children die just from abuse and it's just like deja vu earlier this summer we were doing the same kinds of stories about casey anthony another pretty white woman whose murder trial captivated the mainstream media expense of so much else and i better to say it won't be long before we're doing another as the mainstream media continues to ditch hard hitting stories that affect so many more people and behavior of sad but sexier sensational stories that sell lauren lyster r. t. washington d.c. . and that does it for now we'll see you right back here at five o'clock.

this street still keeps its secrets a time to reveal that the soviet files on the odyssey.

are in here broadcasting live from washington d.c. coming up today on the big picture. central moscow moscow's regional k.g.b.

headquarters. early morning of august the nineteenth one nine hundred ninety one. this is the officer and. the events of the day the could have reversed the country's history. it was an attempt to depose president mikhail gorbachev put his reforms on hold. tanks and other hardware putting moved into moscow. the city's key points have been taken over. the. borders the nineteenth one nine hundred ninety one monday only in the morning teacher tatiana yakovlev a switch her t.v. on was sort of following picture instead of the usual programming every channel was broadcasting tchaikovsky's famous ballot. i thought of which i turned the t.v.

on to check the latest news and i was so surprised to see swan lake everywhere i was switching the t.v. channels for a long time thinking maybe there was something wrong with my t.v. set. at the same time as the ballot will cast more than seven hundred tanks and on the personnel carriers were being stationed in the streets the plotters were in the kremlin. meanwhile so-called white house was at the center of civil resistance at the time it housed the russian parliament with the people's deputies met in session. it was past seven in the morning when the security chief came to my place. when i opened the door it's old me i had better go to the white house right away. as far as i could tell there was a coup going on in the country that's how i learned about it where you were decided

to take a round about route instead of going straight to this building. where. the coup was led by top brass and high ranking communist officials they had expected to get support from the population who were dissatisfied with the long drawn process of perestroika. they decided to make short work of global health reforms to work with the situation was quite all right but the country was in turmoil. there was a revolt of the hungry but able standing in line for sausages stoop to fist fights but there were pervis of sort of jizz on the consumer market. but the country's president waved good bye to everybody and headed down south to the career to relax . the crimean peninsula southern shore serbia president mikhail gorbachev's private residence is a village of photos. but it's and scores of surrounding hecht as it came

a prison for the head of state. here he spent several days and what amounted to confinement but there were up asika can be seen from all sides you get an almost bird's eye view of it from that mountain the rood leading to the residence can easily be blocked with stones after those events the joke you're on was that gorbachev's residence must have been deliberately built in this place so that he could be easily cut off from the outside world you've got to work your way with the . k.g.b. colonel lev tolstoy was directly involved in the events of those days he's a direct descendant a name sake of the celebrated russian novelist leo tolstoy. before he rose to the rank of colonel he served as a bodyguard on august the eighteenth one nine hundred ninety one top k.g.b.

officials ordered him to block all exits from the gorbachev residence of that i have no idea what would have happened if gorbachev and others had tried to escape from the residence or what i do think he would have faced very unpleasant consequences for. this is exclusive footage of the residence of the first save it president a splendid park was laid out almost on their ranks this had special significance because gorbachev was known to be very fond of strolling by the seaside. visa arizona seeders these pines healthy shrubs were all planted just before the territory was to be commissioner in one nine hundred eighty eight. at that was a short while before mikhail gorbachev's first visit here. the crimean residence was named tara trees and k.g.b.

documentation the interior design of the main building reflected the wishes of race ago but over the president's wife she was with mikhail gorbachev throughout the force or deal. with arms where you would build what i would describe as internal defenses there are men carrying guns with live ammunition were posted all over the place they were under strict orders not to allow provocation or . the soviet president study was on the second floor close to the hole it was here that mikhail gorbachev learned about his complete isolation from the outside world. gorbachev study looks just like it was back then for this is his desk we were aboard and that telephone was meant for communicating with government officials. for the lying was shut down at four pm on

august eighteenth. gorbachev remained in his residence moreover measures to isolate him were reinforced still further valarie shah was the one who caught at the gates to the residence during two k.g.b. officers from moscow kept a close eye on him along with other local agents. special measures were taken with a truck was stationed on the help to prevent helicopters from touching down or a tractor with a trailer outside the gates was meant to prevent motor vehicles breaking through into the compound. reinforce security precautions were introduced throughout. the army general valentyn very nick of was one of the key figures in the coup attempt on august the eighteenth one thousand nine hundred one he visited gorbachev

at his residence in the crimea which is. asked the serbian president to recognize the legality of the coup. we knew what we were going to do during the and i told him all that a coup to somehow get fitted into state of emergency and gorbachev retorted by exclaiming that a state of emergency was bonsa bring machine guns and blood in its wake at a quarter or even i realize that other people as well as my family would suffer no doubt blood would be spilled certainly in such a vast country as aus this country takes time to get worked up when it does you can hardly stop at what my belief is the country's modernization without blood. august nineteenth one thousand nine hundred one moscow eleven am i crowd holds barred personnel carriers heading for the city center demonstrators climb one of them chanting to fascism.

