August 1991 coup: causes, consequences. Coup d'etat in Russia (1991). Conspirators and their demands

The August putsch was 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) on August 19, 1991.

On August 17, a meeting of future members of the State Emergency Committee took place at the ABC facility, a closed guest residence of the KGB. It was decided to introduce a state of emergency from August 19, form the State Emergency Committee, demand Gorbachev to sign the relevant decrees or resign and transfer powers to Vice President Gennady Yanaev, Yeltsin to be detained at the Chkalovsky airfield upon arrival from Kazakhstan for a conversation with Defense Minister Yazov, further action depending on the results of the negotiations.

On August 18, representatives of the committee flew to Crimea to negotiate with Gorbachev, who was on vacation in Foros, to secure his consent to declare a state of emergency. Gorbachev refused to give them his consent.

At 16.32 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.

At 04.00, the Sevastopol regiment of the USSR KGB troops blocked the presidential dacha in Foros.

From 06.00 All-Union Radio begins to broadcast messages about the introduction of a state of emergency in some regions of the USSR, a decree of the Vice-President of the USSR Yanaev on his assumption of duties as President of the USSR in connection with Gorbachev’s ill health, a statement by the Soviet leadership on the creation of the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR, an appeal from the State Emergency Committee to the Soviet people.

22:00. Yeltsin signed a decree on the annulment of all decisions of the State Emergency Committee and on a number of reshuffles in the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.

01:30. The Tu-134 plane with Rutsky, Silaev and Gorbachev landed in Moscow at Vnukovo-2.

Most members of the State Emergency Committee were arrested.

Moscow declared mourning for the victims.

The winners' rally at the White House began at 12.00. In the middle of the day, Yeltsin, Silaev and Khasbulatov spoke at it. During the rally, demonstrators brought out a huge banner of the Russian tricolor; The President of the RSFSR announced that a decision had been made to make the white-azure-red banner the new state flag of Russia.

The new state flag of Russia (tricolor) was installed for the first time at the top of the building of the House of Soviets.

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

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

PREFACE

I will be a direct participant in the events of August 19 - 21, 1991. You can say that I made my small contribution to the suppression of the putsch. Small - because I was able to contribute only what I could.

Trying to describe from memory what actually happened, I ran into contradictions:

On the one hand, it is necessary to describe what happened as objectively as possible, naturally, according to my subjective memory, without comment;

On the other hand, after 20 years, my memory may fail and I have comments.

I didn’t know then how it would all turn out. And I don’t know now how it will end. I assume it will end badly. But that’s separate, later. In a separate story, which I have already written. The story is called: “2037”. But that comes later. Now there will be a confession about the events of 1991. As honestly as I can, from memory. I may be wrong about something. Let smart historians figure it out...

I came to Moscow from my dacha by train. Negotiations with potential partners were ahead. I then worked as the head of a department in a joint Soviet-British-Indian company, which was supported by Azerbaijani money - at that time the war was already going on in Nagorno-Karabakh. I suspect that the office was laundering money for the war. But I didn’t delve into the financial affairs of my office - I was paid a solid salary, and I had a free schedule.

My partner surprised me. He said something like, “You’re crazy. We are having a coup d'état. We are winding down all business. Listen to the radio."

I understood and went home.

At home I turned on the TV and it showed Swan Lake. I realized that something serious was happening, but what exactly? I didn’t have a radio or receiver. The only source of information is television. And there is Swan Lake...

Then I thought very quickly: I need to withdraw money from the savings book and I need to repair the car. I had a Zaporozhets 968, and its left steering knuckle broke a few days ago. I went to the market, but there were no left fists - none at all. Not for any money. There were only right-wingers.

There was a radio station in the savings bank. While I was withdrawing money, I became acquainted with the official program of the State Emergency Committee. It turned out that this was the State Committee for Emergency Situations, created in connection with the serious illness of President Gorbachev. And this committee assumes all executive power. Independently. In normal terms, the impostors carried out a coup d'état.

I didn't like their program. My personal program was formed very quickly - to repair the car, pick up my wife and daughter, and leave Moscow. To my parents, in the Lipetsk region. Perhaps they won’t find it there. I had something to fear.

I was a member of the Democratic Party of Russia. The Chairman of the Party is Travkin, Hero of Socialist Labor, who suddenly, so suddenly, joined the opposition. Later, he was a member of several parties in power, and was the Head of the Administration of the Shakhovsky District of the Moscow Region. His current fate is unknown to me.

And the chairman of the Moscow branch was Kasparov. The same one, the world chess champion and one of today's opposition leaders.

I appeared at several rallies and in the election campaign of 1990, when, as an independent observer, I discovered the stuffing of 300 ballots - in one neat bundle. I raised a scandal and drew up an act. Then I was called to the prosecutor's office, and I gave evidence. But the case did not go to court, especially since those 300 weather bulletins were not made...

I went home and thought again. The plan was simple - money in your pocket, documents too. You need to go to the car market, and then to the center - to understand what is really happening.

At this time the phone rang. I didn’t pick up the phone - I was simply scared. I thought that it was those who were supposed to be looking for me who were looking for me. We are all afraid - I am not the first and I will not be the last...

I got off at Pushkinskaya. Traffic on Gorky Street was blocked. There were tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. The crews were at a loss - they did not understand why and why they were raised on combat alert and driven into the center of Moscow. People walked down to Marx Avenue. There were a lot of people. I followed the flow of people.

This crowd of people could not be called a crowd. These were People who were trying to understand what was really happening. Official information did not explain anything. People wanted to understand...

I went to the White House on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment. Barricades were built around the perimeter from scrap materials. I felt funny - one tank would tear the barricade to pieces. But when I got closer, I stopped laughing - there was a tank company of about 10 tanks along the perimeter of the White House. Cannons around the perimeter - and this is already serious. Considering that I myself am a tanker in my second military specialty, I knew what a tank company could do in defense. In a city that had... ah, nothing but empty bottles that could be filled with gasoline. Although, a bottle of gasoline in the city may be stronger than a tank.

The company was commanded by Major Evdokimov. He violated everything that could be violated - he did not carry out the order and betrayed the Motherland - or rather, the bosses who at that moment personified the Motherland. At his own peril and risk, he drove a tank company to the White House. And he was ready to fight - to the last, because he had nowhere to retreat. And this major turned the tide - then, at noon on August 19. When no one understood anything yet. The rest of the officers thought: “Maybe that major is the smartest? And he understood in time what had to be done...” And the officers took a break - whoever wins, we will swear allegiance to him.

True, they say that the tanks were without ammunition, but this became known only later, when everything was over. No one really knows whether there was actual ammunition, except for the major himself and the tank crews.

The situation with the execution of the Order repeated itself in October 1993, when the President gave the command to the Minister of Defense to send troops to Moscow. And the Minister of Defense thought for half the night. Before giving the order to the Taman division.

The minister can be understood - he also calculated the situation and tried to understand who would take it. And then swear allegiance to the winner.

In my understanding, professional military men never decided the fate of Russia. The fate of Russia was decided by the people's militia. Starting with the Battle of the Ice and the Kulikovo Field, when the main blow of the enemy was taken by the people's militia. Professional warriors were finishing the battle.

Events 1917 - 1920. White. Career officers who fought for the faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland, according to the oath. The result is known without comment.

Next: 1941 - 1945. The cadre of the Red Army ended in the third month of the war. Half dead, the rest prisoners. Then volunteers, untrained conscripts and partisans went to fight. The result is known.

Summary. In all defensive and civil Russian wars, professional military men were powerless. Civilians always won when they took up arms. And, they took up arms only when they had nothing left to lose.

This would have been the case in 1991 if the meat grinder had begun...

