The August putsch, the creation and inglorious decline of the State Emergency Committee in August 1991, was overgrown with a huge number of versions, "what it was" and "why it happened." Can the actions of the State Emergency Committee be called a coup d'état, and what were the putschists really trying to achieve?
Despite the many years of legal proceedings that followed, the numerous public speeches of the participants in the coup and its opponents are still not completely clear. And, probably, it will never appear.
In fact, the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR was active from 10 to 21 August 1991. At first, the main declared goal was to prevent the collapse of the USSR: the exit to the GKChP members was seen in the new Union Treaty, which Gorbachev planned to sign. The treaty provided for the transformation of the Union into a confederation, while not from 15, but from nine republics. The putschists saw in this the beginning of the end of the Soviet state, not without reason.
And now, at this point, discrepancies begin. It would seem that the main supporter of the Union Treaty was Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev. The main opponents are members and supporters of the State Emergency Committee. But later, at the trial and further, one of the leaders of the coup, vice-president of the USSR Gennady Yanayev, argued that "the documents of the State Emergency Committee were developed on behalf of Gorbachev," and other participants in that process generally noted that the prototype of the State Emergency Committee was created on March 28, 1991 on meeting with Gorbachev and with his "blessing".
The next point is the behavior of the putschists in the course of the events themselves in relation to the then head of the USSR. It is worth recalling that in those days he went on vacation to the Foros dacha in Crimea. Knowing at the same time that everything in the country is completely unsettled, that the people and a huge part of the party and state nomenklatura are dissatisfied with "Perestroika", and, moreover, knowing the attitude to the reformatting of the USSR, in which the citizens of the Union saw simply the dismantling of the country. A referendum on the preservation of the USSR took place on March 17, 1991, and most of the citizens spoke out in favor of the territorial integrity of the state.
By the way, this is precisely why the terms "putsch", "revolution" and "coup" in the strict sense are in no way suitable for defining the activities of the State Committee. The members of the Emergency Committee just advocated the preservation of the country, its integrity, sovereignty and the preservation of the staus quo, with the curtailment of the most odious perestroika initiatives.
Moreover, when it was finally clear that the GKChP case had been lost, the first thing the putschists did was send a delegation back to Gorbachev on Foros, and some of them were arrested as they left the plane in Moscow on which they were flying with Gorbachev.
The events of the three August days themselves are also something devoid of logic at first glance. On the one hand, members of the State Emergency Committee declare that Mikhail Gorbachev cannot yet rule the country for health reasons, and and. O. Yanaev becomes the president of the USSR, but at Gorbachev's dacha the telephone connection is cut off only in his office. Communication worked perfectly not only in the security house, but also in the cars of the presidential motorcade. And, moreover, later it turns out that at the dacha "Mikhail Sergeevich has been actively working all these days and signing decrees."
Another goal was to remove from power Boris Yeltsin, the then president of the RSFSR and, as it were, already at that time a political opponent of Gorbachev. But this elimination did not happen either by the method of detention or by the method of an ambush in the forest on the route of the presidential cortege from the dacha to Moscow.
It did not happen in Moscow either, although there were all the possibilities. Troops have already been brought into the capital, and the people have not yet begun to gather around the White House, where Yeltsin arrived. Moreover, according to some versions, Yeltsin's guards, consisting of KGB officers, were ready to "localize the object," but did not receive the appropriate order, although one of the coup leaders was the head of the USSR KGB, Vladimir Kryuchkov.
In general, the very composition of the members of this State Committee leads to complete bewilderment as to why they did not succeed in their plans. Among the "putschists" were the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the minister of defense, and, as mentioned above, the head of the KGB, and the prime minister and vice president. But the coup failed and they all ended up in the dock.
There are, of course, a number of conspiracy theories. One of them was voiced by Mikhail Poltoranin, the press minister and Yeltsin's supporter during the putsch. It boils down to the fact that the putsch was Gorbachev's greatest provocation.
According to this Soviet and Russian official, "Gorbachev used them (GKChP. - Ed.) in the dark. In his usual manner, he said or hinted: muzhiks, we are losing power, our country. I myself cannot return the USSR to the required mode of functioning, I have an image of a democrat in the world. I'm going on vacation, you tighten the screws here, close the newspapers. I'll come back, unscrew some nuts, the world will calm down. The people who got into the Emergency Committee sincerely wanted to save the country. When everything started spinning, they rushed to him: come back, Mikhail Sergeevich. And he washed his hands: I don't know anything. The Moors have done their job. "
This version finds indirect confirmation in Gorbachev's policy towards the CPSU. The fact is that Mikhail Sergeevich tried with all his might to reduce the influence of the party both on himself and on the state as a whole. And as a result of the suppression of the GKChP, the action of the CPSU was suspended, and then, literally a few months later, the party was generally disbanded. But the problem is that the presence of the Communist Party did not suit not only Gorbachev, but also Yeltsin, who, in addition to the party, was not satisfied with Gorbachev himself.
