- Title: File footage to mark 30th anniversary of attempted coup in Russia
- Date: 19th August 2021
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - AUGUST 19, 1991) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF RUSSIAN MILITARY TANKS NEAR RED SQUARE COUP PLOTTERS AT BRIEFING TO ANNOUNCE COUP (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) COUP PLOTTER SOVIET VICE PRESIDENT, GENNADY YANAYEV, SAYING: "We have no choice but to take decisive measures." RUSSIAN FLAG ON BARRICADE OUTSIDE WHITE HOUSE PROTESTERS PASSING BRICKS FROM HAND TO HAND TO BUILD BARRICADE RUSSIAN FLAG ON BARRICADE MOSCOW (FILE - AUGUST 19-20, 1991) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS STANDING OUTSIDE WHITE HOUSE AT NIGHT MAN WAVES RUSSIAN FLAG MASSED PROTESTERS CHANTING 'RUSSIA, RUSSIA!' TANKS MOVES THROUGH CROWD OF PROTESTERS AFTER COMING OVER TO WHITE HOUSE SIDE TANK CREW WITH RUSSIAN FLAG SURROUNDED BY CHEERING CROWD OF PROTESTERS MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - AUGUST 20, 1991) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) BORIS YELTSIN WALKING WITH SECURITY AND SUPPORTERS OUTSIDE WHITE HOUSE VARIOUS AS YELTSIN GETS ONTO TANKS AND ADDRESSES CROWD MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - AUGUST 20-21, 1991) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) VARIOUS AS PROTESTERS ATTACK TANKS ON GARDEN RING UNDER THEN KALININSKY BRIDGE BURNING BUSES USED AS BARRICADE, PROTESTERS ON TOP OF TANK DEMONSTRATING WITH TANK CREW, TANK BACKING AWAY DOWN STREET MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE) (REUTERS) PROTESTER TRYING TO STOP APC IN MOSCOW STREET PROTESTERS GATHERED NEAR APC, SHOUTING TO THE SOLDIERS TO STOP COLUMN OF TANKS ON NOVY ARBAT STREET ON THE WAY TO THE WHITE HOUSE MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - AUGUST 21, 1991) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS WATCHING, CHEERING AS STATUE OF FELIX DZERZHINSKY IS PULLED FROM ITS PLINTH IN LUBYANKA SQUARE OPPOSITE THE KGB HEADQUARTERS THEN COMMUNIST PARTY GENERAL SECRETARY MIKHAIL GORBACHEV SPEAKING ON CAMERA MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - AUGUST 22, 1991) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) 22 . VARIOUS OF CROWD CARRYING HUGE RUSSIAN FLAG THROUGH RED SQUARE MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - 1991) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) YELTSIN GREETED BY CROWD
- Embargoed: 2nd September 2021 16:10
- Keywords: Moscow Russia Soviet Union Collapse anniversary putsch
- Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- City: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA001EQY4RWN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: In August 2021, Russia marks the 30th anniversary of the attempted coup d'état, also known as the 'putsch' in 1991.
In August 1991, with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev out of Moscow on his annual holiday in the Crimea, hardline members of the ruling Communist Party staged a coup to control the Soviet Union.
The coup plotters opposed Gorbachev's "perestroika" program of political and economic reforms, which threatened the country's break-up created after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
They hoped to prevent the signing of a new union treaty from decentralizing much of the Soviet government's power to the Soviet Union's constituent republics.
At a hastily organized press briefing, Soviet Vice-President Gennady Yanayev broke the news.
"We have no choice but to take decisive measures," said Yanayev.
The conspirators included Yanayev, KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov, Defence Minister Dmitry Yazov, Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov, and Interior Minister Boris Pugo.
The coup was opposed by thousands of people who protested outside the Russian Soviet republic's parliament building, the White House, in Moscow.
The resistance led by Boris Yeltsin, then in opposition, was vital to putting down the coup and preventing the plotters from turning back the reforms that had already brought significant changes under Gorbachev. Protesters included people from all walks of life, young and old alike.
On the second day, tank crews sent to suppress the protest outside the White House joined them, and Yeltsin climbed onto a tank outside the White House to appeal to the army not to turn against the people.
Three people were killed that night as protesters blocked more tanks moving along Moscow's ring road towards the White House. But the security forces vacillated and ultimately did not use power to disperse the protesters outside the White House.
By August 21, 1991, it was clear the putsch had collapsed. Troops withdrew from Moscow, and Gorbachev could fly back to Moscow, although he looked severely shaken by the experience. The coup leaders were arrested, but Pugo and his wife later committed suicide. The conspirators were eventually tried for treason but were offered an amnesty in 1994.
Many historians say the coup achieved the opposite of what the plotters intended and hastened the demise of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev resigned as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party on August 24, and Yeltsin banned the party's activities in Russia on November 6.
The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus created the Commonwealth of Independent States on December 8 and annulled the 1922 treaty establishing the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev resigned as Soviet president on December 25, 1991, and the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist the next day.
(Production: Angelina Kazakova) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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