President Yeltsin appeared. He climbed onto the tank and read out the Decrees. The essence was simple - the State Emergency Committee is outlawed, and everyone who supports it is state criminals. Assistants distributed leaflets with decrees. I took several sheets. The situation became clear. But I had to solve my problems - calm the women at the dacha and fix the car.

I stopped by my office. The Assistant General was on duty. I asked him to make copies of President Yeltsin's decrees. And I received the answer: “The photocopier is not working.” I understood everything: he is waiting too. Whose will he take? And then, he will express his respect to the Winner. People are weak... But not all of them.

I arrived at the dacha and calmed down my women. He gave Yeltsin's Decrees and warned them not to believe official propaganda. At this time, the latest official news was shown on TV. I learned that the State Emergency Committee was supported by a number of labor collectives of workers and collective farmers, secretaries of CPSU committees and heads of executive power in many regions, and even the leader of the recently created Liberal Democratic Party, Zhirinovsky. As well as several states friendly to the USSR: Iraq, Libya, Sudan and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Next, a press conference of PPCC members with specially selected and especially trusted journalists was shown. Yanaev's hands were trembling - he either finally realized what he had gotten himself into, or had drunk too much. But there was no turning back, the point of no return had been passed. And here I realized, I realized for myself that the State Emergency Committee had already lost.

They could not win for three reasons:

- they did not have the courage to raise troops to slaughter civilians;

- the military were not ready to kill civilians;

- civilians did not want to go to slaughter as a crowd of sheep.

I'm trying to understand the thinking of the members of the State Emergency Committee. I am ready to admit that they were idealists. Like the Decembrists on Senate Square. Nothing personal - just the preservation of the USSR and socialism of the August 1991 model. When everything was already sold using coupons - from vodka, cigarettes and ending with washing powder. A ruble on the black market was worth 7 American cents. And the population had a lot of rubles - over the previous few years of perestroika, the country was stuffed with paper rubles that were not backed by anything. Then a joke appeared: “The hostess asks the guests: “Have you washed your hands with soap?” If yes, then the tea will be without sugar.” And they tried to drag this socialism into the 21st century! So they are not idealists, but idiots... The funny thing is that the effect was exactly the opposite - after the putsch, the USSR collapsed in three months. The effect turned out to be the opposite - this is another illustration of the situation when idiots strive for power...

I hugged my wife and said that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow I would come by car and pick them all up. I no longer doubted the failure of the coup, but I could not know the timing and consequences. No one knew this then. It would be best to go somewhere...

I met a guy in the subway from an advertisement, and he sold me a left steering knuckle. Homemade. At first I doubted it, but the man assured me that the fist would do. I believed it.

The fucking economy of the era of the decline of developed socialism! They produced more steel than anyone else in the world, there were more tanks than in the rest of the world. But there were no spare parts for cars. They were made handicraft during working hours. In factories. And then they took it out, secretly. Whoever can.

I returned home and went to bed. Enough for one day...

I started repairing the car.

The renovation has been completed. I made a test drive, stopped at a gas station and filled up a full tank, plus two cans. The autonomy is enough for 700 kilometers.

I was preparing lunch and dinner when the phone rang. I picked up the phone. My neighbor, a fellow member of the Democratic Party, called. He told me that, according to a report from Ekho Moskvy radio, the only independent Moscow radio station that continued broadcasting, an assault on the White House was being prepared tonight. And a curfew is announced - from 22 o'clock. I asked if I would go with him? And he offered to take someone else with him.

I understood everything immediately. We have to go, because we have to crush these bastards who think they are... I don’t know who they think they are, but I didn’t want to live in the same country with them. Although, I agreed on one condition - They will be behind bars.

They were all behind bars the next day. But, after a year and a half, the State Duma granted amnesty to everyone - it had the right according to the Constitution. At the same time, an incident arose - one of the amnestied did not agree to sign the amnesty. By signing the amnesty, he admitted his guilt, and he wanted a fair trial. As a result, he was forced out of the pre-trial detention center... And he still demanded a trial over himself. Idealist. Or - moron - it all depends on the point of view.

Then some of those amnestied tried to go into big politics, others wrote memoirs on the topic: “My attempts to preserve the USSR.” And someone just disappeared. But that was later... Just like numerous discussions, such as: “Was the putsch an attempt to preserve the Union, or was it a catalyst for its collapse?” And smart people, foaming at the mouth, argued with inspiration... They argue to this day, confirming the old truth - history teaches only that it teaches nothing. (And one more thing - when fools argue, truth is not born, but dies).

We met at the bus stop. There were three of us - me, my neighbor, and a party comrade. The one who called me. The train heading towards the Barrikadnaya station was filled with people. Almost everyone went to Barrikadnaya.

The exit from the Barrikadnaya metro station was crowded. And the entire flow of people was heading in one direction - towards the White House. We joined the stream. I also thought: “An interesting coincidence - the Barrikadnaya station... Everyone didn’t care about the curfew - and there was no force that could stop this crowd of people.

If only with automatic machine-gun bursts to kill. This could be done with one motorized rifle platoon on several infantry fighting vehicles. But... but, then, there was no platoon ready to kill... then, in 1991. After 1993, this became possible.

We're at the White House. The barricades expanded, but this was a purely moral means of defense. But the tank company stood with guns around the perimeter. Three cordon rings were organized - in the first, near the White House, there were people with machine guns. In the second and third there were civilians. Unarmed, destined for slaughter if slaughter takes place. We joined the third cordon ring. There was no organization - people organized themselves. Based on the principle of horizontal connections. A man approached us and offered to dip our handkerchiefs in a nearby puddle in case of a gas attack. Our only weapons were wet handkerchiefs.

Now I remember all this with humor. But then, I was scared.

A woman came up to us with an umbrella and a bag. She asked: “Can I be with you?.. My husband is on a business trip, I’m alone and I’m scared. But I couldn’t not come. I have sandwiches and coffee in a thermos. Can I be with you? We accepted her. There were four of us. She held an umbrella, trying to cover us all. It turned out badly - one umbrella was not enough for four. That night the heavens opened up and the rain poured incessantly.

Rumors floated around, at times confirmed or refuted by loud broadcasts from the White House. There was information that armored vehicles up to a battalion approached to defend and stood on the nearby approaches, creating an outer ring of defense. Officers and cadets of the Ryazan and Oryol police schools are approaching. The Tula Airborne Division under the command of General Lebed went over to Yeltsin’s side and stood guard...

Some things were later confirmed, some were not. The Ryazan and Oryol police schools approached in the morning. Then they took part in the arrest of the putschists. The Tula Airborne Division was there, as President Yeltsin officially announced the next day, expressing gratitude to General Lebed. I don’t know how many crews of the Taman and Kantemirovskaya divisions actually went over to the side of the defenders. Probably no one knows about this now.

Cars with second-rate politicians drove up to the White House. We greeted them with applause. Some wanted to join sincerely, but others switched over in time - we didn’t care then. The most important thing is that people drove up and approached. There were already about fifty thousand of us.

It was a situation where randomly gathered people became like brothers and sisters in Christ. Although, I am an atheist and do not belong to any religious denomination. But then there was a brotherhood of people united by one idea - to prevent these bastards. There were many of us, and we considered ourselves a force. Being completely unarmed. But they flattered themselves with hope that the professionals were standing guard. Although we did not know how many professionals there were and what they had at their disposal.

Purely technically, it was possible to capture the White House in one hour without the use of special forces. (It later turned out that the special forces soldiers refused to participate in the assault, as did the chemical troops unit. This was stated later, when it was all over). But even without special forces and without the use of chemical agents, everything could be solved very quickly - with the help of two tank battalions.

Plus motorized infantry for cover. True, the first tank battalion would, theoretically, be intended for slaughter - with the help of tanks standing guard. Almost entirely - military statistics are inexorable: one tank beats 3 attackers in defense. Then he dies himself. So, the first battalion would be mortal. (Provided that the defenders had full ammunition - and no one knew this. How, no one really knew how many tanks defended the White House). And the second battalion would have completed the job - it would have shot the remains of the tanks that had run out of ammunition. And, further, with machine guns on civilians, and tracks on corpses. But this was not the case. Why? WHY? After all, everything could be done.

