Due to the impossibility of the state. Documents of the ussr gkchp

On August 19, 1991, at six o'clock in the morning Moscow time, the "Statement of the Soviet leadership" was broadcast on radio and television, which read: "In connection with the impossibility of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev performing his duties as President of the USSR in accordance with Article 127.7 of the Constitution of the USSR, the powers of the President of the Union SSR to Vice President Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev "," in order to overcome a deep and comprehensive crisis, political, interethnic and civil confrontation, chaos and anarchy that threaten the life and safety of citizens of the Soviet Union, sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom and independence of our Fatherland " a state of emergency is introduced in certain localities 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 USSR KGB V. Kryuchkov, USSR Prime Minister V. Pavlov, USSR Minister of Internal Affairs B. Pugo, Chairman of the USSR Peasant Union V. Starodubtsev, President of the Association of State Enterprises and Objects 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.

GKChP Resolution No. 1 ordered to suspend activities political parties, public organizations, prohibited the holding of rallies and street processions. Resolution No. 2 prohibited the publication of all newspapers, except for the following: Trud, Rabochaya Tribuna, Izvestia, Pravda, Krasnaya Zvezda, Sovetskaya Rossiya, Moskovskaya Pravda, Leninskoe Znamya, Selskaya a life".

Resistance to the putschists was led by the President of the RSFSR B. Yeltsin and the Russian leadership. Yeltsin's Decree was issued, where the creation of the State Emergency Committee qualifies as a coup d'etat, and its members as state criminals. At 13 o'clock, the President of the RSFSR, standing on a tank, reads "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 answer to the putschists and demand that the country return 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 the GKChP members 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 the assault of government troops. On the night of August 21, at about 1 am, a convoy of airborne combat vehicles approached the barricade near the White House, about 20 vehicles broke through the first barricades on Novy Arbat. Three defenders of the White House - Dmitry Komar, Vladimir Usov and Ilya Krichevsky - were killed in a tunnel blocked by eight infantry fighting vehicles. On the morning of August 21, the withdrawal of troops from Moscow began.

At 11:30 am on August 21, an emergency session of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR began. Speaking to the deputies, B. Yeltsin said: "The coup took place precisely at the 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 Vice-President of the RSFSR A. Rutskoy to go to the President of the USSR M. Gorbachev and free him from isolation. At almost the same time, members of the Emergency Committee also flew to Foros. On August 22, President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev and his family returned to Moscow on a TU-134 aircraft of the Russian leadership. 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 announced by the State Duma. On August 22, 1991 M. Gorbachev appeared on television. In particular, he said: “... the coup d'état has failed. The conspirators miscalculated. They underestimated the main thing - that the people became different during these, albeit very difficult years. He breathed in the air of freedom, and no one can take this away from him. "

August putsch

Mass demonstrations in Moscow against the August 1991 putsch


	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\u003e
Primary goal:	Stop the collapse of the USSR and prevent its transformation into a confederation.
	Failure of the putsch. The political victory of Boris Yeltsin, the disruption 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:	GKChP USSR
Driving forces:	GKChP Political support in the RSFSR: Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union Russia Communist Party of the RSFSR Union republics that supported the GKChP: Azerbaijan Azerbaijan SSR Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic Byelorussian SSR International support for the GKChP: Iraq Iraq Libya Libya Serbia Serbia Sudan Sudan Flag of Palestine 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 Lensovet, 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 United States United States United States International condemnation States of America USA
Fatalities:
Injured:	Unknown
Those arrested:

August putsch - an attempt to remove Mikhail Gorbachev from the post of President of the USSR and change his course, undertaken by the self-proclaimed State Committee for a State of Emergency (GKChP) - a group of conservative conspirators from the leadership of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the government of the USSR, 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, the reassignment of local authorities to the military commandants appointed by the State Emergency Committee, the introduction of strict censorship in the media and the prohibition 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 Soviet of the RSFSR) and some other republics, and later 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 d'etat.

The goal of the putschists

The main goal of the putschists was to prevent the liquidation of the USSR, 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 - the Union of Sovereign States. On August 20, the agreement was to be signed by representatives of the RSFSR and the Kazakh SSR, the rest of the future components of the commonwealth within five meetings, until October 22.

In one of the first statements of the State Emergency Committee, distributed by Soviet radio stations and central television, the following goals were indicated, 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, the members of the State Emergency Committee could lose their top government posts.
According to sociological research by the Public Opinion Foundation, conducted in 1993, the majority (29% of respondents) stated that the purpose of the State 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 the members of the State Emergency Committee wanted to change political structure society: "save Soviet Union"," To return back to the old, socialist system ", and for this" to establish a military dictatorship. "
In 2006, the former chairman of the KGB of the USSR, Vladimir Kryuchkov, stated that the State Emergency Committee did not aim to seize power:

Timing

The GKChP members 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.

Forces of the Emergency Committee

Active members and supporters of the 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 Alexandrovich (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 Facilities, Construction, Transport and Communications of the USSR
Shenin Oleg Semenovich (1937-2009) - member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU
Yazov Dmitry Timofeevich (b. 1923) - Minister of Defense of the USSR
Yanaev Gennady Ivanovich (1937-2010) - vice president of the USSR

Power and information support of the Emergency Committee

The GKChP relied on the forces of the KGB (Alpha), the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Division named after Dzerzhinsky) and the Ministry of Defense (Tula Airborne Division, Taman Motorized Rifle Division, Kantemirovskaya Division). In total, about 4 thousand servicemen, 362 tanks, 427 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles were brought into Moscow. Additional units of the Airborne Forces were deployed in the vicinity of Leningrad, Tallinn, Tbilisi, Riga.

Generals P.S. Grachev and his deputy A.I. Lebed were in command of the Airborne Forces. At the same time, Grachev maintained a telephone connection with both Yazov and Yeltsin. However, the GKChP did not have full control over its own forces; so, on the very first day, units of the Taman division went over to the side of the defenders of the White House. From the tank of this division he delivered his famous message to the assembled supporters of Yeltsin.

Informational support to the State Emergency Committee was provided by the State Television and Radio of the USSR (for three days, news releases certainly included exposing various acts of corruption and violations of the law committed within the framework of the "reformist course"), the State Emergency Committee also enlisted the support of the Central Committee of the CPSU, but these institutions were unable to exert a noticeable influence on the situation in capital, and the committee could not mobilize that part of society that shared the views of the members of the State Emergency Committee.

Head of the Emergency Committee

Despite the fact that G.I. Yanaev was the nominal head of the Emergency Committee, according to a number of experts (for example, the former deputy of the Leningrad City Council, 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 KGB of the USSR in September 1991

Despite this, in the opinion of Russian President Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin:

Opponents of the Emergency Committee

Resistance to the GKChP was led by the political leadership of the Russian Federation (President B. N. Yeltsin, Vice President A. V. Rutskoi, Prime Minister I. S. Silaev, Acting Chairman of the Supreme Soviet R. I. Khasbulatov).
In an address to the citizens of Russia, Boris Yeltsin on August 19, describing 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 a 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 the meeting on August 20? And finally, I convinced Yeltsin by saying that if we don't even go there, we don't form a delegation, it will 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 or 61 percent of the population seems to be in favor of maintaining the Union. I say: "You and I have no right ...". Therefore, I say: "Let us go, make up a delegation, and there we will state our comments on the future Union Treaty in a motivated manner."

Defenders of the White House

At the call russian authorities, at the House of Soviets of the Russian Federation ("White House"), a mass of Muscovites gathered, among whom were representatives of various social groups - from the democratic-minded public, student youth, intelligentsia to veterans of the Afghan war.

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

Some of the participants in the defense of the House of Soviets who were part of the Zhivoye Koltso detachment on August 20, 1991, formed a social and political organization of the same name, the Zhivoye Koltso Union (leader K. Truevtsev).