And on this occasion, there is another version, in which it was Yeltsin who became the main beneficiary of the putsch and it was he who, at least, knew about the upcoming events, as he knew that nothing bad would happen to him. Mikhail Vasiliev writes about this in his investigation material.
According to him, “Gorbachev in 1991 suited only a small group of bureaucrats as a leader. Patriots, who could not forgive him for scandalous concessions to the West, and democrats who dream of overthrowing the central government, and a rapidly impoverished people dreamed of his departure. one powerful force without a clear leader, but with enormous possibilities.
Part of the party elite and special services took a clear course towards capitalizing the USSR in order to privatize its immense resources. And they did not need the chatterbox Gorby. But who instead of him? Where can one find such a leader of "the same blood" to speak the same language with them, but be popular among the people? After all, otherwise a change in the social order would have been impossible.
The answer lies on the surface - this is Boris Yeltsin. "
Further, the author leads to the conclusion that the head of the KGB and one of the putschists Kryuchkov was in cahoots with Yeltsin and understood how everything would end in the end. However, this version has one very significant inconsistency, namely the hot, to the point of exceeding their own powers, the desire of Yeltsin to condemn and imprison the putschists.
In general, it is worth starting with the fact that no one was eager to plant the putschists. And at the first opportunity the prisoners were released on recognizance not to leave. As a result, they, of course, spent from a year to a year and a half in Matrosskaya Tishina, but upon leaving they were able not only to take part in rallies and demonstrations, but also to run and be elected to the Russian parliament. And then to get under the amnesty, with which everything was also more than interesting. First and foremost, the amnesty was announced even before the end of the trial, in violation of both procedural norms and formal logic. How can you grant amnesty to people for whom a judicial verdict has not yet been announced? As a result, an additional meeting had to be held in order to settle all legal norms.
Secondly, according to the memoirs of the then Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Kazannik, he called and warned Yeltsin that the State Duma would include in the lists of amnestied putschists. To which, according to Kazannik, Yeltsin replied sharply: "They will not dare!" Nevertheless, they dared, and Yeltsin imposed his resolution on this decision, which read "Kazannik, Golushko, Yerina. Not release anyone from those arrested, but investigate the criminal case in the same manner." But Kazannik refused to follow the resolution despite telephone conversations, in which Yeltsin reiterated: "You won't dare to do that." By the way, the 1993 White House defenders were also released under that amnesty.
And most importantly, one of the members of the Emergency Committee, Valentin Varennikov, refused the amnesty and eventually won the case in 1994. However, the rest of the putschists, even agreeing to the amnesty, ultimately did not plead guilty to "high treason", and on the whole it is clear why.
As for Yeltsin's desire for a final investigation and, most likely, a guilty verdict for members of the Emergency Committee, there was a certain political symbolism in this. It was necessary to show that the return to the USSR is so marginal that it is simply criminal, that there is simply no reverse move. Well, the demonstration that now he is the sovereign master in the country was also useful. However, it did not work out. And it did not work out so much that many high-ranking government officials even of that time called this trial a "farce."
By the way, later the fate of most of the putschists was favorable. For the most part, they occupied high positions in government, public and commercial structures. In general, they quickly turned from the Soviet into the new Russian elite. Some of them, even in spite of their more than solid age, continue to work actively to this day.
GKChP is an abbreviation of the name of the State Committee for the State of Emergency, created by several top functionaries of the Communist Party of the USSR on August 19, 1991 to save the crumbling Soviet Union. The formal head of the committee was Vice-President of the USSR, member of the Politburo, Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Gennady Ivanovich Yanaev
Background
Restructuring the economy
In 1982, the long-term head of the Soviet Union, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L.I.Brezhnev died. With his death, a period of relatively calm, stable, more or less prosperous life of the USSR ended, which had come for the first time since the formation of the Land of Soviets. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev took the post of General Secretary and, therefore, the absolute ruler of the fate of 250 million Soviet citizens. Aware of the complexities of the Soviet economy, its growing lag behind the countries of the West, Gorbachev attempted to cheer up the socialist economic system by introducing market elements into it.
Alas, having said "A", you must definitely continue, that is, one concession to the ideological enemy was followed by another, a third, and so on until complete surrender
- 1985, April 23 - at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Gorbachev proclaimed a course for acceleration - the improvement of the existing economic system
- 1985, May - Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On measures to overcome drunkenness and alcoholism"
- 1986, February 25-March 6 - XXVII Congress of the CPSU. It defined the task of "improving socialism"
- 1986, November 19 - The Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the Law "On individual labor activity"
- 1987, January - at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the task of radical restructuring of economic management was put forward
- 1987, January 13 - Resolution of the Council of Ministers allowing the creation of joint ventures
- 1987, February 5 - Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR "On the creation of cooperatives for the production of consumer goods"
- 1987, June 11 - the law "On the transfer of enterprises and organizations of sectors of the national economy to full cost accounting and self-financing"
- 1987, June 25 - The plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU considered the issue "On the tasks of the party for the radical restructuring of economic management."