My answer options:

- KGChP did not have enough intelligence. But, after all, there was the Minister of Defense Yazov, who went through the Great Patriotic War, and he, simply, alone, without assistants, could calculate the situation, make a decision, and give a combat order. Considering that tanks and motorized rifles were already in the city. But there was no order, or they refused to carry it out. There was no tank battalion of suicide bombers. And what happened was what happened...

- the military had the conscience not to carry out the Order.

Machine gun fire started at the Garden Ring. Tracers flew overhead. We didn't know what was happening there. But they had a presentiment that it would begin now... The broadcast said: prepare for the assault. Living chains closed in, holding hands. We waited. Anything could have happened - a gas attack, special forces, tanks...

Nothing has started. They told us over the broadcast: wait and remain vigilant. Possible gas attack, special forces and snipers on the roofs. Although, what can snipers do against fifty thousand? There won't be enough cartridges. Either gas or cannons and machine guns can resolve the situation. But there were no armored vehicles. Gaza too.

We were a human shield, or rather, cannon fodder, intended for minced meat if the meat grinder began. We fulfilled our function.

The broadcast announced that the threat had passed. They expressed gratitude and said that we could leave and rest. Others will replace us. We left. The Moor did his job...

We approached the intersection with the Garden Ring and learned the most important thing, what happened that night.

The Garden Ring was blocked by barricades of trolleybuses and trucks on both sides at the intersection of the Garden Ring and the beginning of Kutuzovsky Prospekt. There was a tunnel at the intersection. When the infantry fighting vehicles came out of this tunnel, they fell into a trap. At the exit from the tunnel, several men who had passed through Afghanistan came up. And they knew how to fight and what to fight for, unlike the conscripts - the boys sitting in the cars.

A bottle of gasoline on the stern and, at the same time, rags on the front. The driver saw nothing and stopped the car. And the car started to burn. And the crew opened the hatches and surrendered to the mercy of the victors. They weren't even beaten - they were pitied. Young boys who got into trouble not of their own free will. And they didn’t understand for whom they weren’t even fighting, but instead offering their bodies as cannon fodder. Don’t understand why... And in whose specific interests. It was just cannon fodder, intended for slaughter... whoever had to. Or for slaughter - that’s how it turns out.

Then this was repeated many times - in 1993, in two Chechen wars, which grew into an undeclared global Caucasian war, which lasted more than 10 years. And the end of which is not in sight. Boys destined for slaughter. For the sake of interests... Whose interests, exactly, they did not know. We don't know either. But you can guess.

They were taught this way from school: “Think about your Motherland first. And then about yourself...” And what did they imagine under the concept of “Motherland?” And what is the Motherland for them? Instructions from higher-ups, starting from the sergeant... They knew nothing about it. And therefore, they handed over the cars to civilians one after another. Without a fight, they had nothing to fight for.

New crews boarded the captured infantry fighting vehicles, raised the Tricolor, and drove, honking, to the White House. The cars were greeted with raised hands.

But one car began to resist, most likely due to the stupidity of the driver, who did not understand anything. He began, blindly, to maneuver back and forth and diagonally. And he killed three civilians. To death. The car was stormed and the crew was beaten. But not to death. Then they raised the Tricolor and drove her to the White House. And there were three corpses left on the road. Civilian. These were the only casualties that night.

But there were machine gun fires. Tracers were flying overhead - we saw this while standing near the White House. And there were still casualties. I found out about this later.

According to official reports from the new government, there were three dead civilians - Komar, Krichevsky, Usov. These were the same men who tried to stop the BMP at the exit from the tunnel. There were also several civilian wounded, including gunshot wounds. And several wounded military men - without gunshots.

There were four of us going. Three men and a woman who joined us. The coffee was drunk, the sandwiches were eaten, the umbrella was put away because the rain had stopped. We felt brotherly and sisterly love for each other. At least I...

And, I felt happy - I had never felt so happy in my life. It was a complete victory over those... over those who before that felt like the master of everything, EVERYTHING that was happening around. THEY lost. We won! It was the moment of truth...

Sobering came later. We didn't win then. We screwed everything up then. In the euphoria of victory... But sobering up will come too late.

And then, in the morning, we walked happy. We parted ways with the woman on the subway and went to my home.

I took out a bottle of port from my stash and we drank it. With one toast: “Here’s to the return!” We have returned. And these bastards are finished.

Considering that in those days wine was sold using coupons, you can understand my sacrificial act of drinking the last bottle of wine. For Our Victory!

The men went home. I turned on the TV and listened to the official news. Summary: There were riots in Moscow at night during the curfew. There are dead. I swore at the TV presenter, but he couldn’t hear it. To his great regret...

Then the one who defected in time... and swore allegiance to the Winner was right. Those who didn't have time lost. Unfortunately for him, because the one who made it in time became a Hero. The one who did not have time - he became a traitor. Personal valor did not matter. Political flexibility mattered. More precisely, the complete absence of ideology - except for the ideology of personal well-being.

Not everyone was able to figure out the Winner in advance. But, then, some Heroes turned out to be very quickly forgotten (like the commander of a tank company that defended the White House. Few people remember his names. Like the names of those three men who died foolishly). Others quickly turned into traitors and traitors. And the former traitors became allies... and began to claim the status of Heroes.

This is the policy, gentlemen...

There was no new official information on TV. Everyone was waiting to see how it would end. But, after all, I already knew how it all ended. It's already over. And, I called my previous job - the Ministry of Non-ferrous Metallurgy. To your native (once) department. The deputy answered. Chief. I asked him what he was doing? And I heard in response:

The Minister's order has been received. It is urgent to call all our factories and verbally convey to the directors so that they comply with all Decrees of the State Emergency Committee! We are calling the entire department.

Our insanity is unbending. And the ass is stronger than the head - exactly when the head should think, and not the ass, which is responsible only for the place where it sits.

I modestly said, like, honey, stop calling. Otherwise, you may end up as a state criminal for aiding the putschists. They have already been arrested. They'll come for you soon! I bluffed a little, but the effect exceeded all my expectations. My interlocutor said dryly: “Thanks for the information. Accepted” and hung up. Apparently, he finally began to think.

My wife came in, scared. She hugged and kissed. I briefly told her about the events of the night, to which I received an unexpected answer:

A putsch is a putsch, but we have no sugar. They brought it to the store, I already got in line. Come back in half an hour. - I nodded my head.

PROSE OF LIFE. A putsch is a putsch, but I want to eat regularly. And then there were big shortages of sugar.

I approached the store. My wife was standing in the middle of the line, and the line was outside, in front of the store - everyone wanted sugar. The line was talking quietly. But one elderly man spoke loudly, apparently deliberately trying to stir up the crowd. He said: “It’s high time to put things in order! The Emergency Committee still lacks Stalin! We disbanded with this perestroika!” And so on, in the same spirit. Some agreed with him and expressed their approval.

And then I couldn’t stand it and said loudly to the whole line: “Citizen! Show your documents! You are a supporter of state criminals! Members of the State Emergency Committee have already been arrested! Your turn is next."

I myself did not expect a reaction to my joke - the man jumped out of the line and ran at a trot into the courtyards. Those who had just supported him ran after him. The line shortened a little and suddenly fell silent. My wife nudged me, smiled, and whispered in my ear:

“You’re good at cutting the line. Try something else! Maybe they’ll run away completely.” But the line stood courageously, despite all the troubles of internal politics.

PEOPLE NEEDED SUGAR! AND THEY DID NOT CARE ABOUT POLITICIANS. Whoever gives sugar at the old price, and, preferably, without restrictions on the volume of purchase, will become the most, most... beloved and respected.

