Who was not included in the State Emergency Committee. Opinion of former members of the State Emergency Committee
TASS DOSSIER. On August 19-22, 1991, 25 years ago, there was an attempted coup in the Soviet Union, organized by members of the State Committee for Emergency Situations (GKChP) in the USSR.
The editors of TASS-DOSSIER prepared a certificate about how the fate of the participants of the State Emergency Committee turned out after August 1991.
Members of the Emergency Committee
The State Emergency Committee consisted of eight people. The head of the committee was the Vice-President of the USSR Gennady Yanaev, who assumed the powers of the President of the Soviet Union on August 19, 1991. Also members of the State Emergency Committee were the Prime Minister of the USSR Valentin Pavlov, the Ministers of Defense and Internal Affairs of the USSR Dmitry Yazov and Boris Pugo, the Chairman of the Union State Security Committee (KGB) Vladimir Kryuchkov, the First Deputy Chairman of the Defense Council of the USSR Oleg Baklanov, the Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR Vasily Starodubtsev, President of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial, Construction, Transport and Communications of the USSR Alexander Tizyakov.
Arrests of members of the State Emergency Committee
On August 21, 1991, the Prosecutor General of the RSFSR Valentin Stepankov authorized the arrest of all members of the State Emergency Committee. On August 22, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decided to take into custody Baklanov and Starodubtsev, who were people's deputies of the Soviet Union.
On the same day, Yanaev, Kryuchkov, Yazov and Tizyakov were arrested. Pugo committed suicide. On August 23, the remaining members of the State Emergency Committee - Pavlov, Baklanov and Starodubtsev - were detained. All of them were placed in the “Matrosskaya Tishina” pre-trial detention center (SIZO) in Moscow. Members of the state committee were charged under paragraph “a” of Art. 64 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR ("Treason to the Motherland with the aim of seizing power").
Release from arrest
On June 6, 1992, Starodubtsev was released from the pre-trial detention center for health reasons. On January 26, 1993, the members of the State Emergency Committee who remained in custody were released on their own recognizance. On February 23, 1994, all of them were amnestied by the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the first convocation. On May 6, 1994, on the basis of the parliamentary resolution “On declaring a political and economic amnesty,” the criminal case against members of the State Emergency Committee was terminated.
Gennady Yanaev
On September 4, 1991, he was removed from the post of Vice President of the USSR at the V Extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. After his release from the pre-trial detention center, he took part in congresses and public events of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. He was a consultant to the Committee of Veterans and Disabled Persons of the State Service "Motherland and Honor", and also headed the Fund for Assistance to Children with Disabilities from Childhood.
In 2002-2010 held the position of head of the department of national history and international relations of the Russian International Academy of Tourism. He died on September 24, 2010 in Moscow after a long illness, and was buried at the Troekurovskoye cemetery in the capital.
Valentin Pavlov
He was dismissed from the post of Prime Minister of the USSR by decree of Mikhail Gorbachev on August 22, 1991 (this decision was approved by the Supreme Council of the USSR on August 28). In 1993, while in the “Matrosskaya Tishina” detention center, he wrote the book “August from the Inside: Gorbachev’s Putsch.”
In 1994 he headed his own consulting company "Doverie". In 1994-1995 served as president of Chasprombank in 1996-1997. was the chief financial adviser to the President of Promstroibank Yakov Dubenetsky.
Since 1998, he worked as vice president of the American company Business Management Systems (specializing in the field of computer technology). At the end of the 1990s. was vice-president of the Free Economic Society of Russia, headed the Institute for Research and Promotion of Development of Regions and Industries at the International Union of Economists, was vice-president of the International Academy of Management and chairman of its academic council.
In 2002 he suffered a heart attack. He died on March 30, 2003 after a massive stroke, and was buried in Moscow at the Pyatnitskoye cemetery.
Dmitry Yazov
On August 22, 1991, by decree of USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, he was relieved of his post as Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union (August 28, the decision was approved by the Supreme Council of the USSR). For a year and a half he did not receive a pension (issued in 1993), his son was expelled from the Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. On February 7, 1994, by decree of Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Yazov was dismissed from military service.
Since 1998, he held the position of chief military adviser to the Main Directorate of International Military Cooperation of the Russian Ministry of Defense, and was also the chief advisor and consultant to the head of the Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. In 1999, he wrote his memoirs, “Strikes of Fate: Memoirs of a Soldier and a Marshal.” After the re-establishment of the Service of Inspector General of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in 2008, he was its leading analyst (inspector general). He also headed the Officers' Brotherhood fund of the National Association of Reserve Officers' Associations of the Armed Forces (created in September 2001), and the public organization Committee in Memory of Marshal Zhukov.
Lives in Moscow.
