A contract with death. Rudolf Nureyev

         He refused to return from the Paris performances to the USSR. Sensational news spread all over the world within an hour. In the West he became the hero who “has broken off the fetters of communism”. For the Soviet Union Nureyev became a traitor. Nikita Khrushchev considered the escape of «The Hope of Russian Ballet» as a personal insult. He dreamed of one thing only: to return the fugitive to the USSR and to punish him! Therefore, in Paris Nureyev started to be seriously afraid for his life. He always felt a shadow behind him. He used to walk in the streets with a knife, to sit only on the floor board of taxis. He was constantly protected by two private bodyguards … Nureyev never regretted about the running away. More than twenty years he performed three hundred times a year on stages of the largest theatres of the world. His wealth was estimated in millions of dollars. Legends were made regarding his irascibility, egoism, avarice and unrestrained love for men.