On August 19, 1991, an attempted coup began in the USSR, organized by a group of hardliners with the aim of maintaining the old Soviet order. The group was led by eight high-ranking officials from the Communist Party and the army, the so-called An eight-member gang. They were:
Vice President of the USSR Gennady Janeyev,
Prime Minister of the USSR Valentin Pavlov,
Minister of the Interior Boris Pugo,
Minister of Defense Marshal of the Soviet Union Dmitry Yazov,
KGB chief Vladimir Krjučkov,
member of the Central Committee Oleg Baklanov,
Vasily Starodubtsev,
Alexander Tizyakov.
Interestingly, they had de facto captured Soviet President Gorbachev, who was in Crimea at the time. Namely, the mentioned eight hardliners did not get Gorbachev’s support in their efforts, so they decided to capture him in the dacha where he was at that time, located in the Crimean coastal resort of Foros (at the very southern tip of Crimea).
Gennady Janeyev, Gorbachev’s former vice president, declared himself acting president of the USSR, due to Gorbachev’s alleged illness. Although the coup engaged as many as two divisions in an attempt to seize power in Moscow, the coup ultimately failed.
