How an ordinary Soviet official married a billionaire: the third marriage of Christina Onassis
'27.09.2020'
Source: Big Picture
In 1978, unexpectedly for everyone, the "wedding of the century" of a simple Soviet citizen Sergei Kauzov and the daughter of multibillionaire Aristotle Onassis Christina took place. The reasons for Kauzov's entry into the family of one of the most influential people in the world are still not reliably known. Some are convinced that it was a "love marriage", others do not exclude the possibility of KGB intervention, says Big Picture.
Christina Onassis is the only daughter of the Greek billionaire Aristotle Onassis and Athena Livanos. After the death of her father, the girl inherited all of his fortune, including huge money capital, controlling stakes in large companies and the largest private fleet in the world.
Along with this, Christina's popularity among the opposite sex has grown incredibly. Already by the age of 25, the girl managed to be disappointed in love and left behind two unsuccessful marriages.
In 1976, Christina Onassis, being the owner of her father's empire, flew to Moscow to renew the Olympic Maritime (Onassis shipping company) contract with the Soviet Ministry of the Navy. During business negotiations, the girl saw him: well-read, conservative, fluent in several languages, charismatic Sergei Kauzov.
Later, she told her friends that she had a crush on Kauzov because of the great temptation to taste several forbidden fruits at once. The man was a Russian, a communist and, moreover, a KGB agent. As Christina admitted, she simply could not resist.
Among other things, Kauzov hooked her with cultural conversations about the work of Salvador Dali. Leaving, the millionaire gave him a Volga and her photograph, on which she left a sentimental signature:
“To dear Serge, a man of piece work, an erudite with out-of-the-box thinking, from the original with the hope of meeting in Paris in a month and transferring relations to another plane. Your Christina. "
After some time, Sergei Kauzov was appointed head of the Sovfrakht department in Paris. It was clear to everyone that it was not without Christina's intervention. The girl said that she would conduct any negotiations only in the presence of Sergei and it was useless to argue with her.
So Kauzov went to Paris to meet with his future wife. Together with him, his wife Natalya and 9-year-old daughter Katya went on a business trip, but this did not stop Ms. Onassis. However, soon all the obstacles on the way to a new relationship disappeared - the Soviet citizen divorced his wife after ten years of a happy marriage. By the way, Christina Onassis gave the order to pay his daughter a decent allowance until her 18th birthday.
The romance of Sergey and Christina developed rapidly. The couple increasingly began to appear together in public and travel the world. The KGB was aware of what Sergei was doing, and even allocated money to him for fashionable clothes.
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The passions around the lovers began to heat up, journalists literally wandered on their heels. Everyone was afraid of the marriage of Sergei and Christina, because if Onassis had given Kauzov the reins of the family empire, the consequences for the world economy would have been unpredictable. The world elite was worried that a Soviet citizen who had been repeatedly associated with the KGB could undermine NATO's plans to strategically use the Onassis flotilla. The girl's family was also against this marriage, but Christina herself was thirsty ...
The girl dreamed of getting married on the island of Skorpios, which belongs to her family. However, her plans were thwarted by the Soviet government: an impressive dossier was collected on her lover in the case of his machinations in Paris and they threatened to send him to prison. Only Christina could save Sergei, agreeing to marriage and further living in Moscow, and the girl did it.
In August 1978, the couple signed. The wedding ceremony took place at the Griboyedov registry office in Moscow. More than 300 journalists from all over the world gathered around the building, but none of them were allowed inside.
The ceremony lasted about half an hour, after which Christina and Sergei got into the Volga and left without paying attention to the press. It was rumored that the permission for this marriage was issued by the General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev himself, and it was he who insisted that the couple live in the USSR.
The newlyweds moved to live in the two-room apartment of Sergei's mother, located on Mosfilmovskaya Street. The girl who “wanted to live a simple life” immediately felt all her shortcomings. Later, Christina admitted that she was very cramped in this apartment, and besides it was annoying that in the morning “you have to wait for your turn to the toilet”.
Already on the third day of married life, Christina began to insist on moving to new apartments, and in the KGB the newlyweds were allocated two apartments at once in Bezbozhny Lane.
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Family affairs obliged the girl to regularly travel abroad, Sergei remained in Moscow for this period, which ultimately ceased to suit Onassis. Christina threatened to break off all contracts with the USSR if her husband was not released outside of it. The government went to meet her, but in “gratitude” the girl had to allocate 500 thousand dollars for the development of the Soviet Peace Fund and the same amount for the Greek Communist Party.
In the first months of their life together, Christina and Sergey looked really happy. The lovers constantly went to theaters and exhibitions, walked a lot and enjoyed each other's company, but over time, accustomed to luxury and wealth, the girl began to miss parties and social events.
Connection with the KGB
Why did many believe that the KGB had a hand in the marriage of Christina and Sergei? Major General Oleg Kalugin, now living in America, spoke about this later. According to the man, Sergei Kauzov's trip to France almost caused an international scandal. Christina immediately made it clear what Sergei needed to do if he wanted to get her signature on the contract to extend the partnership between the Soviet Ministry of the Navy and Olympic Maritime.
After a while, photographs of a Soviet official and a Greek billionaire vacationing in the Caribbean appeared in the press. Then Kauzov and his family were ordered to immediately return to Moscow, where his further fate was being decided.
The man was summoned to the Lubyanka, where they began to discuss what to do: divorce Natalia or break off relations with Christina.
“I blessed Christina and Sergey for the marriage and was their patron! Sergei has never worked for the KGB. He met Kristina while conducting business negotiations, - says Major General Kalugin. - Later their photos appeared in the press, it was a violation of protocol. The head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov, was terribly angry and threatened to put Kauzov in prison. But I stood up for him, saying: “If we put him behind bars, there will be an international scandal, but if they get married and have a boy, then a citizen of the Soviet Union will become the heir to the Onassis empire. In 1978, the wedding took place. The operation was called Olympia. "
Obviously, the KGB overestimated Christina's love for Sergei and her tolerance for new living conditions.
After 17 months of marriage, Christina and Sergei divorced. The official reasons for the divorce were not spread in the press, but it was rumored that the Soviet husband simply bored the Greek billionaire.
As compensation, the girl gave him several tankers and real estate in England. It was there that he subsequently moved to live, got a new wife and built a successful business. Christina soon married again - to the French businessman Thierry Roussel.
The couple had a daughter, who was named Athena. After the death of her mother as a result of an overdose of pills, it was Athena who began to dispose of the entire inheritance of Aristotle Onassis.
