Preface

November 8, 2026

Books › This World Is Conquered › Preface

"Better let my flame dry up in a blinding flash than let the mold smother it." – Jack London.

Friend, it's been 15 years since I was going to sit down for a book. I was told: "Ivanovich, you have traveled so far, don't be greedy, share your impressions, your thoughts. Thousands of people dream, but they will never dare to repeat your way. Let children get distracted from the drawn characters and find a real hero of their time again…. Don't pull…"

I only chuckled, covered myself with anecdotes and slippery biker jokes, and quickly changed the subject. Just like that, just sit down and start writing?

Yes, 175 countries, 1.000,000 kilometers in 25 years. How not to suffocate from the frantic pulse, not to shake a hand and not to fail in memory? To rethink and relive the years full of madness on the road, in the dust, to rush again along the edge of the abyss and breathlessly stare into the horizon, gripping the handlebars of your motorcycle tighter and tighter.

Kazakhstan, my sovereign Kazakhstan! I kneel down and kiss my native land, feeling its trembling and excitement with all my heart. Kazakhstan, you allowed me to find my way far away from you, but in every country I visited, I felt that an unbreakable wall behind me was the strength and power of a young independent state. This power has always led me forward, to the depths of distant continents, so that I could proudly carry the sky-blue flag above my head, with endless love and thirst to tell about the history of my people, its achievements and grandiose international projects.

Sincere love for my country and faith in its great future have wrapped the globe with centuries-old roots of an evergreen forest, allowing me to feed on the life-giving energy of my native land. In the hardest times, when it seemed that everything was impossible to get out, that the limit had come and there was no way back. And every time, I got up, got out, took a breath and continued on my way.

There were too many incidents that I could not mention even in my diaries. I wanted to forget them, to erase them from my memory. I didn't want to let my thoughts be filled with the memories of the mortal dangers I'd experienced, to eliminate "born in a shirt" and "lucky" from my vocabulary, to burn into the air a clear and unshakable "it couldn't have been otherwise, period.

I wanted my wife and children to think that way, always, regardless of where I was, the political situation, possible hostilities, or wild hungry animals following me around.

*Laos. A break before entering the capital. 2009 г.*

To repeat day after day, like a spell, like a prayer, like the most indisputable fact, without giving my brain a chance to realize other options of the outcome of events, to which I was absolutely not agreed.

It is difficult to believe in "sudden luck" on a long journey across continents and countries, difficult even for the most ardent optimists. Luck on the road is too elusive and life is too unpredictable, as an interweaving of non-random accidents, an endless web of causes and effects.

So in 2005, during my trip to the countries of the African continent, I spent a month in a Tunisian prison, where I celebrated in stubborn loneliness my "silver" wedding – twenty-five years of life together with Natalia, my dear wife.

Then there was the historic terrorist attack in Lebanon in which the statesman and Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated. I was captured on the border between Algeria and Tunisia. My by then successfully grown "mujahid" beard, as a witness of a long journey, and the similar ending to Afghanistan – "stan" in the name of our country where I come from (note: Republic of Kazakhstan) gave the jailers irrefutable evidence of my involvement in the events.

Until the circumstances were clarified, I was sent to a local prison where I was successfully forgotten by the high command. You can sit in a Tunisian prison for years and no one will know where you are. But I was "lucky"… A month later, Russian diplomats arrived there to pick up their deported citizens. I asked them to inform our embassy and my family that I was sitting in prison. It was February 20.

It was only at the end of March that they agreed with the local authorities that I, as a criminal, would be deported out of the country. But it didn't matter at that point what role the authorities had prepared for my rescue, it was important to get out as soon as possible. were loaded onto a ship, rolled up on a motorcycle, which by then was covered with moss, and sent to Marseille (France).

Was it possible to predict this and somehow protect myself from what happened? Could I have thought at that moment that I would still be able to send news about myself to the Embassy of Kazakhstan and my family?

Throughout my journey, I was haunted by cataclysms. Tsunamis in Southeast Asia, earthquakes. In America, Hurricane Katrina. In the embassy we wrote a poster that Kazakhstan mourns the victims of the hurricane and drove through Florida and the state of Louisiana to honor the memory of the victims. Caught Hurricane Rita and experienced something!!!! Words cannot describe it!!!