Another social and political association that formed near the House of the Council during the days of the putsch is the "Social and patriotic association of volunteers - defenders of the White House in support of democratic reforms - the Russia squad."

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 the nine republics agreed on a draft Union Treaty. The project itself caused a sharply negative reaction from the 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 departisation, that is, on the prohibition of the activities of party committees at enterprises and institutions.
On July 29, Gorbachev, Yeltsin and the President of Kazakhstan N.A.Nazarbayev met privately in Novo-Ogaryov. They have scheduled the signing of a new Union Treaty on 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 the Crimea.
August 17 - Kryuchkov, Pavlov, Yazov, Baklanov, Shenin and Gorbachev's assistant Boldin meet at the ABTs facility - a closed guest residence of the KGB at the address: Akademika Vargi Street, possession 1. Decisions are made to introduce a state of emergency from August 19, to form a State Emergency Committee, to demand from Gorbachev to sign the relevant decrees or resign and transfer powers to Vice President Gennady Yanayev, Yeltsin to detain at the Chkalovsky airfield upon arrival from Kazakhstan for a conversation with Yazov, then to act depending on the results of the negotiations.

The beginning of the putsch

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

At the same time (at 16:32) at the presidential dacha, all types of communications were turned off, 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 KGB troops of the USSR blocks 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 facilities are located - the Tu-134 aircraft and the Mi-8 helicopter.

G. Yanaev's version

According to GKChP member Gennady Yanayev, on August 16, at one of the special facilities of the KGB of the USSR in Moscow, a meeting of the Minister of Defense of the USSR Yazov and Chairman of the KGB Kryuchkov took place, at which the situation in the country was discussed. On August 17, at the same facility, a meeting was held in 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 in order to demand that Mikhail Gorbachev immediately declare a state of emergency and not sign a new Union Treaty without holding an additional referendum. On August 18, at about 20:00, Yanaev arrived at the Kremlin at the invitation of Kryuchkov, where a meeting was held with a group of Politburo members who had returned from Foros from Gorbachev. Yanaev was offered to head the Emergency Committee. After a long discussion, he only agreed at about 1:00 on August 19.

Defenders of the White House

August 19

At 6 o'clock in the morning, the USSR mass media announced the introduction of a state of emergency in the country and the inability of the President of the USSR 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 brought into Moscow.
At night, Alfa 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 drafted and faxed an appeal “To the citizens of Russia”. Boris N. Yeltsin signed a decree "On the illegality of the actions of the Emergency Committee." Echo of Moscow became the mouthpiece of the opponents of the putsch.
BN Yeltsin's condemnation of the State Emergency Committee during a speech from a tank of the Taman division at the White House. Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin arrives at the "White House" (Supreme Soviet 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 at the White House on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment and in Leningrad on St. Isaac's Square near the Mariinsky Palace. Barricades are being erected in Moscow, leaflets are being distributed. Directly at the White House is the armored vehicles of the Ryazan Regiment of the Tula Airborne Division under the command of Major General AI Lebed] and the Taman Division. At 12 o'clock from the tank, Boris N. Yeltsin addresses those gathered at the rally, where he calls the incident 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 prepares space for retreat by sending his emissaries to Paris and Sverdlovsk with the right to organize a government in exile.
GKChP evening press conference. V.S.Pavlov, who developed a hypertensive crisis, was absent. The GKChP participants were noticeably nervous; the whole world was covered by shots of G. Yanaev's shaking hands. The 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 10 BRDM arrived in the vicinity of the House of Soviets. Along with the soldiers arrived the deputy commander of the Airborne Forces, Major General A.I. Lebed.

The plot in the program "Time"

In the evening broadcast of the Vremya program, the USSR Central Television unexpectedly broadcasts a plot prepared by its correspondent Sergei Medvedev about the situation at the White House, in which Yeltsin falls, reading the Decree “On the illegality of the GKChP actions” signed the day before. In conclusion, there is a commentary by S. Medvedev, which directly expresses doubts about the possibility of this item being broadcast. Nevertheless, the story was seen by a huge audience of TV viewers throughout the country, it contrasted sharply with the rest of the program (with stories in support of the actions of the Emergency Committee) and allowed doubting the actions of the Emergency Committee.
The author of the plot, Sergei Medvedev, explains its release as follows:

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

20 August

By order of the State Emergency Committee, officers of the Ministry of Defense, KGB and the 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 BP Beskov carried out preparations for the unplanned seizure of the building of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR by units of power structures. According to experts, the capture plan they developed was flawless from a military point of view. For the operation, units with a total number of about 15 thousand people were allocated. However, the generals responsible for preparing the assault began to doubt the expediency. Alexander Lebed goes over to the side of the White House defenders. The commanders of "Alpha" and "Vympel" Karpukhin and Beskov ask the deputy chairman of the KGB Ageev to cancel the operation. The assault was canceled.
In connection with the hospitalization of V. Pavlov, the provisional 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 an interim republican ministry of defense. Konstantin Kobets is appointed Minister of Defense.
At 12:00, a rally, sanctioned by the Moscow city authorities, starts near the House of Soviets. Several tens of thousands of people gathered at it. The rally was organized by the Democratic Russia movement and the Councils of Labor Collectives in Moscow and the Moscow Region. The officially declared slogan of the rally is "For legality and order"
At 15:00 on the first channel of the Central Television of the USSR in the program "Vremya", under conditions of strict censorship on other channels, an unexpected story appeared, later described as follows by the famous journalist E. A. Kiselyov:

I then worked at Vesti. Vesti were disconnected from the air. We sit, watch the first channel (...) And an announcer appears in the frame, and suddenly begins to read the messages of news agencies: President Bush condemns the putschists, British Prime Minister John Major condemns, the world community is outraged - and at the end: Yeltsin outlawed the State Emergency Committee, the prosecutor Russia, then there was Stepankov, initiates a criminal case. We're shocked. And I can imagine how many people, including those who took part in the events, who at that moment caught the slightest hint of the direction in which the situation was swinging, ran to the White House to Yeltsin to sign their loyalty and loyalty. On the third day, in the evening, I meet Tanechka Sopova, who then worked in the Main Information Office of Central Television, well, hugs, kisses. I say: "Tatyan, what happened to you?" - “And this is me Bad boy, says Tanya. I was a responsible release. " That is, she collected the folder, picked up the news. And there was an order: go to agree on everything. “I go in,” he says, “once, and there is the whole synclite and some people who are completely unfamiliar. They are discussing what to broadcast at 21 o'clock in the program "Time". And here I, little one, poke 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: 'Make it yourself!' - well, I went and did the layout.”

According to Kiselev, Tatyana Sopova is "a little woman, because of whom, perhaps, the coup in August 1991 failed".

August 21

On the night of August 21, tank units controlled by the State Emergency Committee carry out maneuvers in the area of \u200b\u200bthe White House (the building of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR). Supporters of Boris Yeltsin clash with a military column in a tunnel under Novy Arbat. (see the incident in the tunnel on the Garden Ring)
Group Alpha is not ordered to storm the White House.
At 3 o'clock in the morning, Air Force Commander-in-Chief Yevgeny Shaposhnikov suggests that Yazov withdraw the troops from Moscow, and that the State Emergency Committee "declare illegal and disperse." At 5 o'clock in the morning, a meeting of the collegium of the USSR Ministry of Defense was held, at which the commander-in-chief of the Navy and the Strategic Missile Forces support Shaposhnikov's proposal. Yazov gives the order to withdraw troops from Moscow.
In the afternoon of August 21, the 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 Rutskoy and Prime Minister Ivan Silaev fly to Foros to see Gorbachev. On another plane, some members of the State Emergency Committee fly to Crimea for negotiations with Gorbachev, but he refuses to accept them.
A delegation from the Emergency Committee arrived at the presidential dacha in Crimea. MS Gorbachev refused to accept it and demanded to restore communication with the outside world. In the evening, M.S.Gorbachev contacted Moscow, canceled all the orders of the State Emergency Committee, removed its members from government posts and appointed new leaders of the USSR law enforcement agencies.