- 1987, June 30 - the law "On State Enterprise (Association)" was adopted, which redistributed powers between ministries and enterprises in favor of the latter
- 1988, May 26 - the law "On cooperation in the USSR"
- 1988, August 24 - the first cooperative bank in the USSR ("Soyuz-bank") was registered in Chimkent (Kazakh SSR)
The measures taken did not bring results. In 1986, the budget deficit doubled compared to 1985
The resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On measures to overcome drunkenness and alcoholism" led to more than 20 billion losses in budget revenues, a transition to the category of scarce products that were previously on the free market (juices, cereals, caramel, etc.), a sharp increase in home brewing and increased mortality due to poisoning with counterfeit alcohol and surrogates. Due to low world prices for energy resources, the income of foreign currency to the budget has decreased. Large-scale accidents and disasters have become more frequent (1986, May - Chernobyl). In the fall of 1989, sugar coupons were introduced
“In the Murmansk store near the bazaar, for the first time after the war, I saw ration cards - coupons for sausage and butter (V. Konetsky“ No one will take the path we have traveled, 1987 ”)
- 1990, June - Resolution of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "On the Concept of Transition to a Market Economy"
- 1990, October - the decree "The main directions for the stabilization of the national economy and the transition to a market economy"
- 1990, December - the government of the USSR, headed by N. Ryzhkov, is dismissed. The Council of Ministers of the USSR was transformed into the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR, headed by Prime Minister V. Pavlov
- 1991, January 23-25 - exchange of 50- and 100-ruble banknotes for banknotes of a new design
- 1991, April 2 - double price increase for all products
Nevertheless, in 1991 there was an 11 percent decline in production, a 20–30 percent budget deficit, and a huge foreign debt of $ 103.9 billion. Food, soap, matches, sugar, detergents were distributed according to cards, cards were often not stocked. Republican and regional customs appeared
Rebuilding ideology
The introduction of elements of capitalism into the Soviet economic mechanism forced the authorities to change their policy in the field of ideology. After all, it was necessary to somehow explain to the people why the capitalist system, criticized for 70 years, suddenly turned out to be in demand in their country, the most advanced and richest. The new policy was called publicity
- 1986, February-March - at the 27th Congress of the CPSU Gorbachev said:
“The issue of increasing publicity is fundamental for us. This is a political question. Without publicity, there is not and cannot be democracy, political creativity of the masses, their participation in government "
- 1986, May - at the V Congress of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR, his entire board was unexpectedly re-elected
- 1986, September 4 - order of Glavlit (USSR censorship committee) to focus the attention of censors only on issues related to the protection of state and military secrets in the press
- 1986, September 25 - By the decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU on the termination of jamming of programs "Voice of America" and "BBC"
- 1986, December - Academician Sakharov returned from exile in Gorky
- 1987, January 27 - Gorbachev at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU:
“We should not have zones closed to criticism. The people need the whole truth ... Now more than ever we need more light, so that the party and the people know everything, so that we do not have dark corners where mold would start again. "
- 1987, January - the anti-Stalinist film "Repentance" by T. Abuladze was released on the screens of the country
- 1987, January - the documentary "Is it easy to be young?" directed by Juris Podnieks
- 1987, February - 140 dissidents released from prison
- 1987 - Unlimited subscription to newspapers and magazines allowed
- 1987, October 2 - appearance on the TV screens of the independent television program "Vzglyad"
- 1988, May 8 - the organization of dissidents and human rights defenders Democratic Union was founded, positioning itself as an opposition party to the CPSU
- 1988, June 28-July 1 - at the XIX All-Union Party Conference of the CPSU, a decision was made on alternative elections of deputies to the Soviets of all levels
- 1988, November 30 - In the USSR jamming of all foreign radio stations is completely prohibited
- 1987-1988 - publication of literary works banned in the USSR, articles about the past of the USSR were published in magazines and newspapers, refuting the established myths ("New World", "Moscow News", "Arguments and Facts", "Ogonyok")
- 1989, March 26 - the first free elections to the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR
- 1989, May 25 - The First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR opened in Moscow, at which the country's problems were openly discussed for the first time, some actions of the authorities were criticized, proposals and alternatives were put forward. The sessions of the congress were broadcast live and listened to by the whole country
- 1989, December 12-24 - at the II Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, Boris Yeltsin, who headed a group of democrats, received a demand to abolish Article 6 of the Constitution of the USSR, which indicated that "the CPSU is the leading and guiding force" in the state
Perestroika, acceleration, glasnost - the slogans of the policy pursued by Mikhail Gorbachev
The collapse of the USSR
The Soviet Union was based on violence and fear, or discipline and respect for the authorities, whatever they liked. As soon as the people discovered a certain lethargy and helplessness in the actions of the state, a certain freedom, actions of disobedience began. Somewhere there were strikes (in the spring of 1989 in the mines), somewhere anti-communist rallies (in August-September 1988 in Moscow). However, the greatest problems were brought to Moscow by interethnic conflicts and the activities of national republics, whose leaders, sensing the weakness of the Center, decided to take all power in the territory under their control.
