19-21 Aug 1991
The August Putch was a failed attempt of a small group of hardline communist ministers of the Soviet Union to push Gorbachev aside and reverse his reforms.
T-72 Tank in Moscow, August 1991. Photo by Ivan Simochkin
Background
Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of Perestroika and Glasnost triggered deep economic and political crisis in the Soviet Union. When the New Union Treaty plan was to make Soviet Union into a federal state, a group of conservative members of the establishment decided to act.
Preparations
Gorbachev went on a vacation to his Crimean dacha at Foros on 17 August 1991. The KGB chief Vladmir Kryuchkov prepared a plan of coup and introduced it to the Vice President Gennady Yanayev, Defence Minister Dmitry Yazov, Internal Affairs minister Boris Pugo and 4 more top officials. Gorbachev was presented an ultimatum to resign or to play along. He allegedly replied: “Do what you think is needed, damn you!”
August Putsch
The tanks were sent to surround the White House. The coup was poorly planned as all the communications were still working and people gathered around the White House, where popular Boris Yeltsin was making public statements, standing on a tank.
A press conference was held by the putschists, where the Committee on the State of Emergency was declared. Seeing Yanayev’s shaking hands on TV screen, made a massive blow to the conspirators’ public image.
People elected barricades around the White House and three citizens got killed in an attempt to stop the tanks. By the morning it was clear, that the majority of the army had joined the public against the putsch.
The conspirators knew not what to do next. Yazov, Kryuchkov and Anatoly Lukyanov flew to meet Gorbachev in Crimea and they were arrested. Boris Pugo shot himself.
Results
As a result of the coup the Soviet Union disintegrated completely. A wave of declarations of independence went from Kazakhstan to Ukraine. On 25 December 1991, Russia declared itself independent and the Soviet Union ceased to exist.
August Putsch
19-21 Aug 1991
The August Putch was a failed attempt of a small group of hardline communist ministers of the Soviet Union to push Gorbachev aside and reverse his reforms.
T-72 Tank in Moscow, August 1991. Photo by Ivan Simochkin
Background
Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of Perestroika and Glasnost triggered deep economic and political crisis in the Soviet Union. When the New Union Treaty plan was to make Soviet Union into a federal state, a group of conservative members of the establishment decided to act.
Preparations
Gorbachev went on a vacation to his Crimean dacha at Foros on 17 August 1991. The KGB chief Vladmir Kryuchkov prepared a plan of coup and introduced it to the Vice President Gennady Yanayev, Defence Minister Dmitry Yazov, Internal Affairs minister Boris Pugo and 4 more top officials. Gorbachev was presented an ultimatum to resign or to play along. He allegedly replied: “Do what you think is needed, damn you!”
August Putsch
The tanks were sent to surround the White House. The coup was poorly planned as all the communications were still working and people gathered around the White House, where popular Boris Yeltsin was making public statements, standing on a tank.
A press conference was held by the putschists, where the Committee on the State of Emergency was declared. Seeing Yanayev’s shaking hands on TV screen, made a massive blow to the conspirators’ public image.
People elected barricades around the White House and three citizens got killed in an attempt to stop the tanks. By the morning it was clear, that the majority of the army had joined the public against the putsch.
The conspirators knew not what to do next. Yazov, Kryuchkov and Anatoly Lukyanov flew to meet Gorbachev in Crimea and they were arrested. Boris Pugo shot himself.
Results
As a result of the coup the Soviet Union disintegrated completely. A wave of declarations of independence went from Kazakhstan to Ukraine. On 25 December 1991, Russia declared itself independent and the Soviet Union ceased to exist.
Russian Federation