State Committee for the State of Emergency. GKCHP - decoding Independence: what did it give

) - a self-proclaimed body of state administration in the USSR, consisting of representatives of the leadership of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the government of the USSR, which carried out on August 18-21, 1991 an attempt to remove M.S. Gorbachev from the presidency of the USSR, seizing power in the country, changing the political course. The August events of 1991, which ended with the arrest of members of the State Emergency Committee, predetermined the collapse of the USSR.

The political and economic crisis that the USSR was experiencing since the late 1980s threatened the existence of the socialist system in the Soviet state, the hegemony of the Communist Party in it, and the unity of the country. Part of the Soviet leadership saw the reasons for the negative phenomena in the policy of perestroika and glasnost, which was pursued by the President of the USSR and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU M.S. Gorbachev. In their opinion, inconsistency, excessive liberalism, Gorbachev's carelessness led to the fact that frank enemies of socialism were able to launch a broad protest movement in the USSR, weaken state discipline, and paralyze the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies.

The GKChP included Vice-President of the USSR Gennady Ivanovich Yanaev (Chairman of the GKChP), Prime Minister of the USSR Valentin Sergeevich Pavlov, First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council Oleg Dmitrievich Baklanov, Chairman of the KGB of the USSR Vladimir Alexandrovich Kryuchkov, Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR Boris Karlovich Pugo, Minister Defense of the USSR Dmitry Timofeevich Yazov, President of the Association of State Enterprises and Objects of Industry, Construction, Transport and Communications of the USSR Alexander Ivanovich Tizyakov, Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR Vasily Alexandrovich Starodubtsev. On August 18, 1991, the President of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev was isolated at his residence in Foros (Crimea) by forces of specially created security groups, where he and his family were on vacation.

On the morning of August 19, the members of the State Emergency Committee made an appeal on television, announced a state of emergency for six months, the entry of troops into Moscow, the introduction of censorship in the media and a ban on a number of them, the abolition of a number of constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens. However, no effective measures were taken to ensure the state of emergency. This allowed the opponents of the State Emergency Committee, primarily the leadership of the RSFSR, headed by B.N. Yeltsin, the city authorities of Moscow and Leningrad, to organize powerful resistance. At the call of the Russian authorities, at the House of Soviets Russian Federation(White House) gathered masses of Muscovites, among whom were representatives of different social groups: the democratically minded public, students, intellectuals, veterans of the Afghan war. The actions of the State Emergency Committee were qualified as a coup d'état. On August 21, 1991, all members of the GKChP were arrested, with the exception of Boris Pugo, Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR, who committed suicide.

In addition to the members of the State Emergency Committee, persons who, in the opinion of the investigation, actively contributed to the State Emergency Committee, were prosecuted. Among them were the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR A.I. Lukyanov, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU O.S. Shenin, First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU Yu.A. Prokofiev, Army General V.I. Varennikov, head of the General Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU V.I. Boldin, head of the security of the President of the USSR V.T. Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the KGB of the USSR G.E. Ageev, head of the security of the residence in Foros V.V. Generalov. The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party V.V. publicly supported the GKChP. Zhirinovsky, but he was not held accountable, since he did not hold any public office.

The actions of members of the GKChP and their supporters were considered by the investigation, but did not receive a legal assessment, since in 1994 all arrested members of the GKChP were amnestied before trial. Only V.I., who was not a member of the committee, voluntarily appeared before the court. Varennikov, who was acquitted.

The main opponents of the GKChP were supporters of the President of the RSFSR B. N. Yeltsin, who declared the actions of the members of the Committee unconstitutional. After the defeat and self-dissolution of the GKChP, their actions were condemned by the legislative and executive authorities of the USSR, the RSFSR and a number of other union republics and qualified as a coup d'état. In historiography, the events of August 18-21, 1991 were called "August Putsch".

20 years after these events, in August 2011, Mikhail Gorbachev stated that he knew in advance about the plans of future members of the State Emergency Committee.

In its first appeal, the GKChP assessed the general mood in the country as very skeptical about the new political course to dismantle the highly centralized federal structure of government and state regulation economy; denounced the negative phenomena that the New Deal, according to the drafters, brought to life, such as speculation and the shadow economy; proclaimed that “the development of the country should not be based on a drop in the living standards of the population” and promised a tough restoration of order in the country and a solution to the main economic problems, without mentioning, however, specific measures.

