On Wednesday, July 2, Viktor Brukhanov was called back to Kiev and handed a plane ticket to Moscow, where his presence was required the next day at a meeting of the Politburo. Before leaving, he went to bid farewell to Malomuzh, the deputy Party secretary for the region. The secretary had never before treated Brukhanov with anything but icy formality yet now seized him in a sudden embrace. It wasn’t a good sign, but by now, the deposed director had resigned himself to his fate.