Vladimir Kryuchkov
On August 22, 1991, by decree of USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, he was relieved of his post as Chairman of the KGB of the USSR. On October 4, 1994, he was retired from the state security agencies. Since the mid-1990s. - member of the board of directors of the joint-stock company (JSC) "Region", part of Vladimir Evtushenkov's holding AFK "Sistema".
According to media reports, the company was an information and analytical center within the holding. Also in the 1990-2000s. was an advisor to the “Experimental Creative Center” of the Russian political scientist Sergei Kurginyan.
In 1996, he wrote a two-volume memoir, “Personal Affair.” Since 1997, he was a member of the organizing committee of the Movement in support of the army, defense industry and military science, created by Lieutenant General, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the second convocation Lev Rokhlin. The media also reported that in 1998-1999. Kryuchkov was an adviser to the director of the Russian FSB, Vladimir Putin, but this information has not been officially confirmed. On May 7, 2000, he was invited to the inauguration of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Oleg Baklanov
Since 1994, he was a member of the governing bodies of the Russian All-People's Union party of Sergei Baburin. In 2004-2007, when Baburin was deputy speaker of the Duma, Baklanov served as his adviser. He also worked as an advisor to the president of the Mir joint-stock commercial bank. In 2006, he owned 34% of the shares of the limited liability company Zenit DB (wholesale trade). According to media reports, at the turn of the 2000-2010s. was Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC Rosobschemash Corporation (rocket science).
He headed the regional public organization "Society of Friendship and Cooperation of the Peoples of Russia and Ukraine." In 2004, during the presidential elections in Ukraine, he spoke in support of Viktor Yanukovych. Currently, he is the Chairman of the Board of the International Union of Public Associations for Friendship and Cooperation with the CIS Countries "Kievan Rus". Lives in Moscow. In 2012, he published a book of memoirs and diaries, “Space is my destiny. Notes from Sailor’s Silence.”
Vasily Starodubtsev
After his release from the pre-trial detention center, he returned to work as chairman of the Novomoskovskoye agro-industrial complex and the collective farm named after. V.I. Lenin (Tula region), which he led before his arrest. In February 1993, he became a co-founder of the Agrarian Party of Russia, and later served on its governing bodies. On December 12, 1993, he was elected as a deputy of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation of the first convocation (acted until 1995), and was a member of the committee on agrarian policy. Since June 1994, by government order, he has been included in the board of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Russian Federation.
On January 22, 1995 he became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. On March 23, 1997, he was elected governor of the Tula region. (62.82% of votes), re-elected in 2001. He held this post until April 29, 2005. In December 1995, in the elections to the State Duma he was in the top three of the federal list of the Agrarian Party of Russia, did not get into the Duma (the party did not overcome 5 percent barrier). In 2007-2011 - deputy of the State Duma of the fifth convocation. He was elected on the list of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation from the Tula region, was a member of the faction of the same name, and was a member of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues.
At various times he also headed public organizations of agricultural producers: the Agrarian and Agro-Industrial Union of Russia, the Peasant Union of the CIS. On December 4, 2011, he was again elected to parliament on the list of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. On December 30 of the same year he died suddenly in Novomoskovsk. He was buried in the village of Spasskoye, Novomoskovsk district, Tula region.
Alexander Tizyakov
In December 1995, in the elections to the State Duma of the second convocation, he nominated himself as a candidate from the Union of Patriots electoral bloc (which included the Russian National Council of Alexander Sterligov and the All-Russian Officers' Assembly of Vladislav Achalov). The bloc did not overcome the 5 percent barrier. In 2003, he ran for parliament from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and took 14th place in the Ural regional group. He did not pass during the distribution of deputy seats in the Duma.
He was also involved in entrepreneurial activities. According to SPARK-Interfax, he was a co-founder of a number of companies in the Sverdlovsk region: Antal LLC (wholesale trade of industrial equipment), Northern Treasury Insurance Company LLC, Vidikon LLC (chipboard production), Fidelity LLC (production of consumer goods), etc.
Currently, he is a co-owner (45%) of Nauka 93 LLC. Its main activity is “leasing out its own non-residential real estate.” Lives in Yekaterinburg. He is a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, was the chairman of the Yekaterinburg regional public movement "In support of the army and defense power of the Russian Federation."
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 of the Soviet Union, the 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.
Resolution No. 1 of the State Emergency Committee ordered the suspension of the activities of political parties and public organizations, and prohibited the holding of rallies and street marches. Resolution No. 2 prohibited the publication of all newspapers except the following: “Trud”, “Workers’ Tribune”, “Izvestia”, “Pravda”, “Red Star”, “Soviet Russia”, “Moskovskaya Pravda”, “Lenin’s Banner”, “Selskaya” 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 to return the country 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.”
Members of the State Emergency Committee declared a state of emergency in the country, and troops were sent to Moscow. The main goal of the putschists was to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union... One of the symbols of the “August putsch” was the ballet “Swan Lake,” which was shown on television channels between news broadcasts.