There were 80 percent of these. But there was another 5 percent who made up the critical mass, which gave what it gave.

My joke turned out to be prophetic, but I was finally convinced of this in the evening, a little later.

Ah, people... They haven't changed at all over the past 20 years - they will support anyone for cheap sugar. If only there was sugar... Today, 70 percent of these people are the electorate of United Russia. This is according to the Central Election Commission. According to other versions - about 50%. But this is still too much.

(I cannot call “United Russia” a party - it does not fit the definition of a party. It is simply composed and supported by people who want cheap sugar. Moreover, if it is possible only for themselves. And, preferably, for free).

I turned on the TV. And my favorite program with three horses appeared on the screen - “Time”. Then I believed her.

Today the “time” program has dropped below the lower level. I can only comment on its products using obscenities... And they soon abandoned the three horses - and they did the right thing. At least they acted honestly in this - because that “Time” and today’s “time” are fundamentally different.

Then “Time” provided the information that people were waiting for. And not the one that was sent down from above to the Editor-in-Chief.

(So ​​that the editors-in-chief of the Vremya program, of whom there have been many changes over 20 years, do not have the opportunity to sue me for libel, I am ready to admit that they acted and are acting according to their own judgment. I admit it. But this, Gentlemen, is even worse ! It’s one thing when you distort information under threat of execution, and quite another when FOR CHEAP SUGAR.)

And then, according to the still honest Vremya program, I learned all the details - and how the putschists flew away to Gorbachev, apparently trying to find a way of honorable surrender, and how Gorbachev sent them... apparently, obscenely, and how Colonel Rutskoi (who became a few years later days as a general) flew out with a special forces detachment after him, arrested the rebels, freed Gorbachev and transported everyone to Moscow on separate planes - Gorbachev and his family with honor, but the rebels with no honor, with subsequent transfer to comfortable cells. But this goes beyond the scope of my essay, because it has already become part of history.

I do not set out to retell the story - I set out to add personal observations and personal comments to an already known story.

Those that are not included in official history.

Although, the official history of the events of August 1991 still does not exist - and where would it come from... Everyone grinds for themselves. Depending on the political situation at the moment, any well-fed historian will write any history...

Although, there are a number of questions that have not yet been addressed:

- given that Vice President Yanaev, who took over the functions of Acting President, was chronically drunk all the days of the putsch, he could not have any real influence on the events;

- given that Prime Minister Pavlov fell sharply ill on the very first day of the putsch (fell into a hypertensive crisis), he also could not have any influence on the events;

- considering that the Minister of Defense Yazov from the first days of his arrest began to openly repent and call himself an “old fool”, he also did not influence the events;

- Interior Minister Pugo committed suicide.

The question arises: who was in charge? Who was the eminence grise? Who, in general, needed this idiotic putsch?

Alas, I don't know the answer. He who knows is silent. If anyone else knows anything...

The solemn funeral of three men who accidentally died in this quarrel began on Manezhnaya Square. There was the First President, who opened the funeral ceremony, and a huge crimson veil - either a shroud or a banner. I didn't understand it, but I held on to the edge. And there were the words of the First President at the solemn funeral of the first Heroes of the New Russia. The President apologized to a rally of one hundred thousand for the tragic deaths...

Even now I cannot call this crowd of people a crowd - these were comrades who had come to bury their fallen comrades.

The President promised, as the guarantor of the Constitution, that this would never happen again. NEVER!

And then there was October 1993, tanks fired at the White House and buried more than 200 dead. Among them were both opponents of the President and his supporters. Therefore, there were several funeral processions...

And then the First Chechen War began. By decree of the First President, who promised... see above what He promised. The body count went into the thousands and people got used to killing. What was morally impossible for a serviceman in 1991 - to kill his own citizens - became the norm after 1993. Then the local Chechen war grew into the undeclared global Caucasian war. Nobody counted the corpses anymore.

The inability of the Managers to manage resulted in many corpses, absolutely not involved in anything. Just random people...

Or maybe that was the intention of the Managers? The more corpses, the stronger the people's desire to strengthen power. Besides, war is like a mother, it will write off everything. And he feeds well. Someone directly involved in it.

It was a policy of state cynicism. Or it can be called differently - state terrorism. Or the third option is to strengthen the vertical of power. The fourth option is possible - the triumph of sovereign democracy. Or the fifth way is to preserve the territorial integrity of the State. And so on... - can be classified ad infinitum. Depending on the political situation at the moment.

And how many were fed on this! Hiding behind... What did they not hide behind? In fact, they covered themselves with corpses, the exact number of which no one knew.

But then I didn’t even think about anything like that...

I walked in the general funeral procession, holding the edge of the funeral veil.

Now I know how it turned out, but I don’t yet know how it will end. And more and more often a petty thought appears: “Was it worth getting involved then, in 1991? For me and everyone else? After all, we came to the same place we started from. Only the elites have changed - those who were nobody have become everything... But what does it matter to me: - I and everyone I know, who we were, remain so.”

The funny thing is that now I am beginning to sympathize with the communists, albeit without Lenin and Stalin.

The idea, of course, is vile and stupid: - after all, we got something. We received a memory of unprecedented freedom and brotherhood that is possible between people. When they have a reason... Everything is determined by the Idea.

AFTERWORD

It was a memory of the past - 1991.

I hope that someday this will become a reminder of the future - in 20... I can’t predict which year.

P.S. In 1995, I had working negotiations with a Siberian partner. Having finished the official part, after the fourth glass, we moved on to the informal part, and the conversation accidentally touched upon the events of August 1991. And my interlocutor suddenly admitted that he had always disliked Muscovites... we know why. But after August 1991, I began to respect him. “The Muscovites then decided the outcome of the putsch,” that’s roughly what he said. To which I modestly replied: “I was one of them.”

The events that took place from August to December 1991 in the USSR can safely be called the most important in the entire post-war world history. It was not for nothing that Russian President Vladimir Putin described the collapse of the Soviet Union as the largest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. And its course was determined to a certain extent by the coup attempt carried out by the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP). 25 years have passed, new generations of Russian citizens have grown up, for whom these events are purely history, and those who lived in those years have probably forgotten a lot. However, the very fact of the destruction of the USSR and the timid attempt to save it still causes lively debate.

The weakening of the USSR: objective and artificial reasons

Centrifugal tendencies in the USSR began to be clearly visible already in the late 80s. Today we can confidently say that they were the consequences of not only internal crisis phenomena. Immediately after the end of World War II, the entire Western world, and primarily the United States of America, set a course for the destruction of the Soviet Union. This was enshrined in a number of directives, circulars and doctrines. Every year, fabulous funds were allocated for these purposes. Since 1985 alone, about $90 billion has been spent on the collapse of the USSR.

In the 1980s, the US authorities and intelligence services were able to form a fairly powerful agency of influence in the Soviet Union, which, although it did not seem to occupy key positions in the country, was capable of having a serious impact on the course of events at the national level. According to numerous evidence, the leadership of the KGB of the USSR repeatedly reported on what was happening to the Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev, as well as the US plans to destroy the USSR, take control of its territory and reduce the population to 150-160 million people. However, Gorbachev did not take any actions aimed at blocking the activities of Western supporters and actively opposing Washington.

The Soviet elites were divided into two camps: conservatives, who proposed returning the country to traditional ways, and reformers, whose informal leader was Boris Yeltsin, demanding democratic reforms and greater freedom for the republics.

March 17, 1991 An all-Union referendum on the fate of the Soviet Union took place, in which 79.5% of citizens who had the right to vote took part. Almost 76.5% of them were in favor of preserving the USSR , but with a cunning wording - how "a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics."

On August 20, 1991, the old Union Treaty was supposed to be canceled and a new one was signed, giving rise to a virtually renewed state - the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics (or Union of Sovereign States), of which he planned to become Prime Minister Nursultan Nazarbaev.

