What was the most important consequence of the State Emergency Committee. Active members and supporters of the State Emergency Committee. What happened at the White House? Who were the people for?

Almost 25 years have passed since the media announced the introduction of a state of emergency in the country. It was the morning of August 19, a turning point for the USSR in 1991. The events of that time were massive. Both citizens and politicians took part in them. It all started with the action of a group of people who dubbed themselves the abbreviation GKChP, the decoding of which is known to every conscious resident of the USSR, frightened by the horrors of a possible Civil War. What was it: an attempt to save the country or, conversely, a scenario of its collapse?

Background

In the spring of 1990, at the next Congress of People's Deputies of the Socialist Union, a decision was made to abolish the article of the Constitution defining the guiding role of the Communist Party. At the same time, M.S. was elected president of the USSR. Gorbachev.

In May of the same year, he was appointed the highest official of the RSFSR, as it turned out later, the future President of the Russian Federation, B.N. Yeltsin. It turned out that the leadership of the USSR had a competitor in the person of the Russian government, who operated in the same territory. Already in the summer, Boris Nikolaevich adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty, providing for superiority Russian laws over the union normative and legal ones.

In parallel with these events, nationalists began to protest in Tbilisi, then a statement was published in Vilnius about the illegal entry of Lithuania into the USSR, and later an interethnic conflict arose between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

All these events required action on the part of the country's leadership. Then it was proposed to reform into sovereign states. This later served as the reason for the creation of the State Emergency Committee. The decoding of the abbreviation was imprinted in the history of the collapse of the union as the State Committee for the State of Emergency.

All-Union referendum

At the end of 1990, at the next meeting of deputies, Mikhail Sergeevich came up with the idea of holding an all-Union popular vote on the issue further development at the heart of the renewed federation. People's deputies adopted a resolution to hold a referendum.

In the spring of 1991, nine republics gave preference to the reformation of the USSR into a renewed federation of sovereign states. At the same referendum, the people of the RSFSR supported the introduction of the post of president. Soon B.N. was elected to it. Yeltsin.

A rare example minted by the Leningrad Mint is also represented by the 10 ruble denomination of 1992.

Exist different opinions about the reasons for the creation of the State Emergency Committee, the main ones are:

1) fear of persons included in the State Emergency Committee of losing power;

2) saving the USSR from collapse.

According to the first version, scheduled for August 20, 1991. the signing of the new Union Treaty pushed conservatives to take decisive action, since the agreement deprived the top of the CPSU of real power, posts and privileges. According to the secret agreement of M. Gorbachev with B. Yeltsin and the President of Kazakhstan N. Nazarbayev, which became known to the Chairman of the KGB V. Kryuchkov, after the signing of the agreement it was planned to replace the Prime Minister of the USSR V. Pavlov with N. Nazarbayev. The same fate awaited the Minister of Defense, Kryuchkov himself, and a number of other high-ranking officials.

I would like to believe that the organizers of the State Emergency Committee were not driven by selfish intentions, but by patriotism and the desire to preserve the Soviet Union. Let's look at this version in more detail.

Since December 1990, Chairman of the KGB of the USSR V.A. Kryuchkov analyzed the situation in the country and tried to introduce a state of emergency using the methods provided for by the Constitution. The introduction of a state of emergency was necessary in order to restore legality in the USSR and stop the collapse of the Union. By the beginning of August 1991, it became clear that it would not be possible to do this using legal methods: they began to prepare a coup. August 7-15, 1991 V.A. Kryuchkov repeatedly met with future members of the State Emergency Committee. On August 18, surveillance was established over the President of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev, who at that moment was on vacation in Crimea, and the President of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin.

On August 18, Vice President of the USSR G.I. Yanaev issued a decree on his assumption of the post of President of the USSR. On the same night, the State Emergency Committee was created. It included the Internet. "Statement of the Soviet leadership." 08/18/1991:

V.S. Pavlov - Prime Minister of the USSR;

D.T. Yazov - Minister of Defense of the USSR;

V.A. Kryuchkov - Chairman of the KGB of the USSR;

O.D. Baklanov - Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council;

B.K. Pugo - Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR;

V.A. Starodubtsev - Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR;

A.I. Tizyakov is the president of the Association of State Enterprises of the USSR.

The main goal of the putschists was to “prevent the collapse of the Union,” which, in their opinion, was supposed to begin on August 20 during the first stage of signing a new union treaty turning the USSR into a confederation independent states. It was on August 20 that the agreement was to be signed by representatives of the RSFSR and Kazakhstan.

The putschists chose the moment when the President was away and announced his temporary removal from power for health reasons.

The State Emergency Committee relied on the forces of the KGB (Alpha), the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Dzerzhinsky Division) and the Ministry of Defense (Tula Airborne Division, Taman Division, Kantemirovskaya Division). In total, about 4 thousand military personnel, 362 tanks, 427 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles were brought into Moscow. Additional units of the Airborne Forces were transferred to the vicinity of Leningrad, Tallinn, Tbilisi, Riga "Results of the Week" newspaper. Article: “Twenty years after the coup.” 08/21/2011 Commanded Airborne troops generals Pavel Grachev and his deputy Alexander Lebed. However, the putschists did not have complete control over their forces; So, on the very first day, parts of the Taman division went over to the side of the defenders of the White House. From a tank of this division, Yeltsin delivered his famous message to the assembled supporters.

Information support for the putschists was provided by the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (for three days, news releases certainly included revelations of various acts of corruption and violations of the law committed within the framework of the “reformist course”). The State Emergency Committee also secured the support of the Central Committee of the CPSU, but these institutions were unable to have a noticeable impact on the situation in the country, and for some reason the committee was unable or unwilling to mobilize that part of society that shared the views of the members of the State Emergency Committee.

The resistance to the State Emergency Committee was led by the political leadership Russian Federation. By call Russian authorities masses of Muscovites gathered at the House of Soviets of the Russian Federation (the “White House”), among whom were representatives of various social groups- from the democratic public, students, intellectuals and veterans Afghan war to members of criminal structures and the “petty bourgeoisie”.