August 22

Mikhail Gorbachev returns from Foros to Moscow with Rutskoi and Silaev on a Tu-134. GKChP members were arrested.
Mourning for the dead has been declared in Moscow. On the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment in Moscow, a mass rally was held, during which the protesters 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 of August 22 was chosen to celebrate the Day of the State Flag of Russia.)
The new state flag of Russia (tricolor) was first installed at the top of the building of the Council House.
The defenders of the White House are supported by rock groups (Time Machine, Cruise, Shah, Metal Corrosion, Mongol Shuudan), which will organize a Rock on the Barricades concert on August 22.

August 23

At night, by order of the Moscow City Council, with a mass gathering of protesters, the monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky on Lubyanskaya Square was dismantled.

On the air, Yeltsin in the presence of Gorbachev signs a decree on the suspension of the Communist Party of the RSFSR

Further developments

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

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

The Secretariat, the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee did not oppose the coup d'etat. The Central Committee failed to take a decisive position of condemnation and opposition, 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 on self-dissolution. They themselves will determine the fate of the republican communist parties and local party organizations.

I do not consider it possible for myself to further perform functions The Secretary General The Central Committee of the CPSU and resign the corresponding powers.

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

Confronting the putschists in Leningrad

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

On the morning of August 19, the city radio and television broadcasted: The GKChP's appeal to the Soviet people, Anatoly Lukyanov's statement in his support, and after them an appeal by Colonel-General V.N. Samsonov, commander of the Leningrad Military District, whom the GKChP had appointed as the military commandant of Leningrad. In it, Samsonov announced the introduction of a state of emergency in the city and adjacent territories and special measures, 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 on on their own;
a ban on the use of duplicating equipment, as well as radio and television transmission equipment, the seizure of sound recording, amplifying technical means;
establishing control over the media;
introduction of special rules for using communications;
restriction of movement vehicle and conducting their inspection;

And other measures.

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

The Lensovet building (Mariinsky Palace), in which the democratic faction was the strongest, on August 19 turned into a headquarters for countering the putsch, and St. Isaac's Square in front of it - into a constant spontaneous meeting. Megaphones were installed on the square, broadcasting the latest reports on events and speeches from the meeting of the Leningrad City Council presidium, which opened at 10 o'clock. The square and the streets adjacent to the palace, as well as the streets near the TV 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 Boris 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 2 pm. Immediately upon arrival, he went not to the Mariinsky Palace, as expected, but to General Samsonov's headquarters, where he persuaded the latter to refrain from sending troops into the city. Then he spoke at an emergency session of the Leningrad City Council, which opened at 4:30 pm, 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 coupists). Together with Sobchak in the studio were the chairman of the Leningrad City Council Alexander Belyaev, the chairman of the Regional Council Yuri Yarov and the vice-mayor Vyacheslav Shcherbakov. They ended their speech with an appeal to the townspeople: to go to the Palace Square on the morning of August 20 for a protest rally.

On August 20, at 5 am, the Vitebsk division of the Airborne Forces of the KGB of the USSR and the Pskov division of the USSR Ministry of Defense marched towards Leningrad, but did not enter the city, but were stopped near Siverskaya (70 km from the city). The movement of military units in the vicinity and their pulling up to 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 to bring them into the city did not.

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

Free radio stations “Baltika” and “Open City” continued to broadcast in the city.

Victims

Ilya Krichevsky, architect of the Kommunar design and construction cooperative
A participant in the war in Afghanistan, a forklift driver Dmitry Komar
Economist of the joint venture "Ikom", 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 the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev, all three were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union "for courage and civic valor displayed in the defense of democracy and the constitutional order of the USSR."

Suicides of the leaders of the USSR

Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR (1990-1991), member of the State Emergency Committee BK Pugo committed suicide by shooting himself with a pistol when he learned that a group had left for him 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 together with Viktor Ivanenko, Director General of the Federal Security Agency of the RSFSR:

At the site of the death of Pugo, three cartridges were found. Grigory Yavlinsky, referring to the data from the investigation, 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 hours 50 minutes. In office # 19 "a" in building 1 of the Moscow Kremlin, the guard on duty Koroteev discovered the corpse of Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergei Fyodorovich Akhromeev, who worked as an adviser to the President of the USSR. According to the version of the investigation, 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 CPSU Central Committee N. Ye. Kruchina, under unclear circumstances, fell from the balcony of the fifth floor of his apartment in Pletnevy Lane and crashed to death. According to the data cited by the journalists of the Moscow News newspaper, Kruchina left a suicide note on the table, in which he wrote the following:

According to the journalists of Moskovskiye Novosti, Kruchina left a thick folder with documents containing detailed information on the illegal commercial activities of the CPSU and the KGB, including the creation of offshore enterprises with party money outside the USSR outside the USSR, on the armchair at the desk. last years... An interesting fact: on October 6 of the same year, Kruchina's predecessor, 81-year-old Georgy Pavlov, falls from the window of his apartment as head of the Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Symbolism

The symbol of victory over the putschists was the Russian tricolor, which was widely used by the forces opposing the State Emergency Committee. After the defeat of the State Emergency Committee, by the resolution of the Supreme Soviet 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 coup was the ballet Swan Lake, which was shown on television between the newscasts. In the mass consciousness, the coup was associated with the Chilean putsch of Pinochet. So Anatoly Sobchak called the GKChP a junta, and Yazov tried to distance himself from this image, saying: "I will not be Pinochet."

The August putsch in culture

In 1991 the short animated film The Putsch was filmed at the Pilot studio.
Alexander Prokhanov's novel "The Last Soldier of the Empire" was completely devoted to the August events of 1991.
2011 - On the 20th anniversary of the putsch, the documentary "Tomorrow everything will be different" was released on Channel One.
2011 - on the 20th anniversary of the putsch on the channel "Russia" a documentary film "August 91st. Versions ".

Theory about Gorbachev's participation in the GKChP activities

It has been suggested that Mikhail Gorbachev himself, who knew about the conservative lobby in the Kremlin leadership, was in collusion with the State Emergency Committee. So, A. Ye. 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 said that Gorbachev's participation in the Emergency Committee had been documented.

Alpha's role

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

Former head of the 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 were guarding near the highway, however, no action was taken when Yeltsin's cortege drove out of the dacha towards Moscow. After the president's departure, at about 11 o'clock, armed people approached the gates of the dacha, according to Korzhakov, led by a man who introduced himself as a lieutenant colonel of the Airborne Forces, who said that they had allegedly arrived on behalf of the Minister of Defense to strengthen the security of the village. However, one of Yeltsin's security guards recognized him as an Alpha officer who had taught at the KGB courses. Yeltsin's guards invited the Alpha fighters to dine in the cafeteria. After lunch, the commandos sat in their bus for several hours and then left.

According to the BBC radio company, in three days of the coup, "Alpha" carried out only one order: on August 21 at 08.30, Karpukhin summoned the commander of the Alpha branch, Anatoly Savelyev, ordering him to go with people to Demyan Bedny Street, where the radio transmission center is located and "To close the radio station" Echo of Moscow "", as it "transmits disinformation." At 10.40 the station was silent for several hours.

Participants' opinions

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

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

Alexander Rutskoy:

Value

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 change in Russia. In Russia itself, changes took place that contributed to the expansion of its sovereignty.

On the other hand, supporters of the preservation of the Soviet Union argue that disorder began in the country 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, in 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 polls by the Sociological Opinion Foundation in 2001, 61 percent of the respondents could not name any of the members of the State Emergency Committee. Only 16 percent were able to name at least one surname correctly. 4 percent remembered the head of the Emergency Committee Gennady Yanayev.

