Over the years, the secrets of the State Emergency Committee have acquired a large number of versions. GKChP: abbreviation decoding, history

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

August putsch Collapse of the USSR Mass demonstrations in Moscow against the August putsch of 1991 Date 19 August 21, 1991 ... Wikipedia

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August putsch Collapse of the USSR Demonstrations in Moscow during the putsch Date ... Wikipedia

August putsch of the State Emergency Committee. Chronicle of events of August 19-22, 1991- On August 17, a meeting of future members of the State Emergency Committee took place at the ABC facility of the KGB closed guest residence. It was decided to introduce a state of emergency from August 19, form the State Emergency Committee, demand Gorbachev to sign the relevant decrees or... ... Encyclopedia of Newsmakers

In the USSR (also known as the Pavlovian reform after the name of USSR Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov), the exchange of large banknotes in January April 1991. The reform pursued the goal of getting rid of the excess money supply that was in cash... ... Wikipedia

- (also known as the Pavlovian reform after the name of USSR Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov) exchange of large banknotes in January April 1991. The reform pursued the goal of getting rid of the excess money supply that was in cash... ... Wikipedia

The 1991 monetary reform in the USSR (also known as the Pavlovian reform after the name of the USSR Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov) exchanged large banknotes in January April 1991. The reform was aimed at getting rid of excess money supply... Wikipedia

Currency reform of 1991 in the USSR- On January 22, 1991, the last Soviet war began currency reform, which was named Pavlovskaya in honor of its creator, Minister of Finance, and later Prime Minister of the USSR Government Valentin Pavlov. It was a confiscatory monetary reform... ... Encyclopedia of Newsmakers

Books

August 1991 coup. How it was, Ignaz Lozo. Tanks on the streets of Moscow, a state of emergency, the Soviet president under house arrest at his summer residence in Crimea: it was the dramatic culmination of the perestroika era - a putsch against...
Committee-1991. The untold story of the KGB of Russia, Mlechin Leonid Mikhailovich. People far from power do not even suspect that sophisticated intrigues lie at the heart of big politics, and even good goals are achieved through very base means. Sometimes over time we find out...

The August putsch was an attempt to remove Mikhail Gorbachev from the post of President of the USSR and change his course, undertaken by the self-proclaimed State Committee for a State of Emergency (GKChP) on August 19, 1991.

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

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

At 16.32, all types of communications were turned 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 USSR KGB troops blocked the presidential dacha in Foros.

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

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

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

Most members of the State Emergency Committee were arrested.

Moscow declared mourning for the victims.

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

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

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

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

And until now. On that summer day, August 19, all highways were blocked, depriving people of the opportunity to travel from their dachas to the city. Armored personnel carriers are walking along the highways, and citizens are confused and bewildered.

All central channels show “Swan Lake”, then a news broadcast begins, announcing the introduction of a state of emergency.

Meeting of the State Emergency Committee before the August Putsch

Members of the State Emergency Committee took control of the state into their own hands, reporting that the current President M. Gorbachev was ill and therefore could not continue to perform his presidential functions. In fact, Gorbachev was in Foros, at the presidential dacha, which on the morning of August 19 was blocked by the Sevastopol regiment of the USSR KGB troops. Vice President Yanaev issues a decree appointing him to the position of acting president.

A few days earlier, on August 17, future members of the State Emergency Committee meet at the ABC facility (the closed guest residence of the KGB). Here the conspirators decide to adopt a state of emergency from August 19, form the State Emergency Committee and demand from Gorbachev that he sign the relevant decrees or resign, transferring powers to Yanaev. In addition, it was planned to detain Yeltsin at the Chkalovsky airfield after his arrival from Kazakhstan.

On August 18, a group of committee representatives flew to Foros to see Gorbachev to obtain his consent to accept the state of emergency. The President did not give them his consent.

State Emergency Committee transcript: State Committee for the State of Emergency - a body created by the top leadership of the USSR.

Organizers of the coup

If those who were opponents of the State Emergency Committee broke through to power during the collapse of the USSR and remained in their posts for quite a long time, then the career of the State Emergency Committee was over immediately after the putsch. The exceptions were Army General Varennikov, who was not formally a member of the State Emergency Committee, but actively assisted it, and Starodubtsev, the chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR, who was officially a member of this conspiratorial group. After the putsch failed, he was accused of treason, according to Art. 64 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. However, in 1992, Starodubtsev was released from custody, where he was in Matrosskaya Tishina, for health reasons.

