State Committee for the State of Emergency. See what "gkchp" is in other dictionaries

The interim governing body and the group of top leaders of the USSR that was part of it, which made an attempt on August 19-21, 1991 to establish a state of emergency in the USSR, characterized by other political forces as a coup d'état.

In the context of the crisis of the policy of Perestroika, a number of top leaders decided to prevent the signing of a new Union Treaty scheduled for August 20, 1991, which weakened the powers of the union center (in reality, it was already losing control over the country). Hoping to protect the USSR as a centralized state, on August 17, a group of future members of the GKChP gathered for a meeting at which they advocated changing the course of state policy to a more authoritarian one in order to preserve the USSR. On August 18, Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU O. Shenin, First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Defense O. Baklanov, former Chief of Staff of the USSR President V. Boldin, Head of the Security Department of the KGB of the USSR Yu. Plekhanov, Deputy Minister of Defense USSR V. Varennikov and others. They demanded that the president introduce a state of emergency in the country. According to the participants in this conversation, Gorbachev answered vaguely, recommended action, but did not endorse the documents proposed for signing on the introduction of a state of emergency. Gorbachev's communications were cut off, but Gorbachev's bodyguards remained loyal to the President of the USSR.

On the morning of August 19, from the reports of all official media, the country learned that M. Gorbachev could not fulfill the duties of the President of the USSR for health reasons. Therefore, his powers are transferred to Vice President G.I. Yanaev, it was decided to introduce a state of emergency in certain areas of the USSR for a period of 6 months. To manage the country, the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR was created, consisting of: Baklanov O.D. - First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Defense of the USSR, Kryuchkov V.A. - Chairman of the KGB of the USSR, Pavlov V.S. - Prime Minister of the USSR, Pugo B.K. - Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Starodubtsev V.A. - Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR, Tizyakov A.I. - President of the Association of State Enterprises and Objects of Industry, Construction, Transport and Communications of the USSR, Yazov D.T. - Minister of Defense of the USSR, Yanaev G.I. - Acting President of the USSR. An appeal from the State Committee for the State of Emergency was read out, criticizing the negative consequences of Perestroika and calling for the strengthening of state power. It tried to combine Soviet-communist stereotypes with sovereign-patriotic and moderate-liberal views. Its controversial nature and the predominance of democrats in the social movement of that time ruled out noticeable speeches in support of the GKChP. For the democratic public, the appeal was an example of reactionary demagoguery.

On August 19, armored vehicles and troops were introduced into Moscow, which took key state institutions under protection. At the same time, no arrests were made of key leaders of the democratic movement of the 80s - early 90s. The GKChP sought to put pressure on them, but refrained from reprisals. According to one version, the KGB group "Alpha" received an order to arrest B. Yeltsin, but refused to carry it out. The State Emergency Committee decided to temporarily limit the list of published newspapers and other periodicals to 9 official newspapers: Trud, Rabochaya Tribuna, Izvestia, Pravda, Krasnaya Zvezda, Sovetskaya Rossiya, Moskovskaya Pravda, Lenin banner”, “Rural life”.

The actions of the State Emergency Committee were perceived in the country as a coup d'état. Manezhnaya Square and the square at the central entrance to the House of Soviets of the RSFSR ("White House") in Moscow were filled with supporters of democracy. B. Yeltsin arrived here and read out the appeal “To the Citizens of Russia”, which stated that the use of force in solving political problems is unacceptable, all decisions of the State Emergency Committee are declared illegal, and an emergency Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR must be immediately convened. Yeltsin called a general indefinite strike and demanded an independent medical examination of Gorbachev, since the entire legitimacy of the GKChP was based solely on his illness. The construction of barricades began near the building of the House of Soviets of Russia, where tens of thousands of people were on duty, ready to defend the deputies and the leadership of Russia.

Faced with determined resistance, the members of the State Emergency Committee did not know what to do. During their speech at a press conference, Yanaev's hands were trembling, which showed the entire country the psychological weakness of the dictatorship.

The coup caused a controversial reaction in the regions of Russia and the republics of the USSR. Some of the leaders recognized the State Emergency Committee, while others waited. The State Emergency Committee strongly condemned most Western countries. The Supreme Council of Russia outlawed the GKChP. Several tanks went over to the side of the defenders of the "White House" (according to the arc version, they only changed their location), which gave the masses of Democrats confidence that the army would not suppress mass demonstrations.

