Latvia
186-649: Coup fails [REDACTED] State Committee on the State of Emergency [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Russian SFSR 3 died by suicide: The 1991 Soviet coup attempt , also known as the August Coup , was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev , who was Soviet President and General Secretary of
372-580: A famine between 1930 and 1933 that killed millions. The Soviet forced labour camp system of the Gulag was expanded. During the late 1930s, Stalin's government conducted the Great Purge to remove opponents, resulting in mass death, imprisonment, and deportation. In 1939, the USSR and Nazi Germany signed a nonaggression pact , but in 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the largest land invasion in history, opening
558-532: A newly reconstituted Russia , Boris Yeltsin , who had been both an ally and critic of Gorbachev. The GKChP was poorly organized and met with effective resistance by both Yeltsin and a civilian campaign of anti-authoritarian protesters, mainly in Moscow . The coup collapsed in two days, and Gorbachev returned to office while the plotters all lost their posts. Yeltsin subsequently became the dominant leader and Gorbachev lost much of his influence. The failed coup led to both
744-502: A poll on independence was held with three-quarters of participants voting in favor of independence. Latvia faced further attacks of Pro-Soviet forces later in 1991 – on 23 May, when OMON launched attack on five Latvian border posts and during the Soviet coup attempt of 1991 , when several strategic objectives guarded during the barricades were seized, with one civilian (driver Raimonds Salmiņš) killed by Soviet forces. The attempted coup prompted
930-640: A "call for order" over the Moscow Programme television station. That day, he asked two KGB officers to prepare measures to be taken in the event a state of emergency was declared in the USSR. Later, Kryuchkov brought Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov , Central Control Commission Chairman Boris Pugo , Premier Valentin Pavlov , Vice President Gennady Yanayev , Soviet Defense Council deputy chief Oleg Baklanov , Gorbachev secretariat head Valery Boldin , and CPSU Central Committee Secretary Oleg Shenin into
1116-476: A campaign of civil disobedience – ignoring any orders and requests of the Soviet authorities, as well as any Soviet elections and referendums, undermining the Soviet economy by going on strike and by following the absurdly elaborate Soviet manufacturing instructions to the letter in order to paralyze production , helping the independence movement to continue its work illegally and helping its supporters to get involved in
1302-533: A closer relationship with France and Britain. In 1939, half a year after the Munich Agreement , the USSR attempted to form an anti-Nazi alliance with France and Britain. Adolf Hitler proposed a better deal, which would give the USSR control over much of Eastern Europe through the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact . In September, Germany invaded Poland, and the USSR also invaded later that month, resulting in
1488-533: A coup was planned by the " Soyuz " group of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR MPs. Dimitry Yuzhkov admitted that the Soviet military was responsible for the first bombings, however, no one claimed responsibility for the rest of the bombings, which the communist press blamed on Latvian nationalists. On the basis of these and subsequent events, several OMON officers were tried, although many of them were not convicted,
1674-651: A demonstration. That night the OMON arrested and beat up five members of a volunteer guard unit. On 20 January, about 100,000 people gathered in Moscow to show their support for the Baltic states, calling on Soviet officials to resign in connection with the events in Vilnius. That evening turned out to be the deadliest at the Barricades after the OMON and other unidentified combat groups attacked
1860-585: A dictatorship was coming. On 11 December 1990, the Popular Front released an announcement stating that there was no need for a climate of fear and hysteria in what was dubbed hour X – the unlimited authority of the president – would come and every person should be ready to consider what they would do if that happened. The Popular Front also made suggestions regarding what should be done until hour X and afterwards, if Soviet forces were successful. These plans called for acts to show support for independence and attract
2046-467: A fleet of strategic bombers and during war situation was to eradicate enemy infrastructure and nuclear capacity. The air force also had a number of fighters and tactical bombers to support the army in the war. Strategic missile forces had more than 1,400 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), deployed between 28 bases and 300 command centers. The Barricades [REDACTED] Soviet Union The Barricades ( Latvian : Barikādes ) were
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#17328766693982232-515: A greater union which he initially named as the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia (Russian: Союз Советских Республик Европы и Азии , romanized : Soyuz Sovyetskikh Respublik Evropy i Azii ). Joseph Stalin initially resisted Lenin's proposal but ultimately accepted it, and with Lenin's agreement he changed the name to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), although all republics began as socialist soviet and did not change to
2418-592: A new profitable market. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Stalin ordered Marxist-Leninist parties across the world to strongly oppose non-Marxist political parties, labour unions or other organizations on the left, which they labelled social fascists . In the usage of the Soviet Union, and of the Comintern and its affiliated parties in this period, the epithet fascist was used to describe capitalist society in general and virtually any anti-Soviet or anti-Stalinist activity or opinion. Stalin reversed himself in 1934 with
2604-454: A number and had teams composed of doctors from local hospitals. Shifts were formed by daily routine - people who went to their job, studies or home were replaced by people who returned to the barricades after their daily duties. Most workers who had been on the barricades later received their usual salary regardless of if they had or had not been to work. Prime minister Ivars Godmanis regularly held meetings with commanders of individual barricades,
2790-513: A number of public institutions. Many well-wishers provided knit socks and gloves as well as refreshments. Places to sleep were often hard to find - schools were used where possible. Many people either slept at the barricades or went home. Some people experienced an exacerbation of their health problems which was not helped by the winter climate, exhaustion and stress. First aid points were set up with additional medical supplies and equipment, some were based on existing locations. Beds were installed in
2976-621: A piece in the hardline Sovetskaya Rossiya newspaper, entitled " A Word to the People ", that called for decisive action to prevent calamity. Six days later, on 29 July, Gorbachev, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev discussed the possibility of replacing hardliners such as Pavlov, Yazov, Kryuchkov and Pugo with more liberal figures, with Nazarbayev as Prime Minister (in Pavlov's place). Kryuchkov, who had placed Gorbachev under close surveillance as Subject 110 several months earlier, eventually got wind of
3162-531: A public safety department to guard the barricades. On 25 January, after the funeral of the 20 January victims, defenders of the barricades left. The actual barricades remained on the streets of Riga for a long time; for example, those at the Supreme Council were removed only in the autumn of 1992. In March partially in response to January events and partially because of upcoming Soviet referendum on preservation of federation , which Latvia intended to boycott,
3348-695: A series of confrontations between the Republic of Latvia and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in January 1991 which took place mainly in Riga . The events are named for the popular effort of building and protecting barricades from 13 January until about 27 January. Latvia, which had declared restoration of independence from the Soviet Union a year earlier, anticipated that the Soviet Union might attempt to regain control over
3534-517: A state of emergency or resign and name Yanayev as acting president to allow the members of the GKChP "to restore order" to the country. Gorbachev has always claimed that he refused point-blank to accept the ultimatum. Varennikov has insisted that Gorbachev said: "Damn you. Do what you want. But report my opinion!" However, those present at the dacha at the time testified that Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin and Varennikov had been clearly disappointed and nervous after
3720-825: A statement requesting formal diplomatic recognition from foreign governments and the United Nations . The GKChP conspirators considered detaining Yeltsin upon his return from a visit to Kazakhstan on 17 August but failed when Yeltsin redirected his flight from Chkalovsky Air Base northeast of Moscow to Vnukovo Airport southwest of the city. Afterwards, they considered capturing him at his dacha near Moscow. The KGB Alpha Group surrounded his dacha with Spetsnaz , but for undisclosed reasons did not apprehend him. The commanding officer, Viktor Karpukhin , later alleged that he had received an order from Kryuchkov to arrest Yeltsin but disobeyed it, although his account has been questioned. The failure to arrest Yeltsin proved fatal to
3906-615: A status that is retained by the Russian Federation . Covering a sixth of Earth's land surface, its size was comparable to that of North America . Two other successor states, Kazakhstan and Ukraine , rank among the top 10 countries by land area, and the largest country entirely in Europe, respectively. The European portion accounted for a quarter of the country's area and was the cultural and economic center. The eastern part in Asia extended to
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#17328766693984092-463: A support fund for 'Participants of the Barricades of 1991' was created. The fund is for the families of victims. It also gathers information on participants. In 2001 the fund created the 'Museum of the Barricades of 1991' to make historical materials it had gathered available to the public. 20 January is the commemoration day of Participants of the Barricades, they are remembered on this day as well as on 18 November, 4 May and 21 August. Participants of