hundreds of people gather womanish square in central moscow they are ready to oppose the so-called state committee on the state of emergency people who met each other back then during two still keep in touch and remember those events. hello hello hello brothers and seen in a hundred years when my parents woke me up in the morning they told me that a coup was underway i was actively involved in a youth democratic movement so i said if no one i know was arrested right away if this is no could all yes there were tanks but people were blocking them off what kind of coup is it if tanks can be stopped short in their tracks. a small radio set is one of the most treasured mementos from those days people used

it to listen to the few independent stations that was still on that one report said the air force refused to side with the coup are poor. into another a military garrison in st petersburg also refused to back it it was great to hear the people in many towns were supporting us to. believe that it was unit a minor radio station called echo of moscow was the main source of news in those days the k.g.b. shut it down in the first few hours of the coup but whether by fair means or foul and stuff managed to regain access to the airwaves. at one point we even used telephone lines to reach out to our audience there was no link between the studio and the transmitter so our engineers use an analog telephone line by all accounts those words are a billion times the level of the students who assumes it's meanwhile the coup organizers called a press conference in moscow many took note of kanada you know it's troubling hands

he named himself the country's head of state claiming little which offered fallen ill. the press conference reached a turning point after a question from touchy an american or the then twenty four year old journalist of the may do you realize that what you have a down to do is a coup do you see parallels with your actions in soviet history nineteen seventeen or nineteen sixty four. was for your clear him that a coup took place during the night. you said i would disagree with you just because all legal and constitutional norms work complied with so i could ring it off and just say that they looked hesitant would be an understatement and they looked as if life was dying out of them and there was no vitale two left in their faces and shifty eyes they look like people who had lost a battle before they had a chance to start it when. i was nineteen nineteen ninety

one zero eight a spontaneous rally began in my. as goes my nation as square a crowd swelled as more and more people arrived the events in moscow are described as ansi constitutional coup there are calls for an open ended general strike. on this day on we are protesting on the larger mansour maps. no to fascism no to fascism or pot really. touches that so much i can tell any one of them was worth trying to move but failed to change everything twenty years ago communist party hardliners attempt to figure rail me help out of a child's efforts to reform the soviet union. download the official anti application q i phone or i pod touch from the i.q.

saps to. the geology to life on the go. video on demand parties mind bold colors and r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. question on the dot com wealthy british style. home. market why not. candy. why not what's really happening to the global economy with my stronger run no holds barred look of the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report on r t. on august the nineteenth one nine hundred ninety one top k.g.b. officials in moscow order to reinforce security precautions residents in the crimea

on the same day mikhail gorbachev videotaped which has since become a famous address. the two has taken place the arrow this anti-constitutional action. is based on a tremendous lie. that there was little chance of the tape being taken out of the compound on the same day coast guards protecting the residence attempted to establish contact with the president as an arm and a defense i was serving in one of the k.g.b.'s naval units i was not allowed to communicate with the president therefore i asked my wife to write a note in her own handwriting a note said that the sailors were ready to take the president to a place of his choice one of my subordinates took the note to the security guards asking them to hand it over to gorbachev. when he came back they told him that

nobody will be allowed to approach the residents and intruders will be shot. gilbert's office residence was secured from the sea even better than from the land . was one of the security guards there during those days nobody could approach the shore within less than four nil tacl miles without being spotted by the guards if they saw the intruder as a possible threat they were under orders to open fire but. three groups on permanent duty scoured the woodlands. snipers were in position on the now. there was a soldier with a machine gun on top of the cliff near the base remains of it can still be seems they're. going to pay for all of us have a celebration. health resort for communist functionaries and

their families was near the residence of the soviet president august is high season that the resort was crammed with holiday makers to capacity total fear self of the forest result was in charge of discos and other entertainment programs. on aug nineteenth i said to students at physician look the country's president mikhail gorbachev is under arrest and you're here shall we counselled advances you know she said the guests should not suffer let them dance this iteration with gorbachev doesn't concern us. moscow august nineteenth one thousand nine hundred one there it seems wednesday water cannons it sounds a breakthrough to the downtown area demonstrators damage some of them and force them to turn back. meanwhile the coup organizers

ordered the arrest of the presidents of russia boris yeltsin at the time he was at his residence near moscow the chief of his security guards alexander korsakoff was with him a driver service car to moscow and reached the city on him good. morning from before. him was seated between two guards are you flatly turned down the idea of wearing a bulletproof vest so we simply put it over him just in case. that heavy vest weighing nine kilos was of the kind worn in the army. the driver was told to go as fast as he could without stopping no matter what. yeltsin managed to get to the white house where he reunited with his team later he climbed a tank to read out a message to a large crowd that had gathered outside the white house we reclaim all the decisions and orders by that committee illegal. by then white house defenders had