- 1986, December 17-18 - anti-communist demonstrations of Kazakh youth in Alma-Ata
- 1988, November-December - aggravation of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia due to Nagorno-Karabakh
- 1989, June - pogrom of the Meskhetian Turks in the Fergana Valley
- 1989, July 15-16 - bloody clashes between Georgians and Abkhazians in Sukhumi (16 dead).
- 1989, April 6 - anti-Soviet rally in Tbilisi, suppressed by the army
- 1990, January - unrest in Baku, suppressed by the Army
- 1990, June - the conflict between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the city of Osh
- 1990, March 11 - declaration of independence of Lithuania
- 1990, May 4 - declaration of independence of Latvia
- 1990, May 8 - Estonian independence proclamation
- 1990, June 12 - proclamation of the independence of the RSFSR
- 1990, September 2 - proclamation of the Transnistrian Republic
- 1991, January 8-9 - bloody clashes between the army and demonstrators in Vilnius
- 1991, March 31 - referendum on the independence of Georgia
- 1991, April 19 - the conflict between the Ingush and Ossetians, one dead
On August 20, 1991, the former republics of the USSR were to sign a new treaty by the former republics of the USSR, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and in the fall - Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Turkmenistan, terminating the union of 1922 and creating a new state formation, a confederation instead of a federation.
GKChP. Briefly
For the sake of preventing the creation of a new state and saving the old - the Soviet Union, part of the party elite formed the State Committee for the State of Emergency. Gorbachev, who was resting at that moment in Crimea, was isolated from the events.
GKChP composition
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Achalov - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR, Colonel General
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Baklanov - First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council
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Boldin - Chief of Staff of the President of the USSR
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Varennikov - Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces
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Generalov - head of security at the residence of the President of the USSR in Foros
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Kryuchkov - Chairman of the KGB of the USSR
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Lukyanov - Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR
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Pavlov - Prime Minister of the USSR
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Plekhanov - Head of the Security Service of the KGB of the USSR
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Pugo - Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR
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Starodubtsev - Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR
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Tizyakov - President of the Association of State Enterprises of the USSR
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Shenin - member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU
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Yazov - Minister of Defense of the USSR
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Yanaev - Vice President of the USSR
- 1991, August 15 - the text of the new Union Treaty was published
- 1991, August 17 - Kryuchkov, Pavlov, Yazov, Baklanov, Shenin, Boldin at the meeting decide to introduce a state of emergency from August 19, demand that Gorbachev sign the relevant decrees or resign and transfer powers to Vice President Yanaev
- 1991, August 17 - the conspirators decided to send a delegation to Gorbachev demanding the introduction of a state of emergency and not signing the Treaty
- 1991, August 18 - Yanaev in the Kremlin met with members of the delegation who returned from Crimea after meeting with Gorbachev
- 1991, August 18 - Yazov ordered to prepare the entry of troops into Moscow
- 1991, August 19 - Yanaev signed a decree on the formation of the State Committee for the State of Emergency
GKChP Resolution No. 1 introduced a ban
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rallies
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demonstrations
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strikes
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activities of political parties, public organizations, mass movements
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issues of some central, Moscow city and regional socio-political publications
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the allocation of 15 acres of land to all interested residents of cities for gardening work
- 1991, August 19 - units of the Taman motorized rifle division, Kantemirovskaya tank division, 106th (Tula) airborne division entered Moscow
- 1991, August 19 - at the building of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, on Manezhnaya Square, people who opposed the State Emergency Committee began to gather, in the evening B. Yeltsin spoke before them, reading out the Decree "On the illegality of the actions of the State Emergency Committee"
- 1991, August 20 - the confrontation between Muscovites led by Yeltsin and the State Emergency Committee continued. There were rumors about the preparation of the violent dispersal of the protesters, the storming of the White House, on TV they suddenly showed a truthful story about what was happening at the White House
- 1991, August 21 - at 5 a.m. Yazov gave the order to withdraw troops from Moscow
- 1991, August 21 - at 17 o'clock in the Crimea arrived a delegation of the Emergency Committee. Gorbachev refused to accept it and demanded to restore communication with the outside world
- 1991, August 21 - At 9 o'clock in the evening, Vice President Yanayev signed a decree in which the State Emergency Committee was declared dissolved, and all its decisions were invalid
- 1991, August 21 - at 22 o'clock the General Prosecutor of the RSFSR Stepankov issued an order on the arrest of members of the State Emergency Committee ( more details about the August putsch are written in Wikipedia)
The result of the Emergency Committee
- 1991, August 24 - Ukraine declared its state independence
- 1991, August 25 - Belarus
- 1991, August 27 - Moldova
- 1991, August 31 - Uzbekistan
- 1991, October 27 - Turkmenistan
- 1991, August 31 - Kyrgyzstan
- 1991, September 9 - Tajikistan
- 1991, September 21 - Armenia
- 1991, October 18 - Azerbaijan
- 1991, December 8 - in Viskuli near Brest (Belarus) President of the RSFSR B. Yeltsin, President of Ukraine L. Kravchuk and Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus S. Shushkevich signed an Agreement on the collapse of the USSR and on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
Perestroika, acceleration, glasnost, GKChP - all these attempts to fix, restore the Soviet state machine were in vain, because it was indivisible and could only exist in the form that it was.