In 2005, only about 60 people attended 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 tunnel on the Garden Ring. The then SPS leader Nikita Belykh said at the mourning 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 - about the benefits or harms of the 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, motivating this in Moscow by the fact that for the sake of him it would be necessary to block the streets and thus create inconvenience to Muscovites, and in St. Petersburg - by the fact that these measures will interfere with the work on the pipeline.

On the 20th, we did not allow the signing of the union treaty, we thwarted the signing of this union treaty. - G. I. Yanaev, interview with radio station "Echo of Moscow"

In order to overcome a deep and comprehensive crisis, political, interethnic and civil confrontation, chaos and anarchy that threaten the life and security of citizens of the Soviet Union, sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom and independence of our Fatherland; proceeding from the results of the national referendum on the preservation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; guided by the vital interests of the peoples of our Motherland, of all Soviet people.

In 2006, the former chairman of the KGB of the USSR Vladimir Kryuchkovstated that the GKChP did not aim to seize power:

We opposed the signing of a treaty destroying the Union. I feel like I was right. I regret that no measures were taken to strictly isolate the President of the USSR, no questions were raised before the Supreme Council about the abdication of the head of state from his post (http://www.encyclopaedia-russia.ru/article.php?id\u003d136).

Opponents of the Emergency Committee

Resistance to the Emergency Committee was led by the political leadership of the Russian Federation (President B.N. Yeltsin, Vice-President A.V. Rutskoy, Prime Minister I.S.Silaev, Acting Chairman of the Supreme Council R.I.Khasbulatov).

In an address to the citizens of Russia Boris YeltsinOn August 19, describing the actions of the State Emergency Committee as a coup d'état, he said:

We believe that such forceful methods are unacceptable. They discredit the USSR before the whole world, undermine our prestige in the world community, return us to the era of the Cold War and the isolation of the Soviet Union. All this forces us to declare the so-called committee (GKChP) that has come to power illegal. Accordingly, we declare illegal all decisions and orders of this committee.

Khasbulatov was on the side of Yeltsin, 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 a new Union Treaty:

As for the content of the new Union Treaty, apart from Afanasyev and someone else, I myself was terribly dissatisfied with this content. Yeltsin and I argued a lot - should we go to the meeting on August 20? And finally, I convinced Yeltsin by saying that if we don't even go there, we don't form a delegation, it will 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 or 61 percent of the population seems to be in favor of maintaining the Union. I say: "You and I have no right ...". Therefore, I say: “Let us go, make up a delegation, and there we will motivatedly state our comments on the future Union Treaty” (http://www.encyclopaedia-russia.ru/article.php?id\u003d136).

On the role of non-political communities in those Three days

Independent research centers, civic associations, charitable foundations suddenly closed in a network - what the Americans call a network - and messages, help, resources necessary to resist the tanks moved along this network.

Here is what Gleb, director of the POSTFACTUM Information Agency, wrote on August 30, 1991 Pavlovsky:

Among these cells of civil society, I cannot fail to mention those closest to us: the editorial offices of the Vek XX and Mir magazine and the Kommersant weekly, the Center for Political and Legal Research, the Memorial Society, the Institute for Humanitarian and Political Research and, of course, the publishing house Progress".

At the same time, the true role and scope of the long-term programs of the Soviet-American Cultural Initiative Foundation (known to the majority as the Soros Foundation), especially the Civil Society program, were revealed - the groups supported by it were active participants in the Three Days resistance.

The days of opposition united us in a common effort, the result of which - freedom - is more and more uncertain every day. Freedom as a state is similar to information: it is open, it is doubtful and dangerous. But we actually wanted this risk (http://www.ru-90.ru/node/475).

Western reaction

As a result of the anti-Russian coup d'etat in August-December 1991, the plans for the world behind the scenes were achieved. However, institutions for training and instructing agents of influence are not only not dismantled, but are turning into an important part of the power structure of the Yeltsin regime, developing for him a kind of directive programs of activity and supplying him with advisers.

In the United States, a legal public center of this structure called "Russia House" was opened, which was headed by the agent of influence E. Lozansky, although, of course, all important decisions were made within the walls of the CIA and the leadership of the world behind the scenes.

Confident in the final victory Yeltsin no longer concealed his direct connection with subversive anti-Russian organizations such as the American National Contribution to Democracy, to whose leaders he sent a message, which, in particular, said:

We know and appreciate the fact that you contributed to this victory (fax dated 23 August 1991).

The world behind the scenes rejoiced, each of its representatives in their own way, but they all noted the key role of the CIA. US President Bush immediately after the August 1991 coup with full knowledge business and how former CIA director publicly stated that the coming to power of the Yeltsin regime:

Our victory is a CIA victory.

The then CIA Director R. Gatesin Moscow, on Red Square, holds its own "victory parade" in front of BBC television cameras, stating:

Naturally, a relationship of master and vassal is established between the CIA and representatives of the Yeltsin regime. For example, in October 1992, R. Gates met with Yeltsin in complete secrecy. Moreover, the latter is not even given the opportunity to use the services of his translator, who is put out the door, and the entire translation is carried out by the translator of the CIA director.

Maltese brothers

The world behind the scenes awards Yeltsin with the title that is borne by almost every member of the world Masonic public organization - Knight Commander of the Order of Malta. He receives it on November 16, 1991. No longer embarrassed, Yeltsin poses in front of the correspondents in full attire of a knight-commander.

In August 1992, Yeltsin signed Decree No. 827 "On the restoration of official relations with the Order of Malta" (http://www.lawrussia.ru/texts/legal_213/doc213a408x255.htm). The content of this decree was kept in complete secrecy for some time. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was instructed to sign a protocol on the restoration of official relations between The Russian Federation and the Order of Malta.

Conclusion

Calling the State Emergency Committee a "coup" or "coup" is not entirely correct, since it was not supposed to break the state system, but on the contrary, measures were proposed to protect the system that exists. This was an "attempt" by a number of top officials of the state to save the Union from collapse.

From Gorbachev's side, it was actually a "top action", the communists on the ground did not receive any instructions about their actions. And this action was carried out to drive fear into society, disperse the CPSU and destroy the Union. The putschists found themselves in the role of "substitutes". They were arrested for the sake of order. But after a while they were amnestied.

Attempts by M.S. Gorbachev again to take control of the country into their own hands ran into resistance from the leaders of the republics. Through the efforts of the putschists, the central government was compromised. In Moscow, the President of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin.

The supreme body of state power - the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR - on September 5, 1991 announced the dissolution and transfer of power to the State Council as part of the leaders of the republics. M.S. Gorbachev as the head of a unified state has become superfluous.

On December 8, 1991, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha near Minsk, the leaders of Russia (B.N.Yeltsin), Ukraine (L.M. Kravchuk) and Belarus (S.S.Shushkevich) announced the denunciation of the Union Treaty of 1922, the termination of the existence of the USSR and creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The great power ceased to exist. The place of Belaya Vezha was not chosen by chance, since it was here on July 3, 964 that the Great Forgotten Victory over the Khazar Kaganate was won.

Historical retreat

Svyatoslav not only crushed the Khazar Kaganate, whose elite adopted Judaism, but also tried to secure the conquered territories for themselves. In the place of Sarkel, the Russian settlement of Belaya Vezha appeared, Tmutarakan came under the rule of Kiev, there is information that Russian troops were in Itil and Semender until the 990s. The Khazar Kaganate was the first state that Ancient Rus had to face.

The fate of not only Eastern European tribes, but also many tribes and peoples of Europe and Asia depended on the outcome of the struggle between these two states.

As many researchers note, the crushing of Khazaria, whose leaders professed Judaism and supported it among the subordinate and surrounding peoples through the spread of beneficial to their worldview - the same biblical doctrine (about it http://inance.ru/2015/07/politsili-koncepciya /), meant breaking the shackles of the most severe oppression - spiritual, which could destroy the foundations of the bright, original spiritual life of the Slavs and other peoples of Eastern Europe.

