these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada after. giant corporations rule the day. thirty of us sunday morning here in the russian capital good to have you with us if you just joined us a very warm welcome this is our c top stories now this hour global markets ended the week with one of the massive sell off investors panic and a forecast of recession in the u.s. and. the middle east is in flames once again as a mouse pulls out of the ceasefire following two days of his radio strike from gaza the exchange of fire between the sides came as israel targeted those that claim for a deadly attack on its territory first day. and also russia marks the anniversary of a crucial turning point in the film coup by common it's hard not to simply not even

systems of democratic activists twenty years ago opened the era of a new post soviet russia. and you can now watch a detailed report of those pivotal massacre events in a special report that's coming up next here on alt. for. 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 reverse the country's history. it was an attempt to depose president mikhail gorbachev put his reforms on hold. tanks and other hardware but removed into moscow. the city's key points were being taken over.

the. borders the nineteenth nine hundred ninety one monday only in the morning teacher tatiana yakovlev a switch said t.v. on a sort of following picture instead of the usual programme in every channel was broadcasting tchaikovsky's famous ballet. ok 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 in can maybe there was something wrong with my t.v. set. of the same time as the ballet people cast more than seven hundred tanks and on the personnel carriers putting stations in the streets the porters were in the criminal. meanwhile those 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. for word when i open the door it's all be 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 or you would decided to take a round about route instead of going straight to this building over. 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 gorbachev reforms. the situation was quite all right the country was in turmoil. there was

a revolt of the hungry people standing in line for sausages stoop to fist fights but there were pervis of sort of jism a consumer market. but the country's president with good budget everybody and headed down south to the career to relax in. the crimean peninsula southern soviet president mikhail gorbachev's private residence near the village of photos. both its and scores of surrounding head tez became a prison for the head of state. here he spent several days and what amounted to confinement but there were up this site can be seen from all sides and you get an almost bird's eye view of it from that mountain the rude leading to resilience can easily be blocked with stones after those events the joke here 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. k.g.b. colonel lev tolstoy was directly involved in the events of those days he's a direct descendant a namesake 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 thousand nine hundred one top k.g.b. officials ordered him to block all exits from the gorbachev residence i have no idea what would have happened if gorbachev and others had tried to escape from the residence but i do think he would have faced very unpleasant consequences for. this is exclusive footage of the residence of the first savior president a splendid park was laid out almost on their rocks this had special significance because gorbachev was known to be very fond of strolling by the seaside.

visa arizona seeders these pines and peace shrubs were all planted just before the territory was to be commissioner at in one nine hundred eighty eight. it was a short while before mikhail gorbachev's first visit here. the crimean residence was named tara trees idea and k.g.b. documentation the interior design of the main building reflected the wishes of race over the president's wife she was with mikhail gorbachev throughout the force or deal. with homes where you would build what i would describe as internal defenses their men carrying guns with live ammunition were posted all over the place they were under strict orders not to allow provocation.

to serve your 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 . which i could bring up gorbachev study looks just like it was back then for this is his desk. and that telephone was meant for communicating with government officials a fair go. for the lying was shut down 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 a truck was stationed on the heloc had to prevent helicopters from touching down

a tractor with a trailer outside the gates was meant to prevent motor vehicles breaking through into the compound. rain for security precautions were introduced throughout. the army general valentyn but a nickel 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 for a nickel asked the serbian president to recognize the legality of the coup. then should be we knew what we were going to do during the night told him all that could somehow be fitted into a state of emergency and gorbachev retorted by exclaiming that a state of emergency was bonsa bring machine guns and blood in its wake at the core 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 it my belief is the country's modernization without blood. august nineteenth one thousand nine hundred one moscow has eleven am a crowd holds barred personnel carriers heading for the city center demonstrators climb one of them chanting no 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 drink to still keep in touch and remember those events. hello hello hello brothers and seen in a hundred years when my parents will clear up in the morning they tell 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 besides no co at all yes there were tanks but people were blocking them off what kind of coup is it if tanks could be stopped short in their tracks. a small radio sex is one of the most treasured mementos from those days people used it to listen to the few independent stations it was still on that. one report said the air force refused to side with the coup are cool. 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. tediously didn't hear that 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 two 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 used an analog telephone line by all accounts those were thirty billion times. the students who assumes it's meanwhile the coup organizers called a press conference in moscow many took note of cannot deny it's troubling hands he named himself the country's head of state claiming the good which offered for an ill. press conference reached a turning point after a question from turkey on american then twenty four year old journalist then why 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. it was for your clear him but a coup took place during the night. i would disagree with you

