August putsch: actors and their fate. August putsch: actors and their fate How did the August putsch 1991 end
The events that took place from August 18 to 21, 1991, during which an attempted coup d'état was made, was called the August putsch. During this period, President Gorbachev was blocked by the top leadership of the USSR, with a further introduction of a state of emergency in the country, and the government of the country was taken over by the GKChP created by the "putschists".
What is the "August Putsch" and "GKChP"?
GKChP (State Committee for the State of Emergency) is a body (most often referred to in the form of an abbreviation) that was created by the top leadership of the USSR.
The GKChP planned to realize its goals by introducing a state of emergency in the country and blocking Gorbachev at a dacha in Crimea. At the same time, troops and special forces of the KGB were brought into Moscow.
The composition of the GKChP included almost all the leaders of the highest echelon of power:
- Yanaev Gennady Ivanovich(Vice-President of the USSR, Acting President of the USSR from August 19 to August 21, 1991).
- Baklanov Oleg Dmitrievich(First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council).
- Kryuchkov Vladimir Alexandrovich(Chairman of the KGB of the USSR).
- Pavlov Valentin Sergeevich(Prime Minister of the USSR).
- Pugo Boris Karlovich(Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR).
- Yazov Dmitry Timofeevich(Minister of Defense of the USSR).
- Starodubtsev Vasily Alexandrovich(Member of the Central Committee of the CPSU).
- Tizyakov Alexander Ivanovich(President of the Association of State Enterprises and Associations of Industry, Construction, Transport and Communications of the USSR).
The period of the so-called activity of the GKChP was officially regarded and named as the August Putsch.
Attempts by the GKChP to seize power were unsuccessful, on August 22 all members of this committee were arrested, and the legitimate president took up his duties.
The political and state crisis in the USSR reached its climax by 1991, according to many experts, the state inevitably had only a few months to exist, since there was a lot, even without the creation of the State Emergency Committee, which actually acted as a catalyst for the collapse of the country.
Until now, there is no consensus in society about the State Emergency Committee and the August Putsch. Someone believes that it was an attempted coup d'état, with the aim of seizing power, and someone - that it was the last desperate attempt to save the Soviet Union from an obviously impending collapse.
Goals of the State Committee for the State of Emergency
At that time, no one had any doubts that Gorbachev's Perestroika policy was clearly a failure. The standard of living in the country deteriorated significantly: prices were constantly rising, money was depreciating, and there was a huge shortage of all kinds of goods in stores. In addition, the control of the “center” over the republics was weakening: the RSFSR already had “its own” president, and there were protest moods in the Baltic republics.The goals of the State Emergency Committee, in fact, can be divided into two groups: state and political. The state goals included preventing the collapse of the USSR, while the political goals included improving the standard of living of the population. Let's look at these goals in more detail.
State goals
Initially, the "putschists" wanted to preserve the integrity of the USSR. The fact is that on August 20 it was planned to sign a new union treaty between the republics that are part of the USSR, which involved the creation of a confederation between these states (the Union of Sovereign States), which, in fact, meant the actual collapse of the USSR and the formation of a new union based on independent republics . This is exactly what the “GKCHPists” wanted to prevent, which such a new agreement led to, we can see on the example of the CIS, with the creation of which the Soviet Union collapsed and the republics began to exist independently of each other.
Some historians believe that the main goal of the GKChP was to preserve their own positions, since if a new union treaty was signed, their powers or positions in general would actually be abolished. However, after the failure of the coup, Yanaev claimed that the members of the GKChP did not stick to their positions.
Political goals
The political goals of the GKChP were to carry out economic and social reforms. The people were tired of the hard life and really really wanted change, as was sung in the then popular song of V. Tsoi. The standard of living was inexorably falling, the crisis covered almost all spheres of life in the USSR, and the only way out of this situation, according to the "putschists", was to remove Gorbachev from office and change the political course of the country.
The State Committee for the State of Emergency promised to freeze and reduce prices, as well as distribute land plots of 15 acres free of charge. As such, the GKChP did not announce an action plan and economic steps, most likely, they simply did not have such specific action plans.
Course of events
The events of the August putsch unfolded as follows.During his vacation, in the city of Foros on the state. dacha, at the direction of the "putschists", the President of the USSR Gorbachev was blocked by employees of specially created units, while all communication channels were turned off for him.
From 8 o'clock in the morning, radio announcers read out a message stating that, for health reasons, the President of the USSR Gorbachev cannot perform his duties, and these powers are transferred to the Vice President of the USSR Yanaev. The report also spoke about the introduction of a state of emergency on the territory of the USSR and the State Emergency Committee is being formed for the effective management of the country.
All TV programs have been canceled on central television and concerts are being broadcast, including the famous Swan Lake ballet. Broadcasting of other channels is disabled. The ECHO of Moscow radio station broadcasts to Moscow.
The suburban dacha of RSFSR President Yeltsin is surrounded by employees of the Alpha unit. As soon as he learns about the creation of the State Emergency Committee and the attempts of the state. coup - decides to go to the White House. The commander of Alpha is given the command to release Yeltsin from the dacha to Moscow, but this decision, in fact, became fatal for the GKChP.
Upon arrival in Moscow, Yeltsin and other leaders of the RSFSR give a press conference at which they do not recognize the GKChP, calling their actions a coup, and calling on everyone to a general strike. People are starting to flock to the White House. Yeltsin's statement on Moscow is broadcast by the ECHO of Moscow radio station.