It was, in fact, the members of the State Committee for the State of Emergency who opposed these reforms and for preserving the USSR in its traditional form.

According to information actively disseminated by Western and Russian liberal media, KGB officers allegedly overheard a confidential conversation about the creation of the JIT between Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Nazarbayev and decided to act. According to the Western version, they blocked Gorbachev, who did not want to introduce a state of emergency, in Foros (and even planned his physical liquidation), declared a state of emergency, brought army and KGB forces to the streets of Moscow, wanted to storm the White House, capture or kill Yeltsin and destroy democracy. Arrest warrants were printed en masse in printing houses, and handcuffs were produced in huge quantities in factories.

But this theory has not been objectively confirmed by anything. What really happened?

State Emergency Committee. Chronology of main events

August 17 Some of the heads of law enforcement agencies and executive authorities held a meeting at one of the secret facilities of the USSR KGB in Moscow, during which they discussed the situation in the country.

August 18 Some future members and sympathizers of the State Emergency Committee flew to Crimea to see Gorbachev, who was ill there, to convince him to introduce a state of emergency. According to the version popular in Western and liberal media, Gorbachev refused. However, evidence from participants in the events clearly indicates that Gorbachev, although he did not want to take responsibility for making a difficult decision, gave the go-ahead to the people who came to him to act at their own discretion, after which he shook their hands.

In the afternoon, according to the well-known version, communications were cut off at the presidential dacha. However, there is information that journalists managed to call there using a regular phone. There is also evidence that government special communications were working at the dacha all the time.

On the evening of August 18, documents on the creation of the State Emergency Committee are being prepared. And at 01:00 on August 19, the Vice-President of the USSR Yanaev signed them, including himself, Pavlov, Kryuchkov, Yazov, Pugo, Baklanov, Tizyakov and Starodubtsev in the committee, after which the State Emergency Committee decided to introduce a state of emergency in certain areas of the Union.

On the morning of August 19th The media announced Gorbachev’s inability to perform duties due to health reasons, the transfer of power to Gennady Yanaev and the creation of the State Emergency Committee for the entire country. In turn, the head of the RSFSR Yeltsin signed a decree “On the illegality of the actions of the State Emergency Committee” and began mobilizing his supporters, including through the radio station “Echo of Moscow”.

In the morning, units of the army, the KGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs are moving to Moscow, taking a number of important objects under protection. And at lunchtime, crowds of Yeltsin’s supporters begin to gather in the center of the capital. The head of the RSFSR publicly demands to “repel the putschists.” Opponents of the State Emergency Committee begin to build barricades, and a state of emergency is introduced in Moscow.

August 20 A large rally is taking place near the White House. Yeltsin personally addresses its participants. Participants in mass actions are beginning to be frightened by rumors of an impending assault.

Later, Western media would tell heartbreaking stories about how the putschists were going to throw tanks and special forces at the “defenders of democracy,” and the special forces commanders refused to carry out such orders.

Objectively, there is no data on the preparation of the assault. The special forces officers would later deny both the existence of orders to attack the White House and their refusal to carry them out.

In the evening Yeltsin appoints himself and... O. Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on the territory of the RSFSR, and Konstantin Kobets- Minister of Defense. Kobets orders the troops to return to their places of permanent deployment.

In the evening and at night from August 20 to 21 In the capital, there is a movement of troops, local clashes occur between protesters and the military, and three participants in mass actions die.

The command of the internal troops refuses to move units to the center of Moscow. Armed cadets from educational institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrive to protect the White House.

As morning approaches, the troops begin to leave the city. In the evening, Gorbachev already refuses to accept the State Emergency Committee delegation, and Yanaev officially dissolves it. Prosecutor General Stepankov signs a decree on the arrest of committee members.

August 22 Gorbachev returns to Moscow, interrogations of members of the State Emergency Committee begin, and they are relieved of their positions.

August 23“Defenders of Democracy” demolish the monument Dzerzhinsky(reminds me of nothing?), the activities of the Communist Party are prohibited in Russia.

website

On August 24, Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary of the CPSU and proposed that the Central Committee dissolve itself. The process of the collapse of the USSR became irreversible, ending with the well-known events of December 1991.

Life after the USSR. Assessment of the events of 1991

Judging by the results of referendums and elections that took place at the end of 1991 in various parts of the USSR, the majority of the population of the Union then actually supported its collapse.

There is no time on the territory Wars and ethnic cleansing began to break out one after another as a unified state, the economies of most republics collapsed, crime increased catastrophically and the population began to decline rapidly. The “dashing 90s” burst into people’s lives like a whirlwind.

The fate of the republics developed differently. In Russia, the era of the aforementioned “dashing 90s” ended with the coming to power Vladimir Putin, and in Belarus - Alexandra Lukashenko. In Ukraine, the drift towards traditional ties began at the start of the 2000s, but it was interrupted by the Orange Revolution. Georgia moved away from the common Soviet history in fits and starts. Kazakhstan emerged from the crisis relatively smoothly and rushed towards Eurasian integration.

Objectively, nowhere in the post-Soviet territory does the population have social guarantees at the level of the USSR. In most of the former Soviet republics, the standard of living did not approach the Soviet one.

Even in Russia, where household incomes have increased significantly, social security problems call into question the thesis of an increase in the standard of living compared to what it was before 1991.

Not to mention the fact that a huge superpower, which shared first place in the world in military, political and economic power only with the United States, of which the Russian people were proud for many years, ceased to exist on the world map.

It is indicative how Russians assess the events of 1991 today, 25 years later. The data from a study conducted by the Levada Center to some extent sums up the numerous disputes about the State Emergency Committee and the actions of Yeltsin’s team.

Thus, only 16% of Russian residents said that they would come out to “defend democracy” - that is, they would support Yeltsin and defend the White House - if they were the participants in the events of 1991! 44% answered categorically that they would not defend the new government. 41% of respondents are not ready to answer this question.

Today, only 8% of Russian residents call the events of August 1991 a victory of the democratic revolution. 30% characterize what happened as a tragic event that had disastrous consequences for the country and people, 35% - simply as an episode in the struggle for power, 27% found it difficult to answer.

Speaking about the possible consequences after the victory of the State Emergency Committee, 16% of respondents said that with this development of events Russia would live better today, 19% - that it would live worse, 23% - that it would live the same way as it lives today. 43% could not decide on an answer.

15% of Russians believe that in August 1991 the representatives of the State Emergency Committee were right, 13% - that Yeltsin’s supporters. 39% claim that they did not have time to understand the situation, and 33% do not know what to answer.

40% of respondents said that after the events of August 1991 the country went in the wrong direction, 33% said that it was in the right direction. 28% found it difficult to answer.

It turns out that approximately one third to half of Russians are not sufficiently informed about the events of August 1991 and cannot unambiguously assess them. Among the remaining part of the population, those who evaluate the “August revolution” and the activities of the “defenders of democracy” negatively predominate moderately. The overwhelming majority of Russian residents would not take any action to counter the State Emergency Committee. In general, few people today are happy about the defeat of the committee.

So what really happened in those days and how to evaluate these events?

State Emergency Committee - an attempt to save the country, an anti-democratic putsch or a provocation?

The day before it became known that the CIA predicted the emergence of the State Emergency Committee back in April 1991! An unknown speaker from Moscow informed the leadership of the intelligence service that “supporters of tough measures”, traditionalists, are ready to remove Gorbachev from power and reverse the situation. At the same time, Langley believed that it would be difficult for Soviet conservatives to retain power. A Moscow source listed all the leaders of the future State Emergency Committee and predicted that Gorbachev, in the event of a potential revolt, would try to maintain control over the country.