On August 19, 1991, at six o’clock in the morning Moscow time, a “Statement of the Soviet leadership” was broadcast on radio and television, which read: “Due to the impossibility for health reasons of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev to fulfill the duties of the President of the USSR and the transfer, in accordance with Article 127.7 of the USSR Constitution, of the powers of the President of the Union SSR to Vice-President Gennady Ivanovich Yanaev", "in order to overcome the deep and comprehensive crisis, political, interethnic and civil confrontation, chaos and anarchy that threaten the life and safety of citizens Soviet Union, sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom and independence of our Fatherland,” a state of emergency is introduced in certain areas of the USSR, and the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR (GKChP USSR) is formed to govern the country. The State Emergency Committee was headed by: First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council O. Baklanov, Chairman of the KGB of the USSR V. Kryuchkov, Prime Minister of the USSR V. Pavlov, Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR B. Pugo, Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR V. Starodubtsev, President of the Association of State Enterprises and Facilities industry, construction, transport and communications of the USSR A. Tizyakov, Minister of Defense of the USSR D. Yazov, acting President of the USSR G. Yanaev.

State Emergency Committee Resolution No. 1 ordered the suspension of activities political parties, public organizations, prohibited holding rallies and street processions. Resolution No. 2 prohibited the publication of all newspapers except the following: “Trud”, “Rabochaya Tribuna”, “Izvestia”, “Pravda”, “Krasnaya Zvezda”, “ Soviet Russia", "Moskovskaya Pravda", "Lenin's Banner", "Rural Life".

The resistance to the putschists was led by the President of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin and the Russian leadership. Yeltsin's Decree was issued, where the creation of the State Emergency Committee is qualified as a coup d'etat, and its members as state criminals. At 1 p.m., the President of the RSFSR, standing on a tank, reads out an “Appeal to the Citizens of Russia,” in which he calls the actions of the State Emergency Committee illegal and calls on the citizens of the country to “give a worthy response to the putschists and demand that the country be returned to normal constitutional development.” The appeal was signed by: President of the RSFSR B. Yeltsin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR I. Silaev, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR R. Khasbulatov. In the evening, a press conference of members of the State Emergency Committee was shown on television; the trembling hands of the acting President of the USSR G. Yanaev were visible.

On August 20, volunteer detachments of defenders (about 60 thousand people) gather around the House of Soviets of the RSFSR (White House) to defend the building from an assault by government troops. On the night of August 21, at about one in the morning, a column of airborne combat vehicles approached the barricade near the White House, about 20 vehicles broke through the first barricades on Novy Arbat. In the tunnel, blocked by eight infantry fighting vehicles, three defenders of the White House were killed - Dmitry Komar, Vladimir Usov and Ilya Krichevsky. On the morning of August 21, the withdrawal of troops from Moscow began.

At 11:30 a.m. on August 21, an emergency session of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR began. Speaking to the deputies, Boris Yeltsin said: “The putsch occurred precisely at a time when democracy began to grow and gain momentum.” He reiterated that “the coup is unconstitutional.” The session instructed the Prime Minister of the RSFSR I. Silaev and the Vice-President of the RSFSR A. Rutsky to go to the President of the USSR M. Gorbachev and free him from isolation. Almost at the same time, members of the State Emergency Committee also flew to Foros. On August 22, on a TU-134 plane of the Russian leadership, USSR President M. Gorbachev and his family returned to Moscow. The conspirators were arrested by order of the President of the USSR. Subsequently, on February 23, 1994, they were released from prison under an amnesty declared by the State Duma. On August 22, 1991, M. Gorbachev spoke on television. In particular, he said: “... the coup d'etat failed. The conspirators miscalculated. They underestimated the main thing - that the people have become different over these, albeit very difficult years. He breathed in the air of freedom, and no one can take that away from him.”

On August 19, 1991, representatives of the top leadership of the USSR, who opposed the actual liquidation of the Soviet Union as a federal state and its replacement with a confederal “Union of Sovereign States,” attempted to interfere with this process by introducing a state of emergency in the country.

USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, who actively promoted the SSG project, was isolated at a state dacha in the Crimean Foros (according to other sources, having taken a neutral position, Gorbachev withdrew from the events, awaiting their outcome).

The State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) assumed full responsibility for the fate of the country. By decision of the State Emergency Committee, from 4 a.m. on August 19, 1991, a state of emergency was introduced throughout the USSR for a period of six months.

From the State Emergency Committee’s appeal to the Soviet people:

“...The policy of reforms launched on the initiative of M. S. Gorbachev, conceived as a means of ensuring the dynamic development of the country and democratization public life, due to a number of reasons, has reached a dead end. The initial enthusiasm and hopes were replaced by unbelief, apathy and despair. The authorities at all levels have lost the trust of the population. Politics has crowded out concern for the fate of the Fatherland and the citizen from public life. Evil mockery of all state institutions is being instilled. The country has essentially become ungovernable..."

The loud statements of the State Emergency Committee, however, did not entail equally decisive actions. The introduction of troops into Moscow was not followed by attempts to disperse rallies of political opponents and suppress the actions of the leadership of the RSFSR led by Boris Yeltsin, who declared the actions of the State Emergency Committee an attempt at a coup.

On the evening of August 21, the State Emergency Committee was dissolved, and its members were arrested within several days. The government, which announced its intention to save the country, never took real action.

Residents of the USSR remembered the events of August 19-21, 1991 most of all for the television broadcast of the Swan Lake ballet. The ballet, which was repeated several times, was replaced by other programs that could not be broadcast for political reasons.

The detained members of the State Emergency Committee were kept in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center, and from June 1992 to January 1993 they were released on their own recognizance. On February 23, 1994, the defendants in the “GKChP case” were granted amnesty by the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

The State Committee for the State of Emergency included 8 people:

- First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council;
- Chairman of the KGB of the USSR;
- Prime Minister of the USSR;
- Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR;
- Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR;
— President of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial, Construction, Transport and Communications Facilities of the USSR;
- Minister of Defense of the USSR.

The Vice President of the USSR, who became the formal head of the State Emergency Committee, was poorly suited to the role of leader. The trembling of the hands of a very nervous Yanaev at a press conference of the State Emergency Committee for his political opponents became evidence of the uncertainty of the “junta leader” in his actions. On August 21, Yanaev resignedly signed documents dissolving the State Emergency Committee and canceling all its decisions.

Gennady Yanaev. Photo: RIA Novosti

Journalist Mikhail Leontyev cited Yanaev’s phrase from his conversation during the days of the “putsch” with the head of the KGB Vladimir Kryuchkov: “Understand my character, if even one dies, I won’t be able to live.”

Arrested on August 22, Yanaev gave a frank interview to a journalist in prison Andrey Karaulov, in which he said that the State Emergency Committee documents were developed with the knowledge of USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, who back in April 1991 ordered the security forces to begin preparing measures in the event of a state of emergency being introduced in the country. The interview with Yanaev was not published on the personal orders of the then Head of VGTRK Oleg Poptsov.

In January 1993, Yanaev was released from custody on his own recognizance, and in February 1994, the ex-head of the State Emergency Committee was granted amnesty.