Lenta.ru
17-21 AUGUST 1991
A meeting of future members of the State Emergency Committee took place at the ABC facility - the closed guest residence of the KGB. It was decided to introduce a state of emergency from August 19, form the State Emergency Committee, demand Gorbachev to sign the relevant 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 Defense Minister Yazov, further action depending on the results of the negotiations.
Representatives of the committee flew to Crimea to negotiate with Gorbachev, who was on vacation in Foros, to secure his consent to declare a state of emergency. Gorbachev refused to give them his consent.
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.
At 04.00, the Sevastopol regiment of the USSR KGB troops blocked the presidential dacha in Foros.
From 06.00 All-Union Radio begins to broadcast messages about the introduction of a state of emergency in some regions of the USSR, a decree of the Vice-President of the USSR Yanaev on his assumption of duties as President of the USSR in connection with Gorbachev’s ill health, a statement by the Soviet leadership on the creation, an appeal to the State Emergency Committee to the Soviet people.
The State Emergency Committee included Vice-President of the USSR Gennady Yanaev, Prime Minister of the USSR Valentin Pavlov, Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR Boris Pugo, Minister of Defense of the USSR Dmitry Yazov, Chairman of the KGB of the USSR Vladimir Kryuchkov, First Deputy Chairman of the Defense Council of the USSR Oleg Baklanov, Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR Vasily Starodubtsev , President of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial, Construction, Transport and Communications of the USSR Alexander Tizyakov.
At about 7.00, on the orders of Yazov, the second motorized rifle Taman division and the fourth tank Kantemirovskaya division began moving towards Moscow. Marching on military equipment, the 51st, 137th and 331st parachute regiments also began moving towards the capital.
09.00. A rally in support of democracy and Yeltsin began at the monument to Yuri Dolgoruky in Moscow.
09.40. Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his associates arrive at the White House (House of Soviets of the RSFSR), in a telephone conversation with Kryuchkov he refuses to recognize the State Emergency Committee.
10.00. The troops occupy their assigned positions in the center of Moscow. Directly near the White House there are armored vehicles of the battalion of the Tula Airborne Division under the command of Major General Alexander Lebed and the Taman Division.
11.45. The first columns of demonstrators arrived at Manezhnaya Square. No measures were taken to disperse the crowd.
12.15. Several thousand citizens gathered at the White House, and Boris Yeltsin came out to them. He read from the tank “An Appeal to the Citizens of Russia,” in which he called the actions of the State Emergency Committee a “reactionary, anti-constitutional coup.” The appeal was signed by Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR Ivan Silaev and acting. Chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR Ruslan Khasbulatov.
12.30. Yeltsin issued Decree No. 59, where the creation of the Emergency Committee was qualified as an attempt at a coup.
Around 2 p.m., those gathered near the White House began constructing makeshift barricades.
14.30. The session of the Leningrad City Council adopted an appeal to the President of Russia, refused to recognize the State Emergency Committee and declare a state of emergency.
15.30. Major Evdokimov's tank company - 6 tanks without ammunition - went over to Yeltsin's side.
16.00. Yanaev's decree introduces a state of emergency in Moscow.
At about 17.00, Yeltsin issued Decree No. 61, by which the Union executive authorities, including security forces, were reassigned to the President of the RSFSR.
At 17:00, a press conference by Yanaev and other members of the State Emergency Committee began in the press center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Answering the question where the President of the USSR is now, Yanaev said that Gorbachev is “on vacation and treatment in Crimea. Over the years he has become very tired and it takes time for him to improve his health.”
In Leningrad, rallies of thousands took place on St. Isaac's Square. People gathered for rallies against the State Emergency Committee in Nizhny Novgorod, Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk, Tyumen and other cities of Russia.
Over the radio of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, which had just been created in the White House, an appeal was broadcast to citizens, in which they were asked to dismantle the barricades in front of the White House so that the Taman Division, loyal to the Russian leadership, could bring its tanks to positions near the building.
05.00. 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).
10.00. A mass rally on Palace Square in Leningrad brought together about 300 thousand people. The city's military promised that the army would not interfere.
At about 11.00, the editors of 11 independent newspapers gathered at the Moscow News editorial office and agreed to publish the Obshchaya Gazeta, which was urgently registered with the Ministry of Press of the RSFSR (published the next day).
12.00. A rally sanctioned by the city authorities began near the White House (at least 100 thousand participants). The rally at the Moscow City Council - about 50 thousand participants.
In connection with the hospitalization of Valentin Pavlov, temporary leadership of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was entrusted to Vitaly Doguzhiev.
Russia creates a temporary republican Ministry of Defense. Konstantin Kobets is appointed Minister of Defense.
In the evening, the Vremya program announced the introduction of a curfew in the capital from 23.00 to 5.00.
