. He seemed to dissolve and drown in a historical stream dedicated to descriptions of palace coups, the first Russian women empresses and their many favorites. However, in the 40-50s of the XVIII century, he was a key figure in Russian politics, and his name was pronounced not only in Russia, but also in all European courts and capitals with reverence and obsequiousness, and where and with fear and hatred. It was Molotov or Gromyko of the 18th century.