Almost 25 years have passed since the state of emergency was announced in the media. It was the morning of August 19, 1991, a turning point for the USSR. 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 abbreviation GKChP, the decoding of which is known to every conscious inhabitant of the USSR, frightened by the horrors of a possible Civil War. What was it: an attempt to save the country or, conversely, a scenario for its collapse?
Backstory
In the spring of 1990, at the next Congress of People's Deputies of the Socialist Union, it was decided to cancel the article of the Constitution, which determines the guiding role of the Communist Party. At the same time, M. S. was elected President of the USSR. Gorbachev.
In May of the same year, he was appointed the highest official of the RSFSR, as it turned 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 authorities, who 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 allied ones.regulatory.
Parallel to these events, nationalists began to protest in Tbilisi, then a statement was published in Vilnius about the illegal entry of Lithuania into the USSR, and later an ethnic conflict arose between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
All these events required action from the country's leadership. Then it was proposed to reform the socialist republics into sovereign states. This later served as a pretext for the creation of the GKChP. The decoding of the abbreviation was imprinted in the history of the collapse of the union as the State Committee for the State of Emergency.
All-Union referendum
At the end of 1990, at a regular meeting of deputies, Mikhail Sergeevich came up with the idea of holding an all-Union popular vote on the further development of the Union of sovereign states at the heart of a renewed federation. People's deputies adopted a resolution on holding a referendum.
In the spring of 1991, nine republics opted for the reformation of the USSR into a renewed federation of sovereign states. At the same referendum, the people of the RSFSR supported the introduction of the post of president. Soon B. N. was elected to him. Yeltsin.
After the popular vote, the authorities understood that there would be no former socialist union and a new union treaty was needed. Just on August 20, it was planned to sign a document by Gorbachev on a decentralized confederation. And on the eve of this important event, the State Emergency Committee is created, the decoding of which is announced to Soviet residents as a committee forstate of emergency.
Preparing for the state of emergency
Theoretically, the issue of introducing a state of emergency in the country by constitutional means was repeatedly discussed by the authorities in 1990. It moved to the practical plane 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, the minister of defense insisted on a state of emergency to prevent the economic collapse of the country. However, the President of the USSR did not support his colleagues.
In the period from 7 to 15 August, V. A. Kryuchkov meeting with future members of the State Emergency Committee. The decoding of this abbreviation was not yet known to the layman, but the members of the conspiracy were seriously engaged in preparing the upcoming coup. This group was headed by the Deputy President of the USSR G. I. Yanaev.
Mikhail Sergeevich was vacationing in Crimea during this period.
Declaration of a state of emergency
The morning television and radio news on August 19, 1991 began with the recitation of the announcers of the official document "Statement of the Soviet leadership." There was information about the impossibility of fulfilling the presidential duties of M. S. Gorbachev, due to the deterioration of his state of he alth, and the transfer of powers to Gennady Ivanovich Yanaev.
That's when the transcript of the State Emergency Committee sounded for the first time. To govern the country, they announced the creation of the State Committee for the State of Emergency. Its members includedleaders of the highest echelons of power in the USSR: Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, Chairman of the KGB, Minister of Internal Affairs, First Assistant to the Chairman of the Defense Council.
Complex of measures
On the same day, the main goals and actions of the State Emergency Committee were announced. The transcript of this committee was on the lips of every Soviet citizen who was 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 Resolution of the State Emergency Committee:
- Abolition of paramilitary formations, administration and power structures that contradict the Laws and Constitution of the USSR.
- Priority of all-union legislation.
- Cessation of the activities of public organizations, political parties that hinder the work on 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. Yazov, on the morning of August 19, units of the Kantemirovskaya tank and Taman motorized rifle divisions advanced to the capital. About four thousand soldiers arrived in Moscow by 12 o'clock, where they occupied the life support facilities of the city. The people began to fear the start of a possible Civil War.
In addition, the putschists took measures to blockade Alfa special forces in Yeltsin's country house. But afterinformation about what is happening in the capital, Boris Nikolayevich decides to immediately arrive at the White House. The commander of the blocking group receives an order not to interfere with the departure of the President of the RSFSR.
Arriving at the House of Soviets, Yeltsin declares his refusal to cooperate with the members of the State Emergency Committee, declaring their unconstitutional behavior. The putschists immediately sent an army to the White House to capture it. The operation was called Thunder. But there was a fiasco: control over the paramilitaries was lost, which went over to Yeltsin's side.
Gorbachev's actions
In order to inspire the people with their legitimate actions, the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) informed fellow citizens about the illness of the incumbent President M. Gorbachev. The day before the fateful events for the USSR on August 19, putschists: Baklanov, Varennikov, Boldin, Shenin and Plekhanov - went to Foros to Mikhail Sergeevich with an ultimatum. It consisted in the voluntary surrender of powers to Yanaev. To do this, the conspirators suggested that Gorbachev resign, having previously signed a decree demanding a state of emergency in the country.
The ultimatum was not accepted, and as a result - the complete isolation of the president in Foros during the coup. Did Gorbachev know about the conspiracy with the organization of the State Emergency Committee? Deciphering the history of these events comes down to the participation of the United States in the collapse of the USSR. On the eve of the coup, in July, former CIA Director George W. Bush visited the country. It is known that he met with both Gorbachev and Yeltsin. About their conversationnothing is known, but the intelligence network was ordered to support the conspirators.
Yes, and the behavior of Mikhail Sergeevich is not entirely clear. On August 3, he made a speech about the difficult situation in the country and the need to introduce a state of emergency, and the next day he went to rest in Crimea.
Arrest of putschists
Already on August 21, a meeting was held with Yi. about. President G. I. Yanaev, at which the members of the committee decided to send a delegation to Foros to Mikhail Sergeevich. Also, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR announced that the removal of M. Gorbachev was illegal, and demanded that Yanaev cancel the decrees and decrees on the state of emergency. In the evening of the same day, a decree was issued on the arrest of members of the State Emergency Committee. Later, in 1994, they were granted amnesty.
The August crisis ended with the collapse of the USSR. All republics alternately began to declare their independence. Residents of the Soviet and post-Soviet Union are familiar with the question: "What is the GKChP?" The decoding of the 1991 coin is also connected with the events of the August coup, but more on numismatics later.
The only thing the conspirators achieved was the cancellation of the signing of the union treaty. The difficulty in understanding what happened is that the coup was started by one, and ended by opposite forces.
Numismatics: State Emergency Committee, transcript on the coin
The collapse of the Union was imprinted in all spheres of activity of each former republic. Russia is no exception. In 1991, they began to mint coins with the image of the Spasskaya Tower and the Supreme Council on the obverse. They are remembered in the history of numismatics as GKChP coins. The decoding of these banknotes among other coins is simple, they were minted until 1992, until an eagle appeared on the obverse.
A rare copy of 1991 is a coin "10 rubles", bimetallic, hallmarked by the Moscow Mint.
A rare sample, minted by the Leningrad Mint, is also presented in the denomination of "10 rubles" in 1992.