On the night of August 21, in an underground transport tunnel at the intersection of Kalininsky Prospekt (now Novy Arbat Street) and the Garden Ring (Tchaikovsky Street), clogged with armored vehicles of infantry fighting vehicles, three civilians died during maneuvering: Dmitry Komar, Vladimir Usov and Ilya Krichevsky.
03.00. Air Force Commander Yevgeny Shaposhnikov suggests that Yazov withdraw troops from Moscow and that the State Emergency Committee “be declared illegal and dispersed.”
05.00. 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.
11.00. An emergency session of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR has opened. There was one issue on the agenda - the political situation in the RSFSR, “which developed as a result of the coup d’etat.”
At 14.18, the Il-62 with members of the State Emergency Committee on board flew to Crimea to visit Gorbachev. The plane took off a few minutes before the arrival of a group of 50 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR, which was tasked with arresting the members of the committee.
Gorbachev refused to accept them and demanded that contact with the outside world be restored.
On another plane at 16.52, Vice-President of the RSFSR Alexander Rutskoy and Prime Minister Ivan Silaev flew to Foros to see Gorbachev.
White House Defenders
22:00. Yeltsin signed a decree on the annulment of all decisions of the State Emergency Committee and on a number of reshuffles in the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.
01:30. The Tu-134 plane with Rutsky, Silaev and Gorbachev landed in Moscow at Vnukovo-2.
Most members of the State Emergency Committee were arrested.
Moscow declared mourning for the victims.
The winners' rally at the White House began at 12.00. In the middle of the day, Yeltsin, Silaev and Khasbulatov spoke at it. During the rally, demonstrators brought out a huge banner of the Russian tricolor; 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.
The new state flag of Russia (tricolor) was installed for the first time at the top of the building of the House of Soviets.
On the night of August 23, by order of the Moscow City Council, amid a massive gathering of protesters, the monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky on Lubyanka Square was dismantled.
DOCUMENTS of the State Emergency Committee
Vice President of the USSR
Due to the impossibility for health reasons, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev assumed the duties of President of the USSR on the basis of Article 1277 of the USSR Constitution on August 19, 1991.
Vice President of the USSR
G. I. YANAEV
From the Appeal
to the Soviet people
State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR
...The crisis of power has had a catastrophic impact on the economy. The chaotic, spontaneous slide towards the market caused an explosion of egoism - regional, departmental, group and personal. The war of laws and the encouragement of centrifugal tendencies resulted in the destruction of a single national economic mechanism that had been developing for decades. The result was a sharp decline in the standard of living of the vast majority of Soviet people, and the flourishing of speculation and the shadow economy. It’s high time to tell people the truth: if urgent measures are not taken to stabilize the economy, then in the very near future famine and a new round of impoverishment are inevitable, from which one step away from mass manifestations of spontaneous discontent with devastating consequences...
From Resolution No. 1
State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR
6. Citizens, institutions and organizations must immediately hand over all types of firearms, ammunition, explosives, military equipment and equipment illegally held in them. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB and the Ministry of Defense of the USSR must ensure strict compliance with this requirement. In cases of refusal, they must be forcibly confiscated, with violators subject to strict criminal and administrative liability.
From Resolution No. 2
State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR
1. Temporarily limit the list of central, Moscow city and regional socio-political publications to the following newspapers: “Trud”, “Rabochaya Tribuna”, “Izvestia”, “Pravda”, “Krasnaya Zvezda”, “Soviet Russia”, “Moskovskaya Pravda” , “Lenin’s Banner”, “Rural Life”.
"BAD BOY"
August 20, the second day of the coup, nerves are at their limit. Everyone who has a radio listens to the radio. Those who have a TV do not miss a single news broadcast. I then worked at Vesti. Vesti was taken off the air. We sit and watch channel one. At three o'clock there is a regular episode that no one has watched before. And then everyone stuck. And the announcer appears in the frame, and suddenly begins to read reports from news agencies: President Bush condemns the putschists, British Prime Minister John Major condemns, the world community is outraged - and at the end: Yeltsin declared the State Emergency Committee outlawed, the Russian prosecutor, then Stepankov, initiates criminal proceedings 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 it yourself!” “Well, I went and made up the layout.”
AND THERE ARE STATISTICS
The All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) annually conducts a survey of Russians on how they assess the events of August 1991.
In 1994, a survey showed that 53% of respondents believed that the putsch was suppressed in 1991, 38% called the actions of the State Emergency Committee a tragic event that had disastrous consequences for the country and people.
Five years later - in 1999 - during a similar survey, only 9% of Russians considered the suppression of the State Emergency Committee a victory of the “democratic revolution”; 40% of respondents consider the events of those days simply an episode of the struggle for power in the country's top leadership.
A sociological survey conducted by VTsIOM in 2002 showed that the share of Russians who believe that in 1991 the leaders of the Emergency Committee saved the Motherland, the great USSR, increased one and a half times - from 14 to 21% and one and a half times (from 24 to 17 %) the share of those who believed that on August 19-21, 1991, opponents of the State Emergency Committee were right decreased.
