Irina Gorbacheva-Virganskaya: We have people’s trust

Seva Novgorodsev: Today, our guest in the BBC Russian Service studio is Irina Gorbacheva-Virganskaya, daughter of the first and only Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

We have already discussed that in March next year London will host a major celebration in honour of Mikhail Gorbachev’s 80th birthday. His family, friends, many well-known political and public figures have been busy preparing this event for many months now. But as my colleague, Anastasiya Uspenskaya, found out, for the Gorbachevs this will not just be a celebration. For them this is an important mission the family undertook many years ago.

Irina Gorbacheva-Virganskaya: Mikhail Sergeyevich is nearing his 80th birthday and we had to come up with some idea for this event, to pay him tribute. But this particular event was someone else’s brainchild. A lot of people are involved – working on a host of events. Here in London, I am in contact with one of them. A concert in the Albert Hall is a gift to Mikhail Sergeyevich. There will be a lot of friends, acquaintances, many politicians…

Anastasiya Uspenskaya: But it's not a surprise for him, is it? I understand he is aware of the preparations going on.

Irina Gorbacheva-Virganskaya: Of course, he is. We had to get his consent for this event. So, he is in a way involved, too, but he does not look into the details of the process.

It was agreed that the concert would certainly be a charity event, because almost any event we hold must be a public event. Our family continues a mission. And you have to choose: either to carry it on, or give up on it because you can’t.

All this was started by my mother many years ago, when even the word "charity" was not used in the Soviet Union and, in fact, nobody even knew what it really meant. On her visit to a hospital for children with leukemia Raisa Maximovna [Gorbachev] was so shocked by what she saw: the state of medical care and the severity of the disease, that she went into charity - to help those children.

We invested our own money - part of the Nobel Peace Prize. Mother devoted years of her life to charity efforts. And she continued those efforts - even after the resignation of Mikhail Sergeyevich. We have always been looking out for donors. We promoted a project to launch bone marrow transplant centers – there were non-existent in Russia at the time.

And then in 1999, we were faced with a tragedy: mother herself died of leukemia. My father and I, who spent together with her those last two and a half months of her life in hospital, attending to her around the clock, taking turns, never leaving her bedside, going together with her through all that hell, – we just could not give up on her cause. Even though charity now has become part of Russian life, society still does not show enough respect and support for it. But then, a tradition of charitable efforts has to develop in society.

Anastasiya Uspenskaya: You said you often come to London. Does it mean you are working closely with British charities?

Irina Gorbacheva-Virganskaya: Britain in terms of charity, probably, occupies a unique place in Europe, especially when we talk about private charity. Here we see excellent examples of how such private charities work. Here society is more mature for it. These efforts are recognized and supported by people. Therefore we needed a British partner for our event.

Anastasiya Uspenskaya: Are there any statistics that you keep, figures you are pleased with, showing how many lives you have saved.

Irina Gorbacheva-Virganskaya: I do not keep tabs on the number of children whom we have helped - I even find it somewhat embarrassing. I can tell you one thing. When Raisa Maximovna got involved into charity efforts, we had 95% of children with leukemia dying. Now we have a survival rate of between 80% and 90%. That is, it was a huge breakthrough. And Raisa Maximovna, in fact, was paving the way - for new treatment techniques, for support, for training doctors, nurses, etc.

The fact is that this disease, in addition to being an extremely severe one, requires a very technology intensive treatment. One has to invest hugely in equipment, medicines, technology, programmes, the so-called “protocols”, treatment abroad, etc.

Anastasiya Uspenskaya: The name of Gorbachev – does it open all doors?

Irina Gorbacheva-Virganskaya: No, it does not open every door. But people usually show us trust, it’s true. When you give them your name, they trust you after all. And doors might not open for a number of reasons, including political. But do they show trust? – Yes, they do. Generally, they show us much more trust than they would show anybody else.

Seva Novgorodsev: We had Irina Gorbacheva-Virganskaya as our guest.

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BBC Russian Service, 9.11.2010