The Khazar kingdom disappeared like smoke immediately after the elimination of the main condition of its existence: military superiority over its neighbors and those economic benefits that the possession of the most important trade routes between Asia and Europe brought. Since there were no other grounds for its existence, under the blows of a stronger Russian state, it crumbled into its component parts, which later dissolved in the Polovtsian sea, - concludes the historian M.I. Artamonov.

Therefore, it is especially symbolic that in Belaya Vezha, as if in revenge for that Great Victory 964, agreements shameful for our country were signed.

December 25, 1991 M.S. Gorbachev resigned from the post of President of the USSR, which meant the end of "Perestroika".

As a result of the collapse of the USSR - financial and economic scams of the 90s.

J. Soros was the perpetrator of almost all the largest financial and economic scams committed in Russia in the first half of the 90s.

It was he who stood behind the backs of Chubais, Gaidar, Burbulis and a number of other newly minted Russian functionaries during the so-called privatization, as a result of which the overwhelming part of the property belonging to the Russian people passed into the hands of international financial swindlers.

According to the chairman of the State Property Committee V.P. Polevanova:

500 largest privatized enterprises in Russia with a real value of at least $ 200 billion. were sold for next to nothing (about 7, 2 billion US dollars) and ended up in the hands of foreign companies and their front structures.

In the mid-90s, the Soros Foundation carried out a number of operations to undermine the Russian economy. According to the Wall Street Journal (1994.10.11.), American financial experts consider the collapse of the ruble in Russia on the so-called Black Tuesday October 11, 1994, the result of the activities of a group of funds led by Soros.

Attention is drawn to the fact that by the beginning of the summer of 1994 the Soros Foundation had acquired shares of Russian enterprises in the amount of $ 10 million. In late August - early September, Soros, having waited for the rise in the share price, sold them. According to experts, on this operation he made a profit equivalent to $ 400 million. At the end of September, the Soros Foundation began buying dollars for rubles, which, according to American experts, caused a rapid rise in the US dollar and a rapid fall in the ruble, the collapse of the financial system and the rapid ruin of many Russian enterprises.

"PETS" OF THE WORLD ZAKULISE

Participants' opinions

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

I'm sorry now - I shouldn't have left. Error, yes, I already said that. As well as it was a mistake that I did not send Yeltsin forever somewhere in the country to procure banana products. After known processes. When the plenum demanded - to expel from the members of the Central Committee. Some of the party demanded to be expelled for what he started.

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

I would not call the events of 1991 a coup for that reason, because there was no coup. There was an aspiration of a certain group of people, the leadership of a certain former Soviet Union, aimed at preserving the Soviet Union as a state in any way. That was the main objective these people. None of them pursued any selfish goals, no one divided the portfolios of power. One goal is to preserve the Soviet Union. (Http://www.encyclopaedia-russia.ru/article.php?id\u003d136).

conclusions

It should be noted that all the participants in the events are from one administrative "elite", which had the abbreviation of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which is described by many as the Central Committee of the Capitulating Party of the Self-Liquidation of Socialism. Perhaps, if not they themselves, their "puppeteers" simply agreed on who should rule in the new conditions, and who, after a short stay in prison, to go on a well-deserved rest, having previously secured the halo of "sufferers for the happiness of the people" the possibility of a legitimate return to the scenario of the "socialism" policy in the future.

Indeed, if after the victory of Yeltsin the lawyers substantiated the illegality of the Emergency Committee, then, if necessary, another team of lawyers will no less strictly justify the fact of treason of Gorbachev and his associates and, accordingly, the legality and legality of the Emergency Committee, whose fault will only be that they have not achieved success and such figures and scenarios are already trying to promote.

And if you remember about conceptual power and that any legislation is a line of defense, at which one concept protects itself from the implementation in the same society of another concept that is fundamentally incompatible with it. In a conceptually undefined society, such as the USSR was in the last years of its existence, mutually exclusive concepts were expressed in one legislation. That is why on its basis, having defined conceptually, it is possible to legally flawlessly substantiate the indictment against Gorbachev, and against the Emergency Committee, and against Yeltsin and the team of reformers of the Gaidar-Chernomyrdin era.

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, in the popular opinion of liberals, gave impetus to democratic changes in Russia.

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

The dashing 90s came, during which many negative matrix scenarios in relation to Russia were discharged and now the process of Russia gaining conceptual certainty is becoming more and more apparent (http://inance.ru/2015/07/bolshevizm/). And this is a phenomenon of global significance.

Youth Analytical Group

Formation of the State Emergency Committee

Preparing the establishment of a committee

From the "Conclusion on the materials of the investigation of the role and participation of officials of the KGB of the USSR in the events of August 19-21, 1991":

GKChP members

Yanaev Gennady Ivanovich (1937-2010) - Vice-President of the USSR, Acting President of the USSR (18-21 August 1991), member of the Central Committee of the CPSU. - Chairman of the Emergency Committee

Oleg Dmitrievich Baklanov (b. 1932) - First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council, member of the CPSU Central Committee.

(1924-2007) - Chairman of the KGB of the USSR, member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Pavlov Valentin Sergeevich (1937-2003) - Prime Minister of the USSR, member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Pugo Boris Karlovich (1937-1991) - Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR, member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

(1931-2011) - Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR, member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Tizyakov Alexander Ivanovich (b. 1926) - President of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial Facilities, Construction, Transport and Communications of the USSR.

Yazov Dmitry Timofeevich (b. 1924) - Minister of Defense of the USSR, member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Political positions of the Emergency Committee

In its first appeal, the State Emergency Committee assessed the general sentiment in the country as very skeptical of the new political course towards dismantling the highly centralized federal structure of governing the country, one-party political system and state regulation of the economy, condemned the negative phenomena that the new course, in the opinion of the compilers, had brought to life, such as speculation and the shadow economy, proclaimed that "the development of the country cannot be based on a fall in the living standards of the population" and promised a tough establishment and the solution of major economic problems, without mentioning, however, about specific measures.

Television announcement of the establishment of the Emergency Committee

GKChP official statement

Due to the impossibility for health reasons of Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev's fulfillment of the duties of the President of the USSR and the transition in accordance with Article 127/7 of the Constitution of the USSR, the powers of the President of the USSR to the Vice-President of the USSR Yanaev Gennady Ivanovich.

In order to overcome a deep and comprehensive crisis, political, interethnic, civil confrontation, chaos and anarchy that threaten the life and security of citizens of the Soviet Union, sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom and independence of our state.

2. To establish that the Constitution of the USSR and the Laws of the USSR have unconditional leadership throughout the territory of the USSR.

3. To govern the country and effectively implement the state of emergency, establish "State Committee for a State of Emergency" in the USSR (GKChP USSR), in the following composition:

Oleg Dmitrievich Baklanov - First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council;

Kryuchkov Vladimir Aleksandrovich - Chairman of the KGB of the USSR;

Pavlov Valentin Sergeevich - Prime Minister of the USSR, Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR;

Pugo Boris Karlovich - Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs;

Starodubtsev Vasily Alexandrovich - Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR;

Tizyakov Alexander Ivanovich - President of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial Facilities, Construction, Transport and Communications;

Yazov Dmitry Timofeevich - USSR Minister of Defense of the USSR Ministry of Defense;

Yanaev Gennady Ivanovich - Vice-President of the USSR, Acting President of the USSR.

4. To establish that the decisions of the GKChP of the USSR are obligatory for strict implementation by all bodies of power and administration, officials and citizens throughout the territory of the USSR.
Signature: Yanaev, Pavlov, Baklanov.

At a difficult hour, critical for the fate of the fatherland and our peoples, we turn to you.