Subsequently, Gennady Yanaev did not take an active part in political life, working as a consultant to the committee of veterans and disabled people civil service, as well as heading the Foundation for helping disabled children since childhood.

IN last years Yanaev held the position of head of the department of national history and international relations of the Russian International Academy of Tourism.

Gennady Yanaev died on September 24, 2010 from cancer. He was buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery in the capital.

Baklanov, who represented the military-industrial complex in the State Emergency Committee, did not play an active role in the events of August 1991, however, he was arrested along with the rest of the “junta members.” Like most other members of the State Emergency Committee, he was in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center until January 1993, after which he was released on his own recognizance. In February 1994, Baklanov was granted amnesty. His arrest affected the career of his son, Baklanov Jr., who worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was forced to resign.

Oleg Baklanov. Photo: RIA Novosti

After the amnesty, Baklanov returned to work related to enterprises of the military-industrial complex. IN Lately Baklanov served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC Rosobschemash.

The head of the KGB of the USSR was one of the “ideological inspirers” and informal leaders of the State Emergency Committee. However, Kryuchkov never gave the order to the KGB units to take active action against Boris Yeltsin and other political opponents. In particular, the Alpha unit, as early as August 19, had the opportunity to arrest Yeltsin before his arrival in Moscow, but Kryuchkov did not do this, fearing “unpredictable consequences.” Arrested on August 22, Kryuchkov remained in custody until January 1993, after which he was released and amnestied in February 1994.

Vladimir Kryuchkov. Photo: RIA Novosti

In subsequent years, Kryuchkov served as the Board of Directors of Region JSC, and was also an advisor Head of the FSB of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. The former head of the KGB was a member of the organizing committee of the Movement in Support of the Army, participated in the work of the council of veterans of state security workers, and wrote several memoirs.

He died on November 23, 2007 from a heart attack and was buried with military honors at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery in the capital.

The Prime Minister of the USSR was an active supporter of the creation of the State Emergency Committee, but in the August days of 1991 he became one of its most passive participants. Unlike his colleagues, he did not fly to negotiations with Gorbachev in Foros, but was removed from his post and arrested while in the hospital.

Valentin Pavlov. Photo: RIA Novosti

After the amnesty in 1994, Pavlov returned to financial activities, heading Chasprombank. Later, the ex-Prime Minister of the Soviet Union worked as an adviser to Promstroibank, was an employee of a number of economic institutions, and deputy chairman of the Free Economic Society.

As one of the most active members of the State Emergency Committee, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Boris Karlovich Pugo, was planned to be arrested first. On August 22, an extremely motley group of comrades, including the Chairman of the KGB of the RSFSR, went to Pugo’s apartment, ahead of the capture group. Victor Ivanenko, 1st Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and future active participant in the shooting of the White House Victor Erin, Deputy Prosecutor General of the RSFSR Evgeniy Lisina and deputy Grigory Yavlinsky.

Boris Pugo. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Eugene M

What happened at the apartment of the head of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs still remains unclear. According to Yavlinsky, Pugo and his wife were still alive, but were near death. According to the main version, the Pugo couple tried to commit suicide, and the minister first shot his wife and then himself. Pugo died a few minutes later, and his wife died in the hospital a day later without regaining consciousness.

Boris and Valentina Pugo are buried at the Troekurovskoye cemetery in Moscow.

In the August days of 1991, Starodubtsev, who was responsible for the agricultural complex, was preparing the draft Decree “On Saving the Harvest.” Arrested on August 22, Starodubtsev was the first member of the State Emergency Committee to be free - he was released from the pre-trial detention center for health reasons in June 1992.

Starodubtsev returned to work in the Agrarian Union, and in 1993 he became a deputy of the Federation Council.

Vasily Starodubtsev. Photo: RIA Novosti

After the amnesty in 1994, business executive Starodubtsev made the most successful political career among his colleagues in the State Emergency Committee in new Russia, from 1997 to 2005, holding the post of governor of the Tula region.

In 2007 and 2011, Starodubtsev was elected to the Russian State Duma on the lists of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Died on December 30, 2011 from a heart attack. He was buried in the rural cemetery of the village of Spasskoye, Novomoskovsk district, Tula region, next to the graves of his wife and son.

Industrialist Alexander Tizyakov as part of the State Emergency Committee was not a random person. In July 1991, he signed the “Word to the People” published in the newspaper “Soviet Russia”, in which politicians and cultural figures spoke out against the actions of Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin and for the preservation of the Soviet Union.

However, during the three days of the existence of the State Emergency Committee, Tizyakov did not have time to move on to active work to save Soviet industry.

Alexander Tizyakov. Photo: RIA Novosti

Like other members of the State Emergency Committee, Tizyakov was released from the pre-trial detention center in January 1993 and was amnestied in February 1994.

Subsequently, Tizyakov was a co-founder of AOZT Antal (mechanical engineering) and the insurance company Severnaya Kazna, the founder of Vidikon LLC (production of chipboards) and the Fidelity company (production of consumer goods), headed the board of directors of the investment trust company New Technologies " In addition, Tizyakov was the president of the Russian-Kyrgyz enterprise Technology, as well as the scientific director of Nauka-93 LLC.

The USSR Minister of Defense was an extremely unpopular figure among supporters of democratic changes and paid them in the same coin. It was Yazov who gave the order to send army units to Moscow. However, the Minister of Defense never gave the command to use force against opponents of the State Emergency Committee.

After his arrest on August 22, Yazov recorded a video message of repentance to USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev. Yazov himself claimed that the initiator of the “television repentance” was journalist Vladimir Molchanov, and the ex-minister himself, depressed by the events that had taken place and having not slept at night, succumbed to pressure.

Dmitry Yazov. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Barvenkovsky

While under investigation, Yazov continued to be listed on military service, from which he was fired on February 2, 1994, three weeks before his amnesty.

Dmitry Yazov became the last military man to be awarded the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. Currently, he is the only living Marshal of the USSR.

After the amnesty, Dmitry Yazov held the positions of chief military adviser to the Main Directorate of International Military Cooperation of the Russian Ministry of Defense, and chief adviser and consultant to the head of the Academy of the General Staff.

Currently, the 89-year-old retired Marshal of the USSR is a leading analyst (inspector general) of the service of inspector general of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

August putsch

Mass demonstrations in Moscow against the August 1991 coup.