It is clear that there is not a word about the US response in the information document. But of course they had to be. When the State Emergency Committee arose, the US leadership harshly condemned it and did everything to achieve similar actions from other Western countries. The position of the heads of the USA, Great Britain and other Western states was voiced by journalists directly in the Vesti program, which, in turn, could not but influence the consciousness of doubting Soviet citizens.

In the whole story with the State Emergency Committee, there are a number of oddities.

Firstly, The leaders of the powerful security forces of the USSR, undisputed intellectuals and excellent organizers of the old school, for some reason acted spontaneously, uncertainly and even somehow confused. They were never able to decide on a tactic of action. Yanaev’s shaking hands while speaking on camera went down in history.

From which it is logical to assume that the creation of the State Emergency Committee was a completely unprepared step.

Secondly, Yeltsin’s team, which was by no means composed of such experienced and powerful people as their opponents, worked like clockwork. Warning schemes, transport, and communications operated effectively; the defenders of the barricades were well fed and watered; leaflets were printed and distributed in huge quantities; their own media worked.

Everything indicates that Yeltsin was well prepared for such a development of events.

Third, Mikhail Gorbachev, who continued to be the official head of the USSR, fell ill at the right time and left Moscow. Thus, the country was deprived of supreme power, and he himself remained as if he had nothing to do with it.

Fourthly, The President of the USSR did not take any measures to try to stop the leaders of the State Emergency Committee. On the contrary, with his words he gave them complete freedom of action.

Fifthly, Today it is known that back in June 1991, the US authorities discussed the prospect of a putsch in the USSR with Gorbachev and the leadership of the USSR Foreign Ministry. Surely, in two months, the President of the Union, if he wanted, would not have prevented it?

All these strange facts raise questions and doubts about the official interpretation of the victorious side, according to which the State Emergency Committee was an illegal military junta that, without the knowledge of Gorbachev, tried to strangle the sprouts of democracy. Moreover, all of the above suggests the version that Gorbachev and Yeltsin could deliberately provoke their political opponents to take active action at an inconvenient time for them.

On the one hand, the signing of the new Union Treaty was a victory for the reformers. But the victory, to put it mildly, was half-hearted. The traditionalists, who occupied virtually all the key positions in the state, had, if they had been well prepared, all the necessary tools to disrupt the signing of the treaty during the event itself through political means and to launch a political counterattack during the crisis that would inevitably follow the signing itself. In fact, the traditionalists found themselves forced to act without preparation, at an inconvenient time, against opponents who, on the contrary, were well prepared for the fight.

Everything indicates that Gorbachev and Yeltsin could simply have lured the organizers of the State Emergency Committee into a trap, after falling into which they were forced to act according to someone else’s scenario. Everyone who could stop the death of the USSR in 1991 was thrown out of the game overnight.

Some of the members of the State Emergency Committee and people sympathizing with the committee died soon after the coup under mysterious circumstances, committing strange suicides, and the other part was quietly amnestied in 1994, when they no longer posed any threat. The Gakachepists were framed, but when this became clear, it was too late to do anything.

The events of August 1991 fit perfectly into the scheme of color revolutions, with the only difference being that the head of state actually played on the side of the “revolutionaries - defenders of democracy.” Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev could probably tell a lot of interesting things, but he is unlikely to do it. A man whom fate had elevated to the very top of world politics, the head of a superpower, exchanged all this for advertising pizza and bags. And Russian citizens, even 25 years later, understand this perfectly well and evaluate it accordingly.

Those who propose to forget the history of August 1991 as a bad dream are categorically wrong. Then we experienced one of the most tragic events in our history, and it is simply vital to correct mistakes in this regard. The bloody consequences of the collapse of the USSR still have to be dealt with - including in Ukraine: people are now being killed in the Donbass largely due to the fact that the State Emergency Committee was unable to stop the local princelings who wanted to tear apart the state for the sake of personal power.

At the same time, supporters of the other extreme, who deny the right to exist of the Russian Federation because of the tragedy of August 1991, are also wrong. Yes, the USSR was destroyed contrary to the will of the people, expressed in the referendum on March 17, but this is not a reason to deny Russia its current statehood - the guarantee of the sovereign existence of the Russian people. On the contrary, everything must be done to develop the Russian Federation as an internationally recognized successor to the USSR. And the ultimate task is to use it to restore the former greatness of our Fatherland.

In 1991, conservative government officials from among the country's top leadership, dissatisfied with the policy USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency. Their goal was to prevent the collapse of the USSR and return to the previous pre-perestroika course.

The State Emergency Committee included Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov, Minister of Internal Affairs Boris Pugo, KGB head Vladimir Kryuchkov, Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov, First Deputy Chairman of the Defense Council Oleg Baklanov, Chairman of the Peasant Union Vasily Starodubtsev, President of the Association of State Enterprises and Facilities of Industry, Construction, Transport and Communications Alexander Tizyakov.

Although there was no formal chairman of the State Emergency Committee, the leader of the putschists was USSR Vice-President Gennady Yanaev. Since the military leadership participated in the conspiracy, the forces of the KGB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the army were on the side of the State Emergency Committee.

Events of the coup

On the morning of August 19, USSR KGB troops controlled by the State Emergency Committee blocked Gorbachev at his dacha in Crimea. A few hours later, an announcement came out on the radio that he allegedly could no longer fulfill the duties of head of state for health reasons and that the State Emergency Committee would now lead the country.

The State Emergency Committee declared a state of emergency in the country. Tanks were brought into the capital, Muscovites took to the streets. President of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin called the actions of the putschists illegal and, in order to organize resistance to them, arrived at the White House. Barricades were erected on the embankments of the Moscow River on the approaches to the center of resistance.

On the evening of August 19, members of the State Emergency Committee held a press conference at which they behaved uncertainly. Their opponents held a rally on August 20. Meanwhile, some of the military went over to the side of the protesters.

On the night of August 20-21, an operation to seize the White House could have taken place, which could have resulted in casualties, but members of the State Emergency Committee never gave such an order to the troops under their control. Meanwhile, some participants in those events denied the fact that the assault was planned.

At night, troop movements began in the center of Moscow. According to the military, they did not have an order to storm the White House, and they were going to carry out patrols. However, one of the columns of armored vehicles was stopped in the Tchaikovsky Tunnel on the Garden Ring. Defenders of the White House blocked the road with displaced trolleybuses. As a result of a clash with the military, three defenders of the House of Soviets died; they posthumously became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

After the military action did not take place, the withdrawal of troops from Moscow began. Some members of the State Emergency Committee flew to Gorbachev in Foros, but he refused to receive them. At the same time, Yanaev signed a decree dissolving the State Emergency Committee.

On August 22, Gorbachev returned to Moscow. Members of the State Emergency Committee were arrested, although not all of them ended up in the Matrosskaya Tishina prison - Interior Minister Boris Pugo shot himself and his wife just before they came to arrest him. The rest of the putschists served two years in prison, after which in 1994 they were amnestied and released.

Results of the coup

The State Emergency Committee's attempt to remove Gorbachev from power and turn back time was defeated. By that time, the process of collapse of the USSR was already irreversible. In addition, the putschists did not find widespread support among the country's population, and after the putsch, the authority of the CPSU was completely undermined. At the same time, the positions of Boris Yeltsin and his supporters noticeably strengthened.

Just a few months after the August events, at the end of December 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist, and sovereign national states were formed on its territory.

Members of the Emergency Committee declared a state of emergency in the country, and troops were sent to Moscow. The main goal of the putschists was to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union... One of the symbols of the “August putsch” was the ballet “Swan Lake,” which was shown on television channels between news broadcasts.

Lenta.ru

17-21 AUGUST 1991

A meeting of future members of the State Emergency Committee took place at the ABC facility - the closed guest residence of the KGB. It was decided to introduce a state of emergency from August 19, form the State Emergency Committee, demand that Gorbachev sign the relevant decrees or resign and transfer powers to Vice President Gennady Yanaev, Yeltsin was detained at the Chkalovsky airfield upon arrival from Kazakhstan for a conversation with Defense Minister Yazov, further action depending on the results of the negotiations.