The remaining key figures of the coup organizers had unenviable future fates. The State Emergency Committee included:

G. Yanaev. After his arrest, he remained in a pre-trial detention center until 1994, when he was released from prison under an amnesty.
O. Baklanov. He was arrested and released under an amnesty in 1994.
B. Pugo. Shot himself on August 22, 1991.
V. Kryuchkov. He was arrested and in 1992 was released on his own recognizance. Released under amnesty.
V. Pavlov. On August 19, Pavlov was hospitalized with alcohol poisoning at the Central Clinical Hospital, from where he was later taken into custody in a pre-trial detention center, where he remained until the 1994 amnesty.
D. Yazov. After the end of the coup and imprisonment in a pre-trial detention center, he was released under an amnesty in 1994.
A. Tizyakov. After the end of the coup and imprisonment in a pre-trial detention center, he was released under an amnesty in 1994.
V. Starodubtsev.

The list shows how many people were members of the State Emergency Committee. However, besides them, several more people who actively assisted the conspirators were accused of treason and arrested.

Those arrested were punished in “Matrosskaya Tishina” until 1992. Their cases were not brought to trial, and in 1994 an amnesty was declared to all.

Reasons for creating the State Emergency Committee

Members of the self-proclaimed body government controlled countries on August 19-21, 1991 tried to remove the current president and seize power. The creation of the State Emergency Committee is a consequence unsuccessful attempts Gorbachev to reorganize a country in deep crisis.

After a period of stagnation, the country's economy found itself in dire straits. USSR President Gorbachev carried out diverse reforms that became known as “Perestroika.” However, they never brought the desired economic effect. Intensifying crisis, collapse social sphere, the increase in drunkenness and unemployment gave rise to an acute crisis of confidence in Gorbachev. Both his opponents and former comrades were dissatisfied with the results of the president’s activities. The highest party apparatus began a struggle for power, and quite soon there were supporters of the overthrow of the president, who formed the composition of the State Emergency Committee.

The last straw was Gorbachev's decision to transform the USSR into a Union of Sovereign States, which greatly angered some conservative political figures.

As a result, after Gorbachev left for Foros, active work conspirators to remove the president from power. What are the reasons for the creation of the State Emergency Committee? Among them are:

The desire for power.
The desire to preserve the integrity of the country.
Dissatisfaction with Gorbachev's reforms.

Video about the activities of the Emergency Committee

Goals of the Emergency Committee

It is worth noting that the activities of the State Emergency Committee were largely supported by the population. Some sources inform about 80% of the country's regions that do not support the leadership of the USSR these days. In the address to the people the following goals of the State Emergency Committee were named:

Restoring the USSR's position in the world.
Changing the course of reform policy.
Raising the living standards of the people.
Preservation of the composition of the USSR.

The modern Russian language identifies the word “putsch” with the concept of “a coup organized by a group of conspirators,” and the term “coup d’état” with a fundamental change in the life of the state. Some politicians note that the actions of the State Emergency Committee cannot be called either a putsch, a coup, or a conspiracy. Since the members of the State Emergency Committee did not plan a radical change in the life of the state, but, on the contrary, an attempt was made to preserve the existing constitutional order, social and state system in the face of the danger of their “radical change”, which came from Gorbachev.

The consequences of the work of the State Emergency Committee

When employees of the Alpha unit surrounded the country dacha of RSFSR President Yeltsin and he learned about the formation of the State Emergency Committee and the attempted coup, he decided to immediately go to the White House. The Alpha commander received the command to let the president leave the dacha, however, such a decision had fatal consequences for the State Emergency Committee.

Arriving in Moscow, Yeltsin and other leaders of the RSFSR declared at a press conference about the illegality of the actions of the conspirators, calling what was happening a coup and calling on everyone for a general strike. A crowd of people gathers at the White House. The radio station “Echo of Moscow” is broadcasting Yeltsin’s speech.
The organizers of the coup were sent to White House a battalion of tanks, which, after negotiations, subjected to psychological pressure from the crowd, went over to the side of Yeltsin and the people.
The crowd is blocking the approaches military equipment to the White House, building barricades from trolleybuses and other improvised means along Tverskaya Street not far from the National Hotel. People rally against the coup d'etat. The alpha special forces are given the order to storm the White House, however, they refuse to do so.
On the night of August 21, the underground transport crossing at the intersection of what is now New Arbat and the Garden Ring was clogged with infantry fighting vehicles, as a result of which three people were killed.
At this time, St. Isaac's Square in Leningrad is filled with protesters. Also, opponents of the State Emergency Committee are gathering in Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk and some other cities.
A curfew is being introduced in Moscow, as people are informed about on the evening broadcast of the Vremya program.
On the night of August 22, Gorbachev arrived in Moscow. Footage of his televised address to the people became historical event. After the press conference he held, the August putsch ends.