	The planned transformation of the USSR into a Union of Sovereign States with the initial participation of only the RSFSR and the Kazakh SSR./p>
Primary goal:	Stop the collapse of the USSR and prevent it from turning into a confederation.
	The failure of the coup. The political victory of Boris Yeltsin, the failure of the signing of a new Union Treaty between the republics of the USSR, a significant weakening of the positions of the CPSU, the formation of the State Council, consisting of the President of the USSR and the heads of the union republics.
Organizers:	State Emergency Committee of the USSR
Driving forces:	State Emergency Committee Political support in the RSFSR: Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union Russia Communist Party of the RSFSR Union republics that supported the State Emergency Committee: Azerbaijan Azerbaijan SSR Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic Belarusian SSR International support for the State Emergency Committee: Iraq Iraq Libya Libya Serbia Serbia Sudan Sudan Palestine flag PLO
Opponents:	RSFSR: Russia Defenders of the White House Russia Supreme Council of the RSFSR Russia Council of Ministers of the RSFSR Russia Administration of the President of the RSFSR Russia Lensoviet, and its defenders Republics that rejected the acts of the State Emergency Committee: Latvia Latvian SSR Lithuania Lithuanian SSR Moldova Moldavian SSR Estonia Estonian SSR International condemnation of the State Emergency Committee: EU Flag European Parliament United States of America USA
Dead:
Those injured:	Unknown
Arrested:

August putsch- an attempt to remove M. S. Gorbachev from the post of President of the USSR and change his course, undertaken by the self-proclaimed State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) - a group of conservative conspirators from the leadership of the CPSU Central Committee, the USSR government, the army and the KGB on August 19, 1991, which led to radical changes in the political situation in the country.

The actions of the State Emergency Committee were accompanied by the declaration of a state of emergency for 6 months, the deployment of troops to Moscow, and the reassignment of local authorities military commandants appointed by the State Emergency Committee, the introduction of strict censorship in the media and the banning of a number of them, the abolition of a number of constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens. The leadership of the RSFSR (President B.N. Yeltsin and the Supreme Council of the RSFSR) and some other republics, and subsequently also the legitimate leadership of the USSR: President M.S. Gorbachev and the Supreme Soviet of the USSR qualified the actions of the State Emergency Committee as a coup.

The goal of the putschists

The main goal of the putschists was to prevent the liquidation of the USSR, which, in their opinion, should have begun on August 20 during the first stage of signing a new union treaty, turning the USSR into a confederation - the Union of Sovereign States. On August 20, the agreement was to be signed by representatives of the RSFSR and the Kazakh SSR, and the remaining future components of the commonwealth during five meetings, until October 22.

One of the first statements of the State Emergency Committee, disseminated by Soviet radio stations and central television, indicated the following goals, for the implementation of which a state of emergency was introduced in the country:

It is worth noting that if a new agreement was signed and the existing management structure of the USSR was abolished, members of the State Emergency Committee could lose their senior government positions.
According to sociological research Foundation "Public Opinion" conducted in 1993, the majority (29% of respondents) said that the goal of the Emergency Committee was to seize power, and for this they wanted to “overthrow Gorbachev” and “prevent Yeltsin from coming to power” (29%). 18% express the idea that members of the State Emergency Committee wanted to change the political structure of society: “preserve the Soviet Union,” “bring back the old, socialist system,” and for this, “establish a military dictatorship.”
In 2006, the former chairman of the USSR KGB, Vladimir Kryuchkov, stated that the State Emergency Committee did not aim to seize power:

Timing

Members of the State Emergency Committee chose the moment when the President was away - on vacation at the Foros state residence in Crimea - and announced his temporary removal from power for health reasons.

State Emergency Committee forces

Active members and supporters of the State Emergency Committee

Achalov Vladislav Alekseevich (1945-2011) - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR
Baklanov Oleg Dmitrievich (b. 1932) - First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council
Boldin Valery Ivanovich (1935-2006) - Chief of Staff of the President of the USSR
Varennikov Valentin Ivanovich (1923-2009) - Commander-in-Chief Ground forces- Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR
Generalov Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (b. 1946) - head of security at the residence of the President of the USSR in Foros
Kryuchkov Vladimir Aleksandrovich (1924-2007) - Chairman of the KGB of the USSR
Lukyanov Anatoly Ivanovich (b. 1932) - Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR
Pavlov Valentin Sergeevich (1937-2003) - Prime Minister of the USSR
Plekhanov Yuri Sergeevich (1930-2002) - head of the Security Service of the KGB of the USSR
Pugo Boris Karlovich (1937-1991) - Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR
Starodubtsev Vasily Alexandrovich (b. 1931) - Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR
Tizyakov Alexander Ivanovich (b. 1926) - President of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial, Construction, Transport and Communications Facilities of the USSR
Shenin Oleg Semenovich (1937-2009) - member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee
Yazov Dmitry Timofeevich (b. 1923) - Minister of Defense of the USSR
Yanaev Gennady Ivanovich (1937-2010) - Vice-President of the USSR

Force and information support of the State Emergency Committee

The State Emergency Committee relied on the forces of the KGB (Alpha), the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Dzerzhinsky Division) and the Defense Ministry (Tula Airborne Division, Taman Motorized Rifle Division, Kantemirovskaya Division). In total, about 4 thousand military personnel, 362 tanks, 427 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles were brought into Moscow. Additional airborne units were transferred to the vicinity of Leningrad, Tallinn, Tbilisi, and Riga.

The airborne troops were commanded by generals P. S. Grachev and his deputy A. I. Lebed. At the same time, Grachev maintained telephone contact with both Yazov and Yeltsin. However, the State Emergency Committee did not have complete control over its forces; So, on the very first day, parts of the Taman division went over to the side of the defenders of the White House. From the tank of this division, Yeltsin delivered his famous message to the assembled supporters.

Information support for the State Emergency Committee was provided by the State Television and Radio of the USSR (for three days, news releases certainly included revelations of various acts of corruption and violations of the law committed within the framework of the “reformist course”), the State Emergency Committee also secured the support of the Central Committee of the CPSU, but these institutions were unable to have a noticeable impact on the situation in capital, and the committee was unable to mobilize that part of society that shared the views of the members of the State Emergency Committee.

Leader of the State Emergency Committee

Despite the fact that the nominal head of the State Emergency Committee was G. I. Yanaev, according to a number of experts (for example, former Lensoviet deputy, political scientist and polytechnologist Alexei Musakov), the real soul of the conspiracy was V. A. Kryuchkov. The leading role of Kryuchkov is repeatedly mentioned in the materials official investigation conducted by the USSR KGB in September 1991.