Over our great homeland mortal danger loomed. The reform policy launched at the initiative of Mikhail Gorbachev, conceived as a means of ensuring the country's dynamic development and the democratization of public life, for various reasons, has reached a dead end.

Initial enthusiasm and hopes were replaced by disbelief, apathy and despair. Power at all levels has lost the confidence of the population. Politics drove out of public life concern for the fate of the fatherland and the citizen. Spiteful mockery is being imposed on all state institutions. The country has essentially become unmanageable.

Taking advantage of the freedoms granted, trampling on the newly emerging sprouts of democracy, extremist forces arose that took a course towards liquidating the Soviet Union, collapsing the state and seizing power at any cost.

The results of a nationwide referendum on the unity of the fatherland have been trampled underfoot.

Cynical speculation on national feelings is just a screen for satisfying ambitions. Neither the troubles of their peoples today, nor their tomorrow, bother political adventurers. The crisis of power had a disastrous effect on the economy. The chaotic, spontaneous slide towards the market caused an explosion of regional, departmental, group and personal selfishness.

The war of laws and the encouragement of centrifugal tendencies resulted in the destruction of a single national economic mechanism that had been taking shape for decades. The result was a sharp drop in the standard of living of the overwhelming majority of Soviet people, the flourishing of speculation and the shadow economy.

It is high time to tell people the truth: if urgent and decisive 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 is to massive manifestations of spontaneous discontent with devastating consequences. Only irresponsible people can rely on some kind of help from abroad. No handouts will solve our problems - salvation is in our own hands.

The time has come to measure the authority of each person or organization with a real contribution to the restoration and development of the national economy. The deepening destabilization of the political and economic situation in the Soviet Union undermines our position in the world; here and there revanchist notes were heard. Demands are being made to revise our borders. There are even voices about the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and about the possibility of establishing international custody of individual objects and regions of the country. This is the bitter reality.

The State Committee for a State of Emergency "in the USSR is fully aware of the depth of the crisis that hit our country. He accepts responsibility for the fate of the Motherland and is determined to take the most serious measures to bring the state and society out of the crisis as soon as possible. We promise to hold a broad nationwide discussion of the draft of a new union treaty, immediately restore law and order, put an end to bloodshed, declare a merciless war on the criminal world, put an end to the arbitrariness of the plunderers of the people's property.

We stand for truly democratic processes, for a consistent policy of reforms leading to the economic and social prosperity of our Motherland.

In a healthy society, it will become the norm to continuously improve the well-being of all citizens. We will focus on protecting the interests of the widest sections of the population. By developing the diversified nature of the national economy, we will also support private enterprise. Solving food and housing problems will be our top priority.

We call on all Soviet people to restore labor discipline and order in the shortest possible time, to raise the level of production, so that they will then decisively move forward - our life and the fate of our fatherland depend on this.

We are a peace-loving country and we will strictly abide by all the commitments we have assumed, but no one will ever be allowed to encroach on our sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

We call on all true patriots, people good will put an end to the present time of troubles, realize our duty to the Motherland and provide all-round support to efforts to bring the country out of the crisis.

Official Decree No. 1 (GKChP)

On August 19, 1991, in continuation of the Vremya news program, the announcer of the central television, Vera Shebeko, read the official First Resolution of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR:

In order to protect the vital interests of the peoples and citizens of the USSR, the independence and territorial integrity of the country, restore law and order, stabilize the situation, overcome a severe crisis, prevent chaos, anarchy, and fratricidal civil war. The State Committee for a State of Emergency (GKChP) decides:
1. All authorities and administrations of the USSR, union and autonomous republics, territories, regions, cities, districts, townships and villages ensure strict observance of the state of emergency, in accordance with the Law of the USSR on the legal regime of the state of emergency and resolutions of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR. In the event of failure to ensure the implementation of this regime, the powers of the relevant authorities and administration are suspended, and the exercise of their functions is assigned to persons specially authorized by the State Emergency Committee of the USSR.

2. Immediately dissolve the structures of power and administration, paramilitaries acting contrary to the Constitution of the USSR.

4. Suspend the activities of political parties, public organizations and mass movements that hinder the normalization of the situation.

5. Due to the fact that the State Committee for a State of Emergency (GKChP) in the USSR temporarily takes over the functions of the USSR Security Council, the activity of the latter is suspended.

6. Citizens, institutions and organizations shall immediately surrender all types of firearms, ammunition that are not legally in their possession, explosives, military equipment and equipment. The USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB and the USSR Ministry of Defense ensure strict compliance with this requirement. In case of refusal to seize them forcibly, with the bringing of violators to strict criminal and administrative responsibility.

In the government's White House, Boris N. Yeltsin refuses to cooperate with the Emergency Committee and decides not to obey the actions of the Emergency Committee, calling their actions unconstitutional. The leadership of the Emergency Committee dispatches a tank battalion of the 1st Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 2nd Taman Division under the command of Chief of Staff Sergei Evdokimov to the building.

GKChP liquidation and arrest

On the night of August 20, the first clash between the army and the demonstrators takes place in Moscow; three demonstrators were killed. On the morning of August 21, the Minister of Defense of the USSR D. T. Yazov gives an order to his military leaders and commanders to withdraw all units from Moscow to their places of permanent deployment and lift the blockade of the White House. At 9:00 at a meeting with and. about. President of the USSR G. I. Yanaev, it was decided to send a delegation to Foros to M. S. Gorbachev, consisting of: Luktyanov, Yazov, Ivashko and Kryuchkov

The arrested were placed in the Matrosskaya Tishina prison, where they remained until 1994, when they were released under the amnesty of the State Duma.

"Accomplices" and "sympathizers"

After the failure of the August putsch, in addition to the members of the State Emergency Committee, some persons were prosecuted and taken into custody, according to the investigation, who actively contributed to the State Emergency Committee. Among the "accomplices" were:

Ageev Geniy \u200b\u200bEvgenievich - Colonel General, First Deputy Chairman of the KGB of the USSR.

Akhromeev Sergey Fedorovich - Marshal of the Soviet Union, advisor to the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, adviser to the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, adviser to the President of the USSR M.S.Gorbachev on military affairs.

Boldin Valery Ivanovich - Head of the General Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Varennikov Valentin Ivanovich - General of the Army, Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR.

Generalov Vyacheslav Vladimirovich - head of security at the Gorbachev residence in Foros

Lukyanov Anatoly Ivanovich (born 1930) - Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR; his appeal was broadcast on TV and radio along with the main documents of the State Emergency Committee.

Medvedev Vladimir Timofeevich - Major General, Chief of Gorbachev's Security.

Makashov Albert Mikhailovich - Commander of the Volga-Ural Military District

Shenin Oleg Semyonovich - member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.

Prokofiev Yuri Anatolyevich - Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, 1st Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU.

Ryzhkov Nikolai Ivanovich - Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR

Kalinin Nikolai Vasilyevich - Commander of the Moscow Military District, military commandant from the Emergency Committee in Moscow.

Kruchina Nikolai Efimovich - Administrator of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Grushko Viktor Fedorovich - First Deputy Chairman of the KGB of the USSR

All of them were released under an amnesty in 1994.

According to the memoirs of Yu. A. Prokofiev, the secretary of the Central Committee, Yu. A. Manaenkov, took part in the preparation of the decisions of the State Emergency Committee and bringing them to the attention of state bodies, who, however, was not later brought to justice.

The leaders of the republican authorities in most cases did not enter into open confrontation with the State Emergency Committee, but sabotaged its actions. Open support for the GKChP was expressed by the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus N.I.Dementey, 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine S.I. - B. N. Yeltsin and Kyrgyzstan - A. A. Akaev. In the Baltic countries, the leadership of the Lithuanian Communist Party (CPSU) (M. Burokevičius), the Latvian Communist Party (A. Rubiks), and the Estonian Inter-Movement (E. Kogan), who had lost power by that time, came out in support of the Emergency Committee.