Representatives of the committee flew to Crimea to negotiate with Gorbachev, who was on vacation in Foros, to secure his consent to declare a state of emergency. Gorbachev refused to give them his consent.

At 16.32 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.

At 04.00, the Sevastopol regiment of the USSR KGB troops blocked the presidential dacha in Foros.

From 06.00 All-Union Radio begins to broadcast messages about the introduction of a state of emergency in some regions of the USSR, a decree of the Vice-President of the USSR Yanaev on his assumption of duties as President of the USSR in connection with Gorbachev’s ill health, a statement by the Soviet leadership on the creation, an appeal to the State Emergency Committee to the Soviet people.

The State Emergency Committee included Vice-President of the USSR Gennady Yanaev, Prime Minister of the USSR Valentin Pavlov, Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR Boris Pugo, Minister of Defense of the USSR Dmitry Yazov, Chairman of the KGB of the USSR Vladimir Kryuchkov, First Deputy Chairman of the Defense Council of the USSR Oleg Baklanov, Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR Vasily Starodubtsev , President of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial, Construction, Transport and Communications of the USSR Alexander Tizyakov.

At about 7.00, on the orders of Yazov, the second motorized rifle Taman division and the fourth tank Kantemirovskaya division began moving towards Moscow. Marching on military equipment, the 51st, 137th and 331st parachute regiments also began moving towards the capital.

09.00. A rally in support of democracy and Yeltsin began at the monument to Yuri Dolgoruky in Moscow.

09.40. Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his associates arrive at the White House (House of Soviets of the RSFSR), in a telephone conversation with Kryuchkov he refuses to recognize the State Emergency Committee.

10.00. The troops occupy their assigned positions in the center of Moscow. Directly near the White House there are armored vehicles of the battalion of the Tula Airborne Division under the command of Major General Alexander Lebed and the Taman Division.

11.45. The first columns of demonstrators arrived at Manezhnaya Square. No measures were taken to disperse the crowd.

12.15. Several thousand citizens gathered at the White House, and Boris Yeltsin came out to them. He read from the tank “An Appeal to the Citizens of Russia,” in which he called the actions of the State Emergency Committee a “reactionary, anti-constitutional coup.” The appeal was signed by Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR Ivan Silaev and acting. Chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR Ruslan Khasbulatov.

12.30. Yeltsin issued Decree No. 59, where the creation of the State Emergency Committee was qualified as an attempt at a coup.

Around 2 p.m., those gathered near the White House began constructing makeshift barricades.

14.30. The session of the Leningrad City Council adopted an appeal to the President of Russia, refused to recognize the State Emergency Committee and declare a state of emergency.

15.30. Major Evdokimov's tank company - 6 tanks without ammunition - went over to Yeltsin's side.

16.00. By Yanaev's decree, a state of emergency is introduced in Moscow.

At about 17.00, Yeltsin issued Decree No. 61, by which the Union executive authorities, including security forces, were reassigned to the President of the RSFSR.

At 17:00, a press conference by Yanaev and other members of the State Emergency Committee began in the press center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Answering the question where the President of the USSR is now, Yanaev said that Gorbachev is “on vacation and treatment in Crimea. Over the years he has become very tired and it takes time for him to improve his health.”

In Leningrad, rallies of thousands took place on St. Isaac's Square. People gathered for rallies against the State Emergency Committee in Nizhny Novgorod, Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk, Tyumen and other cities of Russia.

Over the radio of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, which had just been created in the White House, an appeal was broadcast to citizens, in which they were asked to dismantle the barricades in front of the White House so that the Taman Division, loyal to the Russian leadership, could bring its tanks to positions near the building.

05.00. The Vitebsk Airborne Division of the KGB of the USSR and the Pskov Division of the USSR Ministry of Defense approached Leningrad, but did not enter the city, but were stopped near Siverskaya (70 km from the city).

10.00. A mass rally on Palace Square in Leningrad brought together about 300 thousand people. The city's military promised that the army would not interfere.

At about 11.00, the editors of 11 independent newspapers gathered at the Moscow News editorial office and agreed to publish the Obshchaya Gazeta, which was urgently registered with the Ministry of Press of the RSFSR (published the next day).

12.00. A rally sanctioned by the city authorities began near the White House (at least 100 thousand participants). The rally at the Moscow City Council - about 50 thousand participants.

In connection with the hospitalization of Valentin Pavlov, temporary leadership of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was entrusted to Vitaly Doguzhiev.

Russia creates a temporary republican Ministry of Defense. Konstantin Kobets is appointed Minister of Defense.

In the evening, the Vremya program announced the introduction of a curfew in the capital from 23.00 to 5.00.

On the night of August 21, in an underground transport tunnel at the intersection of Kalininsky Prospekt (now Novy Arbat Street) and the Garden Ring (Tchaikovsky Street), clogged with armored vehicles of infantry fighting vehicles, three civilians died during maneuvering: Dmitry Komar, Vladimir Usov and Ilya Krichevsky.

03.00. Air Force Commander Yevgeny Shaposhnikov suggests that Yazov withdraw troops from Moscow and that the State Emergency Committee “be declared illegal and dispersed.”

05.00. A meeting of the board of the USSR Ministry of Defense was held, at which the commanders-in-chief of the Navy and Strategic Missile Forces supported Shaposhnikov’s proposal. Yazov gives the order to withdraw troops from Moscow.

11.00. An emergency session of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR has opened. There was one issue on the agenda - the political situation in the RSFSR, “which developed as a result of the coup d’etat.”

At 14.18, the Il-62 with members of the State Emergency Committee on board flew to Crimea to visit Gorbachev. The plane took off a few minutes before the arrival of a group of 50 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR, which was tasked with arresting the members of the committee.

Gorbachev refused to accept them and demanded that contact with the outside world be restored.

On another plane at 16.52, Vice-President of the RSFSR Alexander Rutskoy and Prime Minister Ivan Silaev flew to Foros to see Gorbachev.

White House Defenders

22:00. Yeltsin signed a decree on the annulment of all decisions of the State Emergency Committee and on a number of reshuffles in the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.

01:30. The Tu-134 plane with Rutsky, Silaev and Gorbachev landed in Moscow at Vnukovo-2.

Most members of the State Emergency Committee were arrested.

Moscow declared mourning for the victims.

The winners' rally at the White House began at 12.00. In the middle of the day, Yeltsin, Silaev and Khasbulatov spoke at it. During the rally, demonstrators brought out a huge banner of the Russian tricolor; The President of the RSFSR announced that a decision had been made to make the white-azure-red banner the new state flag of Russia.

The new state flag of Russia (tricolor) was installed for the first time at the top of the building of the House of Soviets.

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

DOCUMENTS of the State Emergency Committee

Vice President of the USSR

Due to the impossibility for health reasons, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev assumed the duties of President of the USSR on the basis of Article 1277 of the USSR Constitution on August 19, 1991.

Vice President of the USSR

G. I. YANAEV

From the Appeal

to the Soviet people

State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR

...The crisis of power has had a catastrophic impact on the economy. The chaotic, spontaneous slide towards the market caused an explosion of egoism - regional, departmental, group and personal. The war of laws and the encouragement of centrifugal tendencies resulted in the destruction of a single national economic mechanism that had been developing for decades. The result was a sharp decline in the standard of living of the vast majority of Soviet people, and the flourishing of speculation and the shadow economy. It’s high time to tell people the truth: if urgent measures are not taken to stabilize the economy, then in the very near future famine and a new round of impoverishment are inevitable, from which one step away from mass manifestations of spontaneous discontent with devastating consequences...