4278-469: A union of equals, in practice the Soviet Union was dominated by Russians . The domination was so absolute that for most of its existence, the country was commonly (but incorrectly) referred to as 'Russia'. While the Russian SFSR was technically only one republic within the larger union, it was by far the largest (both in terms of population and area), most powerful, and most highly developed. The Russian SFSR
4464-651: Is coming." Gorbachev was forced to appoint Yanayev in his place. Beginning with the January Events in Lithuania , members of Gorbachev's Cabinet hoped that he could be persuaded to declare a state of emergency and "restore order," and formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP). On 17 June 1991, Soviet Premier Pavlov requested extraordinary powers from the Supreme Soviet . Several days later, Moscow Mayor Gavriil Popov informed U.S. Ambassador to
4650-556: Is derived from the Russian word sovet (Russian: совет ), meaning 'council', 'assembly', 'advice', ultimately deriving from the proto-Slavic verbal stem of * vět-iti ('to inform'), related to Slavic věst ('news'), English wise . The word sovietnik means 'councillor'. Some organizations in Russian history were called council (Russian: совет ). In the Russian Empire ,
4836-570: Is his background, his education , his profession . These are the questions that will determine the fate of the accused. That is the meaning and essence of the Red Terror ." During his rule, Stalin always made the final policy decisions. Otherwise, Soviet foreign policy was set by the commission on the Foreign Policy of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , or by
5022-585: The Preses Nams was being held hostage, while other workers, although physically and verbally abused, were apparently allowed to leave the printing house. The Supreme Council officially recognized the taking of the printing house as an illegal act on the part of the Communist Party of Latvia . The Popular Front organised protests at the Communist Party building. The printing house was partly paralysed as it continued to print only pro-Soviet press. On 4 January
5208-668: The Alpha Group and Vympel elite special forces units, supported by paratroopers, Moscow OMON , Internal Troops of the ODON , three tank companies and a helicopter squadron. Alpha Group commander General Viktor Karpukhin and other senior unit officers, together with Airborne deputy commander Gen. Alexander Lebed mingled with the crowds near the White House and assessed the possibility of such an operation. Afterwards, Karpukhin and Vympel commander Colonel Boris Beskov tried to convince Ageyev that
5394-642: The Baltic Republics ". At the time Soviet troops, OMON units and KGB forces were stationed in Latvia. On 23 December 1990 a large combat group of KGB was exposed in Jūrmala . It was rumored at the time that there would be a coup and a dictatorship would be established. Foreign minister of the Soviet Union Eduard Shevardnadze seemingly confirmed this when he resigned on 20 December 1990, stating that
5580-570: The Cheget briefcase controlling Soviet nuclear weapons be returned to Moscow. Although Gorbachev discovered that the GKChP's actions had cut off communications with the nuclear duty officers, the Cheget was returned to the capital by 2:00 pm. However, Soviet Air Force Commander-in-Chief Yevgeny Shaposhnikov opposed the coup and claimed in his memoirs that he and the commanders of the Soviet Navy and
5766-510: The Council of People's Commissars ), headed by the Chairman (Premier) and managing an enormous bureaucracy responsible for the administration of the economy and society. State and party structures of the constituent republics largely emulated the structure of the central institutions, although the Russian SFSR, unlike the other constituent republics, for most of its history had no republican branch of
1991 Soviet coup attempt - Misplaced Pages Continue
5952-590: The Eastern Front of World War II . The Soviets played a decisive role in defeating the Axis powers , suffering an estimated 27 million casualties , which accounted for most Allied losses. In the aftermath of the war , the Soviet Union consolidated the territory occupied by the Red Army , forming satellite states , and undertook rapid economic development which cemented its status as a superpower . Geopolitical tensions with
6138-617: The Great Patriotic War to German revanchism and irredentism – after all, this had been the Kremlin's greatest fear since the end of the war. The KGB began considering a coup in September 1990. Soviet politician Alexander Yakovlev began warning Gorbachev about the possibility of one after the 28th Party Congress in June 1990. On 11 December 1990, KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov made
6324-729: The Land Forces , the Air Force , the Navy , Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) and the Internal Troops . The OGPU later became independent and in 1934 joined the NKVD secret police, and so its internal troops were under the joint leadership of the defense and internal commissariats. After World War II, Strategic Missile Forces (1959), Air Defense Forces (1948) and National Civil Defense Forces (1970) were formed, which ranked first, third, and sixth in
6510-523: The Latvian Interior Ministry . Two policemen (Vladimirs Gomanovičs and Sergejs Konoņenko), camera operator and director Andris Slapiņš and 17-year-old schoolboy Edijs Riekstiņš were killed. Gvido Zvaigzne was fatally injured and died of his injuries on 5 February. Four Bauska policemen were injured, as were five participants of the barricades, a Hungarian János Tódor, Finnish journalist and TV operator Hannu Väisänen and Russian camera operator for
6696-518: The Moscow State Institute of International Relations . The Marxist-Leninist leadership of the Soviet Union intensely debated foreign policy issues and changed directions several times. Even after Stalin assumed dictatorial control in the late 1920s, there were debates, and he frequently changed positions. During the country's early period, it was assumed that Communist revolutions would break out soon in every major industrial country, and it
6882-507: The New Union Treaty signing on 20 August. On 15 August, the text of the draft treaty was published, which would have stripped the coup planners of much of their authority. On 17 August, the members of the GKChP met at a KGB guesthouse in Moscow and studied the treaty document. Decisions were made to introduce a state of emergency from 19 August, to form a State Emergency Committee, and require Gorbachev to sign
7068-644: The Pacific Ocean to the east and Afghanistan to the south, and, except some areas in Central Asia , was much less populous. It spanned over 10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi) east to west across 11 time zones , and over 7,200 kilometres (4,500 mi) north to south. It had five climate zones: tundra , taiga , steppes , desert and mountains . The USSR, like Russia , had the world's longest border , measuring over 60,000 kilometres (37,000 mi), or 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 circumferences of Earth. Two-thirds of it
7254-761: The Popular Front program that called on all Marxist parties to join with all anti-Fascist political, labour, and organizational forces that were opposed to fascism , especially of the Nazi variety. The rapid growth of power in Nazi Germany encouraged both Paris and Moscow to form a military alliance, and the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance was signed in May 1935. A firm believer in collective security, Stalin's foreign minister Maxim Litvinov worked very hard to form
7440-549: The Russian Orthodox Church , and convinced him to declare support for Yeltsin. Meanwhile, in Leningrad, Military District Commander Viktor Samsonov ordered the formation of an emergency committee for the city, chaired by Leningrad First Secretary Boris Gidaspov, to circumvent Sobchak's democratically elected municipal government. Samsonov's troops were ultimately blocked by hundreds of thousands of demonstrators supported by
7626-403: The Soviet Union (USSR). The treaty was to decentralize much of the central Soviet government 's power and distribute it among its fifteen republics ; Yeltsin's demand for more autonomy to the republics opened a window for the plotters to organize the coup. The GKChP hardliners dispatched KGB agents who detained Gorbachev at his dacha but failed to detain the recently elected president of
1991 Soviet coup attempt - Misplaced Pages Continue
7812-404: The Soviet Union , was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by area , extending across eleven time zones and sharing borders with twelve countries , and the third-most populous country . An overall successor to the Russian Empire , it was nominally organized as a federal union of national republics ,
7998-533: The Soviet Union . It stated that all protest must be nonviolent and everything must be documented with photos and videos so there would be evidence to counter possible Kremlin propaganda . Notwithstanding Mikhail Gorbachev 's promises not to use violent methods to change power in the Baltic states , the USSR army and the interior structures attacked local authorities and strategic sites in Lithuania and Latvia in January 1991 killing officers and civilians. In 1995,
8184-666: The Soviet federal and republican constitutions . Consequently, the tension in relations between Latvia and the Soviet Union and between the independence movement and pro-Soviet forces, such as the International Front of the Working People of Latvia (Interfront) and the Communist Party of Latvia , along with its All-Latvian Public Rescue Committee, grew. The pro-Soviet forces tried to provoke violence and seize power in Latvia. A series of bombings occurred in December 1990, Marshal of
8370-460: The Soviet republics , and the control of the Communist Party weakened. The failed coup attempt in August 1991 against Gorbachev by hardline communists hastened the end of the Soviet Union , which formally dissolved on December 26, 1991, ending nearly seven decades of Soviet rule. With an area of 22,402,200 square kilometres (8,649,500 sq mi), the Soviet Union was the world's largest country,