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 TV channels in between news releases.
Lenta.ru
17-21 AUGUST 1991
A meeting of future members of the State Emergency Committee took place at the "ABTs" facility - a closed guest residence of the KGB. It was decided to introduce a state of emergency from August 19, to form a State Emergency Committee, to require Gorbachev to sign the relevant decrees or to resign and transfer powers to Vice President Gennady Yanayev, Yeltsin to be detained at the Chkalovsky airfield upon arrival from Kazakhstan for a conversation with Defense Minister Yazov, continue to act depending on the results of the negotiations.
Representatives of the committee flew to Crimea for talks with Gorbachev, who is on vacation in Foros, in order 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 KGB troops of the USSR 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, the decree of the vice-president of the USSR Yanayev on his assumption of the duties of the president of the USSR in connection with the illness of Gorbachev, the statement of the Soviet leadership on the creation, the appeal of the State Emergency Committee to the Soviet people.
The GKChP includes Vice President of the USSR Gennady Yanayev, 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 Council of Defense of the USSR Oleg Baklanov, Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR Vasily Starodubtsev , President of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial Facilities, 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 Kantemirovsk division began to move towards Moscow. The 51st, 137th and 331st airborne regiments also began to move towards the capital by marching on military equipment.
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. Troops occupy their assigned positions in the center of Moscow. Directly at the White House is the 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, Boris Yeltsin came out to them. He read from the tank "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 Ruslan Khasbulatov, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.
12.30. Yeltsin issued Decree No. 59, where the creation of the State Emergency Committee was qualified as an attempt at a coup d'etat.
At about 2 p.m., those gathered at the White House began to erect an impromptu barricade.
14.30. A session of the Leningrad City Council adopted an appeal to the President of Russia, refused to recognize the State Emergency Committee and declare a state of emergency.
15.30. Major Evdokimov's tank company - 6 tanks without ammunition - went over to Yeltsin's side.
16.00. Yanaev’s decree introduces a state of emergency in Moscow.
At about 5 pm, Yeltsin issued Decree No. 61, by which the federal executive authorities, including the security forces, were reassigned to the President of the RSFSR.
At 17:00, a press conference of Yanayev and other members of the State Emergency Committee began at the press center of the Foreign Ministry. Answering the question where the president of the USSR is now, Yanaev said that Gorbachev was “on vacation and treatment in Crimea. Over the years he was very tired, and it takes time for him to recover. "
In Leningrad, thousands of rallies were held 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.
An appeal to the 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, was transmitted over the radio of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR just created in the White House.
05.00. The Vitebsk division of the Airborne Forces of the KGB of the USSR and the Pskov division of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR marched to Leningrad, but they did not enter the city, but were stopped near Siverskaya (70 km from the city).
10.00. A mass meeting on Palace Square in Leningrad gathered about 300 thousand people. The military cities promised that the army would not interfere.
At about 11.00 the editors of 11 independent newspapers gathered at the editorial office of Moskovskiye Novosti and agreed to publish Obshchaya Gazeta, urgently registered with the RSFSR Press Ministry (published the next day).
12.00. A rally authorized by the city authorities began at 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, the provisional leadership of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was entrusted to Vitaly Doguzhiev.
Russia creates an interim 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), packed with armored infantry fighting vehicles, three civilians were killed during maneuvering: Dmitry Komar, Vladimir Usov and Ilya Krichevsky.
03.00. Air Force Commander Yevgeny Shaposhnikov suggests that Yazov withdraw the troops from Moscow, and that the State Emergency Committee "declare illegal and disperse."
05.00. A meeting of the board of the USSR Ministry of Defense took place, at which the commander-in-chief of the Navy and the Strategic Missile Forces supported Shaposhnikov's proposal. Yazov gives the order to withdraw troops from Moscow.
11.00. An extraordinary session of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR has opened. There was one issue on the agenda - the political situation in the RSFSR, "resulting from a coup d'etat."
At 14.18 IL-62 with members of the Emergency Committee on board flew to the Crimea to Gorbachev. The plane took off a few minutes before the arrival of a group of 50 officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR, which was tasked with arresting committee members.
Gorbachev refused to accept them and demanded to restore contact with the outside world.
On another plane at 16.52, Vice President of the RSFSR Alexander Rutskoi and Prime Minister Ivan Silaev flew to Foros to Gorbachev.