Despite this, according to Russian President Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin:

Opponents of the State Emergency Committee

The resistance to the State Emergency Committee was led by the political leadership of the Russian Federation (President B. N. Yeltsin, Vice President A. V. Rutskoi, Chairman of the Government I. S. Silaev, Acting Chairman of the Supreme Council R. I. Khasbulatov).
In an address to Russian citizens on August 19, Boris Yeltsin, characterizing the actions of the State Emergency Committee as a coup d’etat, said:

Khasbulatov was on Yeltsin’s side, although 10 years later in an interview with Radio Liberty he said that, like the State Emergency Committee, he was dissatisfied with the draft of the new Union Treaty:

As for the content of the new Union Treaty, in addition to Afanasyev and someone else, I myself was terribly dissatisfied with this content. Yeltsin and I argued a lot - should we go to a meeting on August 20? And finally, I convinced Yeltsin by saying that if we didn’t even go there, if we didn’t form a delegation, it would be perceived as our desire to destroy the Union. There was, after all, a referendum in March on the unity of the Union. Sixty-three percent, I think, or 61 percent of the population were in favor of preserving the Union. I say: “You and I have no right...”. That’s why I say: “Let’s go, form a delegation, and then we will motivate our comments on the future Union Treaty.”

White House Defenders

At the call of the Russian authorities, masses of Muscovites gathered at the House of Soviets of the Russian Federation (“White House”), among whom were representatives of a wide variety of social groups - from the democratically minded public, students, intelligentsia to veterans of the Afghan war.

According to the leader of the Democratic Union party, Valeria Novodvorskaya, despite the fact that she was kept in a pre-trial detention center during the days of the coup, members of her party took an active part in street protests against the State Emergency Committee in Moscow.

Some of the participants in the defense of the House of Soviets, who were part of the “Living Ring” detachment on August 20, 1991, formed the socio-political organization of the same name, the “Living Ring” Union (leader K. Truevtsev).

Another socio-political association that formed near the Council House during the days of the putsch is the “Social-patriotic association of volunteers - defenders of the White House in support of democratic reforms - the “Russia” detachment.”

Among the defenders of the White House were Mstislav Rostropovich, Andrei Makarevich, Konstantin Kinchev, Margarita Terekhova, the future terrorist Basayev and the head of the Yukos company Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Background

On June 17, Gorbachev and the leaders of nine republics agreed on the draft Union Treaty. The project itself caused a sharply negative reaction from security officials from the USSR Cabinet of Ministers: Yazov (Army), Pugo (Ministry of Internal Affairs) and Kryuchkov (KGB).
July 20 - Russian President Yeltsin issued a decree on departition, that is, prohibiting the activities of party committees in enterprises and institutions.
On July 29, Gorbachev, Yeltsin and the President of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev met confidentially in Novo-Ogaryovo. They scheduled the signing of a new Union Treaty for August 20.
On August 2, Gorbachev announced in a televised address that the signing of the Union Treaty was scheduled for August 20. On August 3, this appeal was published in the Pravda newspaper.
On August 4, Gorbachev went to rest at his residence near the village of Foros in Crimea.
August 17 - Kryuchkov, Pavlov, Yazov, Baklanov, Shenin and Gorbachev’s assistant Boldin meet at the “ABC” facility - the closed guest residence of the KGB at the address: Academician Vargi Street, possession 1. Decisions are made to introduce a state of emergency from August 19, to form the State Emergency Committee, to demand Gorbachev to sign the corresponding decrees or resign and transfer powers to Vice President Gennady Yanaev, Yeltsin to be detained at the Chkalovsky airfield upon arrival from Kazakhstan for a conversation with Yazov, then act further depending on the results of the negotiations.

The beginning of the coup

On August 18 at 8 o’clock in the morning, Yazov informs his deputies Grachev and Kalinin about the upcoming introduction of a state of emergency.
13:02. Baklanov, Shenin, Boldin, General V.I. Varennikov and the head of the security of the President of the USSR Yuri Plekhanov fly from the Chkalovsky airfield on a TU-154 military aircraft (tail number 85605), assigned to the Minister of Defense Yazov, to Crimea for negotiations with Gorbachev in order to obtain his consent to declare a state of emergency. At about 5 p.m. they meet with Gorbachev. Gorbachev refuses to give them his consent.

At the same time (at 16:32) all types of communications were turned off at the presidential dacha, including the channel that provided control of the strategic nuclear forces of the USSR.
On August 19, at 4 a.m., the Sevastopol regiment of the USSR KGB troops blocked the presidential dacha in Foros. By order of the Chief of Staff of the USSR Air Defense Forces, Colonel-General Maltsev, two tractors blocked the runway on which the President's flight assets are located - a Tu-134 plane and a Mi-8 helicopter.

Version by G. Yanaev

According to GKChP member Gennady Yanaev, on August 16, at one of the special facilities of the USSR KGB in Moscow, a meeting was held between USSR Minister of Defense Yazov and KGB Chairman Kryuchkov, at which the situation in the country was discussed. On August 17, at the same facility, a meeting was held with the same composition, to which the Chairman of the USSR Government, Valentin Pavlov, was also invited. It was decided to send a group of members of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee to Foros to demand that Mikhail Gorbachev immediately introduce a state of emergency and not sign a new Union Treaty without an additional referendum. On August 18, at about 20:00, Yanaev, at the invitation of Kryuchkov, arrived in the Kremlin, where a meeting was held with a group of Politburo members who had returned from Foros from Gorbachev. Yanaev was offered to head the State Emergency Committee. After a long discussion, he agreed only around 1:00 on August 19th.

