Is it true that Winston Churchill LOVED Soviet cognac?

There is a legend that the British Prime Minister was an ardent fan of Armenian cognac and Stalin regularly supplied him with this drink for many years.

Churchill really had a penchant for Soviet cognac. Air Chief Marshal Alexander Golovanov recalled how the two leaders drank it during the Moscow Conference in August 1942.  

"I saw in the hands of the British prime minister a bottle of Armenian cognac. After examining the label, he filled Stalin's shot glass. In response, Stalin poured the same cognac for Churchill. Toasts followed one after another. Stalin and Churchill drank levelly."

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill clinks glasses with Soviet Ambassador Ivan Maisky.

Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

However, there is no evidence that the prime minister in any way distinguished cognac from other alcoholic beverages. And even if it was present in the gifts from Stalin to Churchill, it did not occupy any special place.  

The legend of Churchill's predilection for cognac took root thanks to the television series ‘Seventeen Moments of Spring’, based on the novel of the same name by Julian Semyonov. 

In it, there is a scene where Gestapo chief Heinrich Muller says to Standartenfuhrer Stirlitz (Soviet spy Isayev): "Do not consider yourself a figure equal to Churchill. The only thing I know about him for sure is he likes Russian cognac more than anyone else." 

At the same time, we can definitely say that the British leader very highly appreciated Soviet champagne. He was treated to it by Stalin at the Yalta Conference in 1945.

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