From Resolution No. 1

State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR

6. Citizens, institutions and organizations must immediately hand over all types of firearms, ammunition, explosives, military equipment and equipment illegally held in them. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB and the Ministry of Defense of the USSR must ensure strict compliance with this requirement. In cases of refusal, they must be forcibly confiscated, with violators subject to strict criminal and administrative liability.

From Resolution No. 2

State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR

1. Temporarily limit the list of central, Moscow city and regional socio-political publications to the following newspapers: “Trud”, “Rabochaya Tribuna”, “Izvestia”, “Pravda”, “Krasnaya Zvezda”, “Soviet Russia”, “Moskovskaya Pravda” , “Lenin’s Banner”, “Rural Life”.

"BAD BOY"

August 20, the second day of the coup, nerves are at their limit. Everyone who has a radio listens to the radio. Those who have a TV do not miss a single news broadcast. I then worked at Vesti. Vesti was taken off the air. We sit and watch channel one. At three o'clock there is a regular episode that no one has watched before. And then everyone stuck. And the announcer appears in the frame, and suddenly begins to read messages from news agencies: President Bush condemns the putschists, British Prime Minister John Major condemns, the world community is outraged - and at the end: Yeltsin declared the State Emergency Committee outlawed, the Russian prosecutor, then Stepankov, initiates criminal proceedings case. We are shocked. And I imagine how many people, including participants in the events who at that moment caught the slightest hint of which way the situation was swinging, ran to the White House to Yeltsin to sign their allegiance and loyalty. On the third day, in the evening, I meet Tanechka Sopova, who was then working in the Main Information Office of Central Television, well, hugs, kisses. I say: “Tatyan, what happened with you?” “And this is me, the Bad Boy,” says Tanya. “I was the responsible graduate.” That is, she was collecting a folder, selecting news.

And there was an order: go and coordinate everything. “I come in,” he says, “once, and the whole synclite is sitting there and some people, complete strangers. They are discussing what to broadcast at 21:00 on the Vremya program. And here I am, little one, poking around with my papers.” She really is such a tiny woman. “They tell me in plain text where I should go with my three-hour news: “Do it yourself!” “Well, I went and made up the layout.”

AND THERE ARE STATISTICS

The All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) annually conducts a survey of Russians on how they assess the events of August 1991.

In 1994, a survey showed that 53% of respondents believed that the putsch was suppressed in 1991, 38% called the actions of the State Emergency Committee a tragic event that had disastrous consequences for the country and people.

Five years later - in 1999 - during a similar survey, only 9% of Russians considered the suppression of the Emergency Committee a victory for the “democratic revolution”; 40% of respondents consider the events of those days simply an episode of the struggle for power in the country's top leadership.

A sociological survey conducted by VTsIOM in 2002 showed that the share of Russians who believe that in 1991 the leaders of the State Emergency Committee saved the Motherland, the great USSR, increased one and a half times - from 14 to 21% and one and a half times (from 24 to 17 %) the share of those who believed that on August 19-21, 1991, opponents of the State Emergency Committee were right decreased.

More impressive results were obtained in August 2010 based on the results of voting on the series of programs “The Court of Time”, conducted by N. Svanidze. When asked what the State Emergency Committee of August 1991 was - a putsch or an attempt to avoid the collapse of the country - despite the efforts of N. Svanidze, 93% of TV viewers surveyed answered - it was a desire to preserve the USSR!

MARSHAL YAZOV: WE SERVED THE PEOPLE

DP.RU: In fact, the State Emergency Committee was impromptu; you, as a military leader, had to understand that if the operation was not prepared, the forces would not be pulled together...

Dmitry Yazov: There was no need to pull together any forces, we were not going to kill anyone. The only thing we were going to do was to disrupt the signing of this treaty on the Union of Sovereign States. It was obvious that there would be no state. And since there will be no state, it means that measures had to be taken so that there would be a state. The entire government gathered and decided: we must go to Gorbachev. Everyone went to tell him: are you for the state or not? Let's take action. But someone as weak-willed as Mikhail Sergeevich could not do this. Didn't even listen. We left. Gorbachev made a speech, his son-in-law recorded it on tape, Raisa Maksimovna: “I hid it in such a way, and my daughter hid it in such a way that no one would have found it.” Well, it’s clear where she put this tape, of course, no one would have gotten into it. Who needed it, this film. The state is collapsing, and he expressed his resentment that his communications were cut off and he was not allowed to talk to Bush.

DP.RU: I heard that you yourself allocated a battalion to guard the White House.

Dmitry Yazov: Absolutely correct.

DP.RU: But then they said: the troops went over to Yeltsin’s side. It turns out that everything was wrong?

Dmitry Yazov: Of course not. Shortly before this, Yeltsin was elected president. Arrived in Tula. There Grachev showed him the teachings of the airborne division. Well, not the entire division - the regiment. I liked the teaching, drank well, and Yeltsin thought that Pasha Grachev was his best friend. When a state of emergency was introduced, Yeltsin was indignant, like a coup. But no one arrested him. No one had a hand in it at all. Yeltsin then in 1993 could have turned off the lights, could have turned off the water, could have shot the Supreme Council... But we didn’t guess, such fools! Yeltsin was in Almaty the day before and then said that the State Emergency Committee delayed the plane’s departure for 4 hours in order to shoot down the plane. Can you imagine how mean it is! The newspapers wrote how he spent those 4 hours. Nazarbayev and I played tennis for 2.5 hours in the rain, then we went to wash... And he: they wanted to shoot me down!!! He arrived at the White House himself and called Pasha Grachev: assign security. Grachev calls me: Yeltsin asks for security. I say: Lebed went with the battalion. So that there really are no provocations.

We organized a patrol, a company of infantry fighting vehicles was marching... Here, right on Novy Arbat Avenue, they placed trolleybuses and made a barricade under the bridge. The tanks would have passed, but the infantry fighting vehicles would have stopped. There are drunk people there: some started beating with sticks, others threw up a tent so that nothing could be seen. Three people died. Who shot? Someone was shooting from the roof. The military did not shoot. Someone was interested. Everything was done to ensure that there was a civil war. And I took and withdrew the troops. I got ready to go to Gorbachev, and everyone came running. I say let's go. When they arrived, he took this pose. Didn't accept anyone. We humiliated him!!!

Rutskoi, Bakatin, Silaev arrived on another plane - those, excuse the expression, brethren who, it seems, hated both the Soviet Union and the Russian people. Well, Rutskoi, the man whom we rescued from captivity, later showed what he was like: for the president, a year later - against the president. Ungrateful people - of course, we didn’t need gratitude from them, we served the people. Of course, I saw that there would be an arrest now. It didn’t cost me anything to land a brigade at an airfield or land at another airfield myself, but it would have been a civil war. I served the people, and I would have to, because they want to arrest me, start a war, shoot at the people. Just from a human point of view, should this have been done or not?

DP.RU: War is always bad...

Dmitry Yazov: Yes. And I think - to hell with him, in the end, let him arrest: there is no evidence of a crime. But they are arrested, and immediately Article 64 is treason. But how can you prove to me treason? Yesterday I was the minister, I sent in troops to guard the Kremlin, to protect the water intake, to protect the Gokhran. Everything was saved. Then they plundered it. Diamonds, remember, were taken in bags to America... And how did it all end? Three people gathered - Yeltsin, Kravchuk and Shushkevich. Did they have the right to liquidate the state? They signed while drunk, slept through it, and reported to Bush first thing in the morning... What a shame! Gorbachev: I was not informed. But they didn’t report to you because they didn’t want you to be president. You made them sovereign - they became sovereign. And they didn't care about you. Yeltsin literally 3-4 days later kicked him out of the Kremlin and from the dacha, and now he hangs around the world.

State Emergency Committee member Dmitry Yazov: “The Americans put in 5 trillion in order to liquidate the Soviet Union.” Business Petersburg. August 19, 2011