Defenders of the White House
22:00. Yeltsin signed a decree annulling all decisions of the State Emergency Committee and a number of reshuffles in the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.
01:30. The Tu-134 plane with Rutskoy, Silaev and Gorbachev landed in Moscow at Vnukovo-2.
Most of the members of the Emergency Committee were arrested.
Mourning for the dead has been declared in Moscow.
A rally of winners at the White House began at 12.00. In the middle of the day, Yeltsin, Silaev and Khasbulatov spoke at it. During the rally, the protesters carried 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 first installed at the top of the building of the House of Soviets.
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.
GKChP DOCUMENTS
vice president of the USSR
Due to the impossibility for health reasons, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev performed his duties as President of the USSR on the basis of Article 1277 of the Constitution of the USSR, he assumed the duties of President of the USSR 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 had a catastrophic effect on the economy. The chaotic, spontaneous slide towards the market has caused an explosion of selfishness - 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 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 you do not take urgent measures 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 ...
From Resolution No. 1
State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR
6. Citizens, institutions and organizations, immediately surrender all types of firearms, ammunition, explosives, military equipment and equipment that are illegally located there. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB and the Ministry of Defense of the USSR ensure strict compliance with this requirement. In cases of refusal - to seize them forcibly with the bringing of violators to strict criminal and administrative responsibility.
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 issued by the following newspapers: Trud, Rabochaya Tribuna, Izvestia, Pravda, Krasnaya Zvezda, Sovetskaya Rossiya, Moskovskaya Pravda , "Lenin's banner", "Rural life".
"BAD BOY"
On August 20, the second day of the coup, my nerves were on edge. Everyone who has a radio listens to the radio. Those who have a TV do not miss a single news release. I then worked at Vesti. Vesti was disconnected from the air. We are sitting, watching the first channel. At three o'clock, a regular episode that no one had watched before. And then everyone stuck. And the 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 of Russia, then there was Stepankov, initiates a criminal case. We're shocked. And I can imagine how many people, including participants 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, towards evening, I meet Tanechka Sopova, who then worked 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 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, “one time, and there the whole synclite and some people, completely unfamiliar, are sitting. They are discussing what to broadcast at 21 o'clock in the Vremya program. 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 typesetting. "
AND THERE IS 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 poll showed that 53% of respondents believed that the coup was suppressed in 1991, 38% called the actions of the State Emergency Committee a tragic event that had disastrous consequences for the country and the people.
Five years later - in 1999 - in the course of a similar survey, only 9% of Russians considered the suppression of the State Emergency Committee a victory of the "democratic revolution"; 40% of the respondents consider the events of those days to be just an episode of the struggle for power in the country's top leadership.
A sociological poll 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 the opponents of the GKChP were right on August 19-21, 1991 decreased.
More impressive results were obtained in August 2010 following the results of voting on the series of programs "Judgment of Time" conducted by N. Svanidze. When asked what the GKChP of August 1991 was - a coup or an attempt to avoid the collapse of the country - in spite of N. Svanidze's efforts, 93% of the polled TV viewers answered - it was a desire to preserve the USSR!
MARSHAL YAZOV: WE SERVED THE PEOPLE
DP.RU: In fact, the State Emergency Committee was an impromptu, you, as a military leader, should have understood that if the operation was not prepared, the forces were not 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 it was necessary to take measures for the state to exist. The entire government got together and decided: we must go to Gorbachev's. Everyone went to tell him: are you for the state or not? Let's take action. But one as weak-willed as Mikhail Sergeevich could not do this. I didn't even listen. We left. Gorbachev made a speech, his son-in-law recorded it on tape, Raisa Maksimovna: "I hid it so, and my daughter hid it so that no one would find it." Well, it's clear where she put this tape, of course, no one would go. Who needed it, this film. The state is falling apart, and he expressed his insult that his connection was cut off, he was not allowed to talk to Bush.
DP.RU: I heard that you yourself have assigned a battalion to guard the White House.
Dmitry Yazov: Quite right.
DP.RU: But then they said: the troops went over to the side of Yeltsin. It turns out that it was not so?
Dmitry Yazov: Of course not. Shortly before that, Yeltsin was elected president. I arrived in Tula. There Grachev showed him the teachings of the airborne division. Well, not the whole division - the regiment. I liked the teaching, they drank well, and Yeltsin thought that Pasha Grachev was his best friend. When the state of emergency was declared, Yeltsin was indignant, like a coup. But no one arrested him. Nobody put a hand to him at all. Yeltsin then in 1993 could turn off the light, he could turn off the water, he could shoot the Supreme Council ... But we didn't guess, such fools! Yeltsin was in Alma-Ata the day before and then said that the State Emergency Committee delayed the plane's departure by 4 hours in order to shoot down the plane. Imagine what a meanness! The newspapers wrote how he spent those 4 hours. We played tennis with Nazarbayev for 2.5 hours in the rain, then we went to bathe ... And he: they wanted to knock me down !!! I came to the White House myself and called Pasha Grachev: send out the guards. Grachev calls me: Yeltsin is asking for security. I say: Lebed went with the battalion. So that there really are no provocations.