Video about the goals of the State Emergency Committee

The actions of the State Emergency Committee triggered the collapse of the USSR, which was in a state of deep economic and political crisis. And, although the State Emergency Committee sought to preserve the integrity of the country, they themselves, unwittingly, provoked the collapse Soviet Union. With the departure of Gorbachev, the ruling structure of the party ceased to exist; over time, the republics began to acquire the status of independence and secede from the once great power.

The historical symbols of those events in modern Russia were “Swan Lake”, new colors on the state flag and broken, mutilated trolleybuses. The trolleybuses were later moved to the Museum of the Revolution, located on Tverskaya, and became its exhibition.

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) - a self-proclaimed government body in the USSR, consisting of representatives of the leadership of the CPSU Central Committee and the government of the USSR, which carried out an attempt to remove M.S. on August 18-21, 1991. Gorbachev from the post of President of the USSR, seizure of power in the country, change of political course. The events of August 1991, which ended with the arrest of members of the State Emergency Committee, predetermined the collapse of the USSR.

The political and economic crisis that the USSR experienced since the late 1980s threatened the existence of the socialist system in the Soviet state, the hegemony of the Communist Party in it, and the unity of the country. Part of the Soviet leadership saw the reasons for the negative phenomena in the policy of perestroika and glasnost, which was pursued by the President of the USSR and general secretary Central Committee of the CPSU M.S. Gorbachev. In their opinion, Gorbachev’s inconsistency, excessive liberalism, and carelessness led to the fact that outspoken enemies of socialism were able to launch a widespread protest movement in the USSR, weaken state discipline, and paralyze the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies.

The State Emergency Committee included Vice-President of the USSR Gennady Ivanovich Yanaev (Chairman of the State Emergency Committee), Prime Minister of the USSR Valentin Sergeevich Pavlov, First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council Oleg Dmitrievich Baklanov, Chairman of the KGB of the USSR Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kryuchkov, Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR Boris Karlovich Pugo, Minister Defense of the USSR Dmitry Timofeevich Yazov, President of the Association state enterprises and industrial, construction, transport and communications facilities of the USSR Alexander Ivanovich Tizyakov, Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR Vasily Aleksandrovich Starodubtsev. On August 18, 1991, President of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev, by means of specially created security groups, was isolated in his residence in Foros (Crimea), where he was on vacation with his family.

On the morning of August 19, members of the State Emergency Committee made an appeal on television, announced the introduction of a state of emergency for six months, the deployment of troops to Moscow, the introduction of censorship in the media and the banning of a number of them, the abolition of a number of constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens. However, no effective measures were taken to ensure the state of emergency. This allowed opponents of the State Emergency Committee, primarily the leadership of the RSFSR led by B.N. Yeltsin, the city authorities of Moscow and Leningrad, organized powerful resistance. At the call of the Russian authorities, at the House of Soviets Russian Federation(White House) masses of Muscovites gathered, among whom were representatives of different social groups: democratically minded public, students, intelligentsia, veterans of the Afghan war. The actions of the State Emergency Committee were qualified as a coup d'etat. On August 21, 1991, all members of the State Emergency Committee were arrested, with the exception of the USSR Minister of Internal Affairs Boris Pugo, who committed suicide.

In addition to members of the State Emergency Committee, persons who, according to the investigation, actively assisted the State Emergency Committee, were brought to criminal liability. Among them were the chairman Supreme Council USSR A.I. Lukyanov, member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee O.S. Shenin, First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU Yu.A. Prokofiev, Army General V.I. Varennikov, head of the General Department of the CPSU Central Committee V.I. Boldin, head of the security of the President of the USSR V.T. Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the KGB of the USSR G.E. Ageev, head of security at the residence in Foros V.V. Generals. The State Emergency Committee was publicly supported by the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party V.V. Zhirinovsky, but he was not held accountable because he did not hold any public office.

The actions of the members of the State Emergency Committee and their supporters were considered by the investigation, but did not receive a legal assessment, since in 1994 all arrested members of the State Emergency Committee were amnestied before trial. Only V.I., who was not a member of the committee, voluntarily appeared before the court. Varennikov, who was acquitted.

On August 19, 1991, representatives of the top leadership of the USSR, who opposed the actual liquidation of the Soviet Union as a federal state and its replacement with a confederal “Union of Sovereign States,” attempted to interfere with this process by introducing a state of emergency in the country.

USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, who actively promoted the SSG project, was isolated at a state dacha in the Crimean Foros (according to other sources, having taken a neutral position, Gorbachev withdrew from the events, awaiting their outcome).