White House Defenders

August 19

At 6 o’clock in the morning, the USSR media announced the introduction of a state of emergency in the country and the inability of USSR President M.S. Gorbachev to perform his functions “for health reasons” and the transfer of all power to the State Emergency Committee. At the same time, troops were sent to Moscow.
At night, Alpha moved to Yeltsin’s dacha in Arkhangelskoye, but did not block the president and did not receive instructions to take any action against him. Meanwhile, Yeltsin urgently mobilized all his supporters in the upper echelon of power, the most prominent of whom were R. I. Khasbulatov, A. A. Sobchak, G. E. Burbulis, M. N. Poltoranin, S. M. Shakhrai, V. N. Yaroshenko. The coalition compiled and faxed an appeal “To the Citizens of Russia.” B. N. Yeltsin signed a decree “On the illegality of the actions of the State Emergency Committee.” Echo of Moscow became the mouthpiece of opponents of the coup.
B. N. Yeltsin’s condemnation of the State Emergency Committee during a speech from a tank of the Taman Division at the White House. Russian President B.N. Yeltsin arrives at the “White House” (Supreme Council of the RSFSR) at 9 o’clock and organizes a center of resistance to the actions of the State Emergency Committee. Resistance takes the form of rallies that gather in Moscow near the White House on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment and in Leningrad on St. Isaac's Square near the Mariinsky Palace. Barricades are being erected in Moscow and leaflets are being distributed. Directly near the White House there are armored vehicles of the Ryazan regiment of the Tula Airborne Division under the command of Major General A.I. Lebed] and the Taman Division. At 12 o'clock, from a tank, B.N. Yeltsin addresses those gathered for the rally, where he calls what happened a coup d'etat. From among the protesters, unarmed militia detachments are created under the command of deputy K.I. Kobets. Afghan veterans and employees of the private security company Alex take an active part in the militia. Yeltsin is preparing space for retreat by sending emissaries to Paris and Sverdlovsk with the right to organize a government in exile.
Evening press conference of the State Emergency Committee. V.S. Pavlov, who developed a hypertensive crisis, was absent from it. The members of the State Emergency Committee were noticeably nervous; The whole world went around the footage of G. Yanaev’s shaking hands. Journalist T. A. Malkina openly called what was happening a “coup,” the words of the members of the State Emergency Committee were more like excuses (G. Yanaev: “Gorbachev deserves all respect”).

At 23:00, a company of paratroopers of the Tula Airborne Division on the 10th BRDM arrived in the vicinity of the House of Soviets. Deputy Commander of the Airborne Forces, Major General A.I. Lebed, arrived with the fighters.

Plot in the program “Time”

The USSR Central Television, in the evening edition of the Vremya program, unexpectedly airs a story prepared by its correspondent Sergei Medvedev about the situation at the White House, into which Yeltsin finds himself reading out the Decree “On the illegality of the actions of the State Emergency Committee” signed the day before. In conclusion, S. Medvedev’s commentary is heard, in which he directly expresses doubts about the possibility of airing this story. However, the story was seen by a huge audience of television viewers throughout the country; it contrasted sharply with the rest of the content of the program (with stories in support of the actions of the State Emergency Committee) and made it possible to doubt the actions of the State Emergency Committee.
The author of the story, Sergei Medvedev, explains his exit this way:

It is worth noting that in 1995, Sergei Medvedev became the press secretary of President Boris Yeltsin and held this post until 1996.

August 20

By order of the State Emergency Committee, officers of the Ministry of Defense, KGB and Ministry of Internal Affairs V. A. Achalov, V. F. Grushko, G. E. Ageev, B. V. Gromov, A. I. Lebed, V. F. Karpukhin, V. I. Varennikov and B.P. Beskov carried out preparations for the previously unplanned seizure of the building of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR by units of security forces. According to experts, the capture plan they developed was impeccable from a military point of view. Units totaling about 15 thousand people were allocated to carry out the operation. However, the generals responsible for preparing the assault began to doubt the feasibility. Alexander Lebed goes over to the side of the White House defenders. The commanders of Alpha and Vympel, Karpukhin and Beskov, ask Deputy Chairman of the KGB Ageev to cancel the operation. The assault was called off.
In connection with the hospitalization of V. Pavlov, the temporary leadership of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was entrusted to V. Kh. Doguzhiev, who did not make any public statements during the putsch.
Russia creates a temporary republican Ministry of Defense. Konstantin Kobets is appointed Minister of Defense.
At 12:00, a rally sanctioned by the Moscow city authorities begins near the House of Soviets. Several tens of thousands of people gathered there. The organizers of the rally are the movement " Democratic Russia"and the Councils of Labor Collectives of Moscow and the Moscow Region. The officially declared slogan of the rally is “For law and order”
At 15:00 on the first channel of the USSR Central Television in the “Time” program, under conditions of strict censorship on other channels, an unexpected story was released, later described by the famous journalist E. A. Kiselyov:

I then worked at Vesti. Vesti was taken off the air. We sit, watch the first channel (...) And the announcer appears in the frame, and suddenly begins to read messages from news agencies: President Bush condemns the putschists, British Prime Minister John Major condemns, the world community is outraged - and at the end of the day: Yeltsin outlawed the State Emergency Committee, the prosecutor Russia, then Stepankov, is initiating a criminal case. We are shocked. And I imagine how many people, including participants in the events who at that moment caught the slightest hint of which way the situation was swinging, ran to the White House to Yeltsin to sign their allegiance and loyalty. On the third day, in the evening, I meet Tanechka Sopova, who was then working in the Main Information Editorial Office of Central Television, well, hugs, kisses. I say: “Tatyan, what happened with you?” “And this is me, the Bad Boy,” says Tanya. I was the responsible graduate." That is, she was collecting a folder, selecting news. And there was an order: go and coordinate everything. “I come in,” he says, “once, and the whole synclite is sitting there and some people, complete strangers. They are discussing what to broadcast at 21:00 on the Vremya program. And here I am, little one, poking around with my papers.” She really is such a tiny woman. “They tell me in plain text where I should go with my three-hour news: “Do the layout yourself!” - well, I went and did it.”

According to Kiselyov, Tatyana Sopova is “a little woman, because of whom the putsch may have failed in August 1991.”

August 21

On the night of August 21, tank units controlled by the State Emergency Committee carried out maneuvers in the area of the White House (the building of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR). Supporters of Boris Yeltsin clash with a military column in the tunnel under New Arbat. (see Incident in the tunnel on the Garden Ring)
Alpha Group does not receive orders to storm the White House.
At 3 o’clock in the morning, Air Force Commander-in-Chief Yevgeny Shaposhnikov suggests that Yazov withdraw troops from Moscow and that the State Emergency Committee “be declared illegal and dispersed.” At 5 o'clock in the morning a meeting of the board of the USSR Ministry of Defense was held, at which the commanders-in-chief of the Navy and Strategic Missile Forces supported Shaposhnikov's proposal. Yazov gives the order to withdraw troops from Moscow.
On the afternoon of August 21, a session of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR begins, chaired by Khasbulatov, which almost immediately accepts statements condemning the State Emergency Committee. Vice-President of the RSFSR Alexander Rutskoi and Prime Minister Ivan Silaev fly to Foros to see Gorbachev. Some members of the Emergency Committee fly to Crimea on another plane to negotiate with Gorbachev, but he refuses to accept them.
A delegation from the State Emergency Committee arrived at the presidential dacha in Crimea. M. S. Gorbachev refused to accept her and demanded to restore contact with the outside world. In the evening, M. S. Gorbachev contacted Moscow, canceled all orders of the State Emergency Committee, removed its members from government posts and appointed new heads of the USSR law enforcement agencies.