Due to the impossibility for health reasons of Gorbachev's performance of the duties of the President of the USSR and the transfer, in accordance with Article 127/7 of the Constitution of the USSR, of the powers of the President of the USSR to the Vice-President of the USSR Yanaev Gennady Ivanovich.

In order to overcome a deep and comprehensive crisis, political, ethnic and civil confrontation, chaos and anarchy that threaten the lives and security of citizens Soviet Union sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom and independence of our state.

Based on the results, guided by the vital interests of the peoples of our Motherland, of all Soviet people

1. In accordance with Article 127/3 of the Constitution of the USSR and Article 2 of the Law of the USSR on the legal regime of the state of emergency, and meeting the demands of the general population on the need to take the most decisive measures to prevent society from slipping into a national catastrophe, to ensure law and order, introduce a state of emergency in certain localities of the USSR for a period of 6 months, from 4:00 Moscow time from August 19, 1991.

2. Establish that the Constitution of the USSR and the Laws of the USSR have unconditional supremacy throughout the entire territory of the USSR.

3. To govern the country and effectively implement the state of emergency, form the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR (GKChP USSR) with the following composition:

4. Establish that the decisions of the State Committee for the State of Emergency of the USSR are obligatory for strict execution by all bodies of power and administration, officials and citizens throughout the territory of the USSR.

Following this, a statement was read on the radio by the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, AI Lukyanov, criticizing the draft Union Treaty.

Then the official appeal of the Committee of the State Emergency Committee to the Soviet people was read out, which, in particular, said that perestroika had reached a dead end and “extremist forces arose that headed for the liquidation of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the state and the seizure of power at any cost” and about the determination The State Emergency Committee to bring the country out of the crisis, and also contained an appeal to all Soviet people "to restore labor discipline and order as soon as possible, to raise the level of production" and "to provide all possible support to efforts to bring the country out of the crisis."

Then official resolution No. 1 (GKChP) was read out, which, in particular, disbanded “power and control structures, paramilitary formations acting contrary to the Constitution of the USSR”, suspended the activities of parties and public organizations, "obstructing the normalization of the situation", a ban on meetings, demonstrations and strikes was introduced and censorship was introduced in the media:

In the White House, B. N. Yeltsin refuses to cooperate with the GKChP and decides not to obey the actions of the GKChP, calling their actions unconstitutional. The leadership of the State Emergency Committee sends a tank battalion of the 1st motorized rifle regiment of the 2nd Taman division under the command of the chief of staff Sergei Evdokimov to the building.

At 17:00 in Moscow, a press conference of the State Committee for the State of Emergency took place in the press center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shown on television. The members of the committee behaved uncertainly, Yanaev's hands were trembling. The words of the GKChP members were more like excuses (G. Yanaev: “Gorbachev deserves all respect ...”). Yanaev stated that the course towards democratic reforms (Perestroika) begun in 1985 would be continued, and Gorbachev was on vacation and treatment in Foros and nothing threatened him. He called Gorbachev his friend and expressed the hope that he would return to duty after the rest and they would work together.

On the evening of August 19, another story was shown on television, in which Yeltsin was shown speaking on a tank in front of the White House, where he called the GKChP putschists and called on the people to resist.

Resistance to the GKChP takes the form of rallies in Moscow near the White House and the Moscow City Council and in Leningrad near the Mariinsky Palace. On August 20, a demonstration took place in Moscow near the White House, which was the seat of the Russian authorities, bringing together 200,000 Muscovites in support of Yeltsin and democracy. Muscovites are building barricades near the House of Soviets in case of a possible assault on the building, a defense headquarters is being created in the White House, President of the RSFSR Yeltsin issues decrees reassigning the allied executive authorities and the allied army to him, General Kobets, appointed by Yeltsin as Minister of Defense of the RSFSR, issued a decree on the withdrawal of troops from Moscow and the return them to their permanent locations. Inside the White House, the defense was occupied by the police, the White House guards, some police and KGB officers, Afghan veterans armed with small arms. Thousands of Muscovites formed a living ring around the White House, took up defense on the barricades to prevent a possible assault.