Meanwhile, the “putschists” are sending a tank battalion to the White House, which, having not received further orders from the command, after negotiations and the psychological pressure of the crowd, goes over to the side of the people and Yeltsin. Then a significant historical event occurs: Yeltsin reads an appeal to citizens from one of the tanks, in which he declares the illegality of the State Emergency Committee and their decrees, that Gorbachev is blocked in the country and must speak to the people, convenes a congress of people's deputies of the USSR, and also calls for a general strike.
The gathered people are building barricades of trolleybuses and improvised metal objects in order to block the approaches to the White House of heavy military equipment.
In the evening, the GKChP holds a press conference that looks more like justifying its actions than any statements. The video clearly shows that the “putschists” are worried. You can watch the press conference below.
From the evening news release of the Vremya program, the country learns about ongoing events. Even then it becomes clear that the "putschists" are not succeeding in a coup.
In the morning, people are gathering at the White House, where a 200,000-strong rally against a coup d'état is taking place. In the evening, the demonstrators are preparing for the assault. A curfew is being introduced in Moscow. Alpha Special Forces refuses to carry out the assault order. As a result of the tank assault, three people from the civilian population die. The assault attempt failed.
Realizing the failure of the GKChP, members of its committee decided to go to Gorbachev in Foros, but he refuses to accept them. Along with this, representatives of the RSFSR fly to Foros for Gorbachev.
At 00:04 Gorbachev arrives in Moscow, these shots also became historical. After that, he reads an appeal to the people on television.
Then Gorbachev holds a press conference in which he gives an assessment of the events. After this press conference, the State Emergency Committee is actually liquidated and the August coup ends.
At a rally on August 22, the protesters decide to make the pre-revolutionary tricolor flag of the RSFSR: white, red, blue flag. And at midnight, the monument to Dzerzhinsky, erected opposite the KGB, was dismantled at the request of the protesters.
After these events, the statehood of the USSR begins to actively collapse, with the declaration of independence by Ukraine, then these processes of declaring independence began to snowball.
All participants and accomplices of the GKChP were arrested. In 1993, a trial began over them, which ended with an amnesty for almost all of them. Army General Varennikov refused the amnesty, but was acquitted, since the court did not see any criminal acts in his actions.
Numerous documentaries have been made about the events of this period. You can watch the video chronicle of those days in this video.
A fragment of the transfer of the Namedni, dedicated to the August coup.
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 the State of Emergency (GKChP) on August 19, 1991.
On August 17, a meeting of future members of the GKChP 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, require Gorbachev to sign the relevant decrees or resign and transfer powers to Vice President Gennady Yanaev, detain Yeltsin at the Chkalovsky airfield upon arrival from Kazakhstan for a conversation with Minister of Defense Yazov, proceed further depending on the outcome of the negotiations.
On August 18, representatives of the committee flew to the Crimea to negotiate with Gorbachev, who was on vacation in Foros, in order to obtain his consent to the introduction of a state of emergency. Gorbachev refused to give them his consent.
At 4:32 p.m., all types of communications were cut off at the presidential dacha, including the channel that provided control of the strategic nuclear forces of the USSR.
At 0400 hours, 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, the decree of the Vice-President of the USSR Yanaev 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.
A.I. Tizyakov, V.A. Starodubtsev, B.K. Pugo, G.I. Yanaev, O.D. Baklanov
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 Radio and Television.
01:30. The Tu-134 plane with Rutskoi, Silaev and Gorbachev landed in Moscow at Vnukovo-2.
Most members of the GKChP were arrested.
Mourning for the dead has been declared in Moscow.
From 12.00 the rally of the winners near the White House began. In the middle of the day, Yeltsin, Silaev and Khasbulatov spoke at it. During the rally, the demonstrators carried 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 on the top point of the building of the House of Soviets.
On the night of August 23, by order of the Moscow City Council, with a massive gathering of protesters, the monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky on Lubyanka Square was dismantled.
Members of the State Emergency Committee declared a state of emergency in the country, and troops were sent to Moscow. The main goal of the putschists was to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union... One of the symbols of the "August coup" was the ballet "Swan Lake", which was shown on TV channels between news releases.
Lenta.ru
17-21 AUGUST 1991
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, require Gorbachev to sign the relevant decrees or resign and transfer powers to Vice President Gennady Yanaev, detain Yeltsin at the Chkalovsky airfield upon arrival from Kazakhstan for a conversation with Defense Minister Yazov, proceed further depending on the outcome of the negotiations.
Representatives of the committee flew to the Crimea to negotiate with Gorbachev, who is on vacation in Foros, to secure his consent to the introduction of a state of emergency. Gorbachev refused to give them his consent.
At 4:32 p.m., all types of communications were cut off at the presidential dacha, including the channel that provided control of the strategic nuclear forces of the USSR.
At 04:00, the Sevastopol regiment of the 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 Yanaev 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 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 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 Objects of Industry, Construction, Transport and Communications of the USSR Alexander Tizyakov.
Around 07:00, on the orders of Yazov, the second Tamanskaya motorized rifle division and the fourth Kantemirovskaya tank division began to move towards Moscow. Marching on military equipment, the 51st, 137th and 331st parachute regiments also began to move 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 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. Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR Ruslan Khasbulatov.
12.30. Yeltsin issued Decree No. 59, where the creation of the GKChP was qualified as an attempted coup.
At about 2:00 pm, those gathered at the White House began the construction of improvised 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 Yevdokimov's tank company went over to Yeltsin's side - 6 tanks without ammunition.
16.00. Yanaev's decree declares a state of emergency in Moscow.
At around 5:00 pm, Yeltsin issued Decree No. 61, by which the allied executive authorities, including law enforcement agencies, 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 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 the Crimea. He has been very tired over the years 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 GKChP in Nizhny Novgorod, Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk, Tyumen and other Russian cities.
