Two Days in June: Echoes of the Past
Within three days it was clear that the coup had failed, because of several factors. First, the coup plotters lacked popular support, and their actions were widely condemned both domestically and internationally. Second, the Russian military and intelligence services largely remained loyal to Yeltsin and did not actively support the coup. Third, Yeltsin’s defiance and the determination of the protesters created a strong resistance against the coup.
After three days of tense standoffs and negotiations, the coup collapsed on 21 August 1991. Gorbachev returned to Moscow and resumed his position as Soviet President, but his authority had been significantly diminished. He resigned as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union of 24 August 1991, and, four months later, on 25 December 1991, resigned from his position as president of the Soviet Union.
The next day, 26 December 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist, and Russia became one of fifteen former Soviet republics to become a sovereign state.
The failed coup marked a turning point in the collapse of the Soviet Union. It contributed to the weakening of the Communist Party and accelerated the process of political transformation in Russia. Yeltsin went on to become the first President of the sovereign Russian Federation, which he would rule until 31 December 1999, when he was replaced by Vladimir Putin.
The Coup Plotters
Who were the coup plotter? What happened to them after the failure of the coup?
There were two circles of plotters: the inner core became known as the “Gang of Eight”—they were the active planners of the coup attempt, and the ones who tried, but failed, to rally the military intelligence services, and police to their cause.
The outer circle consisted of thirteen high-ranking Russian officials who were critical of Yeltsin for a while, and who, once the coup attempt was under way, offered public support for it.
The Gang of Eight
Gennady Yanayev, Soviet Vice President. Soviet Vice President Gennady Yanayev was a “Gang of Eight” member who claimed the post of acting president during the attempted coup. His hands trembled at the plotters’ press conference, prompting speculation that he was drunk and making him a symbol of the failed power grab. After being freed from jail in March 1994 under the State Duma amnesty, Yanayev stayed out of politics and business. He became the head of the Department of History and International Relations at the Russian International Academy of Tourism. He died at age 73 on 24 September 2010, after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
Valentin Pavlov, Soviet Prime Minister. Valentin Pavlov, prime minister of the Soviet Union, was released on bail in January 1993, more than a year before the amnesty. As a key member of the “Gang of Eight,” he was named by the court as one of the four main coup plotters. From 1994 to August 1995, Pavlov — a former Soviet finance minister — was a director of the commercial bank Chasprombank, resigning at the board’s request six months before Chasprombank’s license was revoked for violating Russian central bank rules. In 1996 and 1997, Pavlov was an adviser to Promstroibank, another commercial bank. In 1998, he became vice president of a U.S.-based software developer called Business Management Systems. He also was named during the 1990s as the vice president of an organization called Free Economic Society — a renamed version of the All-Soviet Economic Society. Pavlov died in Moscow on 30 March 2003.
Vladimir Kryuchkov, Soviet KGB Chief. Vladimir Kryuchkov, the KGB chief who initiated the creation of the GKChP, was named by the court as one of four main conspirators in the attempted coup. After the amnesty, Kryuchkov wrote extensively about the events that preceded the disintegration of the Soviet Union — criticizing Gorbachev’s for his political, social, and economic reforms, for the loss of Soviet domination over Eastern Europe, and for the reunification of Germany. Kryuchkov died at age 83 on 23 November 2007.
Dmitry Yazov, Soviet Defense Minister. Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov, another member of the “Gang of Eight,” also was named by the court as one of the four chief conspirators. A World War II veteran and the last Marshal of the Soviet Union, Yazov accepted the amnesty after 18 months in Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina jail, but insisted he was not guilty of treason. He was dismissed from military service in February 1994 by President Boris Yeltsin, but continued to take part in veterans’ activities and was a guest of honor at subsequent May 9 parades commemorating the Allied victory in World War II. After Vladimir Putin became president, he became a chief military adviser to the Defense Ministry’s International Military Cooperation Department and to the chief of the General Staff Academy. In 2006, during Putin’s second term, Yazov took a post with the Inspectors General Service at the Defense Ministry, where he was a leading analyst. On 8 November 2014, Putin personally presented Yazov (pictured above) with Russia’s Order of Honor medal for “high achievement in useful societal activities.”