In Leningrad, on August 20, a 400,000-strong demonstration of protest against the coup took place on Palace Square, the entire center was filled with people and the State Emergency Committee did not dare to send troops to Leningrad, tanks and paratroop units were stopped on the outskirts of the city. During the days of the coup, hundreds of messages from the localities about their readiness to start a mass campaign of civil disobedience go to the apparatus of the Democratic Russia movement, which actively resisted the GKChP.

On the evening of August 20, a curfew is announced in Moscow. On the night of August 20-21, an incident occurs in the center of Moscow near the House of Soviets, as a result of which a motorized army patrol clashes with the defenders of the White House. As a result of clashes with demonstrators, chaotic maneuvering of armored vehicles and the use of small arms by soldiers, three defenders of the House of Soviets were killed. The assault expected by the defenders of the White House on the night of August 20-21 did not take place. By the night of August 21, there was a split in the army, most of the military units refused to carry out the orders of the State Emergency Committee, the military activity of the emergency committee came to naught. At 3 o'clock in the morning, Air Force Commander-in-Chief Marshal Shaposhnikov suggested that Minister of Defense Yazov withdraw troops from Moscow and disperse the GKChP. On the morning of August 21, the Minister of Defense of the USSR D.T. Yazov at the military board gives the order to withdraw troops from Moscow to places of permanent deployment.

At 9 am on August 21 at a meeting with and. O. President of the USSR G. I. Yanaev, it was decided to send a delegation to Foros to M. S. Gorbachev, consisting of Lukyanov, Yazov, Ivashko and Kryuchkov

Members of the dissolved GKChP and those who actively assisted them were placed in the Matrosskaya Tishina prison. On January 14, 1992, the investigation into the GKChP case was completed, and on December 7 of the same year, the case materials were transferred to the Russian Prosecutor General for approval of the indictment. Exactly a week later it was signed. By January 1993, after the end of the investigation and familiarization with the volumes of the criminal case, all the accused were released from custody under a written undertaking not to leave the country.

The trial in the GKChP case began on April 14, 1993. The process began with a speech by judge Anatoly Ukolov, who recalled that former members of the State Emergency Committee are accused of treason. The defendants began with a statement about the withdrawal of the entire composition of the Military Collegium, and Ukolov too. They motivated their statement by the fact that the Russian court is not the legal successor of the Supreme Court of the USSR and is not entitled to consider cases of the highest officials of the former USSR. The parties tried to challenge the entire composition of public prosecutors under the leadership of Eduard Denisov. Lawyers offered to consider the case in a jury trial. Genrikh Padva, Lukyanov's lawyer, opined that the judges might be interested in the case and that it would be "difficult" for a military judge to evaluate the testimony of his superior, Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, who is one of the prosecution's witnesses. After a break, the military board rejected the petitions of the defendants and their lawyers to challenge the composition of the court. Ukolov said that the Military Collegium "sees no legal grounds" for satisfying these demands. He stressed that the Supreme Court of Russia is the legal successor of the Supreme Court of the USSR. Therefore, the petition of the defendants and their lawyers to establish a special interstate court or a jury to consider the case of the State Committee for the State of Emergency was also rejected. In conclusion, Ukolov remarked that

Decree No. 1

State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR

In order to protect the vital interests of the peoples and citizens of the USSR, the independence and territorial integrity of the country, restore law and order, stabilize the situation, overcome the most difficult crisis, prevent chaos, anarchy and fratricidal civil war, the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR decides:

1. To ensure strict observance of the state of emergency in accordance with the Union SSR Law "On the Legal Regime of the State of Emergency" and the resolutions of the USSR State Emergency Committee. In cases of failure to ensure the implementation of this regime, the powers of the relevant authorities and administration are suspended, and the implementation of their functions is assigned to persons specially authorized by the USSR State Emergency Committee.

2. Immediately disband the structures of power and control, paramilitary formations acting contrary to the Constitution of the USSR and the laws of the USSR.

4. Suspend the activities of political parties, public organizations and mass movements that impede the normalization of the situation.

5. Due to the fact that the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR is temporarily assuming the functions of the USSR Security Council, the activity of the latter is suspended.