The Radio of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, which had just been created in the White House, broadcast an appeal 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 their tanks to positions near the building.
05.00. The Vitebsk division of the Airborne Forces of the KGB of the USSR and the Pskov division of the USSR Ministry of Defense made their way to 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 gathered about 300,000 people. The military cities promised that the army would not interfere.
At about 11:00 am, 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 Ministry of Press (coming out the next day).
12.00. At the White House, a rally sanctioned by the city authorities began (at least 100,000 participants). Rally at the Moscow City Council - about 50 thousand participants.
In connection with the hospitalization of Valentin Pavlov, the temporary 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 Garden Ring (Tchaikovsky Street), clogged with armored vehicles, three civilians died during maneuvering: Dmitry Komar, Vladimir Usov and Ilya Krichevsky.
03.00. Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force Yevgeny Shaposhnikov proposes to Yazov to withdraw troops from Moscow, and to "declare the GKChP illegal and disperse it."
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 the Strategic Missile Forces supported Shaposhnikov's proposal. Yazov orders the withdrawal of troops from Moscow.
11.00. An emergency session of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR opened. There was one issue on the agenda - the political situation in the RSFSR, "formed as a result of a coup d'état."
At 14.18 IL-62 with members of the State 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 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR, which was tasked with arresting members of the committee.
Gorbachev refused to accept them and demanded to restore contact with the outside world.
At 4:52 pm, vice-president of the RSFSR Alexander Rutskoi and Prime Minister Ivan Silaev flew to Foros to Gorbachev on another plane.
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 Radio and Television.
01:30. The Tu-134 plane with Rutskoi, Silaev and Gorbachev landed in Moscow at Vnukovo-2.
Most members of the GKChP were arrested.
Mourning for the dead has been declared in Moscow.
From 12.00 the rally of the winners near the White House began. In the middle of the day, Yeltsin, Silaev and Khasbulatov spoke at it. During the rally, the demonstrators carried 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 on the top point of the building of the House of Soviets.
On the night of August 23, by order of the Moscow City Council, with a massive gathering of protesters, the monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky on Lubyanka Square was dismantled.
DOCUMENTS GKChP
Vice President of the USSR
Due to the impossibility for health reasons of Gorbachev's performance of his duties as the President of the USSR, on the basis of Article 1277 of the Constitution of the USSR, he assumed the duties of the President of the USSR from 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. A chaotic, spontaneous slip to 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 taking shape over decades. The result was a sharp drop in the standard of living of the vast majority of Soviet people, the flourishing of speculation and the shadow economy. It is 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 to mass manifestations of spontaneous discontent with devastating consequences ...
From Decree No. 1
State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR
6. Citizens, institutions and organizations to immediately hand over all types of firearms, ammunition, explosives, military equipment and equipment illegally located v them. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB and the Ministry of Defense of the USSR shall ensure the strict implementation of this requirement. In cases of refusal - to seize them forcibly with the involvement of violators to strict criminal and administrative responsibility.
From Decree No. 2
State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR
1. Temporarily limit the list of published 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, the nerves are on edge. Everyone who has a radio listens to the radio. Those who have a TV do not miss a single newscast. I then worked in "Vesti". Vesti was taken off the air. We sit and watch the first channel. At three o'clock, the usual episode, which no one had watched before. And then everyone stuck. And the announcer appears in the frame, and suddenly begins to read news reports: President Bush condemns the putschists, British Prime Minister John Major condemns, the world community is outraged - and in the end: Yeltsin outlawed the GKChP, the Russian prosecutor, then there was Stepankov, initiates a criminal 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 had swayed, ran to the White House to Yeltsin to sign their loyalty and loyalty. On the third day, in the evening, I meet Tanechka Sopova, who then worked in the Main Information Office of Central Television, well, hugs, kisses. I say: “Tatyan, what happened to you?” - “And this is me, Bad Boy,” says Tanya. “I was the responsible graduate.” That is, she collected a folder, picked up news.
And there was an order: to go and coordinate everything. “I go in,” he says, “once, and there the whole synclite sits and some people who are completely unfamiliar. Discuss what to transmit at 21 o'clock in the program "Time". And here I am, little, 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:“ Type it yourself! - Well, I went and made up.
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 the respondents believed that the putsch had been 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 - in the course of a similar survey, only 9% of Russians considered the suppression of the GKChP a victory for the "democratic revolution"; 40% of respondents consider the events of those days just an episode of the struggle for power in the country's top leadership.
A sociological survey conducted by VTsIOM in 2002 showed that the proportion 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 proportion of those who believed that on August 19-21, 1991, the opponents of the State Emergency Committee were right, decreased.
More impressive results were obtained in August 2010 following the results of the voting on the cycle of programs "Court 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 - despite the efforts of N. Svanidze, 93% of the surveyed 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 impromptu, you, as a military leader, should have understood that if the operation is not prepared, the forces are not pulled together ...
Dmitry Yazov: No forces had to be pulled together, 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 the state exists. The whole government got together and decided: we must go to Gorbachev. Everyone went to tell him: are you for the state or not? Let's take action. But such a weak-willed as Mikhail Sergeevich could not do this. Didn't even listen. We left. Gorbachev made a speech, his son-in-law, Raisa Maksimovna, recorded him on tape: “I hid it so, and my daughter hid it so that no one would have found it.” Well, it’s clear where she plugged this tape, of course, no one would climb. Who needed it, this film. The state is falling apart, and he expressed resentment that they cut off his connection, did not allow him to talk with Bush.
DP.RU: I heard that you yourself assigned a battalion to guard the White House.
