Victoria Bonnell: Russia at the Barricades

Gorbachev’s first phone call is to Yeltsin, followed by calls to the leaders of other republics, Chief of the General Staff Moiseev, and the Kremlin Commandant.

4:14 P.M. Seven members of the State Emergency Committee are reported to be under arrest Rumors circulate that the USSR Defense Minister Yazov has committed suicide [this proves incorrect].

4:30 P.M. Aleksandr Dzasokhov, member of the CPSU Politburo and a Secretary of the Central Committee, holds a press conference and declares that “the use of emergency powers by whatever political force is inadmissible.

4:52 P.M. A plane carrying Ivan Silaev, Aleksandr Rutskoi, two members of Gorbachev’s Security Council, Vadim Bakatin, Yevgenii Primakov, ten People’s Deputies of the RSFSR, and 36 militia officers, armed with submachine guns, takes off from Vnukovo-2 Airport for Foros.

4:56 P.M. Khasbulatov reports that the plane carrying members of the State Emergency Committee has landed in the Crimea. The plane carrying Silaev, Rutskoi, and others is en route.

A meeting between Yeltsin and the Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces Moiseev has been scheduled for the evening.

A resolution is adopted by the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet calling the coup unconstitutional.

5:05 P.M. The collegium of the USSR Ministry of Defense indicates that all troops have been withdrawn from Moscow.

5:12 P.M. According to the poll conducted on August 20 by the All-Union Center for the Study of Public Opinion, out of the 4,567 people surveyed from different regions of the USSR, 20 percent supported the Emergency Committee and 62 percent considered its actions illegal. In Russia and Kazakhstan, the figures were 23 and 57 percent, respectively; in Ukraine, 14 percent were for the Emergency Committee and 72 percent against.

5:30 P.M. An avalanche of press conferences begins with state officials and other representatives hastening to declare their respect for the elected authorities and to repudiate the actions of the coup leaders. At his press conference, the USSR Minister of Foreign Affairs Aleksandr Bessmertnykh explains that he was ill until today.

5:36 P.M. An emergency session of the Moscow City Soviet is scheduled for 10:00 A.M. Thursday morning to discuss the political situation in Moscow.

5:53 P.M. President Nazarbaev of Kazakhstan reports that he has just had a telephone conversation with Gorbachev. The Soviet President is still under the protection of his thirty KGB guards. Members of the Emergency Committee are at the dacha in Foros seeking an audience with the President. Nazarbaev urged Gorbachev not to negotiate with the coup leaders and to await the delegation arriving from Moscow.

6:08 P.M. The Presidium of the Moscow City Soviet proclaims the funeral day of those killed to be an official day of mourning. In addition to the three fatalities, there were four others wounded by gunfire.

6:22 P.M. A presidential aide, Georgii Shakhnazarov, reports that it is not known when Gorbachev will return to Moscow to resume his duties, but that members of the State Emergency Committee will be removed from their posts. He refuses to say whether they will be prosecuted.

6:30 P.M. The landing strip at the Belbek Military Airport near Gorbachev’s dacha in the Crimea is blocked off, reportedly on Kriuchkov’s order. The plane carrying the RSFSR delegation may have to land in Simferopol, which is five hours’ drive from Gorbachev dacha in Foros.

6:36 P.M. Departments of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB in charge of Moscow and the Moscow region have been transferred to Russia’s jurisdiction.

6:45 P.M. After contacting by telephone the plane carrying the RSFSR delegation, Gorbachev orders the Chief of the USSR General Staff Moiseev to clear the landing strip at Belbek. The order is carried out at once.

7:02 P.M. Troops leave the radio and television centers occupied earlier in the day in Lithuania and the telephone communications center seized in Vilnius two days earlier.

7:14 P.M. Arkadii Volskii (member of CPSU Central Committee) has called on the Central Committee to condemn the coup in order to free the Party from any suspicion concerning its involvement in the events.

7:16 P.M. The plane carrying the RSFSR government delegation lands at Belbek, and the passengers, including Silaev, Rutskoi, Primakov, and Bakatin, are soon greeted by the Gorbachevs. Rutskoi recalled: “It was clear from the looks of Gorbachev and Raisa Maksimovna that what had taken place was not a show, that they had indeed been isolated and psychologically were ready for any eventuality.”

Before leaving for Moscow, Gorbachev meets with Lukianov and Ivashko. He calls Lukianov “traitor!”

8:00 P.M. President Gorbachev is expected to be arriving in Moscow from Simferopol later tonight.

8:11 P.M. Russian Defense Minister Kobets issues an address to Muscovites praising their efforts and calls for calm to expedite the removal of troops from Moscow.

8:26 P.M. The Russian parliament is now in recess until the following day. A crowd of people still remains gathered outside the White House and several thousand decide to spend the night there, keeping vigil. The barricades are being cleared away but one remains as a symbolic reminder of Moscow’s determination.

Debris has been cleared from Smolensk Square where people were crushed by tanks, but the overturned trolleycars still block traffic. The withdrawal of troops continues.

9:05 P.M. The evening news program “Vremia” broadcasts a brief statement issued by Soviet President Gorbachev. He stresses that he is fully in command of the situation. He will return to Moscow in a few hours.

9:30 P.M. Yeltsin issues “Demands of the President of the RSFSR to the Organizers of the Anti-Constitutional Putsch” calling for an end to all anticonstitutional actions by 10:00 P.M. It is addressed to Yanaev, Baklanov, Kriuchkov, Pavlov, Pugo, Starodubtsev, Tiziakov, and Yazov.

10:00 P.M. Yeltsin has issued Presidential Decree No. 69 “On the Mass Media in the Russian Republic,” affirming press freedom and transferring Gosteleradio installations on Russia’s territory to Russia’s jurisdiction.

Yeltsin has issued Presidential Decree No. 70 removing a number of chairmen from their posts on the executive committees of Soviets of People’s Deputies in the Russian Republic because of their collaboration with the Emergency Committee.

10:39 P.M. Gorbachev is expected to arrive in Moscow from the Crimea around midnight. He may hold a press conference after his arrival.

10:49 P.M. At a press conference (held earlier in the day), First Deputy Prime Minister of the USSR Vladimir Shcherbakov attempts to explain the inactivity of the Council of Ministers during the coup. He states that the Presidium of the Council of Ministers, which met earlier, has discussed the issue of the Cabinet’s resignation but decided against it. He also reports that Valentin Pavlov’s condition is poor and that the Soviet Prime Minister knew nothing ahead of time about the plans for the coup.

11:00–12:00 In Leningrad, the City Soviet decides to work through the night and keep security forces posted around the building.

12:00 Midnight. The presidential plane carrying the Gorbachevs, the members of the RSFSR government delegation, and Kriuchkov (the other members of the Emergency Committee are on a separate plane) takes off from the Belbek Military Airport for Moscow.

At around 2 A.M., the Tu–134 presidential plane lands in Moscow.

Achalov, Vladislav, 351–52, 357

Agapov, Vladimir, 141

Ageev, Genii, 352

Akhromeev, Sergei, 29n

Aksiuchits, Viktor, 297

Alekseev, Sergei, 128

Aleksii II, Patriarch of Russia, 179, 357