We organized patrols, a BMP company was on the way ... Right here, right on Novy Arbat Avenue, trolleybuses were set up, a barricade was made under the bridge. The tanks would have passed, but the infantry fighting vehicles would have stopped. There are drunks: some began to beat with a stick, some threw up a tent so that nothing could be seen. Three people were killed. 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 was about to go to Gorbachev's, and everyone came running. I say let's go. Arrived - he took such a pose. Received no one. We humiliated him !!!
On another plane, Rutskoi, Bakatin, Silaev flew in - the one, excuse the expression, brothers who, it seems, hated both the Soviet Union and the Russian people. Well, Rutskoi, the man we rescued from captivity, showed later what he is: for the president, a year later - against the president. Ungrateful people - of course, we did not need gratitude from them, we served the people. I, of course, saw that there would be an arrest now. It didn’t cost me anything to land the brigade on the airfield or land on another airfield myself, but it would be a civil war. I served the people, and because they want to arrest me, unleash a war, shoot the people. Is it just from a human point of view that it should 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 be arrested: there is no corpus delicti. But they were arrested, and immediately the 64th article - treason. But how will you prove to me treason? Yesterday I was a minister, I brought in troops to guard the Kremlin, to guard the water intake, to guard the Gokhran. Everything was saved. Then they plundered. Diamonds, remember, were taken away in sacks to America ... And how did it all end? Three people gathered - Yeltsin, Kravchuk and Shushkevich. Did they have the right to liquidate the state? In a drunken state they signed, overslept and in the morning the first thing they did was reported to Bush ... What a shame! Gorbachev: I was not informed. And 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 give a damn about you. Yeltsin literally in 3-4 days kicked him out of the Kremlin and from the dacha, and now he is hanging around the world.
GKChP member Dmitry Yazov: "The Americans put in 5 trillion in order to liquidate the Soviet Union." Business Petersburg. August 19, 2011
The August putsch is an attempt to remove Mikhail Gorbachev from the presidency 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 "ABTs" facility - a closed guest residence of the KGB. It was decided to introduce a state of emergency from August 19, to form a State Emergency Committee, to require Gorbachev to sign the relevant decrees or to resign and transfer powers to Vice President Gennady Yanayev, Yeltsin to be detained at the Chkalovsky airfield upon arrival from Kazakhstan for a conversation with Defense Minister Yazov, continue to act depending on the results of the negotiations.
On August 18, representatives of the committee flew to Crimea for talks with Gorbachev, who is on vacation in Foros, in order to secure his consent to the introduction of 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 KGB troops of the USSR blocked the presidential dacha in Foros.
From 06.00, All-Union Radio begins to transmit messages about the introduction of a state of emergency in some regions of the USSR, the decree of the Vice-President of the USSR Yanayev on his assumption of the duties of the President of the USSR in connection with the illness of Gorbachev, the statement of the Soviet leadership on the creation of the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR, the appeal of the State Emergency Committee to the Soviet people.
22:00. Yeltsin signed a decree annulling all decisions of the State Emergency Committee and a number of reshuffles in the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.
01:30. The Tu-134 plane with Rutskoy, Silaev and Gorbachev landed in Moscow at Vnukovo-2.
Most of the members of the Emergency Committee were arrested.
Mourning for the dead has been declared in Moscow.
A rally of winners at the White House began at 12.00. In the middle of the day, Yeltsin, Silaev and Khasbulatov spoke at it. During the rally, the protesters carried 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 first installed at the top of the building of the House of Soviets.
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.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
An acute crisis of confidence in the President of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev, his inability to effectively lead the country and control the socio-political situation manifested itself in his defeats in the fight against political opponents both "on the right" and "on the left."
The last attempt to strengthen the Union power was the coming to power in August 1991 of the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR (GKChP). The GKChP includes persons holding the highest government posts in the USSR. The main events began on 19 August and lasted for three days. On the first day, the documents of the leaders of the coup d'etat were announced. Vice-President of the USSR G. Yanayev, in a decree issued on his behalf, announced his entry into "the duties of the President of the USSR" "in connection with the impossibility for health reasons of Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev performing his duties." The "Statement of the Soviet leadership" announced the formation of State Committee for the State of Emergency composed of:
O.D. Baklanov, First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council;
V.A. Kryuchkov, Chairman of the KGB of the USSR;
V.V. Pavlov, Prime Minister of the USSR;
B.K. Pugo, Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR;
V.A. Starodubtsev, Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR;
A.I. Tizyakov, President of the Association of State Enterprises;
D.T. Yazov, Minister of Defense of the USSR;
G.I. Yanaev, vice president of the USSR.