Dmitry Yazov: Absolutely right.
DP.RU: But then they said: the troops went over to Yeltsin's side. It turns out that everything was not so?
Dmitry Yazov: Of course not. Shortly before that, Yeltsin was elected president. Came to Tula. There Grachev showed him the exercises of the airborne division. Well, not the entire division - the regiment. They liked the teaching, they drank well, and Yeltsin thought that Pasha Grachev was his best friend. When the state of emergency was introduced, Yeltsin became indignant, like a coup. But no one arrested him. No one had a hand in it 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 for 4 hours in order to shoot down the plane. Imagine what a meanness! Newspapers wrote how he spent those 4 hours. We played tennis with Nazarbayev for 2.5 hours in the rain, then we went to wash... And he: they wanted to knock me down!!! I arrived at the White House myself and called Pasha Grachev: he sent out security. Grachev calls me: Yeltsin asks for security. I say: Lebed went with the battalion. So that there really were no provocations.
We organized patrols, there was a company of infantry fighting vehicles... Right here, right on Novy Arbat Avenue, we set up trolleybuses, made a barricade under the bridge. The tanks would pass, but the infantry fighting vehicles would stop. There were drunks: some began to beat with a stick, some threw a tent so that nothing could be seen. Three people died. Who was shooting? Someone shot from the roof. The soldiers did not shoot. Someone was interested. Everything was done in order to have a civil war. And I took and withdrew the troops. I was about to go to Gorbachev, and everyone came running. I say let's go. Arrived - he took such a pose. Didn't accept anyone. We humiliated him!!!
Rutskoi, Bakatin, Silaev arrived on another plane - that, 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 did not need gratitude from them, we served the people. Of course, I saw that there would be an arrest now. It cost me nothing to put a brigade on the airfield or to land on another airfield myself, but that would be a civil war. I served the people, and I would have to because they want to arrest me, unleash a war, shoot at the people. Just from a human point of view, 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 them arrest him: there is no corpus delicti. But they arrest him, and immediately the 64th article is treason. But how can you prove treason to me? Yesterday I was a minister, I sent troops to guard the Kremlin, to guard the water intake, to guard the Gokhran. Everything has been saved. Then they looted 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? We signed while drunk, overslept, and in the morning the first thing we did was report 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 you didn't care. Yeltsin literally 3-4 days later 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 5 trillion in order to eliminate the Soviet Union." Business Petersburg. August 19, 2011
We are at the White House. The barricades expanded, but this was purely a moral defense. On the other hand, a tank company stood with guns along 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 were civilians. Unarmed, destined for slaughter, if slaughter takes place. We joined the third ring. There was no organization...
“Among completely alien feasts,
and too unreliable truths.
Waiting for praise
we will clean our white feathers.
Until the time has come
we part a little -
Let's hold hands friends
let's hold hands friends
Let's hold hands, by God"
B. Okudzhava
| The return of MS Gorbachev from Foros. Photo: Yury Lizunov |
FOREWORD
I am a direct participant in the events of August 19-21, 1991. It can be said 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 really 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 change, and I have comments.
I didn't know then how it would all turn out. And now I don't know how it will end. I guess it will end badly. But this is separate, later. In a separate story, which I have already written. The story is called: "2037". But that's later. Now we are going to confess 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. There were negotiations with potential partners. I then worked as the head of a department in a joint Soviet-English-Indian company, which was supported by Azerbaijani money - then there was already a war in Nagorno-Karabakh. I suspect that the office was laundering money for the war. But, I did not 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, like: “You're crazy. We have a coup d'état. We turn everything around. Listen to the radio."
I understood and went home.
At home, I turned on the TV - a swan lake was shown. I knew something big was going on, but what exactly? I didn't have a radio or receiver. The only source of information is TV. And there is a swan lake ...
Then I thought very quickly: I need to withdraw money from the passbook and I need to repair the car. I had a Zaporozhets 968 and its left knuckle broke a few days ago. I went to the market, but there were no left kulaks - there were none at all. Not for any money. There were only right ones.
There was a radio station in the savings bank. While I was withdrawing money, I got 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. Speaking in normal language, the impostors carried out a coup d'état.
I didn't like their program. My personal program was formed very quickly - fix the car, pick up my wife and daughter, and leave Moscow. To parents, in the Lipetsk region. Well, they won't find it there. I had something to fear.
I was a member of the Democratic Party of Russia. Party Chairman - Travkin, Hero of Socialist Labor, suddenly, so suddenly, joined the opposition. Later, he was a member of several parties in power, 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 leaders of the opposition.
I made headlines at several rallies and in the 1990 election campaign when, as an independent observer, I discovered 300 ballots being stuffed in one neat stack. I raised a scandal, drew up an act. Then I was summoned to the prosecutor's office, and I gave evidence. But the case did not reach the court, especially since those 300 weather bulletins did not work ...
I went home and thought again. The plan was simple - money in your pocket, documents too. You have to go to the car market, and then to the center - to understand what is really happening.
At this time, the phone rang. I did not pick up the phone - I was simply scared. I thought that they were looking for me - those who were supposed to look for me. We are all afraid - I am not the first and not the last ...
I got off at Pushkinskaya. Traffic along 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 alert and driven into the center of Moscow. People were walking down to Marx Avenue. There were many people. I followed the flow of people.
This crowd of people could not be called a crowd. These were Humans who were trying to understand what was really going on. The official information did not explain anything. People wanted to understand...