Boris Pugo, Soviet Interior Minister. Boris Pugo, the Soviet interior minister who was part of the “Gang of Eight,” fatally shot himself on 22 August 1991, after being summoned to a meeting with a Russian prosecutor over his role in the failed coup, according to multiple accounts. His wife also died after the incident. Prosecutors dismissed speculation that one or the other was murdered, saying that both left suicide notes and that Pugo’s wife managed to place his pistol neatly on a chest of drawers after shooting herself. Some of Pugo’s contemporaries have cast doubt on the official version.
Oleg Baklanov, Soviet Defense Council Deputy Chairman. Oleg Baklanov, was head of the ministry responsible for building ICBMs, booster rockets, and space vehicles. As Communist Party secretary in charge of defense issues, he was a top figure in the military-industrial complex at the time of the coup. After the amnesty, he worked as a scientist and a businessman in Russia’s defense sector. Baklanov became chairman of the board of Rosobshemash, a state-owned military contractor that builds military aircraft and intercontinental ballistic missiles, like the SS-18 “Satan,” for Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
Vasily Starodubtsev, Soviet Peasants Union Chairman. Vasily Starodubtsev, chairman of the Soviet Peasants Union, continued his political career after the August 1991 coup. He was treated leniently by the court compared to other members of the “Gang of Eight.” He was released from jail in 1992, officially for health reasons, on the condition that he stay out of politics. But Starodubtsev ignored those terms. In 1993, he helped found the Agrarian Party of Russia, which advocated agrarian socialism and collectivism, and was elected to the State Duma. Starodubtsev was governor of Tula Oblast from 1997 to 2005. His party supported Dmitry Medvedev’s 2008 presidential candidacy and merged into Putin’s ruling United Russia party the same year. Starodubtsev died of a heart attack at age 80 on 30 December 2011.
Aleksandr Tizyakov, Soviet Industrial Consortium Leader. Aleksandr Tizyakov, a member of the “Gang of Eight,” used his connections as the head of a Soviet industrial association to launch a career as a private businessman after the 1994 amnesty. At the time of the coup, Tizyakov headed the Soviet Union’s Association of State Enterprises and Industry, Transport, and Communications Facilities. By 2001, he had founded or cofounded a series of private companies: a mechanical engineering firm called Antal; an insurance company called Severnaya Kazna; a consumer goods firm called Fideliti; and plywood producing enterprise called Vidikon. He is founder and board chair of an investment firm called Noviye Tekhnologii. He also founded a Russian-Kyrgyz joint venture called Tekhnologia and a Yekaterinburg-based firm that rents out non-residential properties called Nauka-93, and is listed as a founder of several other companies. Tizyakov ran unsuccessfully for the State Duma in 1995 and 1999 and again in 2003, when he was a candidate on the Communist Party ticket.
The Outer Circle
Oleg Shenin, Politburo Member. Oleg Shenin, a secretary of the Communist Party and member of its ruling Politburo, was the only official not among the “Gang of Eight” to be named by the court as a main conspirator. In 1993, while still on trial for high treason, Shenin became the founding chairman of the marginal Union of Communist Parties — Communist Party of the Soviet Union (UCP-CPSU), and remained at that post after the amnesty. He met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during a September 1997 visit to Pyongyang. In 2001, he split from the main Russian Communist Party after its leader, Gennady Zyuganov, refused to support his idea of creating a united Communist Party of Russia and Belarus. Shenin sought to run for the Russian presidency in 2008, but was denied registration on the grounds that there were omissions in his paperwork. He died at age 71 on 8 May 2009.