August 22

Mikhail Gorbachev returns from Foros to Moscow together with Rutskoi and Silaev on a Tu-134 plane. Members of the State Emergency Committee were arrested.
Moscow declared mourning for the victims. A mass rally was held on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment in Moscow, during which demonstrators carried out a huge banner of the Russian tricolor; At the rally, the President of the RSFSR announced that a decision had been made to make the white-azure-red banner the new state flag of Russia. (In honor of this event, in 1994 the date August 22 was chosen to celebrate the Day of the State Flag of Russia.)
The new state flag of Russia (tricolor) was installed for the first time at the top of the Council House building.
The defenders of the White House are supported by rock groups (“Time Machine”, “Cruise”, “Shah”, “Metal Corrosion”, “Mongol Shuudan”), who are organizing the “Rock on the Barricades” concert on August 22.

August 23

At night, by order of the Moscow City Council, in the presence of a massive gathering of protesters, the monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky on Lubyanka Square was dismantled.

Live, Yeltsin, in the presence of Gorbachev, signs a decree suspending the Communist Party of the RSFSR

Further events

On the night of August 23, by order of the Moscow City Council, in the presence of a massive gathering of protesters, the monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky on Lubyanka Square was dismantled.

Live, Yeltsin, in the presence of Gorbachev, signs a decree suspending the Communist Party of the RSFSR. The next day, Gorbachev announces his resignation as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. The statement on this matter said:

The Secretariat and the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee did not oppose the coup. The Central Committee failed to take a decisive position of condemnation and opposition, and did not rouse the communists to fight against the violation of constitutional legality. Among the conspirators were members of the party leadership; a number of party committees and the media supported the actions of state criminals. This put the communists in a false position.

Many party members refused to cooperate with the conspirators, condemned the coup and joined the fight against it. No one has the moral right to indiscriminately accuse all communists, and I, as President, consider myself obligated to protect them as citizens from unfounded accusations.

In this situation, the CPSU Central Committee must make a difficult but honest decision to dissolve itself. The fate of the republican communist parties and local party organizations will be determined by them themselves.

I do not consider it possible for me to continue to perform functions Secretary General Central Committee of the CPSU and relinquish the corresponding powers.

I believe that democratically minded communists, who have remained faithful to constitutional legality and the course towards the renewal of society, will advocate the creation on a new basis of a party that, together with all progressive forces, can actively participate in the continuation of fundamental democratic transformations in the interests of working people.

Confrontation of the putschists in Leningrad

Despite the fact that the main events took place in Moscow, the confrontation between the State Emergency Committee and democratic forces in the regions, especially in Leningrad, also played an important role.

On the morning of August 19, the city radio and television broadcast: An appeal from the State Emergency Committee to the Soviet people, a statement by Anatoly Lukyanov in his support, and after them an appeal from Colonel General V. N. Samsonov, commander of the Leningrad Military District, whom the State Emergency Committee appointed the military commandant of Leningrad. In it, Samsonov announced the introduction of a state of emergency and special measures in the city and surrounding areas, which included:

a ban on holding meetings, street processions, strikes, as well as any public events (including sports and entertainment);
prohibition of dismissal of workers and employees due to at will;
a ban on the use of duplicating equipment, as well as radio and television transmitting equipment, the seizure of sound recording and amplifying technical equipment;
establishing control over the media;
introduction of special rules for the use of communications;
traffic restrictions Vehicle and conducting their inspection;

And other measures.

General Samsonov also announced the creation of an emergency committee in the city, which, in particular, included the first secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU Gidaspov.

The building of the Leningrad City Council (Mariinsky Palace), in which the democratic faction was the strongest, on August 19 turned into the headquarters of opposition to the coup, and St. Isaac's Square in front of it became a permanent spontaneous rally. Megaphones were installed on the square, transmitting the latest reports on events and speeches from the meeting of the Lensovet Presidium, which opened at 10 o'clock. The square and the streets adjacent to the palace, as well as the streets near the television center, were covered with barricades.

The mayor of the city, A. A. Sobchak, arrived in Moscow the day before to participate as part of the Russian delegation in the planned signing of a new Union Treaty. Having compiled, together with B.N. Yeltsin and other leaders of the democratic resistance, the text of the Appeal to the citizens of Russia, he flew to Leningrad at about 14:00. Immediately upon arrival, he went not to the Mariinsky Palace, as expected, but to the headquarters of General Samsonov, where he convinced the latter to refrain from sending troops into the city. He then spoke at an emergency session of the Leningrad City Council, which opened at 16:30, and later addressed the townspeople on television (on August 19, 1991, Leningrad television was the only one in the USSR that managed to air a program directed against the putschists). Together with Sobchak in the studio were Chairman of the Leningrad City Council Alexander Belyaev, Chairman of the Regional Council Yuri Yarov and Vice-Mayor Vyacheslav Shcherbakov. They ended their speech with a call to the townspeople: to go to Palace Square on the morning of August 20 for a protest rally.

On August 20, at 5 am, the Vitebsk Airborne Division of the KGB of the USSR and the Pskov Division of the USSR Ministry of Defense approached Leningrad, but did not enter the city, but were stopped near Siverskaya (70 km from the city). The movements of military units in the surrounding area and their pull towards the city continued on the night of August 21 (they were regularly reported by Radio Baltika), but in the end V. N. Samsonov kept his word to A. A. Sobchak and bring them into the city didn't.

At the rally on August 20 on Palace Square, in which about 400 thousand people took part, along with city leaders A. Belyaev, V. Shcherbakov and A. Sobchak, many prominent political and cultural figures condemned the State Emergency Committee ( people's deputies M. E. Salye and Yu. Yu. Boldyrev, poet and composer A. A. Dolsky, academician D. S. Likhachev and others).

The free radio stations Baltika and Open City continued to broadcast in the city.

Victims

Architect of the design and construction cooperative "Kommunar" Ilya Krichevsky
Participant of the war in Afghanistan, forklift driver Dmitry Komar
Economist of the Ikom joint venture, son of Rear Admiral Vladimir Usov

All three died on the night of August 21 during an incident in a tunnel on the Garden Ring. On August 24, 1991, by decrees of USSR President M.S. Gorbachev, all three were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union “for courage and civic valor shown in defending democracy and the constitutional system of the USSR.”