I went to the White House on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment. Along the perimeter, barricades were built from improvised materials. I felt funny - one tank would smash the barricade to shreds. But when I got closer, I stopped laughing - a tank company of about 10 tanks stood around the perimeter of the White House. Guns around the perimeter - and this is serious. Given 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 didn't have... well, had nothing but empty bottles to fill 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 can only be violated - he did not follow the order and betrayed the Motherland - more precisely, the bosses, who at that moment personified the Motherland. He, at his own peril and risk, 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. The rest of the officers thought: “Maybe that major is the smartest? And he understood in time what needs to be done ... ”And the officers took a break - whoever wins, we will swear to him.
True, they say that the tanks were without ammunition, but this became known only later, when everything was over. Whether there was actually ammunition - no one really knows, except for the major himself and the tank crews.
The situation with the execution of the Order was repeated 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.
You can understand the minister - he also calculated the situation and tried to understand - whose one he would take. And then swear to the winner.
In my understanding, the professional military 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. Regular officers who fought for the faith, the king and the Fatherland, according to the oath. The result is known without comment.
Further: 1941 - 1945. The regular Red Army ended in the third month of the war. Half dead, the rest prisoners. Then volunteers, unprepared conscripts and partisans went to fight. Outcome is known.
Summary. In all defensive and civil Russian wars, the professional military was powerless. Civilians always won when they took up arms. And, they took up arms only when they had nothing to lose.
So it would have been in 1991 if the meat grinder had begun ...
President Yeltsin appeared. I climbed onto the tank and read out the Decrees. The essence was simple - the GKChP is outlawed, and all those who support it are state criminals. Assistants distributed leaflets with decrees. I took several sheets. The situation became clear. But I had to solve my problems - to calm the women in the country and fix the car.
I drove into my office. The Assistant General was on duty. I asked him to make copies of President Yeltsin's decrees. And I got the answer: "The copier does not work." I understood everything: he is waiting too. Whose will take? And, then, he will express his respect to the Winner. People are weak... But not all.
I arrived at the dacha and reassured my women. Gave Yeltsin's Decrees and warned them not to believe the official propaganda. At this time, the latest official news was shown on TV. I learned that the GKChP was supported by a number of labor collectives of workers and collective farmers, secretaries of the CPSU committees and heads of executive power in many regions, and even the leader of the newly 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 - either he finally realized where he had gotten himself into, or he had drunk too much. But, there was no turning back, the point of no return was passed. And here I realized, I realized for myself that the GKChP had already lost.
They couldn't 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 the slaughter as a crowd of sheep.
I'm trying to understand the train of thought of the GKChP members. I am willing to admit that they were idealists. Like the Decembrists on Senate Square. Nothing personal - only the preservation of the USSR and socialism of the August 1991 model. When everything was already sold by coupons - starting with vodka, cigarettes and ending with washing powder. The ruble was worth 7 US cents on the black market. And the population had a lot of rubles - over the previous few years of perestroika, the country was stuffed with paper rubles, which were not backed by anything. Then a joke appeared: “The hostess asks the guests: “Did you wash 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 not idealists, but idiots... The funny thing is that the effect turned out to be just the opposite - after the putsch, the USSR fell apart 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 - the day after tomorrow I will come by car and pick them all up. I no longer doubted the failure of the putsch, but I could not know the timing and consequences. Nobody knew this then. It would be best to go somewhere...
I met in the subway with a man on the ad, and he sold me the left knuckle. Homemade. At first I hesitated, but the man assured me that the fist would do. I believed.
The fucking economy of the decline of developed socialism! They produced the most steel 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. Who can.
I returned home and went to bed. Enough for one day...
I got into car repairs.
Repair completed. Made a test drive, drove to the gas station and filled a full tank, plus two canisters. Enough autonomy for 700 kilometers.
I was preparing lunch and dinner when the phone rang. I picked up the phone. My neighbor called - a fellow member of the Democratic Party. He told me that, according to radio Ekho Moskvy, the only independent Moscow radio station that continued to broadcast, an assault on the White House was being prepared tonight. And a curfew is announced - from 22 hours. He asked - will I go with him? And he offered to take someone else with him.
I understood everything at once. You have to go - because you need to crush these bastards who imagine themselves ... I don’t know who they imagine themselves to be, but I didn’t want to live in the same country with them. Although, I agreed on one condition - They would 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 under the Constitution. At the same time, an incident turned out - 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 pushed out of the pre-trial detention center by force... And he kept demanding trial of himself. Idealist. Or - moron - it all depends on the point of view.
Then some of the amnestied tried to go into big politics, someone to write memoirs on the topic: "My attempts to save the USSR." And some just disappeared. But that was later... Just like numerous discussions, such as: "Was the putsch an attempt to save 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 only teaches 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.
At the exit from the metro station "Barrikadnaya" it was crowded. And the entire human flow was directed in one direction - to the White House. We joined the stream. I also thought: “An interesting coincidence - the Barrikadnaya station ... Everyone spat on the curfew - and there was no force that could stop this crowd of people.
If only automatic-machine-gun bursts to defeat. With the forces of one motorized rifle platoon on several infantry fighting vehicles, this could be done. But… but, then, there was no platoon ready to kill… then, in 1991. After 1993, it became possible.
We are at the White House. The barricades expanded, but this was purely a moral defense. But the tank company stood - 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 were civilians. Unarmed, destined for slaughter, if slaughter takes place. We joined the third cordon ring. There was no organization - people organized themselves. According to the principle of horizontal connections. A man approached us and offered to dip handkerchiefs in the nearest puddle - in case of a gas attack. Wet handkerchiefs were our only weapons.
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 am alone and I am scared. But I couldn't come. I have sandwiches and coffee in a thermos. Can I be with you?" We accepted it. There were four of us. She was holding an umbrella, trying to cover us all. It turned out badly - one umbrella for four was not enough. That night, the sky opened up - the rain poured down without ceasing.