6. Citizens, institutions and organizations to immediately hand over all types of firearms, ammunition, explosives, military equipment and equipment illegally in their possession. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB and the Ministry of Defense of the USSR shall ensure the strict implementation of this requirement. In cases of refusal to seize them forcibly with the involvement of violators to strict criminal and administrative liability.

7. The Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB and the Ministry of Defense of the USSR organize effective interaction between law enforcement agencies and the Armed Forces to ensure the protection of public order and the security of the state, society and citizens in accordance with the USSR Law "On the Legal Regime of the State of Emergency" and the decisions of the USSR State Emergency Committee.

In necessary cases, impose a curfew, patrol the territory, carry out inspections, and take measures to strengthen the border and customs regime.

Take control and, if necessary, protect the most important state and economic facilities, as well as life support systems.

Resolutely suppress the spread of inflammatory rumors, actions that provoke violations of law and order and incite ethnic hatred, disobedience to officials who ensure compliance with the state of emergency.

8. Establish control over the mass media, entrusting its implementation to a specially created body under the State Emergency Committee of the USSR.

9. Authorities and authorities, heads of institutions and enterprises to take measures to improve organization, restore order and discipline in all spheres of society. To ensure the normal functioning of enterprises in all sectors of the national economy, the strict implementation of measures to preserve and restore vertical and horizontal ties between economic entities throughout the USSR, the strict implementation of the established volumes of production, supplies of raw materials, materials and components for the period of stabilization.

Establish and maintain a regime of austerity in material, technical and foreign exchange resources, develop and implement specific measures to combat mismanagement and squandering the people's wealth.

Resolutely fight against the shadow economy, inevitably apply measures of criminal and administrative responsibility for corruption, theft, speculation, hiding goods from sale, mismanagement and other offenses in the economic sphere.

Create favorable conditions for increasing the real contribution of all types of entrepreneurial activity carried out in accordance with the laws of the USSR, and the economic potential of the country and ensuring the urgent needs of the population.

11. The Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR, within a week's time, carry out an inventory of all available resources of food and essential industrial goods, report to the people what the country has, and take under the strictest control their safety and distribution.

Lift any restrictions that prevent the movement of food and consumer goods, as well as material resources for their production, through the territory of the USSR, and strictly control the observance of this order.

Pay special attention to the priority supply of preschool children's institutions, orphanages, schools, secondary specialized and higher educational institutions, hospitals, as well as pensioners and the disabled.

Within a week, submit proposals on streamlining, freezing and reducing prices for certain types of industrial and food products, primarily for children, services to the population and catering, as well as an increase in wages, pensions, benefits and compensation payments to various categories of citizens.

Within a two-week period, develop measures to streamline the wages of managers at all levels of state, public, cooperative and other institutions, organizations and enterprises.

12. Considering the critical situation with harvesting and the threat of famine, take urgent measures to organize the procurement, storage and processing of agricultural products. To provide rural workers with the maximum possible assistance with equipment, spare parts, fuels and lubricants, etc. Immediately organize the dispatch of workers and employees of enterprises and organizations, students and military personnel to the countryside in the quantities necessary to save the harvest.

13. The Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR within a week to develop a resolution providing for the provision in 1991-1992 of all willing urban residents with land plots for horticultural work up to 0.15 ha.

14. The Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR within two weeks to complete the planning of urgent measures to bring the country's fuel and energy complex out of the crisis and prepare for winter.

Rallies, street marches, demonstrations, and strikes are not allowed. In necessary cases, impose a curfew, patrol the territory, carry out inspections, and take measures to strengthen the border and customs regime.

15. Within a month, prepare and report to the people real measures for 1992 to radically improve housing construction and provide the population with housing. Within six months, develop a specific program for the accelerated development of state, cooperative and individual housing construction for a five-year period.

16. To oblige the authorities and administrations in the center and in the localities to give priority attention to the social needs of the population. Find ways to substantially improve free medical care and public education.”

