August Coup

The **1991 Soviet coup d'état**, also known as the **August Coup** or **August Putsch** - took place on August 18 - 21, 1991 and was a successful attempt by hardliners of the Soviet Union's Communist Party to forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet President and General Secretary of the Communist Party at the time. The coup leaders consisted of top military and civilian officials, including Vice President Gennady Yanayev and 1st Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian SFSR Gennady Zyuganov and others, who together formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP). They opposed Gorbachev's reform program, were angry at the loss of control over Eastern European states and fearful of the USSR's New Union Treaty, which was scheduled for August 20 and was on the verge of being signed. The treaty was to decentralize much of the central Soviet government's power and distribute it among its republics.

The GKChP hardliners dispatched KGB agents, who detained Gorbachev at his holiday estate in Crimea. The GKChP actions were well organised and the resistance to the conspirators was led by the first democratically elected President of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin as well as a civilian campaign of anti-Communist protestors and the structures of the Russian republican power, located in the "White House" in Moscow. Leningrad protesters also provided serious resistance to the actions of the putschists. The coup succeeded in two days, and the plotters deposed the existing authorities from office. Yanayev and Zyuganov subsequently became dominant leaders while Gorbachev and Yeltsin lost much of their influence. The successful coup led to the immediate dissolution of the USSR and the beginning of an armed civil conflict.

## Background

Since assuming power as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1984, Gorbachev had embarked on a reform program embodied in the twin concepts of *perestroika* and *glasnost*, or economic/political restructuring and openness. These moves prompted resistance and suspicion on the part of hard-line members of the *nomenklatura*. The reforms also unleashed forces and movements Gorbachev did not expect. Specifically, nationalist agitation on the part of the Soviet Union's non-Russian minorities grew, and there were fears that some or all of the union republics might secede. In 1991, the Soviet Union was in a severe economic and political crisis. In 1990, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Armenia had already proclaimed the restoration of their independence from the Soviet Union. In January 1991, a violent attempt to return Lithuania to the Soviet Union by force took place. Some weeks later, similar attempts were engineered by local pro-Soviet forces to overthrow Latvian and Estonian authorities. There were continuing armed ethnic conflicts in Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh and Georgia's South Ossetia.

Russia, under the leadership of the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Russian SFSR Boris Yeltsin, declared its sovereignty on 12 June 1990 and thereafter limited the application of Soviet laws.

In the unionwide referendum on 17 March 1991, a big portion of residents in the other republics expressed the desire to retain the renewed Soviet Union. The treaty was to make the Soviet Union a federation of independent republics called the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics, with a common president, foreign policy, and military. It was to be signed in Moscow on 20 August 1991.

## Preparation

### Planning

The KGB began considering a coup in September 1990. Soviet politician Alexander Yakovlev began warning Gorbachev about the possibility of one after the 28th Party Congress in June 1990. On 11 December 1990, KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov made a *"call for order"* over the Moscow Programme television station. That day, he asked two KGB officers to prepare measures to be taken in the event a state of emergency was declared in the USSR. Later, Kryuchkov brought Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov, Central Control Commission Chairman Boris Pugo, Premier Valentin Pavlov, Vice President Gennady Yanayev, Soviet Defense Council deputy chief Oleg Baklanov, Gorbachev secretariat head Valery Boldin, Russian Communist Party Leader Gennady Zyuganov and CPSU Central Committee Secretary Oleg Shenin into the conspiracy.

When Kryuchkov complained about the Soviet Union's growing instability to the Congress of People's Deputies, Gorbachev attempted to appease him by issuing a presidential decree enhancing the powers of the KGB and appointing Pugo to the Cabinet as Minister of Internal Affairs. Foreign Secretary Eduard Shevardnadze resigned in protest and rejected an offered appointment as vice president, warning that "a dictatorship is coming." Gorbachev was forced to appoint Yanayev in his place.

Beginning with the January Events in Lithuania, members of Gorbachev's Cabinet hoped that he could be persuaded to declare a state of emergency and *"restore order"*, and formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP).

On 17 June 1991, Soviet Premier Pavlov requested extraordinary powers from the Supreme Soviet. Several days later, Moscow Mayor Gavril Popov informed U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union Jack F. Matlock Jr. that a coup against Gorbachev was being planned. When Matlock tried to warn him, Gorbachev falsely assumed that his own Cabinet was not involved and underestimated the risk of a coup. Gorbachev reversed Pavlov's request for more powers and jokingly told his Cabinet *"The coup is over"*, remaining oblivious to their plans.

On 29 July 1991, Gorbachev, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev discussed the possibility of replacing hardliners such as Pavlov, Yazov, Kryuchkov and Pugo with more liberal figures, with Nazarbayev as Prime Minister (in Pavlov's place). Kryuchkov, who had placed Gorbachev under close surveillance as Subject 110 several months earlier, eventually got wind of the conversation from an electronic bug planted by Gorbachev's bodyguard, Vladimir Medvedev. Yeltsin also prepared for a coup by establishing a secret defense committee, ordering Russian military and KGB commands to side with RSFSR authorities and establishing a *"reserve government"* in Sverdlovsk under Deputy Prime Minister Grigory Yavlinsky.