8556-739: The State Council , which functioned from 1810 to 1917, was referred to as a Council of Ministers. The Soviets as workers' councils first appeared during the 1905 Russian Revolution . Although they were quickly suppressed by the Imperial army, after the February Revolution of 1917 , workers' and soldiers' Soviets emerged throughout the country and shared power with the Russian Provisional Government . The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin , demanded that all power be transferred to
8742-497: The Strategic Rocket Forces told Yazov that they would not follow orders for a nuclear launch. After the coup, Gorbachev refused to admit that he had lost control of the country's nuclear weapons. At noon, Moscow military district commander General Nikolai Kalinin , whom Yanayev appointed military commandant of Moscow , declared a curfew in Moscow from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am, effective 20 August. This
8928-675: The Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR , on 18 March 1990 and formed the Popular Front of Latvia faction, leaving the pro-Soviet Equal Rights faction in opposition. On 4 May 1990, the Supreme Soviet, which afterwards became known as the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia , declared the restoration of independence of Latvia and began secession from the Soviet Union. The USSR did not recognize these actions and considered them contrary to
9114-616: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), saying that it was "overly juridical" and potentially infringed on national sovereignty. The Soviet Union later signed legally-binding human rights documents, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1973 (and the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ), but they were neither widely known or accessible to people living under Communist rule, nor were they taken seriously by
9300-407: The krai of Altai and Krasnodar all supported the coup and pressured raikom to do so as well, while only three oblasts aside from Moscow and Leningrad opposed it. However, some of the soviets faced internal resistance against emergency rule. The Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics of Tatarstan , Kabardino-Balkaria , Checheno-Ingushetia , Buryatia , and North Ossetia all sided with
9486-496: The largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world . As an Allied nation, it was a founding member of the United Nations as well as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council . Before its dissolution, the USSR was one of the world's two superpowers through its hegemony in Eastern Europe, global diplomatic and ideological influence (particularly in the Global South ), military and economic strengths, and scientific accomplishments. The word soviet
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#17328766693989672-485: The right to food , the right to work , and the right to education . The Soviet conception of human rights was very different from international law . According to Soviet legal theory , "it is the government who is the beneficiary of human rights which are to be asserted against the individual". The Soviet state was considered as the source of human rights. Therefore, the Soviet legal system considered law an arm of politics and it also considered courts agencies of
9858-481: The 1920s, it refused to rubber stamp proposals from the party and Council of Ministers. In 1990, Gorbachev introduced and assumed the position of the President of the Soviet Union , concentrated power in his executive office, independent of the party, and subordinated the government, now renamed the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR , to himself. Tensions grew between the Union-wide authorities under Gorbachev, reformists led in Russia by Boris Yeltsin and controlling
10044-424: The 1950s, the Soviet Union expanded its efforts in space exploration and took a lead in the Space Race with the first artificial satellite , the first human spaceflight , the first space station , and the first probe to land on another planet . In 1985, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev , sought to reform the country through his policies of glasnost and perestroika . In 1989, various countries of
10230-432: The 1990s, people in the West were also interested in the radioactive hazards of nuclear facilities, decommissioned nuclear submarines , and the processing of nuclear waste or spent nuclear fuel . It was also known in the early 1990s that the USSR had transported radioactive material to the Barents Sea and Kara Sea , which was later confirmed by the Russian parliament. The crash of the K-141 Kursk submarine in 2000 in
10416-438: The Baltic OMON forces to the Transnistrian territory of Moldova in support of the separatist regime there, where Vladimir Antyufeyev , commander of the Riga OMON forces, took on the role of Minister of Security initially under an assumed name (Vladimir Shevstov), a post he held until 2012. Antyufeyev appeared in Ukraine as the "deputy prime minister" of the Russian-backed Donetsk People's Republic in July 2014. The Barricades
10602-399: The CPSU at the time. The coup leaders consisted of top military and civilian officials, including Vice President Gennady Yanayev , who together formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP). They opposed Gorbachev's reform program , were angry at the loss of control over Eastern European states and fearful of the New Union Treaty , which was on the verge of being signed by
10788-427: The CPSU, being ruled directly by the union-wide party until 1990. Local authorities were organized likewise into party committees , local Soviets and executive committees . While the state system was nominally federal, the party was unitary. The state security police (the KGB and its predecessor agencies ) played an important role in Soviet politics. It was instrumental in the Red Terror and Great Purge , but
10974-548: The Commander of the Soviet army in the Baltic Military District Fyodor Kuzmin issued an ultimatum against the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia chairman Anatolijs Gorbunovs , demanding that the adopted laws are repealed. The OMON attacked Brasa and Vecmilgrāvis bridges. 17 cars were burned during the day. On the night of 15 January, the OMON twice attacked the Riga branch of the Minsk Militia Academy. Later that day 10,000 people gathered for an Interfront meeting, where an All-Latvian Public Rescue Committee declared that it
11160-407: The Communist Party of Latvia, Interfront, the All-Latvian Public Rescue Committee and a few related organizations were banned by parliament for the attempted coup d'état, and two leaders of CPL and ALPRC were tried for treason . On 9 November 1999, the Riga District Court found ten former Riga OMON officers guilty for their involvement in the attacks. Viktor Alksnis transplanted a large number of
11346-411: The Communist authorities. Under Joseph Stalin , the death penalty was extended to adolescents as young as 12 years old in 1935. Sergei Kovalev recalled "the famous article 125 of the Constitution which enumerated all basic civil and political rights" in the Soviet Union. But when he and other prisoners attempted to use this as a legal basis for their abuse complaints, their prosecutor's argument
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#173287666939811532-433: The GKChP cut communications to Gorbachev's dacha, including telephone landlines and the nuclear command and control system. Eight minutes later Lieutenant General Yuri Plekhanov, Head of the Ninth Chief Directorate of the KGB, allowed the group into Gorbachev's dacha. Gorbachev realized what was happening after discovering the telephone outages. Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin and Varennikov demanded that Gorbachev either declare
11718-548: The GKChP. Soviet Armed Forces officers seized control of city halls and government buildings around the country claiming to be in control, as well as television stations in the Baltic states . The Soviet public was divided on the coup. A poll in the RSFSR by Mnenie on the morning of 19 August showed that 23.6 percent of Russians believed the GKChP could improve living standards, while 41.9 percent had no opinion. However, separate polls by Interfax showed that many Russians, including 71 percent of Leningrad residents, feared
11904-484: The KGB at a Soviet Army base near the capital. However, almost no other arrests were made by the KGB during the coup. Ulysse Gosset and Vladimir Federovski later alleged that the KGB was planning to carry out a much larger wave of arrests two weeks after the coup, after which it would have abolished almost all legislative and local administrative structures under a highly centralized Council of Ministers . Yanayev instructed Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh to make
12090-538: The Latvian Ministry of the Interior on January 20, while another person died in a building accident reinforcing the barricades. The exact number of casualties among the Soviet loyalists is unknown. Around 32,000 people have received Commemorative Medal for Participants of the Barricades of 1991 for the participation or support for the event. During World War II Latvia had been occupied by USSR twice ( 1940/41 and in July 1944 . In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev introduced glasnost and perestroika policies, hoping to salvage
12276-414: The Latvian government, which originally had intended gradual secession from the Soviet Union to declare full independence, which was recognized by the Soviet Union on 6 September. The Soviet Union was dissolved in December 1991. Major attacks were carried out by the OMON of Riga, however, another combat unit was seen during the attack on the Ministry of Interior Affairs. It has been speculated that this unit
12462-457: The OMON seized the telephone exchange in Vecmīlgrāvis , it is speculated that it was because the telephone lines the OMON were using were cut off. Thereafter, the OMON seized the Ministry of Internal Affairs but the phone wasn't cut off for fear that the OMON would attack the international telephone exchange . Contrary to OMON officer claims Boris Karlovich Pugo and Mikhail Gorbachev both claimed they were not informed of this attack. Meanwhile,
12648-481: The Politburo after the deaths of Lenin and Stalin, as well as after Khrushchev's dismissal, itself due to a decision by both the Politburo and the Central Committee. All leaders of the Communist Party before Gorbachev died in office, except Georgy Malenkov and Khrushchev, both dismissed from the party leadership amid internal struggle within the party. Between 1988 and 1990, facing considerable opposition, Mikhail Gorbachev enacted reforms shifting power away from