Rumors hovered very different, at times confirmed or refuted by a loud broadcast from the White House. There was information that armored vehicles approached the defense with forces up to the battalion and stood on the near approaches, creating an outer ring of defense. On the way officers and cadets of the Ryazan and Oryol police schools. The Tula division of the Airborne Forces under the command of General Lebed went over to the side of Yeltsin and stood guard ...
Some of it was confirmed later, some of it was not. The Ryazan and Orel police schools approached in the morning. Then they participated in the arrest of the putschists. The Tula division of the Airborne Forces was, as President Yeltsin officially announced the next day, expressing gratitude to General Lebed. I do not know how many crews of the Taman and Kantemirovskaya divisions actually went over to the side of the defenders. Probably no one knows about it now.
Cars with second-rate politicians drove up to the White House. We greeted them with applause. Someone sincerely wanted to join, but someone defected in time - then we were indifferent. Most importantly, people drove up and approached. There were already fifty thousand of us.
It was a situation where a random gathering of people became like brothers and sisters in Christ. Although, I am an atheist, and do not belong to any religious denominations. 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 consoled themselves with hope - the professionals are on 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. (Later it turned out that the soldiers of the special forces refused to participate in the assault. As well as the unit of the chemical troops. This was announced later, when it was all over). But, even without special forces and without the use of poisonous 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 destined for slaughter - by the forces of the tanks standing guard. Almost entirely - military statistics are inexorable: one tank in defense beats 3 attackers. Then he dies himself. So, the first battalion would be mortal. (Provided that the defenders had full ammunition - and no one knew this. Like, no one really knew how many tanks were defending the White House). And the second battalion would have completed the job - it would have shot the remnants of tanks that had run out of ammunition. And, further, machine guns on civilians, and caterpillars on corpses. But, this was not. Why? WHY? After all, everything could be done.
My response options:
- KGChP did not have the mind. But, after all, there was Minister of Defense Yazov, who went through the Great Patriotic War, and he, elementarily, alone, without assistants, could calculate the situation, make a decision, and give a combat order. Considering that tanks and motorized riflemen were already in the city. But, there was no order, or they refused to carry it out. The battalion of tankers - suicide bombers was not found. And it turned out what happened ...
- the military had the conscience not to comply with the Order.
Automatic shooting began on the garden ring. Tracers flew overhead. What happened there, we did not know. But they had a presentiment - it would begin now ... They broadcast it: prepare for an assault. Living chains closed, holding hands. We waited. It could be anything - a gas attack, special forces, tanks ...
Nothing started. We were told by broadcast: to 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 ammo. Either gas or cannons with machine guns can resolve the situation. But, there were no armored vehicles. Gaza too.
We were a human shield, more precisely - cannon fodder, intended for minced meat, if the meat grinder began. We have fulfilled our function.
The broadcast announced that the threat had passed. They expressed their gratitude and said that we can disperse - to rest. We will be replaced by others. We left. Moor did his job...
We approached the intersection with the Garden Ring and found out 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 BMPs came out of this tunnel, they fell into a trap. At the exit from the tunnel, several men crept up, having passed Afghan. And they knew how to fight, and what to fight for, unlike the conscripts - the boys sitting in the cars.
A bottle of gasoline at the stern and, at the same time, rags at 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 winners. They were not even beaten - they were pitied. Young boys who got into trouble against their will. And, who did not understand, for whom they are not even fighting, but substitute their bodies as cannon fodder. Don't understand why... And in whose specific interests. It was just cannon fodder, meant to be slaughtered... whoever it was. Or for slaughter - that's how it will turn out.
Then this was repeated many times - in 1993, in two Chechen, which grew into an undeclared global Caucasian, which lasts more than 10 years. And the end of which is not in sight. Boys destined for slaughter. For the sake of interests ... Whose, exactly, they did not know. We don't know either. But you can guess.
They were taught this way from school - “Before, think about the Motherland. And then about yourself…” And what did they imagine under the terms “Motherland?” And what is the Motherland for them? Instructions from superiors, starting from the sergeant... They didn't know anything about it. And. therefore, the cars were handed over to the Civilians one after another. Without a fight - they had nothing to fight for.
New crews got into the captured infantry fighting vehicles, raised the Tricolor, and drove, signaling, to the White House. Cars were greeted with raised hands.
But, one car began to resist, most likely due to the foolishness of the driver, who did not understand anything. He began, blindly, to maneuver back and forth and diagonally. And crushed three civilians. To death. The car was stormed, the crew was beaten. But not to death. Then they raised the Tricolor and drove it to the White House. And on the road there were three corpses. Civil. They were the only victims of that night.
But there were machine guns. Tracers were flying overhead - we saw it standing at the White House. And there were more victims. I found out about this later.
According to official reports of 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 wounded, including those with firearms, from civilians. And several wounded soldiers - without firearms.
We went on Thursday. Three men and a woman who joined us. The coffee was drunk, the sandwiches were eaten, the umbrella was put away, for the rain had stopped. We felt brotherly and sisterly love for each other. At least I...
And, I felt happy - I have 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 happened around. THEY lost. We won! It was the moment of truth...
The sobriety 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 were happy. We parted with the woman in the subway and went to my house.
I got a bottle of port from my stash and we drank it. With one toast: "For the return!". We have returned. And these bastards are done.
Considering that in those days wine was sold by coupons, one can understand my sacrificial act - to drink 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 during the curfew at night. There are dead. I cursed the TV presenter with foul language - but he could not hear it. Much to his dismay...