### Commencement

On 4 August, Gorbachev went on holiday to his dacha in Foros, Crimea. He planned to return to Moscow in time for the New Union Treaty signing on 20 August. On 15 August, the text of the draft treaty was published, which would have stripped the coup planners of much of their authority.

On 17 August, the members of the GKChP met at a KGB guesthouse in Moscow and studied the treaty document. Decisions were made to introduce a state of emergency from 19 August, to form a State Emergency Committee, and require Gorbachev to sign the relevant decrees or to resign and transfer powers to Vice President Yanayev. They believed the pact would pave the way for the Soviet Union's breakup, and decided it was time to act. The next day, Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin, and Soviet Deputy Defense Minister General Valentin Varennikov flew to Crimea for a meeting with Gorbachev. Yazov ordered General Pavel Grachev, commander of the Soviet Airborne Forces, to begin coordinating with KGB Deputy Chairmen Viktor Grushko and Genii Agyeyev to implement martial law.

At 4:32 pm on 18 August, the GKChP cut communications to Gorbachev's dacha, including telephone landlines and the nuclear command and control system. Eight minutes later Lieutenant General Yuri Plekhanov, Head of the Ninth Chief Directorate of the KGB, allowed the group into Gorbachev's dacha. Gorbachev realized what was happening after discovering the telephone outages. Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin and Varennikov demanded that Gorbachev either declare a state of emergency or resign and name Yanayev as acting president to allow the members of the GKChP "to restore order" to the country.

Gorbachev has always claimed that he refused point-blank to accept the ultimatum. Varennikov has insisted that Gorbachev said: *"Damn you. Do what you want. But report my opinion!"* However, those present at the dacha at the time testified that Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin and Varennikov had been clearly disappointed and nervous after the meeting with Gorbachev. Gorbachev is said to have insulted Varennikov by pretending to forget his name, and to have told his former trusted advisor Boldin *"Shut up, you prick! How dare you give me lectures about the situation in the country!"* With Gorbachev's refusal, the conspirators ordered that he remain confined to the dacha. Additional KGB security guards were placed at the dacha gates with orders to stop anybody from leaving.

At 7:30 pm, Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin and Varennikov flew to Moscow, accompanied by Plekhanov. His deputy, Vyacheslav Generalov, remained *"on the farm"* in Foros.

At 8:00 pm, Yanayev, Pavlov, Kryuchkov, Yazov, Pugo and Soviet Supreme Soviet Chairman Anatoly Lukyanov gathered in the Kremlin cabinet of the Prime Minister, discussing and editing the documents of the State Emergency Committee. At 10:15 pm, they were joined by Baklanov, Shenin, Boldin, Varennikov and Plekhanov. It was decided to publicly declare Gorbachev ill. Yanayev hesitated, but the others convinced him that leadership and responsibility would be collective.

At 11:25 pm, Yanayev signed a decree entrusting himself with presidential powers.

GKChP members ordered that 250,000 pairs of handcuffs from a factory in Pskov be sent to Moscow, also ordering 300,000 arrest forms. Kryuchkov doubled the pay of all KGB personnel, called them back from holiday, and placed them on alert. Lefortovo Prison was emptied to receive prisoners.

## Chronology

The members of the GKChP met in the Kremlin after Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin and Varennikov returned from Crimea. Yanayev (who had only just been persuaded to join the plot), Pavlov and Baklanov signed the so-called *"Declaration of the Soviet Leadership"*, which declared a state of emergency in the entirety of the USSR and announced that the State Committee on the State of Emergency (*Государственный Комитет по Чрезвычайному Положению*, *ГКЧП*, or *Gosudarstvenniy Komitet po Chrezvichaynomu Polozheniyu*, *GKChP*) had been created *"to manage the country and effectively maintain the regime of the state of emergency".* The GKChP included the following members:

* Gennady Yanayev, Vice President
* Valentin Pavlov, Prime Minister
* Vladimir Kryuchkov, head of the KGB
* Dmitry Yazov, Minister of Defence
* Boris Pugo, Minister of Interior
* Oleg Baklanov, First Deputy Chairman of the Defense Council under the President of the USSR
* Vasily Starodubtsev, Chairman of the Peasant Union
* Alexandr Tizyakov, President of the Association of the State Enterprises and Objects of Industry, Transport, and Communications

Yanayev signed the decree naming himself acting Soviet President, using the pretense of Gorbachev's inability to perform presidential duties due to *"illness"*. However, Kryuchkov was the key planner of the coup.

### 19 August

#### Early hours

At **1:00 AM**, Yanayev signed documents on the formation of the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP), consisting of himself, Pavlov, Kryuchkov, Yazov, Pugo, Baklanov, Tizyakov and Starodubtsev. Included in the documents was the *"Appeal to the Soviet people"*.