Suicides of USSR leaders

USSR Minister of Internal Affairs (1990-1991), member of the State Emergency Committee B.K. Pugo committed suicide by shooting himself with a pistol when he learned that a group had arrived to arrest him.
According to the founder of the Yabloko party, Grigory Yavlinsky, on August 22, 1991, he personally participated in the operation to arrest Pugo along with General Director Federal Security Agency of the RSFSR Viktor Ivanenko:

Three shell casings were found at the scene of Pugo's death. Grigory Yavlinsky, citing investigative data, says that the last shot was fired by Pugo’s wife Valentina Ivanovna, who also shot herself and died three days later without regaining consciousness.
August 24, 1991 at 21:50 In office No. 19 “a” in building 1 of the Moscow Kremlin, the security officer on duty Koroteev discovered the corpse of Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergei Fedorovich Akhromeev, who worked as an adviser to the President of the USSR. According to investigators, the marshal committed suicide, leaving a suicide note in which he explained his act as follows:

At about five in the morning on August 26, 1991, the manager of the affairs of the CPSU Central Committee, N. E. Kruchina, under unclear circumstances, fell from the fifth floor balcony of his apartment in Pletnevy Lane and fell to his death. According to information provided by journalists from the Moscow News newspaper, Kruchina left a suicide note on the table in which he wrote the following:

According to Moscow News journalists, Kruchin left a thick folder with documents on the chair next to his desk containing detailed information about the illegal commercial activities of the CPSU and the KGB, including the creation of offshore enterprises with party money outside the USSR in recent years. An interesting fact: on October 6 of the same year, Kruchina’s predecessor as head of the CPSU Central Committee, 81-year-old Georgy Pavlov, fell from the window of his apartment.

Symbolism

The Russian tricolor, which was widely used by forces opposing the State Emergency Committee, became a symbol of victory over the putschists. After the defeat of the State Emergency Committee, by a resolution of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR of August 22, 1991, the white-blue-red historical flag of Russia was recognized as the official national flag of the RSFSR.

Another symbol of the putsch was the ballet “Swan Lake,” which was shown on television between breaking news broadcasts. In the popular consciousness, the putsch was associated with Pinochet's Chilean putsch. So Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak called the State Emergency Committee a junta, and Yazov tried to distance himself from this image, saying: “I will not be Pinochet.”

August putsch in culture

In 1991, the short cartoon “Putsch” was shot at the Pilot studio.
Alexander Prokhanov’s novel “The Last Soldier of the Empire” was entirely dedicated to the events of August 1991.
2011 - on the 20th anniversary of the coup, it was broadcast on Channel One documentary“Tomorrow everything will be different.”
2011 - on the 20th anniversary of the coup, the Rossiya channel released the documentary film “August 91. Versions".

The theory about Gorbachev's participation in the activities of the State Emergency Committee

It was suggested that M. S. Gorbachev himself, who knew about the conservative lobby in the Kremlin leadership, was in collusion with the State Emergency Committee. Thus, A.E. Khinshtein in the book “Yeltsin. Kremlin. Case history" writes:

However, Khinshtein does not indicate the source of this information. On February 1, 2006, in an interview with the Rossiya TV channel, Boris Yeltsin stated that Gorbachev’s participation in the State Emergency Committee was documented.

Alpha's role

Alpha did not trust the State Emergency Committee because of the “betrayal” of the KGB leadership after the events in the Baltic states, when one of its fighters died. Therefore, Alpha hesitated, essentially maintaining neutrality. In an interview, the then commander of Alpha said that they could easily have captured the White House. But, according to him, there was no command from above. Otherwise, the White House building would have been seized.

Former leader Presidential Security Service Alexander Korzhakov, in his book of memoirs “Boris Yeltsin: From Dawn to Dusk,” claims that in the early morning of August 19, 1991, special forces of the USSR KGB group “Alpha” numbering about 50 people arrived at Yeltsin’s dacha in Arkhangelskoye and stood guard near the highway, but did not took no action when Yeltsin’s motorcade left the dacha towards Moscow. After the president’s departure, at about 11 o’clock, according to Korzhakov, armed men approached the gates of the dacha, led by a man who introduced himself as a lieutenant colonel of the Airborne Forces, who stated that they allegedly arrived on behalf of the Minister of Defense to strengthen the security of the village. However, one of Yeltsin’s security officers recognized him as an Alpha officer who taught KGB courses. Yeltsin’s security invited the Alpha fighters to have lunch in the dining room. After lunch, the special forces sat in their bus for several hours and then left.

According to the BBC radio company, during the three days of the putsch, Alpha carried out only one order: on August 21 at 08.30 Karpukhin called the commander of the Alpha squad, Anatoly Savelyev, ordering him to go with people to Demyan Bedny Street, where the radio transmission center is located and “close the Ekho Moskvy radio station” because it “transmits disinformation.” At 10.40 the station went silent for several hours.

Opinions of event participants

In 2008, Mikhail Gorbachev commented on the situation in August 1991 as follows:

Member of the State Emergency Committee, Marshal Dmitry Yazov in 2001 spoke about the impossibility of managing public opinion in 1991:

Alexander Rutskoy:

Meaning

The August putsch was one of those events that marked the end of the power of the CPSU and the collapse of the USSR and, according to popular belief, gave impetus to democratic changes in Russia. Changes took place in Russia itself that contributed to the expansion of its sovereignty.

On the other hand, supporters of preserving the Soviet Union argue that the country began to be in chaos due to the inconsistent policies of the then government.

Curious facts

On the seventh anniversary of the events, in 1998, none of the representatives of the Russian authorities took part in the mourning events dedicated to the memory of the victims. By that time, over seven years, the number of supporters of the Emergency Committee in Russia, according to the Institute of Sociology of Parliamentarism, increased from 17% to 25%

According to surveys by the Sociological Opinion Foundation in 2001, 61 percent of those surveyed could not name the name of any member of the State Emergency Committee. Only 16 percent were able to name at least one name correctly. 4 percent remembered the head of the State Emergency Committee Gennady Yanaev.

In 2005, only about 60 people came to a meeting of former participants in the events on Gorbaty Bridge and an event at the Vagankovskoye cemetery in memory of those killed in the incident in the Garden Ring tunnel. The then leader of the Union of Right Forces, Nikita Belykh, said at the funeral event:

In 2006, according to a sociological survey by the Public Opinion Foundation, 67 percent of Russian residents (including 58 percent of young people) found it difficult to give any assessment of the benefits or harm of the State Emergency Committee.

In 2009, the Moscow mayor's office and the government of St. Petersburg completely banned the procession and rally dedicated to the anniversary of August 1991, citing in Moscow the fact that for the sake of it they would have to block the streets and thereby create inconvenience for Muscovites, and in St. Petersburg - by the fact that these activities will interfere with work on the pipeline.