12834-534: The Popular Front also participated to discuss tactics. It was decided to enforce protection of the most important objectives by assigning militia to their defense. The supplies for the barricades were coordinated by the Popular Front. The individual barricades were organised by regions. Thus, people from Vidzeme were assigned to barricades overseen by the Vidzeme suburb chapter of the Popular Front. The pro-Soviet forces tried to infiltrate barricades for sabotage. Rumors were spread that attacks were planned. On 14 January,
13020-431: The Popular Front announced nationwide demonstrations to be held on 13 January in support of Latvia's lawfully elected government and the guarding of strategic objectives. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR called on the Soviet government to withdraw its military forces from the Baltic States. Leaders of the Latvian government met with Gorbachev who gave assurances that force would not be used. That night
13206-444: The Popular Front was broadcast by Latvian radio calling people to gather in Riga Cathedral square. At 12:00 noon the Supreme Council session on defense issues was held. At 14.00 the Popular Front's demonstration began, around 700,000 people had gathered, Soviet helicopters dropped leaflets with warnings over the crowd at this point. The Popular Front called on people to build barricades. The Supreme Council held another session after
13392-544: The Popular Front, after learning that Soviet forces in Lithuania had attacked the Vilnius TV Tower and killed 13 civilians, called on people to gather for the defense of strategic objectives. Due to a united effort of the Baltic states to regain their independence in the previous years of the singing revolution , an attack on one of them was perceived as an attack on all of them. At 4:45 on 13 January, an announcement from
13578-547: The Republic of Estonia after 51 years. State-controlled TASS dispatches from 20 August emphasize a hardline approach against crime, especially economic crimes and the Russian mafia , which the GKChP blamed on increasing trade with the West. Draft decrees were later discovered which would have allowed military and police patrols to shoot " hooligans ," including pro-democracy demonstrators. Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR ), commonly known as
13764-703: The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the world's first constitutionally socialist state . The revolution was not accepted by all within the Russian Republic , resulting in the Russian Civil War . The RSFSR and its subordinate republics were merged into the Soviet Union in 1922. Following Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power, inaugurating rapid industrialization and forced collectivization that led to significant economic growth but contributed to
13950-470: The Russian name of the Soviet Union as СС has been taboo, the reason being that СС as a Russian Cyrillic abbreviation is associated with the infamous Schutzstaffel of Nazi Germany , as SS is in English. In English-language media, the state was referred to as the Soviet Union or the USSR. The Russian SFSR dominated the Soviet Union to such an extent that, for most of the Soviet Union's existence, it
14136-540: The Soviet Union Dmitry Yazov admitted that the military was responsible for the first four bombings, perpetrators of the other bombings remain unknown, the pro-Communist press of the time blamed Latvian nationalists. The government of the Soviet Union and other pro-Soviet groups threatened that a state of emergency would be established which would grant unlimited authority in Latvia to President Gorbachev and military force would be used to "implement order in
14322-497: The Soviet Union Jack F. Matlock Jr. that a coup against Gorbachev was being planned. When Matlock tried to warn him, Gorbachev falsely assumed that his own Cabinet was not involved and underestimated the risk of a coup. Gorbachev reversed Pavlov's request for more powers and jokingly told his Cabinet "The coup is over," remaining oblivious to their plans. On 23 July 1991, several party functionaries and literati published
14508-613: The Soviet Union and turned into SSRs, which was not recognized by most of the international community and was considered an illegal occupation . After the Soviet invasion of Finland , the Karelo-Finnish SSR was formed on annexed territory as a Union Republic in March 1940 and then incorporated into Russia as the Karelian ASSR in 1956. Between July 1956 and September 1991, there were 15 union republics (see map below). While nominally
14694-525: The Soviet Union . Boris Yeltsin , the leader of the RSFSR, oversaw its reconstitution into the Russian Federation , which became the Soviet Union's successor state; all other republics emerged as fully independent post-Soviet states . During its existence, the Soviet Union produced many significant social and technological achievements and innovations . It had the world's second-largest economy and largest standing military. An NPT-designated state , it wielded
14880-466: The Soviet Union was in a severe economic and political crisis. Scarcity of food, medicine, and other consumables was widespread, people had to stand in long lines to buy even essential goods, fuel stocks were as much as 50% lower than the estimated amount needed for the approaching winter, and inflation exceeded 300% per year, with factories lacking the cash needed to pay salaries. In 1990, Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania and Armenia had already declared
15066-636: The Soviet Union's priorities changed. Despite previous conflict with the United Kingdom , Vyacheslav Molotov dropped his post war border demands. The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc , which began following World War II in 1945. The term cold war is used because there
15252-535: The Soviet Union's superpower status, the economy struggled due to its centralized nature, technological backwardness, and inefficiencies. The vast military expenditures and burdens of maintaining the Eastern Bloc, further strained the Soviet economy. In the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev 's policies of Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring) aimed to revitalize the Soviet system but instead accelerated its unraveling. Nationalist movements gained momentum across
15438-533: The Soviet authorities admitted. The Soviet Union was the world's second largest producer of harmful emissions. In 1988, total emissions in the Soviet Union were about 79% of those in the United States. But since the Soviet GNP was only 54% of that of the United States, this means that the Soviet Union generated 1.5 times more pollution than the United States per unit of GNP. The Soviet Chernobyl disaster in 1986
15624-542: The Soviet central authorities was the long-suppressed national sentiments that were released in the republics of the Soviet Union . Massive demonstrations against the Soviet regime began. In Latvia an independence movement started. The supporters of independence – the Popular Front of Latvia , the Latvian Green Party and the Latvian National Independence Movement – won elections to
15810-481: The Soviet forces carrying out the coup began to suffer from mass defections to the RSFSR as well as soldiers refusing to obey orders to shoot civilians. Yeltsin asked his followers not to harass the soldiers and offered amnesty for any military servicemen who defected to oppose the coup. Major Evdokimov, chief of staff of a tank battalion of the Tamanskaya Division guarding the White House, declared his loyalty to
15996-637: The Soviet military was on the move – that same day an intelligence unit arrived in Riga. Then on 7 January, following the orders of Mikhail Gorbachev, Dmitriy Yazov sent commando units into several Republics of the Soviet Union including Latvia. On 11 January, the Military Council of the Baltic Military District was held. It decided to arm Soviet officers and cadets with machine guns. Open movement of Soviet troops and armored vehicles were seen in
16182-599: The Soviets did launch an attack, the Latvian forces could hold these locations long enough to inform the rest of the world. The international telephone exchange was important to maintain connections with both foreign countries and other parts of the USSR. An often-noted example is Lithuania. It was partly cut off from the rest of the world after the Soviet attack. Foreign calls to Lithuania were transferred through Riga. Latvian radio and television worked day and night to broadcast throughout
16368-723: The Soviets, and gained support from the workers and soldiers. After the October Revolution , in which the Bolsheviks seized power from the Provisional Government in the name of the Soviets, Lenin proclaimed the formation of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic (RSFSR). During the Georgian Affair of 1922, Lenin called for the Russian SFSR and other national Soviet republics to form
16554-519: The State of Emergency (Государственный Комитет по Чрезвычайному Положению, ГКЧП, or Gosudarstvenniy Komitet po Chrezvichaynomu Polozheniyu , GKChP ) had been created "to manage the country and effectively maintain the regime of the state of emergency". The GKChP included the following members: Yanayev signed the decree naming himself acting Soviet President, using the pretense of Gorbachev's inability to perform presidential duties due to "illness". However, Russian investigators later identified Kryuchkov as
16740-399: The Supreme Soviet of the USSR visited Riga. Upon its return to Moscow, the delegation reported that Latvia was in favour of the establishment of unlimited authority of the USSR president. On 18 January the Supreme Soviet decided to form a national self-defense committee. The Popular Front withdrew its call to protect the barricades. On 19 January, the funeral of Roberts Mūrnieks turned into
16926-514: The Supreme Soviet were members of the CPSU. Of the party heads themselves, Stalin (1941–1953) and Khrushchev (1958–1964) were Premiers. Upon the forced retirement of Khrushchev, the party leader was prohibited from this kind of double membership, but the later General Secretaries for at least some part of their tenure occupied the mostly ceremonial position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet ,
