Jews,
against his own doctors, against his own colleagues. And he`s running this sort of anti-Zionist doctor`s plot.
And he`s suffering from arteriosclerosis. And when his doctors tell him, they say, you`ve got to stop
working so much, you`re suffering from severe arteriosclerosis, he had them arrested. He saw that as an
attempted sort of coup against himself -- quite rightly, because if he had to work less, were they taking
power away from him?

So he was actually in a very good mood, he loved running a purge, running a terror campaign.
You know, he was never happier when he was administering a new sort of terror intrigue. And at the height
of this he has dinner with his usual four companions, Khrushchev, Malenkov, Beria, Bulganin and himself,
and they have that dinner, they get drunk,they talk about these -- they talk about the interrogations of the
doctors.

LAMB: This is the March of...

MONTEFIORE: This is the 28th of February...

LAMB: ... `53?

MONTEFIORE: 28th of February, 1953. And they`re at the dacha, they`re drinking wine and
they drink until four in the morning, or whatever.

LAMB: Eisenhower has just become president?

MONTEFIORE: Eisenhower had just become president. And the height of the Cold War; the
Korean War is going on and American troops are there. Chinese troops are there.

LAMB: Let me ask you about Bulganin was what at that point?

MONTEFIORE: Bulganin was top Politburo member and ran the Defense Ministry at various
times...

LAMB: Khrushchev?

MONTEFIORE: Khrushchev was a senior party official running Moscow. Malenkov was Stalin`s
sort of deputy in the party. Beria was not head of the secret police at this point.