More impressive results were obtained in August 2010 based on the results of voting on the series of programs “The Court of Time”, conducted by N. Svanidze. When asked what the State Emergency Committee of August 1991 was - a putsch or an attempt to avoid the collapse of the country - despite the efforts of N. Svanidze, 93% of TV viewers surveyed answered - it was a desire to preserve the USSR!
MARSHAL YAZOV: WE SERVED THE PEOPLE
DP.RU: In fact, the State Emergency Committee was impromptu; you, as a military leader, should have understood that if the operation was not prepared, the forces would not be pulled together...
Dmitry Yazov: There was no need to pull together any forces, we were not going to kill anyone. The only thing we were going to do was to disrupt the signing of this treaty on the Union of Sovereign States. It was obvious that there would be no state. And since there will be no state, it means that measures had to be taken so that there would be a state. The entire government gathered and decided: we must go to Gorbachev. Everyone went to tell him: are you for the state or not? Let's take action. But someone as weak-willed as Mikhail Sergeevich could not do this. Didn't even listen. We left. Gorbachev made a speech, his son-in-law recorded it on tape, Raisa Maksimovna: “I hid it in such a way, and my daughter hid it in such a way that no one would have found it.” Well, it’s clear where she put this tape, of course, no one would have gotten into it. Who needed it, this film. The state is collapsing, and he expressed his resentment that his communications were cut off and he was not allowed to talk to Bush.
DP.RU: I heard that you yourself allocated a battalion to guard the White House.
Dmitry Yazov: Absolutely correct.
DP.RU: But then they said: the troops went over to Yeltsin’s side. It turns out that everything was wrong?
Dmitry Yazov: Of course not. Shortly before this, Yeltsin was elected president. Arrived in Tula. There Grachev showed him the teachings of the airborne division. Well, not the entire division - the regiment. I liked the teaching, drank well, and Yeltsin thought that Pasha Grachev was his best friend. When a state of emergency was introduced, Yeltsin was indignant, like a coup. But no one arrested him. No one had a hand in it at all. Yeltsin then, in 1993, could have turned off the lights, could have turned off the water, could have shot the Supreme Council... But we didn’t guess, such fools! Yeltsin was in Almaty the day before and then said that the State Emergency Committee delayed the plane’s departure for 4 hours in order to shoot down the plane. Can you imagine how mean it is! The newspapers wrote how he spent those 4 hours. Nazarbayev and I played tennis for 2.5 hours in the rain, then we went to wash... And he: they wanted to shoot me down!!! He arrived at the White House himself and called Pasha Grachev: assign security. Grachev calls me: Yeltsin asks for security. I say: Lebed went with the battalion. So that there really are no provocations.
We organized a patrol, a company of infantry fighting vehicles was marching... Here, right on Novy Arbat Avenue, they set up trolleybuses and made a barricade under the bridge. The tanks would have passed, but the infantry fighting vehicles would have stopped. There are drunk people there: some started beating with sticks, some threw up a tent so that nothing could be seen. Three people died. Who shot? Someone was shooting from the roof. The military did not shoot. Someone was interested. Everything was done to ensure that there was a civil war. And I took and withdrew the troops. I got ready to go to Gorbachev, and everyone came running. I say let's go. When they arrived, he took this pose. Didn't accept anyone. We humiliated him!!!
Rutskoi, Bakatin, Silaev arrived on another plane - those, excuse the expression, brethren who, it seems, hated both the Soviet Union and the Russian people. Well, Rutskoi, the man whom we rescued from captivity, later showed what he was like: for the president, a year later - against the president. Ungrateful people - of course, we didn’t need gratitude from them, we served the people. Of course, I saw that there would be an arrest now. It didn’t cost me anything to land a brigade at an airfield or land at another airfield myself, but it would have been a civil war. I served the people, and I would have to, because they want to arrest me, start a war, shoot at the people. Just from a human point of view, should this have been done or not?
DP.RU: War is always bad...
Dmitry Yazov: Yes. And I think - to hell with him, in the end, let him arrest: there is no evidence of a crime. But they are arrested, and immediately Article 64 is treason. But how can you prove to me treason? Yesterday I was the minister, I sent in troops to guard the Kremlin, to protect the water intake, to protect the Gokhran. Everything was saved. Then they plundered it. Diamonds, remember, were taken in bags to America... And how did it all end? Three people gathered - Yeltsin, Kravchuk and Shushkevich. Did they have the right to liquidate the state? They signed while drunk, slept through it, and reported to Bush first thing in the morning... What a shame! Gorbachev: I was not informed. But they didn’t report to you because they didn’t want you to be president. You made them sovereign - they became sovereign. And they didn't care about you. Yeltsin literally 3-4 days later kicked him out of the Kremlin and from the dacha, and now he hangs around the world.