Then the one who defected in time ... and swore allegiance to the Winner was right. Who did not have time - he lost. To his regret, for the one who managed in time - he became a Hero. The one who did not have time - he became a traitor. Personal prowess didn't matter. Political flexibility mattered. More precisely, the complete absence of ideology - except for the ideology of personal well-being.
Far from everyone was able to calculate the Winner in advance. But, on the other hand, 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 last name. 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.
That's the policy, sir...
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. Already over. And, I called my previous job - the Ministry of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy. In his native (once) department. Deputy replied. Chief. I asked him what he does? And 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 the Decrees of the State Emergency Committee! We call all departments.
Our insanity is unbending. And the ass is stronger than the head - just when the head should think, and not the ass, which is only responsible for the place on which it sits.
I modestly said, like, honey, stop calling. Otherwise, you may turn out to be a state criminal for complicity with the putschists. They've already been arrested. They will come for you soon! I bluffed a little, but the effect exceeded all my expectations. My interlocutor said dryly: “Thanks for the information. Got it.” And hung up the phone. Apparently, he finally began to think.
My wife came in, frightened. 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. Putsch putsch, but you want to eat regularly. And then there were big interruptions with sugar.
I went to the store. My wife was in the middle of the line, and the line was on the street, in front of the store - everyone wanted sugar. The queue was silent. But, one elderly man spoke loudly, apparently, specifically trying to set up the crowd. He said: “It’s time to put things in order! The GKChP still lacks Stalin! Disbanded with this perestroika!” Well, and so on, in the same spirit. Some agreed with him and expressed their approval.
And then I could not stand it, and said loudly, to the whole queue: “Citizen! Submit your documents! You are a supporter of state criminals! GKChP members have already been arrested! Your turn is next."
I myself did not expect a reaction to my joke - a man jumped out of line and trotted into the yards. Behind him ran those who had just supported him. The queue shortened a little and abruptly fell silent. My wife nudged me, smiled, and whispered in my ear:
"You're good at shortening the line. Try something else! Maybe they'll just run away." But the queue courageously stood, despite all the troubles of domestic politics.
PEOPLE WANTED SUGAR! AND THEY DID NOT SHIT THE POLITICS. Whoever gives sugar at the old price, and, preferably, without restrictions on the volume of purchase, will become the most-most ... loved and respected.
There were 80 percent of them. But there were another 5 percent, which 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.
And people… They have not changed at all in the past 20 years - they will support anyone for cheap sugar. If only there was sugar... Today, 70 percent of such people are the electorate of United Russia. This is according to the Central Electoral Commission. According to other versions - about 50%. But, it's still too much.
(I can’t call United Russia a party - it doesn’t fit the definition of a party. It simply consists and is supported by people who want cheap sugar. Especially if it’s possible only for themselves. And, preferably, for free).
I turned on the TV. And my favorite program with a trio of horses appeared on the screen - “Time”. Then I believed her.
Today the program "time" has fallen below the low level. I can only comment on its products with obscenities ... And they soon abandoned the trio of horses - and they did the right thing. At least they acted honestly in this - because that "Time" and today's "time" differ fundamentally.
Then "Vremya" gave information, the one that people were waiting for. And not the one that was lowered from above to the Chief Editor.
(So that the Editor-in-Chiefs of the Vremya program, who have changed a lot in 20 years, do not have the opportunity to sue me for defamation, I am ready to admit that they acted and are acting on their own. I admit. But, Lord, this is even worse It's one thing when you distort information under threat of being shot, and quite another when FOR CHEAP SUGAR.)
And, then, according to the still honest program “Vremya”, I found out all the details - and how the putschists flew 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 days as a general) flew out with a special forces detachment, arrested the rebels, released Gorbachev and delivered everyone to Moscow on separate planes - Gorbachev and his family were honorable, and the rebels were not honored, followed by being sent to comfortable cells. But, this is beyond the scope of my essay, for it has already become the property of history.
I do not set myself the task of retelling the story - I set the task of adding personal observations and personal comments to the already known story.
Those that were not included in the official history.
Although, the official history of the events of August 1991 still does not exist - and where does it come from ... Everyone grinds for themselves. Depending on the political situation at the moment, any lured historian will write any story ...
However, there are still a number of issues that have not yet been covered:
- Considering that Vice-President Yanaev, who took over the functions of the acting President, was chronically drunk all the days of the coup, he could not have any real influence on the events;
- given that Prime Minister Pavlov fell ill on the very first day of the coup (fell into a hypertensive crisis), he could not have any influence on the events either;
- 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 is: who was in charge? Who was the gray cardinal? Who, in general, needed this idiotic putsch?
Alas, I don't know the answer. Who knows, he is silent. If anyone else knows anything...
On Manezhnaya Square, a solemn funeral began for three men who accidentally died in this swara. 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 words of the First President at the solemn funeral of the first Heroes of New Russia. The President apologized to the 100,000th rally for the tragic deaths...
Even now I cannot call this crowd of people a crowd - they were comrades who came to bury their dead 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 began. By decree of the First President, who promised... See above what He promised. The number of corpses 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. Further, the local Chechen grew into an undeclared global Caucasian. Nobody counted the bodies.
The inability of the Governors to manage turned into a lot of corpses, absolutely not involved in anything. Just random people...
Perhaps that was the intention of the Rulers? The more corpses, the stronger the desire of the people to strengthen power. In addition, the war - like a mother, will write off everything. And feeds well. Someone directly involved in it.
It was a policy of state cynicism. And you can call it differently - state terrorism. And it is possible and on the third - strengthening of a vertical of the power. It is possible and on the fourth - a triumph of sovereign democracy. And it is possible on the fifth - the preservation of the territorial integrity of the State. And so on ... - can be classified ad infinitum. Depending on the political situation at the moment.