The State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) assumed full responsibility for the fate of the country. By decision of the State Emergency Committee, from 4 a.m. on August 19, 1991, a state of emergency was introduced throughout the USSR for a period of six months.

From the State Emergency Committee’s appeal to the Soviet people:

“...The reform policy launched on the initiative of M. S. Gorbachev, conceived as a means of ensuring dynamic development countries and democratization public life, due to a number of reasons, has reached a dead end. The initial enthusiasm and hopes were replaced by unbelief, apathy and despair. The authorities at all levels have lost the trust of the population. Politics has crowded out concern for the fate of the Fatherland and the citizen from public life. Evil mockery of all state institutions is being instilled. The country has essentially become ungovernable..."

The loud statements of the State Emergency Committee, however, did not entail equally decisive actions. The introduction of troops into Moscow was not followed by attempts to disperse rallies of political opponents and suppress the actions of the leadership of the RSFSR led by Boris Yeltsin, who declared the actions of the State Emergency Committee an attempt at a coup.

On the evening of August 21, the State Emergency Committee was dissolved, and its members were arrested within several days. The government, which announced its intention to save the country, never took real action.

Residents of the USSR remembered the events of August 19-21, 1991 most of all for the television broadcast of the Swan Lake ballet. The ballet, which was repeated several times, was replaced by other programs that could not be broadcast for political reasons.

The detained members of the State Emergency Committee were kept in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center, and from June 1992 to January 1993 they were released on their own recognizance. On February 23, 1994, the defendants in the “GKChP case” were amnestied State Duma Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

The State Committee for the State of Emergency included 8 people:

- First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council;
- Chairman of the KGB of the USSR;
- Prime Minister of the USSR;
- Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR;
- Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR;
— President of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial, Construction, Transport and Communications Facilities of the USSR;
- Minister of Defense of the USSR.

The Vice President of the USSR, who became the formal head of the State Emergency Committee, was poorly suited to the role of leader. The trembling of the hands of a very nervous Yanaev at a press conference of the State Emergency Committee for his political opponents became evidence of the uncertainty of the “junta leader” in his actions. On August 21, Yanaev resignedly signed documents dissolving the State Emergency Committee and canceling all its decisions.

Gennady Yanaev. Photo: RIA Novosti

Journalist Mikhail Leontyev cited Yanaev’s phrase from his conversation during the days of the “putsch” with the head of the KGB Vladimir Kryuchkov: “Understand my character, if even one dies, I won’t be able to live.”

Arrested on August 22, Yanaev gave a frank interview to a journalist in prison Andrey Karaulov, in which he said that the State Emergency Committee documents were developed with the knowledge of USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, who back in April 1991 ordered the security forces to begin preparing measures in the event of a state of emergency being introduced in the country. The interview with Yanaev was not published on the personal orders of the then Head of VGTRK Oleg Poptsov.

In January 1993, Yanaev was released from custody on his own recognizance, and in February 1994, the ex-head of the State Emergency Committee was granted amnesty.

In the future, Gennady Yanaev did not accept active participation in political life, working as a consultant to the committee of veterans and disabled people civil service, as well as heading the Foundation for helping disabled children since childhood.

IN last years Yanaev held the position of head of the department national history And international relations Russian International Academy of Tourism.

Gennady Yanaev died on September 24, 2010 from cancer. He was buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery in the capital.

Baklanov, who represented the military-industrial complex in the State Emergency Committee, did not play an active role in the events of August 1991, however, he was arrested along with the rest of the “junta members.” Like most other members of the State Emergency Committee, he was in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center until January 1993, after which he was released on his own recognizance. In February 1994, Baklanov was granted amnesty. His arrest affected the career of his son, Baklanov Jr., who worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was forced to resign.

Oleg Baklanov. Photo: RIA Novosti

After the amnesty, Baklanov returned to work related to enterprises of the military-industrial complex. IN Lately Baklanov served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC Rosobschemash.

The head of the KGB of the USSR was one of the “ideological inspirers” and informal leaders of the State Emergency Committee. However, Kryuchkov never gave the order to the KGB units to take active action against Boris Yeltsin and other political opponents. In particular, the Alpha unit, as early as August 19, had the opportunity to arrest Yeltsin before his arrival in Moscow, but Kryuchkov did not do this, fearing “unpredictable consequences.” Arrested on August 22, Kryuchkov remained in custody until January 1993, after which he was released and amnestied in February 1994.

Vladimir Kryuchkov. Photo: RIA Novosti

In subsequent years, Kryuchkov served as the Board of Directors of Region JSC, and was also an advisor Head of the FSB of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. The former head of the KGB was a member of the organizing committee of the Movement in Support of the Army, participated in the work of the council of veterans of state security workers, and wrote several memoirs.

