Almost 25 years have passed since the moment when the media declared a state of emergency in the country. It was the morning of August 19, a turning point for the USSR in 1991. The events of that time were massive. Both citizens and politicians participated in them. It all started with the action of a group of people who dubbed themselves the acronym GKChP, the decoding of which is known to every conscious resident of the USSR, frightened by the horrors of a possible Civil War. What was it: an attempt to save the country or, conversely, the scenario of its collapse?
Background
In the spring of 1990, at the next Congress of People's Deputies of the Socialist Union, a decision was made to repeal the article of the Constitution, which defines the guiding role of the Communist Party. Then M.S. was elected president of the USSR Gorbachev.
In May of that year, he was appointed the highest official of the RSFSR, as it turns out later, the future president of the Russian Federation, B.N. Yeltsin. It turned out that the leadership of the USSR had a competitor in the person of the Russian government, which acted on the same territory. Already in the summer, Boris Nikolayevich adopts the Declaration of Sovereignty, which provides for the superiority of Russian laws over the Union regulatory.
In parallel with these events, a nationalist uprising began in Tbilisi, then a statement was issued in Vilnius about Lithuania’s illegal joining the USSR, and later an ethnic conflict arose between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
All these events required action on the part of the country's leadership. Then it was proposed to reform the socialist republics into sovereign states. This served in the future as an occasion for the creation of the State Emergency Committee. The decoding of the abbreviation is imprinted in the history of the collapse of the union as the State Committee for Emergency.
All-Union referendum
At the end of 1990, at the next meeting of deputies, Mikhail Sergeyevich came up with the idea of holding an all-union popular vote on the further development of the Union of Sovereign States in the basis of an updated federation. People’s deputies adopted a resolution on holding a referendum.
In the spring of 1991, nine republics preferred the reformation of the USSR into an updated federation of sovereign states. At the same referendum, the people of the RSFSR supported the introduction of the presidency. Soon B.N. was elected to him. Yeltsin.
After a popular vote, the authorities understood that there would be no previous socialist union and a new union agreement was needed. Just on August 20, it was planned to sign the document by Gorbachev on a decentralized confederation. And on the eve of this important event, the GKChP is being created, the decoding of which is voiced for the Soviet residents as a state emergency committee.
Emergency preparedness
Theoretically, the question of introducing a state of emergency in the country by constitutional means was repeatedly discussed by the authorities in 1990. In practical terms, he moved a year later, after the June meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Prime Minister's report on the deep crisis. The chairman of the KGB, the minister of internal affairs, and the minister of defense insisted on a state of emergency to prevent the country's economic collapse. However, the president of the USSR did not support his colleagues.
In the period from August 7 to August 15, V.A. was repeatedly held at the secret KGB facility. Kryuchkov meeting with future members of the Emergency Committee. The interpretation of this reduction was not yet known to the average man, but the members of the conspiracy were seriously engaged in preparing the upcoming coup. The group was headed by Deputy President of the USSR G.I. Yanaev.
Mikhail Sergeevich during this period rested in the Crimea.
Declaration of emergency
The morning television and radio news on August 19, 1991 began with the recitation of the announcers of the official document “Statement by the Soviet leadership”. Information was voiced about the impossibility of fulfilling the presidential duties of M.S. Gorbachev, in connection with the deterioration of his state of health, and the transfer of authority to Gennady Ivanovich Yanaev.
Then, for the first time, the decryption of the GKChP was heard. To manage the country announced the creation of the State Committee on the state of emergency. It included the leaders of the highest echelons of power of the USSR: the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, the chairman of the KGB, the Minister of the Interior, and the first assistant to the chairman of the Defense Council.
Set of measures
On the same day, the main goals and actions of the State Emergency Committee were announced. The decoding of this committee was on the lips of every Soviet citizen worried about his country.