17112-533: The TV program Vzglyad Vladimir Brezhnev. It was noted that the attackers also suffered casualties. After the battle, the OMON moved into the Latvian Communist Party building. By the 20 January, the government also urged the transfer of control of the barricades to government forces. This was seen by some as disaffection with the whole idea. This opinion was enforced when part of the barricades were demolished after
17298-699: The US led to the Cold War . The American-led Western Bloc coalesced into NATO in 1949, prompting the Soviet Union to form its own military alliance, the Warsaw Pact , in 1955. Neither side engaged in direct military confrontation, and instead fought on an ideological basis and through proxy wars . In 1953, following Stalin's death , the Soviet Union undertook a campaign of de-Stalinization under Nikita Khrushchev , which saw reversals and rejections of Stalinist policies. This campaign caused tensions with Communist China . During
17484-430: The USSR. Moscow eventually stopped threatening other states, and instead worked to open peaceful relationships in terms of trade, and diplomatic recognition. The United Kingdom dismissed the warnings of Winston Churchill and a few others about a continuing Marxist-Leninist threat, and opened trade relations and de facto diplomatic recognition in 1922. There was hope for a settlement of the pre-war Tsarist debts, but it
17670-463: The Warsaw Pact overthrew their Soviet-backed regimes , and nationalist and separatist movements erupted across the Soviet Union. In 1991, amid efforts to preserve the country as a renewed federation , an attempted coup against Gorbachev by hardline communists prompted the largest republics—Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus—to secede. On December 26, Gorbachev officially recognized the dissolution of
17856-498: The accident, but this led to a relatively low number of deaths (WHO data, 2005). Another major radioactive accident was the Kyshtym disaster . The Kola Peninsula was one of the places with major problems. Around the industrial cities of Monchegorsk and Norilsk , where nickel , for example, is mined, all forests have been destroyed by contamination, while the northern and other parts of Russia have been affected by emissions. During
18042-406: The afternoon, Kryuchkov, Yazov and Pugo finally decided to attack the White House. This decision was supported by other GKChP members (with the exception of Pavlov, who had been sent to his dacha due to drunkenness). Kryuchkov's and Yazov's deputies, KGB general Gennady Ageyev and Army general Vladislav Achalov , planned the assault, codenamed "Operation Grom" (Thunder), which would gather elements of
18228-425: The attention of international society, joining volunteer guard units, reasoning with Russians in Latvia explaining to them, especially military officers, that the ideas of the Popular Front are similar to those of Russian democrats. It also called for an effort to protect the economy and ensure information circulation should also be made. In case of Soviet control being successfully established, this plan called for
18414-572: The city to block streets. People had already been gathering during the day. Part of this crowd gathered in Riga Cathedral Square as the Popular Front had asked in its morning announcement. Others gathered after the midday demonstration. They included colleagues and students. Some were organised by their employers and alma maters. Many families arrived, including women, the elderly and children. By that time most were already morally prepared that something could happen. People had arrived from all over
18600-588: The conspiracy. When Kryuchkov complained about the Soviet Union's growing instability to the Congress of People's Deputies , Gorbachev attempted to appease him by issuing a presidential decree enhancing the powers of the KGB and appointing Pugo to the Cabinet as Minister of Internal Affairs . Foreign Secretary Eduard Shevardnadze resigned in protest and rejected an offered appointment as vice president, warning that "a dictatorship
18786-562: The conversation from an electronic bug planted by Gorbachev's bodyguard, Vladimir Medvedev . Yeltsin also prepared for a coup by establishing a secret defense committee, ordering military and KGB commands to side with RSFSR authorities and establishing a "reserve government" in Sverdlovsk under Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Lobov . On 4 August, Gorbachev went on holiday to his dacha in Foros, Crimea . He planned to return to Moscow in time for
18972-469: The country by force. After attacks by the Soviet OMON on Riga in early January, the government called on people to build barricades for protection of possible targets (mainly in the capital city of Riga and nearby Ulbroka , as well as Kuldīga and Liepāja ). Six people were killed in further attacks, several were wounded in shootings or beaten by OMON. Most victims were shot during the Soviet attack on
19158-429: The country was limited. The state restricted rights of citizens to private property . According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , human rights are the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." including the right to life and liberty , freedom of expression , and equality before the law ; and social, cultural and economic rights, including the right to participate in culture ,
19344-496: The country, including in Liepāja and Kuldīga . Care was taken to record the events, not only for accounting purposes and personal keepsakes but also to show the world what was happening. About 300 foreign journalists worked in Riga at the time. The Latvian government ensured that the foreign press was provided with constant updates. Many strategic objects were important mainly for the transfer of information. This would ensure that if
19530-400: The country. Barricades were largely perceived as a form of nonviolent resistance , people being ready to form a human shield . However, many people did arm themselves, using whatever was available, ranging from pieces of metal to specially crafted shields and civil defence supplies. Some had also prepared Molotov cocktails , but these were confiscated to ensure fire safety. The Latvian militia
19716-411: The coup by forming emergency committees to repress dissidence. The CPSU Secretariat under Boldin sent coded telegrams to local party committees to assist the coup. Yeltsin's authorities later discovered that nearly 70 percent of the committees either backed it or attempted to remain neutral. Within the RSFSR, the oblasts of Samara , Lipetsk , Tambov , Saratov , Orenburg , Irkutsk , and Tomsk and
19902-402: The coup leaders appear more incompetent to Soviet audiences. Gorbachev's security detail managed to construct a makeshift television antenna so he and his family could watch the press conference. After viewing the conference, Gorbachev expressed confidence that Yeltsin would be able to stop the coup. That night, his family smuggled out a videotape of Gorbachev condemning the coup. Yanayev and
20088-683: The creation of new state commissions and committees. It gained additional powers relating to the approval of the Five-Year Plans and the government budget . The Supreme Soviet elected a Presidium (successor of the Central Executive Committee ) to wield its power between plenary sessions, ordinarily held twice a year, and appointed the Supreme Court , the Procurator General and the Council of Ministers (known before 1946 as
20274-530: The dacha and organize a rival government, but Kobets advised his group to travel to the White House , Russia's parliament building, to maintain communications with coup opponents. They arrived and occupied the building at 9:00 am. Together with Silayev and Khasbulatov, Yeltsin issued a declaration "To the Citizens of Russia" that condemned the GKChP's actions as a reactionary anti-constitutional coup. The military
20460-571: The degree of power consolidation, it was either the Politburo as a collective body or the General Secretary, who always was one of the Politburo members, that effectively led the party and the country (except for the period of the highly personalized authority of Stalin, exercised directly through his position in the Council of Ministers rather than the Politburo after 1941). They were not controlled by
20646-519: The demonstration, the Members of Parliament (MPs) were asked to stay at the Supreme Council overnight. The evening session issued a call for Soviet soldiers asking them to disobey orders concerning the use of force against civilians. As night came, following orders from the government, agricultural and construction machines and trucks full of logs arrived in Riga to build barricades. Trucks , engineering vehicles and agricultural machinery were brought into
20832-590: The duty of the Russian Bolsheviks to protect what they had in Russia, and avoid military confrontations that might destroy their bridgehead. Russia was now a pariah state, along with Germany. The two came to terms in 1922 with the Treaty of Rapallo that settled long-standing grievances. At the same time, the two countries secretly set up training programs for the illegal German army and air force operations at hidden camps in
21018-443: The economy, on Russian territory. The Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR adopted laws that contradicted Soviet laws (the so-called War of Laws ). In the unionwide referendum on 17 March 1991 , boycotted by the Baltic states , Armenia , Georgia , and Moldova , a supermajority of residents in the other republics expressed the desire to retain the renewed Soviet Union, with 77.85% voting in favor. Following negotiations, eight of
21204-530: The evening of 13 January and took about three hours. The main objects of strategic interest were the Supreme Council buildings ( Old town near St. James's Cathedral ), the Council of Ministers (city center near the Nativity of Christ Cathedral ), Latvian Television (on Zaķusala ), Latvian Radio ( Old town near Riga Cathedral ), the international telephone exchange offices (city center), Ulbroka radio and bridges. Barricades were also built in other parts of
21390-616: The failing Soviet economy . The reforms also lessened restrictions on political freedom in the Soviet Union. This led to unintended consequences as problems within the Soviet Union and crimes of the Soviet regime, previously kept secret and denied by the government, were exposed, causing public dissatisfaction, further deepened by the war in Afghanistan and the Chernobyl disaster starting in April 1986. Another unintended consequence of Glasnost for