The State Emergency Committee issued an Appeal to the Soviet people, in which it was reported that Gorbachev's perestroika collapsed, that taking advantage of the freedoms granted, extremist forces arose that took a course towards the elimination of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the state and the seizure of power at any cost, and therefore the GKChP takes full power into its own hands due to the need to protect the existence of the USSR and its Constitution. On August 19, the State Emergency Committee of the USSR adopted Resolution No. 1, which suspended the activities of parties, public organizations and mass movements, prohibited meetings, street marches, demonstrations, strikes, and the mass media were to come under the control of the State Emergency Committee.
August 19 by decision GKChP to Moscow troops were brought in... At the same time, the organizers of the coup did not dare to arrest B.N. Yeltsin, as well as other leaders of Russia. Telephones and international communications of the White House were not disconnected. At a press conference organized on August 19, the leadership of the State Emergency Committee behaved nervously, its leader G. Yanayev was shaking his hands. The GKChP leaders could not provide a medical certificate about the state of health of M.S. Gorbachev.
The Russian authorities, headed by the President of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin. In the Decree of the President of the RSFSR of August 19, 1991, the actions of the GKChP were declared illegal: "all decisions made by the so-called GKChP shall be considered illegal and invalid on the territory of the RSFSR," and it was said about the transfer of all executive bodies of the USSR to the direct subordination of the President of Russia. B.N. Yeltsin also made an appeal "To the citizens of Russia" in which he called on the population to fight the Emergency Committee. The White House, in which the Russian government is located, was able to immediately begin organizing resistance to the putsch.
B.N. Yeltsin reassigned "all the executive authorities of the USSR, the USSR Ministry of Defense, operating on the territory of the RSFSR."
The overwhelming majority of the population of Russia did not offer resistance to the coming to power of the State Emergency Committee. The majority of citizens for such a short period of time in power of the State Emergency Committee were unable to determine their attitude towards him. Confusion was the predominant mood in society.
But the coup was doomed, because the leadership of the GKChP advocated obsolete socialist values, in which the majority of the population no longer believed. An attempt to establish a state of emergency in the country ended in failure in Moscow. About 100 thousand Muscovites concentrated around the House of Soviets in Moscow to support the Russian leadership. Most of the troops brought into Moscow went over to the side of B.N. Yeltsin. The outcome of the confrontation between the Emergency Committee and the Russian authorities was decided August 20, when B.N. Yeltsin and his entourage were able to turn the tide of events in their favor and took control of the situation in Moscow. On August 21, the leaders of the State Emergency Committee flew to the Crimea, to Foros, to the President of the USSR, allegedly isolated by them. In the evening of the same day, members of the State Emergency Committee were returned to Moscow and arrested. M.S. also returned to Moscow. Gorbachev. On August 22, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR declared the creation of the State Emergency Committee illegal. On the same day M.S. Gorbachev made a statement that he qualifies everything that happened as a coup d'etat. On the same day, a criminal case was opened against members of the State Emergency Committee. On August 23, during a meeting with deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, he was asked to immediately sign a decree on dissolution of the CPSU... The President of the USSR accepted this and other ultimatums. The next day, August 24, 1991, M.S. Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, dismissed the union cabinet of ministers. Central Committee of the CPSU announced the dissolution. B.N. Yeltsin suspended the activities of the Russian Communist Party and banned the activities of parties in the Armed Forces of the USSR on the territory of the RSFSR. On August 24 B.N. Yeltsin signed a decree appointing his representatives to the territories and regions of the RSFSR. As a result of all the events that occurred, not only the communist regime fell, but also collapsed state-party structures cementing the USSR.
The disintegration of all other state structures began: the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR was dissolved, and for a transitional period until the conclusion of a new union treaty between the republics, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR became the highest representative body of power; instead of the cabinet of ministers, a powerless inter-republican economic committee was created, most of the union ministries were liquidated. The Baltic republics, which had been striving for independence for two years, received it. Other republics passed laws that strengthened their sovereignty and made them virtually beyond Moscow's control.
On December 8, 1991, the Presidents of the Russian Federation (B. Yeltsin), Ukraine (L. Kravchuk) and Belarus (S. Shushkevich) in Belovezhskaya Pushcha signed an agreement on the termination of the existence of the USSR and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. At a meeting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, President of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev was not even invited.
On December 21, in Alma-Ata, 11 republics that were previously part of the USSR (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan) signed a Declaration confirming the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Soviet Union ceased to exist.
December 25, 1991 President of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev announced on Central Television that he had voluntarily resigned as President.
The collapse of the USSR is the result of the impact of a whole sum of objective and subjective factors. Permanent failures of economic reforms M.S. Gorbachev encouraged the republics to secede from the Union. The weakening of the power of the CPSU, this pivot of the Soviet system, also led to the collapse of the USSR.
Literature
Barsenkov, A.S. Introduction to modern Russian history (1985-1991): A course of lectures. - M .: Aspect-Press, 1991 .-- S. 213-236.
Sogrin, V.V. Political history of modern Russia. 1985-2001: from Gorbachev to Putin / V.V. Sogrin. - M .: Publishing house "Ves Mir", 2001. - S. 86-102.