The main goal of the members of the newly created State Committee was to prevent the signing of the Union Treaty and the collapse of the USSR. In addition to the introduction of a state of emergency for a period of 6 months, the following measures were envisaged, approved in the Decree of the State Emergency Committee:
- The abolition of paramilitary groups, control and structures of power, listing laws and the Constitution of the USSR.
- Priority of the Union legislation.
- Cessation of activities of public organizations, political parties, which impede the work of normalizing the situation.
- Establishing control over the media.
- Prevention of rallies, demonstrations and strikes.
- Introduction to the capital of troops and armored vehicles.
Confrontation
By order of D.T. In the morning of August 19, units of the Kantemirovskaya Tank and Taman Motorized Rifle Divisions advanced to the capital. About four thousand military arrived at 12 o’clock in Moscow, where they occupied the city’s life support facilities. The people became afraid of the outbreak of a possible Civil War.
In addition, the putschists took measures to block Alpha special forces in Yeltsin's country house. But after receiving information about what is happening in the capital, Boris Nikolaevich decides to immediately arrive at the White House. The commander of the blocking group receives an order not to impede the departure of the President of the RSFSR.
Arriving at the House of Soviets, Yeltsin declares his refusal to cooperate with members of the Emergency Committee, declaring their unconstitutional behavior. Immediately, the putschists sent an army to the White House to capture it. The operation was called "Thunder." But there was a fiasco: control over paramilitary groups that sided with Yeltsin was lost.
Gorbachev’s actions
In order to inspire people with their legitimate actions, the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP) informed fellow citizens about the illness of incumbent President M. Gorbachev. The day before the fateful events for the USSR on August 19, the coupists: Baklanov, Varennikov, Boldin, Shenin and Plekhanov, went to Foros with Mikhail Sergeevich with an ultimatum. It consisted in the voluntary surrender of authority to Yanaev. To this end, the conspirators proposed Gorbachev to resign, having previously signed a decree demanding a state of emergency in the country.
The ultimatum was not adopted, and as a result, the president was completely isolated in Foros for the time of the coup. Did Gorbachev know about a conspiracy with the organization of the State Emergency Committee? Deciphering the history of these events boils down to US participation in the collapse of the USSR. On the eve of the coup, in July, the country was visited by former CIA director George W. Bush. It is known that he met with Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Nothing is known about their conversation, but the intelligence network received a command to support the conspirators.
And the behavior of Mikhail Sergeyevich is not entirely clear. On August 3, he made a speech saying that the country is in a difficult situation and it is necessary to introduce a state of emergency, and the next day he went to rest in the Crimea.
The coup d'etat
On August 21, a meeting was held with and. about. President G. I. Yanayev, at which committee members decided to send a delegation to Foros to Mikhail Sergeyevich. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR also announced that the removal of M. Gorbachev was illegal, and demanded that Yanayev cancel the decisions and decrees on the state of emergency. On the evening of the same day, an order was issued to arrest members of the Emergency Committee. Later, in 1994, they were granted amnesty.
The August crisis ended with the collapse of the USSR. All republics in turn began to declare their independence. Residents of the Soviet and post-Soviet Union are familiar with the question: “What is the State Emergency Committee?” The decryption of the 1991 coin is also related to the events of the August coup, but about numismatics a bit later.
The only thing the conspirators achieved was the abolition of the signing of the union treaty. The difficulty in understanding what happened is that the coup began alone, but the opposite forces completed it.
Numismatics: GKChP, decryption on a coin
The collapse of the Union was imprinted in all areas of activity of each former republic. Russia is no exception. In 1991, began to mint coins with the image on the obverse of the Spasskaya Tower and the Supreme Council. They are remembered in the history of numismatics as GKChP coins. The decryption of these banknotes among the remaining coins is simple, they were minted until 1992, when an eagle appeared on the obverse.
A rare copy of 1991 is the coin "10 rubles", bimetallic, branded with the Moscow Mint.
A rare sample minted by the Leningrad Mint is also represented by the face value of 10 rubles in 1992.