Anatoly Lukyanov, Supreme Soviet Chairman. Anatoly Lukyanov was chairman of the Supreme Soviet, the U.S.S.R.’s top legislative body. He became deeply involved in the creation of the Russian Communist Party after the breakup of the Soviet Union, even before the amnesty. In 1993, Lukyanov co-founded the Communist Party of the Russian Federation with Gennady Zyuganov. He served until 2003 as the chairman of the party’s Central Advisory Council and as a senior adviser to Zyuganov. Lukyanov also was elected as a Communist Party deputy to the State Duma in 1993, 1995, and 1999. Lukyanov stopped taking part in Duma elections in 2003 when he became a board member of OEG Petroservis, a Russian firm involved in exploration and drilling for oil and natural gas.
Valentin Varennikov, Soviet Deputy Defense Minister. Valentin Varennikov, a Soviet general and deputy defense minister, is the only coup plotter who refused to accept the State Duma’s amnesty offer after it was reviewed by a Russian court in March 1994. Varennikov was acquitted of treason on August 11, 1994, when a newly appointed judge in the case ruled that he had merely followed the orders of Defense Minister Yazov and had acted “in an interest of preserving and strengthening his country.” Varennikov won a State Duma seat in 1995 as a member of the Communist Party, and headed the Committee on Veteran Affairs. In August 2003, Varennikov co-founded the nationalist political party Rodina. He also founded a nongovernmental group that he called the International League for Human Dignity and Security and vehemently defended the reputation of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, saying that the Soviet Union “became a great country because we were led by Stalin.” Varennikov died at age 85 on 6 May 2009.
Ruslan Khasbulatov,the Speaker of the Russian Parliament. He was a key figure in opposing Yeltsin’s reforms and was seen as a strong critic of Yeltsin’s presidency. After the crisis, Khasbulatov’s influence waned, and he gradually withdrew from politics.
Viktor Gerashchenko,Chairman of the Russian Central Bank. He opposed Yeltsin’s economic policies during the crisis. After the crisis, Gerashchenko continued to have a role in the Russian financial sector and served as the Chairman of the Central Bank on two separate occasions.
Yury Voronin, Deputy Speaker of the Russian Parliament. He was known for his conservative views and opposition to Yeltsin’s presidency. After the crisis, Voronin’s political influence diminished, and he did not hold any significant positions in subsequent years.
Viktor Ilyukhin, a member of the Communist Party and a prominent critic of Yeltsin’s economic reforms. He was a vocal opponent of Yeltsin’s presidency and played a role in the events leading up to the constitutional crisis. Ilyukhin remained politically active after the crisis but passed away in 2002.
Valentin Kuptsov,a member of the Communist Party and a prominent opponent of Yeltsin’s policies. He participated in the events leading up to the constitutional crisis but did not hold any significant positions afterward.
Albert Makashov, a retired general and a member of the Russian Parliament. He was known for his nationalist and anti-Semitic views and played a controversial role during the crisis. Makashov’s political influence diminished after the crisis, and he did not hold any prominent positions in subsequent years.
Nikolai Travkin,a member of the Russian Parliament and a vocal critic of Yeltsin’s presidency. He actively participated in the events leading up to the crisis but did not hold any notable positions afterward.
Sergei Baburin, a member of the Russian Parliament and a vocal opponent of Yeltsin’s policies. He played a prominent role in the events leading up to the crisis but did not hold any significant positions afterward.
Alexandr Bessmertnykh, foreign minister. During the August coup of 1991 he did not lend his open support to the attempt to remove Gorbachev from power, but refused to condemn the plotters. Yeltsin fired Prime Minister Pavlov and his entire cabinet, including Bessmertnykh.
General Sergey Akhromeyev, former Chief of the Soviet GeneralStaff. In August 1991, Akhromeyev, who had retired in June 1991, was on vacation with his wife. He returned to Moscow on 20 August and met with the Vice President Gennady Yanaev to offer his assistance to the coup leaders. On 24 August, after the failure of the coup, Akhromeyev committed suicide. There are questions still about whether his death was a suicide or a murder buy other military officers, who did not want their role in the attempted coup revealed.