Finding themselves in political isolation, the leaders of the State Emergency Committee did not dare to storm the White House. But during the patrolling of the Garden Ring by armored personnel carriers on the night of August 21, clashes broke out between soldiers and demonstrators, during which three demonstrators were killed.

On the morning of August 21, the State Emergency Committee announced the withdrawal of troops. Its leaders went to Foros to negotiate with Gorbachev. They were followed by an armed delegation of Yeltsin's supporters, headed by Vice-President of the RSFSR A. Rutskoi. They arrested some of the leaders of the State Emergency Committee. The rest were arrested in Moscow. On August 22, while trying to arrest, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Pugo, shot himself with his wife. The central streets of Moscow were filled with jubilant people. The crowd demolished the monument to F. Dzerzhinsky on Lubyanka Square.

On August 22, Gorbachev flew to Moscow, and it soon became clear that he had lost real power in the country. She passed to the republican leaders and, above all, to B. Yeltsin. The performance of the GKChP thwarted the signing of the Union Treaty, provoked the declaration of independence by the majority of the republics of the USSR, which decided to distance themselves from unpredictable Moscow, and accelerated the collapse of the USSR.

Sources:

August-91. M., 1991; Gorbachev M. Life and reforms. M., 1996; Yeltsin B.N. President's Notes. M., 1994; Red or white? Drama of August: facts, hypotheses, clash of opinions. M., 1992; Stepankov V., Lisov E. Kremlin conspiracy: version of the investigation. M., 1992; Chernyaev A.S. Six years with Gorbachev. According to diary entries. M., 1993

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.

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.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

After the failed coup attempt on August 21, 1991, all members of the GKChP were arrested, with the exception of Boris Pugo, Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR, who committed suicide.

From the point of view of the creators of the GKChP themselves, their actions were aimed at restoring the rule of law in the USSR and stopping the collapse of the state. Their actions did not receive a legal assessment, since all the arrested participants in the State Emergency Committee were amnestied even before the trial. Only V. I. Varennikov, who was not a member of the committee, voluntarily appeared before the court, and was acquitted.

Formation of the State Committee for the State of Emergency

Preparing to create a committee

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

... in December 1990, the chairman of the KGB of the USSR Kryuchkov V. A. instructed the former deputy head of the PGU of the KGB of the USSR Zhizhin V. I. and the assistant to the former first deputy chairman of the KGB of the USSR Grushko V. F. Egorov A. G. to work out possible primary measures to stabilize situation in the country in the event of a state of emergency. From the end of 1990 to the beginning of August 1991, V. A. Kryuchkov, together with other future members of the State Emergency Committee, took possible political and other measures to introduce a state of emergency in the USSR by constitutional means. Having not received the support of the President of the USSR and the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, from the beginning of August 1991 they began to implement specific measures to prepare for the imposition of a state of emergency by illegal means.

From August 7 to 15, Kryuchkov V.A. repeatedly held meetings with some members of the future GKChP at the secret facility of the PGU of the KGB of the USSR, codenamed UABCF. In the same period of time, Zhizhin V.I. and Egorov A.G., at the direction of Kryuchkov, corrected the December documents on the problems of introducing a state of emergency in the country. They, with the participation of the then commander of the airborne troops, Lieutenant General Grachev P.S., prepared for Kryuchkov V.A. data on the possible reaction of the country's population to the introduction of a state of emergency in the constitutional form. The content of these documents was then reflected in official decrees, appeals and orders of the State Emergency Committee. On August 17, Zhizhin V.I. participated in the preparation of the abstracts of V.A. Kryuchkov’s speech on television in the event of a state of emergency.

The participants in the conspiracy at various stages of its implementation assigned the KGB of the USSR a decisive role in:

• removal from power of the President of the USSR by isolating him;
• blocking possible attempts by the President of the RSFSR to resist the activities of the State Emergency Committee;
• establishing permanent control over the whereabouts of the heads of the authorities of the RSFSR, Moscow, known for their democratic views, people's deputies of the USSR, the RSFSR and the Moscow City Council, major public figures with a view to their subsequent detention;
• the implementation, together with units of the Soviet Army and units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, of storming the building of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, followed by the internment of persons captured in it, including the leadership of Russia.