State Emergency Committee member Dmitry Yazov: “The Americans put in 5 trillion in order to liquidate the Soviet Union.” Business Petersburg. August 19, 2011
The events that took place from August 18 to August 21, 1991, during which a coup attempt was made, was called the August Putsch. During this period, the top leadership of the USSR blocked President Gorbachev, with the further introduction of a state of emergency in the country, and control of the country was taken by the State Emergency Committee created by the “putschists”.
What is the “August Putsch” and the “GKChP”?
GKChP (State Committee for the State of Emergency) is a body (most often referred to in the form of an acronym) that was created by the top leadership of the USSR.
The State Emergency Committee planned to realize its goals by introducing a state of emergency in the country and blocking Gorbachev at his dacha in Crimea. At the same time, troops and special forces of the KGB were brought into Moscow.
The State Emergency Committee included almost all the leaders of the highest echelon of power:
- Yanaev Gennady Ivanovich(Vice President of the USSR, Acting President of the USSR from August 19 to 21, 1991).
- Baklanov Oleg Dmitrievich(First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council).
- Kryuchkov Vladimir Alexandrovich(Chairman of the KGB of the USSR).
- Pavlov Valentin Sergeevich(Prime Minister of the USSR).
- Pugo Boris Karlovich(Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR).
- Yazov Dmitry Timofeevich(Minister of Defense of the USSR).
- Starodubtsev Vasily Alexandrovich(member of the CPSU Central Committee).
- Tizyakov Alexander Ivanovich(President of the Association of State Enterprises and Associations of Industry, Construction, Transport and Communications of the USSR).
The period of the so-called activities of the State Emergency Committee was officially regarded and named as the August Putsch.
Attempts by the State Emergency Committee to seize power were unsuccessful; on August 22, all members of this committee were arrested, and the legitimate president began to fulfill his duties.
The political and state crisis in the USSR reached its apogee by 1991; according to many experts, the state inevitably had only a few months left to exist, since there were a lot of them, even without the creation of the State Emergency Committee, which actually acted as a catalyst for the collapse of the country.
There is still no consensus in society about the State Emergency Committee and the August Putsch. Some believe that this was an attempt at a coup d'état with the aim of seizing power, and others believe that it was a last desperate attempt to save the Soviet Union from the clearly approaching collapse.
Goals of the Emergency Committee
At that time, no one had any doubt that Gorbachev’s “Perestroika” policy was clearly a failure. The standard of living in the country had deteriorated significantly: prices were constantly rising, money was depreciating, and there was a huge shortage of all types of goods in stores. In addition, the control of the “center” over the republics was weakening: the RSFSR already had “its own” president, and there were protest sentiments in the Baltic republics.The goals of the State Emergency Committee, in essence, can be divided into two groups: state and political. State goals included preventing the collapse of the USSR, and political goals included improving the standard of living of the population. Let's look at these goals in more detail.
State goals
Initially, the “putschists” wanted to preserve the integrity of the USSR. The fact is that on August 20, it was planned to sign a new union treaty between the republics that were part of the USSR, which envisaged the creation of a confederation between these states (Union of Sovereign States), which, in essence, meant the actual collapse of the USSR and the formation of a new union based on independent republics . This is exactly what the “GKChPists” wanted to prevent, what such a new agreement led to, we can see in the example of the CIS, with the creation of which the Soviet Union collapsed and the republics began to exist independently of each other.
Some historians believe that the main goal of the State Emergency Committee was to preserve their own positions, since when a new union treaty was signed, their powers or positions in general would actually be abolished. However, after the failure of the putsch, Yanaev argued that the members of the State Emergency Committee did not hold on to their positions.
Political goals
The political goals of the State Emergency Committee were to carry out economic and social reforms. The people were tired of their hard life and really really wanted change, as was sung in V. Tsoi’s song, which was popular at that time. The standard of living fell inexorably, the crisis gripped almost all spheres of life in the USSR, and the only way out of this situation, according to the “putschists,” was the removal of Gorbachev from his post and a change in the country’s political course.
The State Emergency Committee promised to freeze and reduce prices, as well as distribute land plots of 15 acres for free. As such, the State Emergency Committee did not voice a plan of action or economic steps; most likely, they simply did not have such specific plans of action.
Course of events
The events of the August Putsch unfolded as follows.During my vacation, in the city of Foros on the state. At the dacha, at the direction of the “putschists”, USSR President Gorbachev was blocked by employees of specially created units, and all communication channels were cut off to him.
From 8 o'clock in the morning, radio announcers read out a message that, for health reasons, USSR President Gorbachev is unable to fulfill his duties, and these powers are transferred to USSR Vice President Yanaev. The message also spoke about the introduction of a state of emergency on the territory of the USSR and the State Emergency Committee was being formed to effectively govern the country.