After the August events

The Russian leadership, leading the fight against the State Emergency Committee, ensured the political victory of the supreme bodies of Russia over the union Center. Since the fall of 1991, the Constitution and laws of the RSFSR, the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, as well as the President of the RSFSR, have received complete supremacy over the laws of the USSR on the territory of Russia. With rare exceptions, the heads of the regional authorities of the RSFSR, who supported the GKChP, were removed from office.

On December 8, 1991, the presidents of the three founding states of the USSR B.N.Yeltsin, L.M. Kravchuk and S.S.Shushkevich, despite the decision of the all-Union referendum on the preservation of the USSR Union, signed the Belavezha agreement on the termination of the activities of the USSR and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev officially resigned as President of the USSR.

On December 26, 1991, the USSR officially ceased to exist. In its place, a number of independent states were formed (at present - 19, of which 15 are UN members, 2 are partially recognized by UN member states, and 2 are not recognized by any of the UN member states). As a result of the collapse of the USSR, the territory of Russia (the successor country of the USSR in terms of external assets and liabilities, and in the UN) decreased in comparison with the territory of the USSR by 24% (from 22.4 to 17 million km²), and the population decreased by 49% (from 290 to 148 million people) (while the territory of Russia in comparison with the territory of the RSFSR practically did not change). The ruble zone and the united Armed Forces of the USSR collapsed (instead of them, the CSTO was created, except for the three Baltic republics, Moldova, Ukraine and subsequently Georgia, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan).

Shooting and dispersal of Parliament 1993

The opinion of the former participants of the Emergency Committee

Referring to the memoirs of the 1st Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU Yuri Prokofiev. Gorbachev himself claims that only practical steps on the implementation of the USSR Law "On the Legal Regime of the State of Emergency", which did not imply anti-constitutional actions, and that he never gave his consent to the introduction of a state of emergency.

Display in art

see also

Literature

Resolutions No. 1 and No. 2 of the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR

memoirs
A. S. Chernyaev “Diaries of A. Chernyaev. Soviet policy 1972-1991 - a look from the inside "

G. I. Yanaev "GKChP against Gorbachev" - M.: Eksmo, 2010. - 240 p. - (Trial of History), ISBN 978-5-699-43860-0

A.I. Lukyanov “August 91st. Was there a conspiracy? " (2010; publishers: Eksmo, Algorithm)

Links

Chronicle:,

Why he lost to the State Emergency Committee (an excerpt from the book by A. Baigushev)

On August 19, 1991, on the radio (starting at 8 am), and then on the Central Television of the USSR in the news program "Time", announcers read the official text entitled "Statement of the Soviet leadership":

"Due to the impossibility for health reasons of Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev to fulfill the duties of the President of the USSR and the transition, in accordance with Article 127/7 of the Constitution of the USSR, of the powers of the President of the USSR to the Vice-President of the USSR Yanaev Gennady Ivanovich.

Proceeding from the results of the national referendum on the preservation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, guided by the vital interests of the peoples of our Motherland, of all Soviet people.

DECLARE:

1. In accordance with Article 127/3 of the Constitution of the USSR and Article 2 of the Law of the USSR on the legal regime of a state of emergency, and meeting the demands of broad strata of the population, on the need to take the most decisive measures to prevent society from sliding into a nationwide catastrophe, to ensure law and order, introduce an emergency situation in certain localities of the USSR, for a period of 6 months, from 4 o'clock Moscow time from August 19, 1991.

2. To establish that throughout the territory of the USSR, the Constitution of the USSR and the Laws of the USSR shall have absolute supremacy.

3. To govern the country and effectively implement the state of emergency, form the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR (GKChP USSR), in the following composition:

Baklanov - First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council;
Kryuchkov - Chairman of the KGB of the USSR;
Pavlov - Prime Minister of the USSR, the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR;
Pugo - Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs;
Starodubtsev - Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR;
Tizyakov - President of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial Facilities, Construction, Transport and Communications of the USSR;
Yazov - Minister of Defense of the USSR; Ministry of Defense of the USSR;
Yanaev - Acting President of the USSR.

4. To establish that the decisions of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR are obligatory for strict implementation by all bodies of power and administration, officials and citizens throughout the territory of the USSR.

The history of the GKChP ended ingloriously, however, assessments of its actions changed over time. Now of the eight members of the Emergency Committee, only three survive: the former 1st deputy. Chairman of the USSR Defense Council Oleg Baklanov (82 years old), former president of the Association of state enterprises and industrial facilities, construction, transport and communications of the USSR Alexander Tizyakov (87 years old) and former USSR defense minister, the last living Marshal of the Soviet Union Dmitry Yazov (89 years old). They all live out their days in obscurity. The last leader of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, is still alive, and the attitude towards whom among the bulk of Russians is still sharply negative. But what secrets did the 23-year-old rebellion hide? And was it a full "mutiny"? What was the real role of Gorbachev in it?

Here is what the secretary of the CPSU Central Committee in 1986-1990, a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee in 1987-1990, the ideologist of Perestroika Alexander Nikolayevich Yakovlev (1923-2005) wrote about these events, which culminated in the final collapse of the Soviet Union, in his memoirs "Omut Memory":

“The years since 1991 have been years of unused, or rather, to a certain extent, lost opportunities. So, the stormy summer of 1991. Tensions were rapidly growing in the military-party elite, as well as in the democratic camp. In the bureaucratic apparatus of Moscow, they started talking aloud about some impending disaster, but what kind?

In the second half of July, Professor Naumov, a rehabilitation consultant, came to see me before the vacation. I told him about my fears about the possibility of a coup d'état and about the warnings in this regard, which I had officially sent to Gorbachev. We talked about this and that. I asked him: "Who do you think will be at the head of a possible adventure?" Naumov shrugged his shoulders. When he left, I threw after: "I think Shenin." I really believed that it was Shenin who would lead some kind of revanchist demarche: after all, the secretary of the Central Committee, ambitious, tough, with brains boiled in Stalin's broth.

In August 1991, I was expelled from the party. On August 16, the political council of the Movement for Democratic Reforms meets. We unanimously state that a pre-storm situation has been created in the country, smelling of a coup. We agreed to meet in a week and prepare an appeal to the people on this topic.
We were late.

I learned about the outbreak of rebellion early in the morning of 19 August. Oleg Kalugin called and told me to turn on the radio.

- From minute to minute it will be announced that a state of emergency is being introduced in the country. In fact, we are talking about a military coup.
It happens so. I felt that something like this was about to happen, but when it became reality, I didn't want to believe. Oleg asked:
- Are you sober?
- More sober than sober.
I told my wife. He began to calm her down, but it turned out that he needed to calm me down. Nina Ivanovna gathered her nerves into a fist and spoke only about what to do. I have never seen her so calm. Nine-year-old grandson Sergei, who felt with his child's heart that something was wrong, began to tie various jars to the door handles.
“As soon as someone starts to open the door, we will hear,” he explained his “cunning” plan.

Daughter Natasha came running with her husband Boris. Phoned my son. Soon they all left for the White House. So far, only one thing was clear - a new period was beginning in the life of the country and in mine too. The party-military nomenklatura went into revolt. Troops have been sent to Moscow. On TV - Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake. Where is Yeltsin and what's wrong with him? Only rumors, including panic. Journalists, foreign and Soviet, came to the house. One of them - an old acquaintance Lev Sherstennikov - entered the apartment and said that there were KGB cars on both sides of the house. He offered to take me and my family to their friends outside the city, otherwise they would be arrested. And there, they say, will not be found. I refused.