From August 17 to 19, some special forces of the KGB of the USSR and special forces of the PGU of the KGB of the USSR were put on high alert and redeployed to pre-allocated places to participate, together with units of the SA and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in measures to ensure the state of emergency. On August 18, by the forces of specially created groups, President of the USSR Gorbachev was isolated in a resting place in Foros, and the President of the RSFSR Yeltsin and other opposition-minded persons were placed under surveillance.

Members of the State Committee for the State of Emergency

1. Baklanov Oleg Dmitrievich (b. 1932) - First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council, member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
2. Kryuchkov Vladimir Alexandrovich (1924-2007) - Chairman of the KGB of the USSR, member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
3. Pavlov Valentin Sergeevich (1937-2003) - Prime Minister of the USSR.
4. Pugo Boris Karlovich (1937-1991) - Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR, member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
5. Starodubtsev Vasily Alexandrovich (b. 1931) - Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR, member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
6. Tizyakov Alexander Ivanovich (b. 1926) - President of the Association of State Enterprises and Objects of Industry, Construction, Transport and Communications of the USSR.
7. Yazov Dmitry Timofeevich (b. 1923) - Minister of Defense of the USSR, member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
8. Yanaev Gennady Ivanovich (b. 1937) - Vice-President of the USSR, Chairman of the State Emergency Committee, member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Political positions of the State Committee for the State of Emergency

In its first appeal, the GKChP assessed the general mood in the country as very skeptical about the new political course to dismantle the highly centralized federal structure of the country's government, the one-party political system and state regulation of the economy, condemned the negative phenomena that the new course, according to the compilers, caused to life, such as speculation and the shadow economy, proclaimed that “the development of the country cannot be based on a drop in the living standards of the population” and promised a tough restoration of order in the country and a solution to the main economic problems, without mentioning, however, specific measures.

Events 19-21 August 1991

After the August events

"Accomplices" and "sympathizers"

After the failure of the August coup, in addition to the members of the State Emergency Committee, some persons were brought to justice, according to the investigation, who actively contributed to the State Emergency Committee. All of them were released under an amnesty in 1994. Among the "accomplices" were:

• Lukyanov Anatoly Ivanovich (born 1930) - Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR; his appeal was broadcast on TV and radio along with the main documents of the State Emergency Committee.
• Shenin Oleg Semyonovich (1937-2009) - member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
• Prokofiev Yuri Anatolyevich (born 1939) - member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, 1st Secretary of the CPSU MGK.
• Varennikov Valentin Ivanovich (1923-2009) - army general.
• Boldin Valery Ivanovich (1935-2006) - Head of the General Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
• Medvedev Vladimir Timofeevich (born 1937) - KGB general, head of Gorbachev's security.
• Ageev Geny Evgenievich (1929-1994) - Deputy Chairman of the KGB of the USSR.
• Generalov Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (born 1946) - head of security at Gorbachev's residence in Foros

Trial of the GKChP

Formally, it turns out that each of these people, except for Varennikov, who accepted the amnesty, sort of agreed that he was guilty, and kind of agreed that he was guilty of what he was accused of, including 64 th article. Formally so. But they all accepted the amnesty with the caveat: “I am innocent. And only because we are tired, we are tired, in the interests of society, in the interests of the state, responding to the decision of the State Duma on amnesty, only therefore we accept the amnesty.

see also

Notes

Links

• Chronicle: ,
• Decrees No. 1 and No. 2 of the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR.
• Why did the GKChP lose (an excerpt from the book by A. Baigushev)
• We saved the Great Country / Valentin Varennikov
• R. G. Apresyan. Popular resistance to the August putsch

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See what "GKChP USSR" is in other dictionaries:

State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR (GKChP USSR)- On the night of August 18-19, 1991, representatives of the top leadership of the USSR, who disagreed with the reform policy of the country's President Mikhail Gorbachev and the draft of the new Union Treaty, created the State Committee for the State of Emergency in ... Encyclopedia of newsmakers

GKChP: August 19 - 21, 1991- On August 19, 1991, at six o'clock in the morning Moscow time, the "Statement of the Soviet leadership" was broadcast on radio and television, which read: "Due to the impossibility of performing Mikhail Gorbachev for health reasons ... ... Encyclopedia of newsmakers

During the August Putsch, the GKChP (State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR), a self-proclaimed body consisting of a number of senior government officials of the USSR on the night of August 18-19, 1991, the Committee made an unsuccessful attempt ... ... Wikipedia

