2023-06-25 18:19:00
From August 19 to 21, 1991, a group of nostalgics for the communist order tried to seize power to prevent the signing of a “Federation Treaty” granting broad autonomy to the fifteen member republics of the USSR. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, on vacation, is held prisoner in his dacha in Crimea. During these three days of tension, tens of thousands of people demonstrated, particularly in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. In the capital, they gather to defend the “White House”, the Russian parliament, symbol of resistance to the putsch. The image of the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin haranguing the crowds standing on the turret of a tank goes around the world.
The night of the 20th to the 21st ends with the death of three young demonstrators during a clash with the soldiers. On the 21st, the putsch was defeated thanks to Yeltsin’s determination. On the 22nd, Gorbachev returned to Moscow, but his power was wavering in the face of the very popular Russian president. The following days, Gorbachev resigned from his post as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Prohibited by the authorities of many republics, the activities of the Communist Party are “suspended” by Yeltsin in Russia. Within weeks, the Soviet republics, including Ukraine, declared their independence. The three Baltic republics, whose independence the USSR recognized on September 6, were admitted to the UN on the 17th. The main conspirators were quickly arrested – two of them committed suicide – in 1994 they benefited from a parliamentary amnesty.
If he really embarked on this mutiny alone, “either Prigozhin is already dead, or a cup of hot polonium tea awaits him in Minsk”
The 1993 uprising
From September 21 to October 4, 1993, Russia experienced a major political and constitutional crisis. On September 21, Russian President Boris Yeltsin dissolves the Supreme Soviet, the parliament that emerged from the Soviet era, accused of obstruction and usurpation of powers. The former speaker of parliament Rouslan Kasboulatov and the former Russian vice-president Alexander Rutskoy, who have been leading the political fight once morest the head of state for several months, barricade themselves with several hundred deputies in parliament. The building is gradually surrounded by government forces.
Everything changed on October 3 following opposition demonstrations in the streets of Moscow. Supporters of the “White House” rebels attack City Hall and the state television center. The battle rages all night between government forces and protesters. Boris Yeltsin decrees a state of emergency, and on the morning of the 4th decides to storm parliament. Tanks fire on the building. The insurgents surrender. Their leaders are incarcerated. The violence officially left 150 dead, several hundred according to various other sources. In December, a new constitution significantly strengthening the powers of the Head of State was adopted by nearly 60% of voters, but the legislative elections taking place at the same time were a failure for Yeltsin’s supporters. On February 23, 1994, the Douma (lower house), with a conservative majority, voted for an amnesty for those responsible for the 1993 uprising.
In Russia, a mutiny that lasted only 24 hours: the strange exit of the man who wanted to “go all the way”
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