years. And then in 1948, `49, she was arrested, and she was accused of having sexual relations
with hundreds of young men in sort of Politburo gang-bangs if you like. Which is just completely
unbelievable accusation, she was accused of having group sex. And she was, you know, a respectable
grandmother, a matron by this point, so it was completely ludicrous.

And Molotov was sitting at the table when Stalin read out these accusations. And he said, "my
knees were knocking, I realized that this was very serious."

LAMB: So what happened to the two of them?

MONTEFIORE: Well, nothing happened to Molotov, except that he had to vote for her leaving
the party. He had to divorce her. And she was then arrested. And she was taken away and sent into exile.
And he did notsee her for three or four more years. And he believed she was probably dead. She wasn`t.
In fact, she was kept secretly. And he continued to be a member of the Politburo. He was sacked as foreign
minister, but he continued to be deputy premiere, to work all the time. He ceased to be Stalin`s most trusted
person. In fact, Stalin hardly saw him anymore. And saw him less and less. Stalin despised him by then.

LAMB: Because we don`t have much time, I want to get to Beria for a moment. Who -- he
became the leader?

MONTEFIORE: He became the first man of a collective regime. The power -- he became the sort
of power man.

LAMB: How long?

MONTEFIORE: Just for 100 days, three months.

LAMB: Who eliminated him?

MONTEFIORE: Khrushchev.

LAMB: Who killed him?

MONTEFIORE: A