And how much did it feed on! Hiding behind ... And what did they just not hide behind? In fact, they covered themselves with corpses, the exact number of which no one knew.
But at the time I didn't even think about it...
I walked in the general funeral procession, holding the edge of the mourning veil.
Now I know how it turned out, but I still don’t know how it will end. And more and more often a petty thought appears: “Was it worth it then, in 1991, to get involved? For me and for everyone else? After all, they came to the same place where they started. Only the elites have changed - who was nobody, he became everything ... But, to me, what’s up to this: - I and everyone I know, who they were, remained the same.
The funny thing is that now I'm starting to sympathize with the communists, though without Lenin and Stalin.
Thought, of course, vile and stupid: - we still got something. We received the memory of unprecedented freedom and brotherhood, which is possible between people. When they have something for which... 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 - at 20 ... I can’t predict in which year.
P.S. In the year 1995 I had working negotiations with a Siberian partner. Having finished the official part, after the fourth glass, we moved on to the unofficial part, and the conversation accidentally touched on the events of August 1991. And my interlocutor suddenly admitted that he had always disliked Muscovites ... you know why. But after August 1991 - began to respect. “Muscovites then decided the outcome of the putsch,” he said something like this. To which I modestly replied: - "I was one of them."
The August putsch is a political coup that took place in Moscow in August 1991, the purpose of which was to overthrow the existing government and change the vector of the country's development, preventing the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The August putsch took place from August 19 to 21, 1991, and became, in fact, the reason for the further collapse of the USSR, although its goal was a completely different development of events. As a result of the coup, members of the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP), a self-proclaimed body that assumed the duties of the main body of state administration, wanted to come to power. However, the attempts of the GKChP to seize power failed, and all members of the GKChP were arrested.
The main reason for the putsch is dissatisfaction with the perestroika policy pursued by M.S. Gorbachev, and the deplorable results of his reforms.
Causes of the August putsch
After a period of stagnation in the USSR, the country was in a very difficult situation - a political, economic, food and cultural crisis broke out. The situation was getting worse every day, it was necessary to urgently carry out reforms and reorganize the economy and the country's governance system. This was done by the current leader of the USSR - Mikhail Gorbachev. Initially, his reforms were assessed generally positively and were called "perestroika", but time passed, and the changes did not bring any results - the country plunged deeper into crisis.
As a result of the failure of Gorbachev's domestic political activities, discontent in the ruling structures began to grow sharply, a crisis of confidence in the leader arose, and not only his opponents, but also recent associates opposed Gorbachev. All this led to the fact that the idea of a conspiracy to overthrow the current government began to mature.
The last straw was Gorbachev's decision to transform the Soviet Union into a Union of Sovereign States, that is, to actually give the republics independence, political and economic. This did not suit the conservative part of the ruling sector, who were in favor of maintaining the power of the CPSU and ruling the country from the center. On August 5, Gorbachev leaves for negotiations, and at the same time, the organization of a conspiracy to overthrow him begins. The purpose of the conspiracy is to prevent the collapse of the USSR.
Chronology of the events of the August putsch
The performance began on August 19 and took only three days. The members of the new government, first of all, read out the documents they had adopted the day before, in which they especially pointed out the inconsistency of the existing government. First of all, a decree was read out signed by the Vice-President of the USSR G. Yanaev, which stated that Gorbachev could no longer fulfill the duties of the head of state due to his state of health, so Yanaev himself would perform his duties. Next, the “statement of the Soviet leadership” was read, which stated that a new body of state power was proclaimed - the State Emergency Committee, which included the First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council O.D. Baklanov, KGB Chairman V.A. Kryuchkov, Prime Minister of the SSR V.S. Pavlov, Minister of the Interior B.K. Pugo, as well as the President of the Association of State Enterprises and Objects of Industry, Construction and Transport A.I. Tizyakov. Yanaev himself was appointed head of the GKChP.
Next, the members of the KChP addressed the citizens with a statement saying that the political freedoms that Gorbachev gave led to the creation of a number of anti-Soviet structures that sought to seize power by force, destroy the USSR and destroy the country completely. In order to counter this, it is necessary to change the government. On the same day, the leaders of the GKChP issued the first decree that banned all associations that were not legalized in accordance with the Constitution of the USSR. At the same moment, many parties and circles, opposition to the CPSU, were dissolved, censorship was again introduced, many newspapers and other media were closed.
In order to ensure the new order on August 19, troops were brought into Moscow. However, the struggle for power by the GKChP was not simple - the President of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin, who issued a decree that all executive bodies must strictly obey the President of Russia (RSFSR). Thus, he managed to organize a good defense and resist the State Emergency Committee. The confrontation between the two structures ended on August 20 with Yeltsin's victory. All members of the GKChP were arrested immediately.
On the 21st, Gorbachev returns to the country, who immediately receives a series of ultimatums from the new government, to which he is forced to agree. As a result, Gorbachev resigned from the post of chairman of the Central Committee of the CPSU, dissolved the CPSU, the cabinet of ministers, republican ministries and a number of other state bodies. Gradually, the collapse of all state structures begins.
Significance and results of the August coup
The members of the State Emergency Committee conceived the August putsch as a measure that should prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, which by that time was in the deepest crisis, but the attempt not only failed, in many respects it was the putsch that accelerated the events that took place further. The Soviet Union finally showed itself as an untenable structure, the government was completely reorganized, various republics gradually began to emerge and gain independence.
The Soviet Union gave way to the Russian Federation.
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