I had to do something. I called Yeltsin at the White House. Yuri Ryzhov was at the phone. Yeltsin was still in Arkhangelsk at his dacha. I asked Yuri Alekseevich to put me in touch with the president. A few minutes later Boris Nikolaevich called. I asked him how he assessed the situation. Offered any help. He spoke about the KGB vehicles. He gave appropriate instructions to Barannikov, the Minister of the Interior. Soon, by order of his deputy, Andrey Dunaev, a special forces vehicle arrived, its passengers looked very menacing and reliable. Both KGB vehicles left immediately.
And I drove through the streets of Moscow. Stop at the tank. The commander - it was the lieutenant - recognized me. Asked him:
- Will you shoot?
- No, we won't, and there are no shells.

I watched with admiration as women literally occupied the tanks. They fed the young soldiers, tried to persuade them not to take a sin on their souls - not to shoot. The great Russian phenomenon is home canteens on tanks. A sight moving to tears. Moscow heroines saved the people of Russia from blood.
I went to the Moscow City Council, where two weeks before that I started working as chairman of the city public meeting. My assistants were already waiting for me - Nikolai Kosolapoe, Valery Kuznetsov, Tatiana Platonova. Friends came. Gennady Pisarevsky brought food and beer just in case. Vladimir Fedorovsky, a journalist, came. Then Alexander Aladko, Alexander Smirnov - one was my doctor during the Politburov era, the other was the head of security. Dozens of journalists. Otto Latsis came. In other words, it's full of friends.

These days I was in the tribunes of democratic rallies - at the Moscow City Council, at the Lubyanka, at the White House. I gave interviews continuously. I wrote several leaflets. I talked to Boris Yeltsin more than once, answered alarm calls from the USA, England and Germany. Familiar and strangers somehow they got to me by a Moscow phone. He calmed them down as best he could. In a conversation with Genscher, I asked him why they didn’t call the Foreign Ministry? “We want to know the truth,” Genscher replied. The tension has reached its limit. Moscow is occupied by tanks. A state of emergency has been declared. The conspirators proclaimed themselves the country's leadership. Democratic newspapers are prohibited. The country faces a real threat civil war... They started talking about the revolution. Revolution again! The trouble is, and only with this bacillus of Russian revolutionaryism.

On August 21, Boris Nikolaevich called me and said that Kryuchkov was offering him, Yeltsin, to fly to Foros for Gorbachev together.
- There is some kind of provocation. I ask you, - Yeltsin continued, - to fly to Foros, although I think that Kryuchkov will refuse to fly with you. What shall we do?
I said that I had no desire to fly to Foros with Kryuchkov, especially since I was waiting for calls from Genscher, Baker, Brandt and Major, which I had already been informed about by phone. Boris Nikolayevich clearly did not like my reaction. At the end of the conversation, he muttered:
- Well, then send someone.

Ivan Silaev called and, referring to Yeltsin, asked whom to include in the group for the trip to Foros. I named Bakatin and Primakov. Then Rutskoi was also sent there.
I saw the return of Mikhail Sergeevich from Foros on television. A tired smile on his face. In a light jacket. Alas, he made a big mistake right off the bat. At this time, a meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR was going on, where he was expected. It was necessary to go there immediately, in the form in which he arrived. I am sure he would have been greeted with all the honors that are due to the President of the USSR, and even hostage of the conspirators. But Mikhail Sergeevich arrived at the meeting a day later, the mood had already developed not in his favor. It was a pitiful sight. Yeltsin is the owner, he "walked" as he wanted. Gorbachev is confused. Some pointless argument ensued. Yeltsin demonstratively behaved like a winner, which did not evoke clear approval from the audience. If ... If not for the speech of Gorbachev himself. He made a speech that he could have given before the mutiny. Nothing specific, streamlined phrases, no assessments, no emotions. I don't know who helped him in preparing this speech, perhaps he himself composed it, but it was sluggish and chaotic. And people expected tough assessments, political will in intentions and gratitude for the courage shown by the defenders of democracy.

Not a single phrase about their own mistakes, even personnel mistakes, and self-criticism in the current conditions would be very appropriate. He had not yet realized that in the days of August 1991 the monolithic union of the party and the state had collapsed, many ideological hallucinations had evaporated. He could not grasp that he had already arrived in another country, where events of a truly historic scale had taken place. I was particularly struck by his attempt to defend the party, the top of which turned out to be the organizer of the rebellion.
When he was about to leave the stage, he was asked from the audience how he was going to build relations with Shevardnadze and Yakovlev. He replied that with Yakovlev, a pound of salt had been eaten together, and therefore the door was open. Wow! At first he parted without regret (despite the offense, I was noisy at all the rallies, demanding Gorbachev's return to Moscow), and now, you see, the door is open ... After all, we ate a pood of salt together.

I nevertheless returned to him, but it happened later, at the funeral of three guys who died under the tank of the invaders. He asked me to go to the Kremlin. I did not want to leave him in the difficult moments of the collapse of many of his and my hopes. The day before the unpleasant skirmish between Gorbachev and Yeltsin, I also asked to speak at a meeting of the Supreme Soviet. Ruslan Khasbulatov gave it immediately. I went to the rostrum and said: the main trouble is that Gorbachev has surrounded himself with political punks. God grant that Yeltsin does not repeat this mistake. And he left the podium. My speech lasted less than a minute. The applause was loud. This phrase went around all the newspapers, was broadcast on television. I know that the largest newspapers in the world mentioned it. And in fact, Mikhail Sergeevich himself signed a verdict for himself by hiring Yanaev, Pavlov, Yazov, Baklanov, Shenin, Kryuchkov and other people for whom a career was above the country's interests.

It's a strange time. Yeltsin went somewhere, supposedly to rest, or perhaps in a specific way to overcome the euphoria of the unexpectedly collapsed power. Meanwhile, the Communist Party, banned by Yeltsin, filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court. Boris Nikolayevich took this fact rather lightly, not yet realizing that the entire nomenklatura, or almost all, remained in power. And she was no less opposed to Yeltsin than against Gorbachev. The results of the Constitutional Court are known. I also acted as a witness there. I will not go into detail. I will only note that the decision of the Constitutional Court demonstrated the victory of the Bolsheviks and served to renew their destructive activities. The Communist Party has retained its basic structures. And it is still the leading force of the Russian split, standing across the reforms.

I repeat, the first months after the suppression of the revolt passed sluggishly. Participants in the events at the White House asked each other what Yeltsin was doing there. We must secure the victory. We need a platform for action in new conditions. But some said that Boris Nikolayevich started drinking, others that he was forming a government team. Everything was much simpler. Yeltsin and all those who surrounded him at that moment simply did not know what to do next. They were not prepared for this turn of events. As his associates told me, the Yeltsinists were preparing to take power on the basis of free elections in a year and a half. And then she fell like an ice floe from the roof, but right on her head. Not only strategic, but also short term plans... Although the situation for the first three or four months was such that Yeltsin would have had the strength to carry out deep reforms, he lacked political will and understanding of the situation. And the godfather went to no one knows where.

A period of political turbulence, political improvisation has begun. The Belavezha Accords burst out. At the congress of the Democratic Reform Movement in early December 1991, I publicly criticized the Belovezhskaya Accords as illegitimate and hasty. The Soviet Union was not viable in the form in which it existed, but it is so easy to handle it - to gather somewhere in the forest and dissolve - an extremely irresponsible step. But Yeltsin and his team needed immediate success. Here is the time to return once again to the issue related to accusations against Gorbachev in the collapse of the Union. This is deliberate nonsense. To begin with, it was precisely the orthodox wing in the CPSU that insisted on the formation of a special unit of the CPSU - the Russian Communist Party, which was the first signal for the collapse of the USSR. I openly opposed this. Gorbachev also had doubts.

Further - the declaration of Russia's independence. From whom? Until now, no one can figure it out. By the way, the decisive word in this decision was played by the communist faction, which had a majority in the Supreme Soviet of Russia. The 1991 military Bolshevik putsch finally finished off the Union. And the Belovezhskaya agreement put an end to this tragic process, they fixed the already existing state of affairs. This is how the communist elite gradually destroyed the Union. "