On central television, all television programs have been canceled and concerts are being broadcast, including the famous ballet “Swan Lake”. Broadcasting of other channels is disabled. The radio station “ECHO of Moscow” broadcasts to Moscow.
The country dacha of RSFSR President Yeltsin is surrounded by employees of the Alpha unit. As soon as he learns about the creation of the State Emergency Committee and the attempts of the state. coup - decides to go to the White House. The Alpha commander is given the command to release Yeltsin from the dacha to Moscow, but this decision, in fact, became fatal for the State Emergency Committee.
Upon arrival in Moscow, Yeltsin and other leaders of the RSFSR give a press conference at which they do not recognize the State Emergency Committee, calling their actions a coup, and call on everyone for a general strike. People are starting to flock to the White House. Yeltsin's statement to Moscow is broadcast by the radio station ECHO of Moscow.
Meanwhile, the “putschists” send a tank battalion to the White House, which, having not received further orders from the command, after negotiations and psychological pressure from the crowd, goes over to the side of the people and Yeltsin. Then a significant historical event occurs: Yeltsin reads an appeal to citizens from one of the tanks, in which he declares the illegality of the State Emergency Committee and their decrees, that Gorbachev is blocked at the dacha and must speak to the people, convenes the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, and also calls for a general strike.
The gathered people are building barricades from trolleybuses and improvised metal objects in order to block the approaches to the White House of heavy military equipment.
In the evening, the State Emergency Committee holds a press conference, which looks more like a justification for its actions than any statements. The video clearly shows that the “putschists” are worried. You can watch this press conference below.
From the evening news broadcast of the Vremya program, the country learns about the events taking place. Even then it becomes clear that the “putschists” are not succeeding in the coup.
In the morning, people flock to the White House, where a 200,000-strong rally against the coup is taking place. In the evening, demonstrators prepare for the assault. A curfew is introduced in Moscow. Special Forces Alpha refuses to carry out the assault order. As a result of the tank assault, three civilians die. The assault attempt failed.
Realizing the failure of the State Emergency Committee, members of its committee decided to go to Gorbachev in Foros, but he refused to accept them. Along with this, representatives of the RSFSR fly to Foros to pick up Gorbachev.
At 00:04 Gorbachev flies to Moscow, these shots also became historical. After that, he reads an appeal to the people on television.
Gorbachev then holds a press conference in which he assesses the events. After this press conference, the State Emergency Committee is actually liquidated and the August putsch ends.
At the rally on August 22, the protesters decide to make the pre-revolutionary tricolor flag of the RSFSR: white, red, blue. And at midnight, the monument to Dzerzhinsky erected opposite the KGB was dismantled at the request of the protesters.
After these events, the statehood of the USSR begins to actively collapse, with the declaration of independence by Ukraine, then these processes of declaring independence began to snowball.
All participants and accomplices of the State Emergency Committee were arrested. In 1993, a trial began against them, which ended in an amnesty for almost all of them. Army General Varennikov refused the amnesty, but was acquitted because the court did not find criminal acts in his actions.
Many documentaries have been made about the events of this period. You can watch a video chronicle of those days in this video.
A fragment of the Namedni program dedicated to the August putsch.
There is another year in the history of the Russian state that can be called revolutionary. When the country became tense to the limit, and Mikhail Gorbachev could no longer influence even his immediate circle, and they tried in every possible way to resolve the current situation in the state by force, and the people themselves chose who to give their sympathies to, the 1991 putsch occurred.
Old leaders of the state
Many leaders of the CPSU, who remained committed to conservative management methods, realized that the development of perestroika was gradually leading to the loss of their power, but they still remained strong enough to prevent the market reform of the Russian economy. By doing this they tried to prevent the economic crisis.
And yet, these leaders were no longer authoritative enough to use persuasion to hinder the democratic movement. Therefore, the only way out of the current situation, which seemed most possible for them, was to declare a state of emergency. No one then expected that in connection with these events the coup of 1991 would begin.
The ambiguous position of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, or the removal of leadership
Some conservative figures even tried to put pressure on Mikhail Gorbachev, who had to maneuver between the old leadership and representatives of the democratic forces in his inner circle. These are Yakovlev and Shevardnadze. This unstable position of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev led to him gradually losing the support of both sides. And soon information about the upcoming coup began to leak into the press.
From April to July, Mikhail Gorbachev prepared an agreement, called “Novo-Ogarevo”, with the help of which he was going to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union. He intended to transfer the bulk of the powers to the authorities of the union republics. On July 29, Mikhail Sergeevich met with Nursultan Nazarbayev and Boris Yeltsin. The main parts of the agreement were discussed in detail, as well as the upcoming removal of many conservative leaders from their posts. And this became known to the KGB. Thus, events were increasingly approaching the period that in the history of the Russian state began to be called the “August 1991 putsch.”
