NS The last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said today that the lessons of the August coup in Russia exactly 30 years ago are still relevant, and society and the state must defend democratic principles, TASS reported, quoted by BTA.
“To uphold the principles of democracy and the rule of law,
to exclude any possibility of usurpation of power, of adventurous actions – this must be a constant concern for society and the state. “I believe that the democratic path for Russia’s development is the only true one, that only in this way can our country develop and solve all kinds of problems,” Gorbachev told reporters.
The last Soviet leader recalled that at one time kept in isolation in the Crimea,
has flatly rejected a request by coup participants to sign a state of emergency decree in Russia. “I characterized their actions as criminal, as an adventure,” he said.
“The coup adventure was doomed thanks
the firm position of the president of the USSR, of the president of Russia and the courage of thousands of Muscovites, many public figures and deputies … People did not want to return to the previous order, “Gorbachev said.
According to him, in an effort to justify themselves, the organizers of the coup said that their goal was to protect the country, “but the consequences of their adventure turned out to be catastrophic.” “They bear a huge share of the responsibility for the disintegration of the (Soviet Union),” Gorbachev stressed.
The events of August 1991 weakened the position of the Soviet president
and under the circumstances, it was incredibly difficult to continue efforts to preserve the USSR, he noted. “The republics adopted declarations of independence. But there was still a chance that the Union would be preserved on a renewed basis. In December, however, a second blow followed – the Belovezhskaya Pact between the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, who said the Soviet Union would cease to exist,” Gorbachev said.
The date August 19, 1991 entered the recent history of Russia
such as the August coup. People from the top leadership of the USSR, who disagreed with Gorbachev’s reforms and the draft of a new Union Treaty, set up a State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR with the main goal of preventing the liquidation of the Soviet Union. By order of the committee, troops with armored vehicles were sent to Moscow and the capitals of the union republics. The president of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic, Boris Yeltsin, called the committee’s actions an attempted coup. However, this attempt failed due to the mass civil protests in defense of the legitimate government, reminds TASS.
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