Source - Wikipedia

The State Committee for the State of Emergency is a self-proclaimed authority in the USSR that existed from August 18 to August 21, 1991. It was formed from the first state and officials of the Soviet government, who opposed the actions of the President of the USSR M. S. Gorbachev reforms of Perestroika and the transformation of the Soviet Union into a new "Union of Sovereign States", which became a confederation, consisting of part of the already sovereign republics.
Forces under the leadership of the President of Russia (RSFSR) B. N. Yeltsin refused to obey the State Emergency Committee, calling their actions unconstitutional, there was an attempt to go on strike. The actions of the GKChP led to the events that became known as the "August Putsch".
From August 22 to 29, 1991, former members of the dissolved GKChP and those who actively assisted them were arrested, but from June 1992 to January 1993, they were all released on bail. In April 1993, the trial began. On February 23, 1994, the defendants in the GKChP case were amnestied by the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, despite Yeltsin's objection. One of the defendants Valentin Varennikov, refused to accept the amnesty and his trial continued. On August 11, 1994, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of Russia acquitted Varennikov.

By the beginning of 1991, the situation in the USSR had become critical. The country has entered a period of disintegration. The leadership began to work on the issue of introducing a state of emergency.
From the "Conclusion on the materials of the investigation of the role and participation of officials of the KGB of the USSR in the events of August 19-21, 1991":

Marat Nikolaevich asked my advice on what type of helicopter to choose - Mi-8 or Mi-24. I advised, of course, Mi-24, since it was armored from 12.7 mm caliber bullets, and all the tanks that were in the White House area had machine guns of this caliber. But in the event of failure of one of the engines, the Mi-24 helicopter could not continue flying. Mi-8 could fly on one engine. Tishchenko agreed with me. However, less than an hour later, he called back and happily announced that, according to the information he received from the same KGB department, all tanks and infantry fighting vehicles brought into Moscow did not have ammunition, so he was preparing Mi-8. And after some time, a message came that the commander of the Airborne Forces, General Grachev, stopped the division in Kubinka. By evening, it became clear that the GKChP had shamefully failed, and by noon on August 21, all the media loudly announced this. The bacchanalia of victory began.

Unfortunately, it was overshadowed by the death of three people under the wheels of an infantry fighting vehicle in the tunnel between Vosstaniya Square and Smolenskaya Square. It all seemed strange to me. Why bring troops and armored vehicles into Moscow without ammunition? Why is the Moscow department of the KGB trying to save Yeltsin, and why is the chairman of the KGB Kryuchkov a member of the GKChP? It all felt like some kind of farce. Subsequently, in 1993, Yeltsin really stormed the White House, and the tanks fired direct fire and by no means blank charges. And in August 1991, it all looked like a grandiose performance or monstrous stupidity on the part of the leadership of the State Emergency Committee. However, what happened happened. I'm only expressing my opinion. Further events developed at lightning speed: the return of Gorbachev from Foros, prohibition and dissolution of the CPSU , Belovezhskaya agreement on the liquidation of the USSR, Creation Union of Independent States on the basis of the former republics of the USSR.

The most absurd, of course, seemed the collapse of a single Slavic core: Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. It seemed that some kind of insanity had occurred among the leaders of these republics, who demonstrated complete ignorance of the history of the creation of Russian statehood. But the most striking thing was that all this supported Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which hastened to dissolve itself, and the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation ratified the Belovezhskaya conspiracy.

I remembered the words of Denikin and Wrangel, who, after the defeat of the white movement in civil war 1918, referring to their descendants in their memoirs, they noted the historical merit of the Bolsheviks in that they basically preserved Great Russia. Modern Bolsheviks, dressed in national clothes, completely destroyed the great power, completely disregarding the opinion of its peoples.

After some time, it became clear that at the head of all these processes was apparatus of the Central Committee of the CPSU led by a member of the Politburo A. N. Yakovlev and with the very dubious and incomprehensible role of Gorbachev. Most of the rulers in the new states belonged to a cohort of workers in the CPSU party apparatus, and most of the oligarchs and "new" Russians in the past belonged to the party or Komsomol elite. Before the eyes of the whole people, active supporters of the policy of the CPSU turned into its fierce enemies. Calls for a "witch hunt" began, however, they were soon suspended, since this clearly could affect them themselves.

The people were deceived.

Links:
1. Ogarkov and operation "Herat"
2. Akhromeev Sergey Fyodorovich
3. Gorbacheva Raisa Maksimovna (ur. Titarenko)
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