21576-598: The farm" in Foros. At 8:00 pm, Yanayev, Pavlov, Kryuchkov, Yazov, Pugo and Soviet Supreme Soviet Chairman Anatoly Lukyanov gathered in the Kremlin cabinet of the Prime Minister, discussing and editing the documents of the State Emergency Committee. At 10:15 pm, they were joined by Baklanov, Shenin, Boldin, Varennikov and Plekhanov. It was decided to publicly declare Gorbachev ill. Yanayev hesitated, but
21762-485: The following about the plotters' motivation: The coup was the last gasp of those who were astonished at and felt betrayed by the precipitous collapse of the Soviet Union's empire in Eastern Europe and the swift destruction of the Warsaw Pact and Comecon that followed. Many feared the consequences of Gorbachev's German policies above all, not just for leaving officers unemployed but for sacrificing gains achieved in
21948-502: The formation of the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP), consisting of himself, Pavlov, Kryuchkov, Yazov, Pugo, Baklanov, Tizyakov and Starodubtsev. Included in the documents was the "Appeal to the Soviet people". The GKChP members present signed GKChP Resolution No. 1, which introduced the following: a state of emergency "in certain areas of the USSR" lasting six months from 4:00 am Moscow time on 19 August;
22134-691: The founding republics who signed the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR in December 1922. In 1924, during the national delimitation in Central Asia, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were formed from parts of Russia's Turkestan ASSR and two Soviet dependencies, the Khorezm and Bukharan PSPs . In 1929, Tajikistan was split off from the Uzbekistan SSR. With the constitution of 1936, the Transcaucasian SFSR
22320-410: The general party membership, as the key principle of the party organization was democratic centralism , demanding strict subordination to higher bodies, and elections went uncontested, endorsing the candidates proposed from above. The Communist Party maintained its dominance over the state mainly through its control over the system of appointments . All senior government officials and most deputies of
22506-515: The globe. The post-Stalin leadership, particularly under Nikita Khrushchev , initiated a de-Stalinization process, leading to a period of liberalization and relative openness known as the Khrushchev Thaw . However, the subsequent era under Leonid Brezhnev , referred to as the Era of Stagnation , was marked by economic decline, political corruption, and a rigid gerontocracy . Despite efforts to maintain
22692-457: The government took control of them. On 21 January, the Supreme Council called on youths to apply for a job in the Interior ministry system . Gorbunovs left for Moscow to meet with Gorbachev to discuss the situation in Latvia. On 22 January, Pugo denied he had ordered an attack on the interior ministry. Another person was killed on the barricades. On 24 January, the Council of Ministers established
22878-491: The government. Extensive extrajudicial powers were given to the Soviet secret police agencies . In practice, the Soviet government significantly curbed the rule of law , civil liberties , protection of law and guarantees of property , which were considered as examples of "bourgeois morality" by Soviet law theorists such as Andrey Vyshinsky . The USSR and other countries in the Soviet Bloc had abstained from affirming
23064-402: The highest bodies of the party and making the Supreme Soviet less dependent on them. The Congress of People's Deputies was established, the majority of whose members were directly elected in competitive elections held in March 1989, the first in Soviet history. The Congress now elected the Supreme Soviet, which became a full-time parliament, and much stronger than before. For the first time since
23250-632: The immediate collapse of the CPSU and the dissolution of the USSR four months later. Following the capitulation of the GKChP, popularly referred to as the "Gang of Eight", both the Supreme Court of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) and President Gorbachev described its actions as a coup attempt. Since assuming power as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985, Gorbachev had embarked on an ambitious reform program embodied in
23436-463: The implementation of socialist policies and the New Economic Policy (NEP), which allowed for market-oriented reforms. The rise of Joseph Stalin in the late 1920s ushered in an era of intense centralization and totalitarianism. Stalin's rule was characterized by the forced collectivization of agriculture , rapid industrialization , and the Great Purge , which eliminated perceived enemies of
23622-495: The injury at the Riga Hospital No. 1 intensive care unit at 6:50 pm, becoming the first fatality at the barricades. Two other people were also injured. At 6:30 pm the OMON attacked Brasa bridge, injuring one person. Another bombing took place at 8:45 pm. On 17 January, the alarm was sounded at the Barricades, the strike committee of the Communist Party of Latvia declared that fascism was being reborn in Latvia. A delegation of
23808-461: The key planner of the coup. Yanayev later claimed that he had been forced to participate in the coup under the threat of arrest. The eight aforementioned GKChP members became known as the " Gang of Eight ". The GKChP banned all Moscow newspapers except for nine party-controlled newspapers. It also issued a populist declaration which stated that "the honour and dignity of the Soviet man must be restored." At 1:00 am, Yanayev signed documents on
23994-471: The largest and most populous of which was the Russian SFSR . In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized . As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , it was a flagship communist state . Its capital and largest city was Moscow . The Soviet Union's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917. The new government, led by Vladimir Lenin , established
24180-482: The leadership of the Russian SFSR . Yeltsin climbed one of the tanks and addressed the crowd. Unexpectedly, this episode was included in the state media's evening news. Soviet Armed Forces officers loyal to the GKChP tried to prevent defections by confining soldiers to their barracks, but this only limited the availability of forces to carry out the coup. At 8:00 am, the Soviet General Staff ordered that
24366-589: The meeting with Gorbachev. Gorbachev is said to have insulted Varennikov by pretending to forget his name, and to have told his former trusted advisor Boldin "Shut up, you prick! How dare you give me lectures about the situation in the country!" With Gorbachev's refusal, the conspirators ordered that he remain confined to the dacha. Additional KGB security guards were placed at the dacha gates with orders to stop anybody from leaving. At 7:30 pm, Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin and Varennikov flew to Moscow, accompanied by Plekhanov. His deputy, Vyacheslav Generalov, remained "on
24552-416: The most common Russian initialization is Союз ССР (transliteration: Soyuz SSR ) which essentially translates to Union of SSRs in English. In addition, the Russian short form name Советский Союз (transliteration: Sovyetsky Soyuz , which literally means Soviet Union ) is also commonly used, but only in its unabbreviated form. Since the start of the Great Patriotic War at the latest, abbreviating
24738-417: The newly elected Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR , and communist hardliners. On 19–21 August 1991, a group of hardliners staged a coup attempt . The coup failed, and the State Council of the Soviet Union became the highest organ of state power 'in the period of transition'. Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary, only remaining President for the final months of the existence of the USSR. The judiciary
24924-534: The next several days, he refused to take food from outside the dacha to avoid being poisoned , and took long outdoor strolls to dispute reports of his ill health. Under Yanayev's orders, units of the Tamanskaya mechanized infantry and Kantemirovskaya armored division rolled into Moscow, along with airborne troops . Around 4,000 soldiers, 350 tanks, 300 armoured personnel carriers and 420 trucks were sent to Moscow. Four Russian SFSR people's deputies were detained by
25110-400: The nominal head of state . The institutions at lower levels were overseen and at times supplanted by primary party organizations . However, in practice the degree of control the party was able to exercise over the state bureaucracy, particularly after the death of Stalin, was far from total, with the bureaucracy pursuing different interests that were at times in conflict with the party, nor
25296-603: The official Soviet system of importance (ground forces were second, Air Force fourth, and Navy fifth). The army had the greatest political influence. In 1989, there served two million soldiers divided between 150 motorized and 52 armored divisions. Until the early 1960s, the Soviet navy was a rather small military branch, but after the Caribbean crisis , under the leadership of Sergei Gorshkov , it expanded significantly. It became known for battlecruisers and submarines. In 1989, there served 500 000 men. The Soviet Air Force focused on
25482-408: The only independent political radio station, were taken off the air. However, the latter station later resumed its broadcasts and became a source of reliable information during the coup. The BBC World Service and Voice of America were also able to provide continuous coverage. Gorbachev and his family heard the news from a BBC bulletin on a small Sony transistor radio that had not been seized. For
25668-479: The only legal party and the final policymaker in the country. At the top of the Communist Party was the Central Committee , elected at Party Congresses and Conferences. In turn, the Central Committee voted for a Politburo (called the Presidium between 1952 and 1966), Secretariat and the general secretary (First Secretary from 1953 to 1966), the de facto highest office in the Soviet Union. Depending on
25854-423: The operation would result in bloodshed and should be cancelled. Lebed, with the consent of his superior Pavel Grachev, returned to the White House and secretly informed the defense headquarters that the attack would begin at 2:00 am the following morning. While the events were unfolding in the capital, Estonia 's Supreme Council declared at 11:03 pm the full reinstatement of the independent status of