because all legal and constitutional norms were complied with so he would just say that they looked hesitant to be an understatement and they looked as if life was dying out of them and there was no retaliatory left in their faces and she was the eyes they look like people who had lost a battle before they had a chance to start it. all this nineteenth one thousand nine hundred ninety one zero eight a spontaneous rally began in my. goes my mission at square the crowd swelled as more and more people arrived the events in mosco are described as ansi constitutional coup there are calls for an open ended general strike. we are protesting against a larger man for. no to fascism no to fascism or

hot. morning when the t.v. news was followed my life. and morning planning while the streets of the council. on turning point in russia. was really justified move forward. remembering the new years since the battle for democracy and monarchy. takes fifteen to twenty million years for the planet to recover from a major extinction event but the planet has time we don't. it's been going on for months twenty twenty five years and since the eco terrorists before there was even islamic fundamentalist terrorist in this country when a nine eleven happened the bush administration could not find any terrorists because the feds couldn't find any real terrorists they decided to take these young

people who are accused of property sabotage and label them as terrorists someone he'll destroy his property. with absolutely zero intention of harming a single human being. in my mind it's not fair and real people who are green in this country are the housewives who recycle. and the children who plant trees on the weekend with their cub scout troops that's the. sad. sad sad. time. did. catch. on aug nineteenth nine hundred ninety one top k.g.b. officials in moscow orders reinforce security precautions residents in the crimea on the same day mikhail gorbachev videotaped or has since become a famous address. has taken place.

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 on line of defense since 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 residence and intruders will be shot.

gorbachev's 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 nautical 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 terminated duty scoured the woodlands. snipers were in position on the mountain. there was a soldier with a machine gun on top of the cliff near the base remains of it can feel the seam of their. day 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 puddle fears off of the

forest result was in charge of discos another entertainment program. must go on aug nineteenth i said this judicial physician bloke become trees president mikhail gorbachev is under arrest i mean you're here shall we counsel the dances you know she said biggest should not suffer let them dance this situation with gorbachev doesn't concern us. moscow august nineteenth one thousand nine hundred ninety one there it seems wednesday water cannons at sam to break through to the downtown area demonstrators damage some of them and force them to turn back. meanwhile the coup organizers ordered the arrest of the president of russia boris yeltsin at the time he was at his residence near moscow the chief of his security guards aleksandr of course or cove

was with him they drove a service car to moscow and reached the city unhindered. bilson was seated between two guards and 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 kilo's was of the kind worn in the army but 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 dragging whatever

they could lay their hands on and trolley bus stop there the driver got out and lowered the trolleys the trolley bus was left standing across the road the garrick aid 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 sim young of waited for an order to rescue. the with the defense ministry part of the coup the rescue plan was ignored you know with that but they did i first the pockets of resistance were to be suppressed will second the president was to be found and taken under our protection third 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 lubov. 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 the 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 course. 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 to it. ready to go. 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 order before launching operation but 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 told of but casualties were still unavoidable in the early hours of august the twenty first nine hundred ninety one the crews of several armored vehicles ordered 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 comber spent the night waiting for the sun 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 the calls on people to go and defend democracy are going to slip from the border of god when my son had to squeeze it be you he went to the barricades because that's was a call from someone who served in afghanistan two hundred but a day before. i asked him if he was going to the barricades and he said no but he had his fill of fighting in afghanistan. he had no business monkeying around barricades but on tuesday it was a different story. on wednesday that he was no more. after that tragedy it became obvious the coup had failed tanks began leaving moscow in august

the twenty first a card carrying russia's vice president would spoil 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 near. 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 problem. he said go right ahead of the wrong. squeeze plane was cool because on board touched down in moscow on august twenty second one thousand nine hundred one the coup had failed but the soviet president in effect which turned to a different country much changed during those three days in august i defended the

soviet union to the last bullet that's what i did what i failed. to finale at the standoff central moscow ammonium. felix regency the founder of soviet secret police standing in front of k.g.b. headquarters in libya and frisk where 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. 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 onto crimean frontier guards. initially 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. as military men we became very bitter when we heard the word treason. as well because 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 the 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. of any misguided decisions were made during those three days in august one thousand nine hundred one we were more tanks should not have been brought in and demonstrated or should not have been used for a few months 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 a 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. 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. overtops crimean residence 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. the figure to be frank this place is not considered to be a very lucky at all that we're back from. that.

this is the officer on duty august twenty second one thousand nine hundred ninety one by vienna boris yeltsin declares there reactionary coup has failed and thanks to defenders of the white house twelve pm for the first time the three colored flag is raised over the supreme council of russia. yeltsin held for. only five months or left before the collapse of the soviet union.

them.

last time the phone stop team was naamua beach where the gold rush still gets people hiked up. this time archie goes to cheer old region. where the local government is giving power back to the people.