He died on November 23, 2007 from a heart attack and was buried with military honors at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery in the capital.

The Prime Minister of the USSR was an active supporter of the creation of the State Emergency Committee, but in the August days of 1991 he became one of its most passive participants. Unlike his colleagues, he did not fly to negotiations with Gorbachev in Foros, but was removed from his post and arrested while in the hospital.

Valentin Pavlov. Photo: RIA Novosti

After the amnesty in 1994, Pavlov returned to financial activities, heading Chasprombank. Later, the ex-Prime Minister of the Soviet Union worked as an adviser to Promstroibank, was an employee of a number of economic institutions, and deputy chairman of the Free Economic Society.

As one of the most active members of the State Emergency Committee, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Boris Karlovich Pugo, was planned to be arrested first. On August 22, an extremely motley group of comrades, including the Chairman of the KGB of the RSFSR, went to Pugo’s apartment, ahead of the capture group. Victor Ivanenko, 1st Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and future active participant in the shooting of the White House Victor Erin, Deputy Prosecutor General of the RSFSR Evgeniy Lisina and deputy Grigory Yavlinsky.

Boris Pugo. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Eugene M

What happened at the apartment of the head of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs still remains unclear. According to Yavlinsky, Pugo and his wife were still alive, but were near death. According to the main version, the Pugo couple tried to commit suicide, and the minister first shot his wife and then himself. Pugo died a few minutes later, and his wife died in the hospital a day later without regaining consciousness.

Boris and Valentina Pugo are buried at the Troekurovskoye cemetery in Moscow.

In the August days of 1991, Starodubtsev, who was responsible for the agricultural complex, was preparing the draft Decree “On Saving the Harvest.” Arrested on August 22, Starodubtsev was the first member of the State Emergency Committee to be free - he was released from the pre-trial detention center for health reasons in June 1992.

Starodubtsev returned to work in the Agrarian Union, and in 1993 he became a deputy of the Federation Council.

Vasily Starodubtsev. Photo: RIA Novosti

After the amnesty in 1994, business executive Starodubtsev made the most successful among his colleagues in the State Emergency Committee political career V new Russia, from 1997 to 2005, holding the post of governor of the Tula region.

In 2007 and 2011, Starodubtsev was elected to the Russian State Duma on the lists of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Died on December 30, 2011 from a heart attack. He was buried in the rural cemetery of the village of Spasskoye, Novomoskovsk district, Tula region, next to the graves of his wife and son.

Industrialist Alexander Tizyakov as part of the State Emergency Committee was not a random person. In July 1991, he signed what was published in the newspaper “ Soviet Russia» “A Word to the People,” in which politicians and cultural figures spoke out against the actions of Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin and for the preservation of the Soviet Union.

However, during the three days of the existence of the State Emergency Committee, Tizyakov did not have time to move on to active work to save Soviet industry.

Alexander Tizyakov. Photo: RIA Novosti

Like other members of the State Emergency Committee, Tizyakov was released from the pre-trial detention center in January 1993 and was amnestied in February 1994.

Subsequently, Tizyakov was a co-founder of AOZT Antal (mechanical engineering) and the insurance company Severnaya Kazna, the founder of Vidikon LLC (production of chipboards) and the Fidelity company (production of consumer goods), headed the board of directors of the investment trust company New Technologies " In addition, Tizyakov was the president of the Russian-Kyrgyz enterprise "Technology", as well as scientific supervisor LLC "Nauka-93"

The USSR Minister of Defense was an extremely unpopular figure among supporters of democratic changes and paid them in the same coin. It was Yazov who gave the order to send army units to Moscow. However, the Minister of Defense never gave the command to use force against opponents of the State Emergency Committee.

After his arrest on August 22, Yazov recorded a video message of repentance to USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev. Yazov himself claimed that the initiator of “television repentance” was journalist Vladimir Molchanov, and the ex-minister himself, depressed by the events that had taken place and having not slept at night, succumbed to pressure.

Dmitry Yazov. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Barvenkovsky

While under investigation, Yazov continued to be listed on military service, from which he was fired on February 2, 1994, three weeks before his amnesty.

Dmitry Yazov became the last military man to be awarded the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. Currently, he is the only living Marshal of the USSR.

After the amnesty, Dmitry Yazov held the positions of chief military adviser to the Main Directorate of International Military Cooperation of the Russian Ministry of Defense, and chief adviser and consultant to the head of the Academy of the General Staff.

Currently, the 89-year-old retired Marshal of the USSR is a leading analyst (inspector general) of the service of inspector general of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.