"Lucky…" – I smile every time I hear this from people who recognize my story. If one really thinks that way, I should have hoped to be lucky at least every thousand kilometers and so once every three hundred, or better five hundred.

Germany. Brandenburger Gate - May 9. — *Germany. Brandenburger Gate – May 9.*

Akorda – 2006. First award from the President – Order "Dostyk"

This is not a book-guidebook on how to travel the world and all its beautiful places, it is a book-reasoning about the path traveled, a dialog with oneself in situations of constant choice, challenge, in moments when the true human feelings are exposed, thoughts are strengthened and the intention to be in this world chosen by one's own will and decision, not by the roulette of fate.

This is a search for an answer to many questions that have tormented me since childhood, since the time of meeting with the heir of the Evenki shaman in the Siberian taiga, and they never ceased to resound in my head and in the parliamentary chair, and at the time of awarding honorary state awards from the hands of the President of our country, N.A. Nazarbayev.

How I managed to find myself, my way and destiny to be useful for my country and even in the most peaceful time to do a worthy deed for the sake of all multinational people of Kazakhstan.

To write the name of Kazakhstan in the history of international projects with a firm hand, because I have always known one thing – no matter how many important things you do in your life, you must not only perform a good deed and put a monument to yourself on the square, but also form a generation of succession, so that the true values of your intention lived and bore fruit in the distant future, bringing up in our sons and grandsons boundless love for the Motherland, reverence for its history, respect for the true heroes of their time, who with their own hands built a young state, gave the gift of a new generation of people. I am a Kazakhstani, proudly carrying the flag of our multinational state around the world. Because we, the Kazakhstani people, are united in our love for our Motherland.

"I am a Kazakhstani, proudly carrying the flag of our multinational state around the world.

Because we, Kazakhstanis, are united in our love for our Motherland."

Yes, I am extremely proud to be a Kazakhstani. And these are not empty words! In every country, on every continent of our vast world, I affirm that Kazakhstan is a great country, with a huge potential for development and deserving the respect of everyone for its achievements since independence.

It is no secret that we are leaders of reforms and transformations, even taking into account the initial conditions of the post-Soviet period. Domestic political stability, economic growth and social optimism of our citizens allow us not to slow down the pace, but to increase it, thus expanding the spheres of our participation in the world.

"We build the future together!" – are the words of our first President, the leader of the nation, N.A. Nazarbayev, who formulated the idea of perseverance, work and unwavering faith in ourselves as an explanation for the existence of our entire civilization.

*Singer Dimash and biker Dmitry admire each other. Cannes,*

2018 г.

*There is always something to talk about with the great actor Vladimir Tolokonnikov.*

*TIMUR KULIBAYEV: "DEAR DMITRY, ALWAYS COUNT ON THE SUPPORT OF KAZENERGY!"*

We create our world with our ideas, projects, uniting and becoming stronger at every stage of our development. Our country has grown stronger before my eyes. First, we declared independence, asserted our own right to be a sovereign state, to proudly carry the heavenly flag over our heads and to be called Kazakhstanis.

And then began a series of high-profile international projects. Step by step, Kazakhstan strengthened its position in the world economy and politics, forcing foreign powers to listen and respect its position in the international arena.

"Our first president, Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev, personally presented me with the Order of Honor "kurmet" and an even higher award "Order of Dostyk"

With the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. 18

First acquaintance with the President of our country, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Several times I was brought together by fate with the current President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who, being in the role of Minister of Foreign Affairs, was away from our homeland on another diplomatic mission.

September 11, 2005 was the 4th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the USA, unprecedented in the world history. The tragedy claimed the lives of almost 3,000 people.

On that day, a Day of Remembrance for the victims of the tragedy was being held at the UN Headquarters in New York. According to my plan of official meetings, I had to arrive at the gates of the mission to greet the Kazakh Ambassador and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. This was my first acquaintance with the future President of our country:

"We're watching you, Petrukhin! Come on, only forward, Dmitri Ivanovich! forward!"

Then my way was to New Orleans, Lousiana, to lay a wreath in memory of those who died in the terrible Hurricane Katrina. And then on to Latin America.

Kasym-Jomart Tokayev approved my plans and confirmed support at the state level.