Associated Press: 25 years on, Russians tell of how they defeated a coup

Published Aug. 17, 2016 at 7:00 pm

(FILES) This file photo taken on August 19, 1991 shows Russian President Boris Yeltsin (L) standing on top of an armoured vehicle parked in front of the Russian Federation building in Moscow as supporters hold a Russian federation flag. Russia marks on August 19-22, 2011, the 25th anniversary of the abortive 1991 coup against then Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev. Tanks rolled through Moscow towards the Russian White House, where Boris Yeltsin, leader of the Soviet-era Russian republic at the time, gathered his supporters after denouncing the coup from the roof of a tank, which resulted later in the collapse of the Soviet empire.

MOSCOW - The KGB major was on vacation in the Russian countryside in August 1991 when he woke up to a radio broadcast announcing a state of national emergency. The bulletin contained something else: a secret code phrase for intelligence officers, summoning them back to their posts immediately.

On Aug. 19, 1991, a group of eight senior hard-line Communist leaders, including the KGB chairman, had seized power from Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, declaring that Gorbachev was unable to continue as head of the party due to illness.

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