set up a makeshift barricade near the building in a bid to block the access of military vehicles. everybody was driving whatever they could lay their hands on a trolley bus stop there the driver got out and lowered the trolleys the trolley bus was left standing across the road the barricade was here that's how we began blocking all approaches to the building. the crimea the city of sevastopol a soviet black sea fleet based fifty kilometers from global twelve summer residence throughout the coup first rank captain simeonoff waited for an order to rescue called which of the with the defense ministry part of the coup the rescue plan was ignored yet a with a but they didn't like the first the pockets of resistance were to be suppressed will second the president was to be found and taken under our protection the remaining pockets of resistance were to be eliminated and we were to help evacuate

the. president i see the boredom. the upshot of it was that naval commanders only sent a telegram to cool off urging him to hold on and that telegram was received by luke . an employee of the for us post office hundreds of telegrams addressed to go bunch of were arriving from all over the soviet union k.g.b. men immediately seized all such mail. then when you lose three days oldest eighteenth nineteenth and twentieth with a most disturbing days in my life we had no idea whether we would be allowed to go home and be arrested things were simply left around the corners. or was bracing for the worst case scenario people inside the white house expected an assault on the building with that possibility in mind they inspected all of the basement secret passages leading out into nearby courtyards are some of the regular

reports coming in here claim that an assault on the building of the supreme soviet would begin in an hour's time but why would they need an assault or the building is like an aquarium all you need to do is just answer it and that's all there is still it. really actually do. this soldier was in fact given to the k.g.b. so-called alpha unit the men were already on high alert but for the first time in the unit's history they demanded an open debate and a vote on the older before launching operation mostly it's over with. the commander asked everybody to voice their opinion on the operation and whether an assault was necessary at all. yes yes. most of the men with a service record of more than five years said no to the operation. the operation was cold off but casualties were still unavoidable in the early hours of august the

twenty first ninety ninety one the crews of several armored vehicles order to move to another location city white house defenders attempted to stop them because they thought the vehicles were heading towards the parliament building to attack it three young men died as a result. you both come or spend the night waiting for his son shortly before the oldest events he had served as a soldier in afghanistan he went to the white house after hearing an appeal from vice president alexander who called on people to go and defend democracy credible threat from god when my son had to expose it. he went to the barricades because that's was a call from someone who served in afghanistan to. not a day before. i asked him if he was going to the barricades were going and he said no that he had his fill of fighting in afghanistan. he had no business monkeying around barricades but on tuesday it was

a different story of fear on wednesday alleged that he was no more. after that tragedy it became obvious the coup had failed tanks began leaving moscow i want to address the twenty first a card carrying russia's vice president would score over took one of the convoys he was rushing to the airport to bring mikhail gorbachev back to moscow it was a total mess both on land and mia. with work when the pulled up and none of the ground controllers guided our flights not even during the landing regardless it was a trouble free flight when we touched down the airdrome superintendent drove up to the plane i introduced myself and said i needed a car and the bus to take us to gorbachev will probably call madrid schoolboy he said go right ahead. good scores plane was called the chalk on board touchstone moscow on august twenty second one thousand nine hundred one the coup had failed but the soviet president

in effect would turn to a different country should change during those three days in oldest i defended the serviette union to the last bullet that's what i did but failed. the finale of the standoff central moscow ammonium. to felix regence keep the founder of soviet secret police standing in front of k.g.b. headquarters and look young because square is pulled down it was a symbol of the beginning of a new people. the bright future which the communists had been talking about for seventy years finally became a possibility we could build it with our own hands we were used to the fact that the state was on neverland that it could break and destroy anyone but this time nothing happened people had risen like a wall we said no enough white. approximately the same time the prosecutor general's office launches an investigation into the role of the coup organizers the plotters tried to pass the blame on to crimean frontier guards. initially

of the team of investigators of the prosecutor general's office displayed tolerance of that then they began dropping hints or urging us to repent and take the whole blame for gorbachev's isolation otherwise we would face charges of high treason and . as military men we became very better when we heard the word treason and. however the frontier guards were later acquitted only those who gave the orders were arrested the driving forces of the coup led by general to unite have a year later they were released from prison under an amnesty you know i have died in two thousand and ten this is an excerpt from one of his last interviews. nor. of any misguided decisions were made during those three days in august one thousand nine hundred one you know tanks should not have been brought in and demonstrated or

should not have been used for a few months and where we might all that could have been done and different way. when people today are asked whether they want a revival of the soviet union only nine percent say yes there is no chance of the state being revived in the form of the soviet union. mikhail gorbachev has never returned to his summer residence since august one thousand nine hundred one now it's the property of the ukrainian state however top officials rarely vacation and. the former k.g.b. colonel tolstoy makes no secret of the fact that even now he has no right to talk about some aspects of what happened then. over troops crimean residents still harbors many secrets relating to those three days in one thousand nine hundred one only when new information has been declassified livy able to shed light on. what

kind of figure to be frank this place is not considered to be a very lucky at all that's what that. fact. this is the officer on duty august twenty second nineteen ninety one by vienna boris yeltsin declares that their reactionary coup has failed and thanks to defenders of the white house twelve pm for the first saw him the three colored flag is raised over the supreme council of russia. held said held for. only five months or left before the collapse of the soviet union.

culture is the same of jargon in. the old words to suit the face changed everything twenty years ago communist party hardliners attempted to derail me hope out of a child's efforts to reform the soviet union.