Conspirators and their demands
Naturally, the leadership of the CPSU was concerned about the decisions of Mikhail Sergeevich. And during his vacation, she decided to take advantage of the situation using force. Many famous personalities took part in this peculiar conspiracy. It was who at that time was the chairman of the KGB, Gennady Ivanovich Yanaev, Dmitry Timofeevich Yazov, Valentin Sergeevich Pavlov, Boris Karlovich Pugo and many others who organized the 1991 putsch.
On August 18, the State Emergency Committee sent a group representing the interests of the conspirators to Mikhail Sergeevich, who was vacationing in Crimea. And they presented him with their demands: to declare a state of emergency in the state. And when Mikhail Gorbachev refused, they surrounded his residence and cut off all types of communications.
Provisional Government, or Expectations Not Met
In the early morning of August 19, about 800 armored vehicles were brought into the Russian capital, accompanied by an army of 4 thousand people. It was announced in all the media that the State Emergency Committee had been created, and all powers to govern the country were transferred to it. On this day, waking up people who turned on their TVs could only see an endless broadcast of the famous ballet called “Swan Lake”. This was the morning when the August 1991 coup began.
The people responsible for the conspiracy claimed that Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was seriously ill and temporarily unable to govern the state, and therefore his powers were transferred to Yanaev, who was vice president. They hoped that the people, already tired of perestroika, would side with the new government, but the press conference they organized, where Gennady Yanaev spoke, did not make the right impression.
Yeltsin and his supporters
A photograph of Boris Nikolaevich, taken at the time of his speech in front of people, was published in many newspapers, even in Western countries. Several officials agreed with Boris Yeltsin's opinion and fully supported his position.
Putsch 1991. Briefly about the events that occurred on August 20 in Moscow
A huge number of Muscovites took to the streets on August 20. They all demanded the dissolution of the State Emergency Committee. The White House, where Boris Nikolaevich and his supporters were, was surrounded by defenders (or, as they were called, those resisting the putschists). They built barricades and surrounded the building, not wanting the old order to return.
Among them were a lot of native Muscovites and almost the entire elite of the intelligentsia. Even the famous Mstislav Rostropovich specially flew from the United States to support his compatriots. The August 1991 putsch, the reasons for which was the reluctance of the conservative leadership to voluntarily give up their powers, rallied a huge number of people. Most countries supported those who defended the White House. And all the leading television companies broadcast the events taking place abroad.
Plot failure and the return of the President
A demonstration of such mass disobedience prompted the putschists to decide to storm the White House, which they scheduled for three in the morning. This terrible event resulted in more than one victim. But overall the putsch failed. Generals, soldiers and even most Alpha fighters refused to shoot at ordinary citizens. The conspirators were arrested, and the President returned safely to the capital, canceling absolutely all orders of the State Emergency Committee. This is how the August 1991 coup ended.
But these few days greatly changed not only the capital, but the whole country. Thanks to these events, it occurred in the history of many states. ceased to exist, and the political forces of the state changed their alignment. As soon as the 1991 putsch ended, on August 22, rallies representing the country's democratic movement were held again in Moscow. On them, people carried banners of the new tricolor national flag. Boris Nikolayevich asked the relatives of all those killed during the White House siege for forgiveness, since he could not prevent these tragic events. But overall the festive atmosphere remained.
Reasons for the failure of the coup, or the final collapse of communist power
The 1991 coup ended. The reasons that led to its failure are quite obvious. First of all, the majority of people living in the Russian state no longer wanted to return to the times of stagnation. Distrust in the CPSU began to be expressed very strongly. Other reasons are the indecisive actions of the conspirators themselves. And, on the contrary, quite aggressive on the part of the democratic forces, which were represented by Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, who received support not only from the large masses of the Russian people, but also from Western countries.
The 1991 coup not only had tragic consequences, but also brought significant changes to the country. He made it impossible to preserve the Soviet Union, and also prevented the further expansion of the power of the CPSU. Thanks to the decree signed by Boris Nikolayevich on the suspension of its activities, after some time all Komsomol and communist organizations throughout the state were dissolved. And on November 6, another decree finally banned the activities of the CPSU.
Consequences of the tragic August coup
The conspirators, or representatives of the State Emergency Committee, as well as those who actively supported their positions, were immediately arrested. Some of them committed suicide during the investigation. The 1991 coup took the lives of several ordinary citizens who defended the White House building. These people were awarded titles and their names forever entered the history of the Russian state. These are Dmitry Komar, Ilya Krichevsky and Vladimir Usov - representatives of Moscow youth who stood in the way of moving armored vehicles.
The events of that period forever erased the era of communist rule in the country. The collapse of the Soviet Union became obvious, and the main public masses fully supported the positions of the democratic forces. The putsch had such an impact on the state. August 1991 can safely be considered the moment that sharply turned the history of the Russian state in a completely different direction. It was during this period that the dictatorship was overthrown by the popular masses, and the choice of the majority was on the side of democracy and freedom. Russia has entered a new period of its development.