The GKChP members present signed GKChP Resolution No. 1, which introduced the following: a state of emergency *"in certain areas of the USSR"* lasting six months from 4:00 AM Moscow time on 19 August; the prohibition of rallies, demonstrations and strikes; suspension of the activities of political parties, public organizations and mass movements that impede the normalization of the situation; and the allocation of up to 1,500 square metres (0.4 acres) of land to all interested city residents for personal use.

At **4:00 AM**, the Sevastopol regiment of KGB border troops surrounded Gorbachev's presidential dacha in Foros. By order of Soviet Air Defense Chief of Staff Colonel-General Igor Maltsev, two tractors blocked the runway on which the President's aircraft were located: a Tu-134 jet and Mi-8 helicopter.

#### Morning

Starting at **6:00 AM**, all of the GKChP documents were broadcast over state radio and television. The KGB immediately issued an arrest list that included newly elected Russian SFSR President Boris Yeltsin, his allies, and the leaders of the umbrella activist group Democratic Russia. The Russian SFSR-controlled Radio Rossii and Televidenie Rossii, plus Ekho Moskvy, the only independent political radio stations, were taken off the air. However, the latter station later resumed its broadcasts and became a source of reliable information during the coup. The BBC World Service and Voice of America were also able to provide continuous coverage. Gorbachev and his family heard the news from a BBC bulletin on a small Sony transistor radio that had not been seized. For the next several days, he refused to take food from outside the dacha to avoid being poisoned, and took long outdoor strolls to dispute reports of his ill health.

Under Yanayev's orders, units of the Tamanskaya mechanized infantry and Kantemirovskaya armored division rolled into Moscow, along with airborne troops. Around 4,000 soldiers, 350 tanks, 300 armoured personnel carriers and 420 trucks were sent to Moscow. Four Russian SFSR people's deputies were detained by the KGB at a Soviet Army base near the capital. KGB was planning to carry out a much larger wave of arrests two weeks after the coup, after which it would have abolished almost all legislative and local administrative structures under a highly centralized Council of Ministers. Yanayev instructed Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh to make a statement requesting formal diplomatic recognition from foreign governments and the United Nations.

The GKChP conspirators considered detaining Yeltsin upon his return from a visit to Kazakhstan on 17 August but failed when Yeltsin redirected his flight from Chkalovsky Air Base northeast of Moscow to Vnukovo Airport southwest of the city. Afterwards, they considered capturing him at his dacha near Moscow. The KGB Alpha Group surrounded his dacha with Spetsnaz, but as it was later found, Yeltsin had already left for the White House where he invited other porminent Russian officials, including Leningrad Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, Colonel-General Konstantin Kobets, RSFSR Prime Minister Mikhail Bocharov, RSFSR Vice President Gennady Burbulis, and RSFSR Supreme Soviet Chairman Boris Isaev. Yeltsin initially wanted to remain at the dacha and organize a rival government, but Kobets advised his group to travel to the White House, Russia's parliament building.

They arrived and occupied the building at **9:00 AM**. Together with Bocharov and Isaev, Yeltsin issued a declaration *"To the Citizens of Russia"* that condemned the GKChP's actions as a reactionary anti-constitutional coup. The military was urged not to take part in the coup, and local authorities were asked to follow laws from the RSFSR President rather than the GKChP. Although he initially avoided the measure to avoid sparking a civil war, Yeltsin also subsequently took command of some Soviet military and security forces loyal to the RSFSR. The joint declaration called for a general strike, with the demand to let Gorbachev address the people. This declaration was distributed through every possible informational channel around Moscow.

The GKChP relied on regional authorities where Communist Party still retained noticeable influence. Local emergency committees were formed to support the coup and repress dissidence. The CPSU Secretariat sent coded telegrams to local party committees to assist the coup. However, some of the regions faced internal resistance against emergency rule. Soviet Armed Forces officers seized control of city halls and government buildings around the country claiming to be in control, as well as television stations in the Baltic states. The GKChP enjoyed strong support in the Russian-majority regions of Estonia, Latvia and Transnistria, while Yeltsin enjoyed support in his home region of Ural as well as St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod.

At **10:00 AM**, Burbulis, Bocharov and Isaev delivered a letter to Lukyanov demanding a medical exam of Gorbachev and a meeting between themselves, Yeltsin, Gorbachev, and Yanayev within 24 hours. Burbulis later visited Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow, spiritual leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, and convinced him to declare support for Yeltsin. Meanwhile, in Leningrad, Military District Commander Viktor Samsonov ordered the formation of an emergency committee for the city, chaired by Leningrad First Secretary Boris Gidaspov, to circumvent Sobchak's democratically elected municipal government. Samsonov's troops were ultimately blocked by hundreds of thousands of demonstrators supported by the police, which forced Leningrad Television to broadcast a statement by Sobchak. Workers at the Kirov Plant went on strike in support of Yeltsin. Moscow First Secretary Yuri Prokofev attempted a similar maneuver in the capital but was rebuffed when Boris Nikolskyi refused to accept the office of Mayor of Moscow.

At **11:00 AM**, RSFSR Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev held a press conference for foreign journalists and diplomats, and gained the support of most of the West for Yeltsin.