Viktoria Brezhneva

Viktoria Petrovna Brezhneva (, ; [], ; 11 December 1907 – 5 July 1995) was the wife of Soviet politician and longtime General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. She was the mother of Yuri Brezhnev and Galina Brezhneva.

Biography

She was born in Belgorod in 1908 as Viktoria Petrovna Denisova (Дени́сова). It is claimed by historian Robert Service that she was of Jewish ancestry but Denisova herself has denied having any Jewish ancestry. She met Leonid Brezhnev in 1926 and they married in 1928. The following year, Viktoria gave birth to their first child, Galina. Four years later, their second child, Yuri, was born. Viktoria's relationship with Brezhnev was described as "old fashioned" and one that "without exaggeration [could] be called gentle". During Brezhnev's General Secretaryship, Viktoria remained at the sidelines; she did not like attracting public attention. She was buried next to her parents at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Her daughter, Galina, did not attend the funeral although the rest of the family did.