26040-677: The other order until 1936 . In addition, in the regional languages of several republics, the word council or conciliar in the respective language was only quite late changed to an adaptation of the Russian soviet and never in others, e.g. Ukrainian SSR . СССР (in the Latin alphabet: SSSR ) is the abbreviation of the Russian-language cognate of USSR, as written in Cyrillic letters . The Soviets used this abbreviation so frequently that audiences worldwide became familiar with its meaning. After this,
26226-478: The others convinced him that leadership and responsibility would be collective. At 11:25 pm, Yanayev signed a decree entrusting himself with presidential powers. GKChP members ordered that 250,000 pairs of handcuffs from a factory in Pskov be sent to Moscow, also ordering 300,000 arrest forms. Kryuchkov doubled the pay of all KGB personnel, called them back from holiday, and placed them on alert. Lefortovo Prison
26412-560: The partition of Poland. In response, Britain and France declared war on Germany, marking the beginning of World War II . Up until his death in 1953, Joseph Stalin controlled all foreign relations of the Soviet Union during the interwar period . Despite the increasing build-up of Germany 's war machine and the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War , the Soviet Union did not cooperate with any other nation, choosing to follow its own path. However, after Operation Barbarossa ,
26598-480: The party's highest body the Politburo . Operations were handled by the separate Ministry of Foreign Affairs . It was known as the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs (or Narkomindel), until 1946. The most influential spokesmen were Georgy Chicherin (1872–1936), Maxim Litvinov (1876–1951), Vyacheslav Molotov (1890–1986), Andrey Vyshinsky (1883–1954) and Andrei Gromyko (1909–1989). Intellectuals were based in
26784-470: The people. This declaration was distributed around Moscow in the form of flyers , and disseminated nationwide through medium-wave radio and Usenet newsgroups via the RELCOM computer network. Izvestia newspaper workers threatened to go on strike unless Yeltsin's proclamation was printed in the paper. The GKChP relied on regional and local soviets , mostly still dominated by the Communist Party, to support
26970-481: The plotters' plans. After the announcement of the coup at 6:30 am, Yeltsin began inviting prominent Russian officials to his dacha, including Leningrad Mayor Anatoly Sobchak , Moscow Deputy Mayor Yury Luzhkov, Colonel-General Konstantin Kobets , RSFSR Prime Minister Ivan Silayev , RSFSR Vice President Alexander Rutskoy , and RSFSR Supreme Soviet Chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov . Yeltsin initially wanted to remain at
27156-506: The police, which forced Leningrad Television to broadcast a statement by Sobchak. Workers at the Kirov Plant went on strike in support of Yeltsin. Moscow First Secretary Yuri Prokofev attempted a similar maneuver in the capital but was rebuffed when Boris Nikolskii refused to accept the office of Mayor of Moscow. At 11:00 am, RSFSR Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev held a press conference for foreign journalists and diplomats, and gained
27342-583: The prohibition of rallies, demonstrations and strikes; suspension of the activities of political parties, public organizations and mass movements that impede the normalization of the situation; and the allocation of up to 1,500 square metres (0.4 acres) of land to all interested city residents for personal use. At 4:00 am, the Sevastopol regiment of KGB border troops surrounded Gorbachev's presidential dacha in Foros. By order of Soviet Air Defense Chief of Staff Colonel-General Igor Maltsev, two tractors blocked
27528-565: The relevant decrees or to resign and transfer powers to Vice President Yanayev. They believed the pact would pave the way for the Soviet Union's breakup, and decided it was time to act. The next day, Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin, and Soviet Deputy Defense Minister General Valentin Varennikov flew to Crimea for a meeting with Gorbachev. Yazov ordered General Pavel Grachev , commander of the Soviet Airborne Forces , to begin coordinating with KGB Deputy Chairmen Viktor Grushko and Genii Ageev to implement martial law . At 4:32 pm on 18 August,
27714-429: The remaining nine republics ( Ukraine abstaining) approved the New Union Treaty with some conditions. The treaty was to make the Soviet Union a federation of independent republics called the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics , with a common president, foreign policy , and military. Russia , Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were to sign the Treaty in Moscow on 20 August 1991. British historian Dan Stone wrote
27900-446: The rest of the State Committee ordered the Cabinet of Ministers to alter the five-year plan of the time to relieve the housing shortage. All city dwellers were each given 1,000 square metres ( 1 ⁄ 3 acre) to combat winter shortages by growing fruits and vegetables. Due to the illness of Valentin Pavlov, the duties of the Soviet head of the government were entrusted to First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Doguzhiyev . Meanwhile,
28086-432: The restoration of their independence from the Soviet Union. In January 1991, a violent attempt to return Lithuania to the Soviet Union by force took place. About a week later, a similar attempt was engineered by local pro-Soviet forces to overthrow Latvian authorities. Russia declared its sovereignty on 12 June 1990 and thereafter limited the application of Soviet laws, in particular those governing finance and
28272-521: The return of mass repression. The GKChP enjoyed strong support in the Russian-majority regions of Estonia and Transnistria , while Yeltsin enjoyed strong support in Sverdlovsk and Nizhny Novgorod . At 10:00 am, Rutskoy, Silayev, and Khasbulatov delivered a letter to Lukyanov demanding a medical exam of Gorbachev by the World Health Organization and a meeting between themselves, Yeltsin, Gorbachev, and Yanayev within 24 hours. Rutskoy later visited Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow , spiritual leader of
28458-480: The runway on which the President's aircraft were located: a Tu-134 jet and Mi-8 helicopter. Starting at 6:00 am, all of the GKChP documents were broadcast over state radio and television. The KGB immediately issued an arrest list that included newly elected Russian SFSR President Boris Yeltsin , his allies, and the leaders of the umbrella activist group Democratic Russia . The Russian SFSR-controlled Radio Rossii and Televidenie Rossii , plus Ekho Moskvy ,
28644-427: The state. The Soviet Union played a crucial role in the Allied victory in World War II , but at a tremendous human cost, with millions of Soviet citizens perishing in the conflict. The Soviet Union emerged as one of the world's two superpowers, leading the Eastern Bloc in opposition to the Western Bloc during the Cold War . This period saw the USSR engage in an arms race, the Space Race , and proxy wars around
28830-438: The streets of Riga. Several meetings by both pro-independence and pro-Soviet movements were held on 10 January. Interfront held a meeting calling on the government of Latvia to resign. Some 50,000 people participated and tried to break into the Cabinet of Ministers building after being asked to do so by military personnel. On 11 January, the Soviet military launched an attack on Latvia's neighbour, Lithuania . On 12 January,
29016-469: The struggle for dominance was expressed via indirect means such as psychological warfare , propaganda campaigns, espionage , far-reaching embargoes , rivalry at sports events and technological competitions such as the Space Race . Constitutionally, the USSR was a federation of constituent Union Republics, which were either unitary states, such as Ukraine or Byelorussia (SSRs), or federations, such as Russia or Transcaucasia (SFSRs), all four being
29202-454: The support of most of the West for Yeltsin. That afternoon, Moscow citizens began gathering around the White House, erecting barricades around it. In response, Yanayev declared a state of emergency in Moscow at 4:00 pm. He declared at a 5:00 pm press conference that Gorbachev was "resting". He said: "Over these years he has got very tired and needs some time to get his health back." Yanayev's shaking hands led some people to think he
29388-433: The time of the barricades. The radio played an important part in life on the barricades. It was used to organize eating and sleeping arrangements, calling people together (e.g. students from the same university), for the various meetings. Artists were invited to entertain people. Foresters were asked to provide firewood for the bonfires that were widely used by the people manning the barricades. Food and drink were provided by
29574-492: The truth". Human rights in the Soviet Union were severely limited. The Soviet Union was a totalitarian state from 1927 until 1953 and a one-party state until 1990. Freedom of speech was suppressed and dissent was punished. Independent political activities were not tolerated, whether these involved participation in free labour unions , private corporations , independent churches or opposition political parties . The freedom of movement within and especially outside
29760-412: The twin concepts of perestroika (economic and political restructuring) and glasnost (openness). These moves prompted resistance and suspicion on the part of hard-line members of the nomenklatura . The reforms also caused nationalist agitation on the part of the Soviet Union 's non- Russian minorities to grow, and there were fears that some or all of the union republics might secede. In 1991,
29946-403: The west further raised concerns. In the past, there were accidents involving submarines K-19 , K-8 , a K-129 , K-27 , K-219 and K-278 Komsomolets . There were three power hierarchies in the Soviet Union: the legislature represented by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union , the government represented by the Council of Ministers , and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),
30132-413: The work of the Soviet institutions. Finally, carefully documenting any crimes Soviet forces might commit during the state of emergency. On 2 January 1991 the OMON seized the Preses Nams (English: Press House ), the national printing house of Latvia and attacked criminal police officers who were documenting the event. The Supreme Council held a session in which it was reported that the manager of