Source - Wikipedia

The State Committee for the State of Emergency is a self-proclaimed authority in the USSR that existed from August 18 to August 21, 1991. It was formed from the first state and officials of the Soviet government, who opposed the reforms of Perestroika and the transformation of the Soviet Union into a new “Union of Sovereign States”, which was becoming a confederation consisting of part of already sovereign republics, carried out by the President of the USSR M. S. Gorbachev.
The forces under the leadership of the President of Russia (RSFSR) B. N. Yeltsin refused to obey the State Emergency Committee, calling their actions unconstitutional, there was an attempt to go on strike. The actions of the GKChP led to the events that became known as the "August Putsch".
From August 22 to 29, 1991, former members of the dissolved GKChP and those who actively assisted them were arrested, but from June 1992 to January 1993, they were all released on bail. In April 1993, the trial began. On February 23, 1994, the defendants in the GKChP case were amnestied by the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, despite Yeltsin's objection. One of the defendants, Valentin Varennikov, refused to accept the amnesty and his trial continued. On August 11, 1994, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of Russia acquitted Varennikov.

By the beginning of 1991, the situation in the USSR had become critical. The country has entered a period of disintegration. The leadership began to work on the issue of introducing a state of emergency.
From the "Conclusion on the materials of the investigation of the role and participation of officials of the KGB of the USSR in the events of August 19-21, 1991":

Marat Nikolaevich asked my advice on what type of helicopter to choose - Mi-8 or Mi-24. Naturally, I advised the Mi-24, since it was armored against 12.7 mm bullets, and all the tanks that were in the White House area had machine guns of this caliber. But in the event of failure of one of the engines, the Mi-24 helicopter could not continue flying. Mi-8 could fly on one engine. Tishchenko agreed with me. However, less than an hour later, he called back and happily announced that, according to the information he received from the same KGB department, all the tanks and infantry fighting vehicles brought into Moscow did not have ammunition, so he was preparing the Mi-8. And after some time, a message came that the commander of the Airborne Forces, General Grachev, stopped the division in Kubinka. By evening, it became clear that the GKChP had shamefully failed, and by noon on August 21, all the media loudly announced this. The bacchanalia of victory began.

Unfortunately, it was overshadowed by the death of three people under the wheels of an infantry fighting vehicle in the tunnel between Vosstaniya Square and Smolenskaya Square. It all seemed strange to me. Why bring troops and armored vehicles into Moscow without ammunition? Why is the Moscow department of the KGB trying to save Yeltsin, and why is the chairman of the KGB Kryuchkov a member of the GKChP? It all felt like some kind of farce. Subsequently, in 1993, Yeltsin really stormed the White House, and the tanks fired direct fire and by no means blank charges. And in August 1991, it all looked like a grandiose performance or monstrous stupidity on the part of the leadership of the State Emergency Committee. However, what happened happened. I'm only expressing my opinion. Further events developed at lightning speed: the return of Gorbachev from Foros, the ban and dissolution of the CPSU, the Belovezhskaya agreement on the liquidation of the USSR, the creation of the Union of Independent States on the basis of the former republics of the USSR.

The most absurd, of course, seemed the collapse of a single Slavic core: Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. It seemed that some kind of insanity had occurred among the leaders of these republics, who demonstrated complete ignorance of the history of the creation of Russian statehood. But the most striking thing was that all this was supported by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which hastened to dissolve itself, and the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation ratified the Belovezhskaya conspiracy.

I recalled the words of Denikin and Wrangel, who, after the defeat of the white movement in the Civil War of 1918, addressing their descendants in their memoirs, noted the historical merit of the Bolsheviks in that they basically preserved Great Russia. Modern Bolsheviks, dressed in national clothes, completely destroyed the great power, completely disregarding the opinion of its peoples.

Some time later, it became clear that all these processes were headed by the apparatus of the Central Committee of the CPSU, headed by Politburo member A.N. Yakovlev, and with the very dubious and incomprehensible role of Gorbachev. Most of the rulers in the new states belonged to a cohort of workers in the CPSU party apparatus, and most of the oligarchs and "new" Russians in the past belonged to the party or Komsomol elite. Before the eyes of the whole people, active supporters of the policy of the CPSU turned into its fierce enemies. Calls for a "witch hunt" began, however, they were soon suspended, since this clearly could affect them themselves.

The people were deceived.

Links:
1. Ogarkov and operation "Herat"
2. Akhromeev Sergey Fedorovich
3. Gorbacheva Raisa Maksimovna (ur. Titarenko)
17.

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 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

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.

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

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.