30318-406: The world's largest lakes; the Caspian Sea (shared with Iran ), and Lake Baikal , the world's largest (by volume) and deepest freshwater lake that is also an internal body of water in Russia. Neighbouring countries were aware of the high levels of pollution in the Soviet Union but after the dissolution of the Soviet Union it was discovered that its environmental problems were greater than what
30504-415: Was Alpha Group which had been seen in action during the attack on Vilnius. In an interview with film director Juris Podnieks , an OMON officer stated that originally it was planned to attack Riga, not Vilnius. At the last moment, a week before the attack on Vilnius, the plan was suddenly changed. He also claimed that the OMON of Rīga was so well prepared that there was no need for the Soviet military, which
30690-452: Was a coastline . The country bordered Afghanistan , the People's Republic of China , Czechoslovakia , Finland , Hungary , Iran , Mongolia , North Korea , Norway , Poland , Romania , and Turkey from 1945 to 1991. The Bering Strait separated the USSR from the United States . The country's highest mountain was Communism Peak (now Ismoil Somoni Peak ) in Tajikistan , at 7,495 metres (24,590 ft). The USSR also included most of
30876-426: Was a nonviolent resistance movement as the participants were publicly encouraged not to carry any weapons despite the Soviet Union taking brutal measures against protesters. The Popular Front of Latvia developed a plan, called “Instructions for X-hour”, which was published in the press in December 1990. It set out what actions should be taken by the general public in case of an act of aggression and hostility from
31062-408: Was also the industrial center of the Soviet Union. Historian Matthew White wrote that it was an open secret that the country's federal structure was 'window dressing' for Russian dominance. For that reason, the people of the USSR were usually called 'Russians', not 'Soviets', since 'everyone knew who really ran the show'. Under the Military Law of September 1925, the Soviet Armed Forces consisted of
31248-503: Was armed with sub-machine guns and handguns. The Latvian government was later criticized for not providing weapons. These they had, as was evidenced after the OMON seized the Ministry of Interior and removed a considerable number of weapons (it was asserted that there were 200 firearms in the ministry) Trucks were loaded with construction and demolition waste , logs and other cargo. Large concrete blocks, walls, wire obstacles and other materials were also used. The building work began on
31434-434: Was brought under strict party control after Stalin's death. Under Yuri Andropov , the KGB engaged in the suppression of political dissent and maintained an extensive network of informers, reasserting itself as a political actor to some extent independent of the party-state structure, culminating in the anti-corruption campaign targeting high-ranking party officials in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The constitution , which
31620-419: Was carried out within the terms of the Soviet Civil Code. Some Soviet legal scholars even said that "criminal repression" may be applied in the absence of guilt. Martin Latsis , chief of Soviet Ukraine 's secret police explained: "Do not look in the file of incriminating evidence to see whether or not the accused rose up against the Soviets with arms or words. Ask him instead to which class he belongs, what
31806-404: Was colloquially, but incorrectly, referred to as Russia . The history of the Soviet Union began with the ideals of the Bolshevik Revolution and ended in dissolution amidst economic collapse and political disintegration. Established in 1922 following the Russian Civil War , the Soviet Union quickly became a one-party state under the Communist Party . Its early years under Lenin were marked by
31992-404: Was dissolved, resulting in its constituent republics of Armenia , Georgia and Azerbaijan being elevated to Union Republics, while Kazakhstan and Kirghizia were split off from the Russian SFSR, resulting in the same status. In August 1940, Moldavia was formed from parts of Ukraine and Soviet-occupied Bessarabia , and Ukrainian SSR. Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania were also annexed by
32178-415: Was drunk, and his trembling voice and weak posture made his words unconvincing. Victoria E. Bonnell and Gregory Frieden noted that the press conference allowed spontaneous questioning from journalists who openly accused the GKChP of carrying out a coup, as well as the lack of censorship by news crews, who did not hide Yanayev's erratic motions the way they had with past leaders such as Leonid Brezhnev , making
32364-399: Was emptied to receive prisoners. The members of the GKChP met in the Kremlin after Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin and Varennikov returned from Crimea. Yanayev (who had only just been persuaded to join the plot), Pavlov and Baklanov signed the so-called "Declaration of the Soviet Leadership", which declared a state of emergency in the entirety of the USSR and announced that the State Committee on
32550-424: Was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers , but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars . The conflict was based around the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary alliance and victory against Nazi Germany in 1945. Aside from the nuclear arsenal development and conventional military deployment,
32736-450: Was not independent of the other branches of government. The Supreme Court supervised the lower courts ( People's Court ) and applied the law as established by the constitution or as interpreted by the Supreme Soviet. The Constitutional Oversight Committee reviewed the constitutionality of laws and acts. The Soviet Union used the inquisitorial system of Roman law , where the judge, procurator , and defence attorney collaborate to "establish
32922-438: Was present in Rīga at the time, to engage. The OMON did not act on their own – after the Preses Nams was seized the OMON claimed that high officials of the Soviet government – Boris Pugo and Mikhail Gorbachev knew about the attack, however, both denied their involvement and the Supreme Council blamed the Communist Party of Latvia . In December before the events, the Popular Front, in its instructions for X hour, asserted that
33108-433: Was promulgated in 1924 , 1936 and 1977 , did not limit state power. No formal separation of powers existed between the Party, Supreme Soviet and Council of Ministers that represented executive and legislative branches of the government. The system was governed less by statute than by informal conventions, and no settled mechanism of leadership succession existed. Bitter and at times deadly power struggles took place in
33294-477: Was repeatedly postponed. Formal recognition came when the new Labour Party came to power in 1924. All the other countries followed suit in opening trade relations. Henry Ford opened large-scale business relations with the Soviets in the late 1920s, hoping that it would lead to long-term peace. Finally, in 1933, the United States officially recognized the USSR, a decision backed by the public opinion and especially by US business interests that expected an opening of
33480-415: Was taking over power in Latvia. This announcement was broadcast in the Soviet media. On 16 January, the Supreme Council organised MPs to stay overnight at the Supreme Council building to ensure a quorum in case of need. At 4:45 pm, in another attack on Vecmilgrāvis bridge, a driver for the Latvian Ministry of Transport, Roberts Mūrnieks was shot in the back of the head with an automatic weapon and died from
33666-482: Was that "the Constitution was written not for you, but for American Negroes, so that they know how happy the lives of Soviet citizens are". Crime was determined not as the infraction of law, instead, it was determined as any action which could threaten the Soviet state and society. For example, a desire to make a profit could be interpreted as a counter-revolutionary activity punishable by death. The liquidation and deportation of millions of peasants in 1928–31
33852-506: Was the Russian responsibility to assist them. The Comintern was the weapon of choice. A few revolutions did break out, but they were quickly suppressed (the longest lasting one was in Hungary)—the Hungarian Soviet Republic —lasted only from 21 March 1919 to 1 August 1919. The Russian Bolsheviks were in no position to give any help. By 1921, Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin realized that capitalism had stabilized itself in Europe and there would not be any widespread revolutions anytime soon. It became
34038-404: Was the first major accident at a civilian nuclear power plant . Unparalleled in the world, it resulted in a large number of radioactive isotopes being released into the atmosphere. Radioactive doses were scattered relatively far. Although long-term effects of the accident were unknown, 4,000 new cases of thyroid cancer which resulted from the accident's contamination were reported at the time of
34224-431: Was the party itself monolithic from top to bottom, although factions were officially banned . The Supreme Soviet (successor of the Congress of Soviets ) was nominally the highest state body for most of the Soviet history, at first acting as a rubber stamp institution, approving and implementing all decisions made by the party. However, its powers and functions were extended in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, including
34410-462: Was understood as a sign that an attack on the White House was imminent. The defenders of the White House prepared themselves, most being unarmed. Evdokimov's tanks were moved from the White House in the evening. The makeshift White House defense headquarters was headed by General Konstantin Kobets , a Russian SFSR people's deputy . Outside, Eduard Shevardnadze , Mstislav Rostropovich , and Yelena Bonner delivered speeches in support of Yeltsin. In
34596-400: Was urged not to take part in the coup, and local authorities were asked to follow laws from the RSFSR President rather than the GKChP. Although he initially avoided the measure to avoid sparking a civil war , Yeltsin also subsequently took command of all Soviet military and security forces in the RSFSR. The joint declaration called for a general strike , with the demand to let Gorbachev address
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