maundering. she's telling. the. dynamic. to do things like. country without seats and i'd let me update you on on news headlines tensions rise in the middle east as for mass calls often ceasefire with israel in response to days of deadly airstrikes on gaza israeli activists are gathering for a peace demonstration across the country to protest against government policy and demand more focus something mystic probably. is for another turbulent week for the world's markets says fears about the u.s. and europe on the brink of another devastating downturn investor panic could leak economic outlook from the past self which. one is all about maxing it out of the

international air show to moscow with gravity defying action in the lucrative deal making of picking up pace multi billion dollar contracts on the making public flight to russia's latest project a jet just supplied. remark twenty years to the day when moscow was placed under military curfew during the attempt to overthrow because the coup faced fierce resistance at the time he failed to topple the government but nonetheless changed the course of history for yourself the. next it's time for an in-depth account of those dramatic events in our special report here on r.t. . central moscow moscow's regional k.g.b. had quarters. 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 but then moved 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 the t.v. on and saw the following picture of the usual programming every channel was broadcasting tchaikovsky's famous valley. report 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 and to maybe there was something wrong with my t.v.

sets. of the same time as the ballet broadcast more than seven hundred tanks and on the personnel carriers were being stationed in the streets the plotters were in the kremlin. meanwhile those so-called white house was at the center of civil resistance at the time it housed the russian parliament but 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. or 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 around about route instead of going straight to this building or go back. 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 child's reforms. the situation was quite odd the country was in turmoil. there was a revolt of the hungry people standing in line for sausages stuped of fistfights and there were pervasive sort of jism a consumer market. but the country's president with 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 near the village of force both its and scores of surrounding hector's became a prison for the head of state. here he spent several days in what amounted to confinement. but there blew up

a site 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 a densely 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 where the. k.g.b. colonel left tolstoy was directly involved in the events of those days he is 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 or to offer what i do think he would have faced very unpleasant

consequences. this is exclusive footage of the residence of the first savior president a splendid park was laid out almost on their rocks as have special significance because gorbachev was known to be very fond of strolling by the seaside. rock up of these arizonans cedars these pines and these shrubs were all planted just before the territory was to be commissioner in one nine hundred eighty eight started it was a short while before mikhail gorbachev's first visit here. the crimean residence was code named terra trees in k.g.b. documentation the interior design of the main building reflected the wishes of race a global show 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 the men carrying guns with live ammunition were posted all over the place they were under strict orders not to allow provocation is a work of. 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. and that telephone was meant for communicating with government officials or go. for the lying was shut down at all 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 but being more attractive with a trailer outside the gates was meant to prevent the motor vehicles breaking through into the compound. when for security precautions were introduced throughout . the county general balanchine but a nick of was one of the key figures in the coup attempt on august the eighteenth one nine hundred ninety one even it'd gorbachev at his residence in the crimea which is there in a coffin asked the soviet president to recognize the legality of the coup. we knew what we were going to do during the night totally mauled

a coup to somehow be fitted into state of emergency and gorbachev retorted by exclaiming that a state of emergency was bonsa green machine guns and blood in its wake at the core you can 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 ours 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 ninety one must go to eleven am i cried 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 joined to still keep in touch and remember those events. hello hello hello brothers and c n n hundred years and my parents woke up in the morning to 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 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 hand. one reporter said the air force refused to side with the coup are cool. to another a military garrison in st petersburg also refused to back it it was great to hear

the people in many towns are supporting us. we didn't hear 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 used an analog telephone line by all accounts those were thirty 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 in named himself the country's head of state claiming that gorbachev put forward. the press conference reached a turning point after a question from a taxi an american a then twenty four year old journalist when we do realize that what you have down

to do is a coup do you see parallels with your actions in soviet history nineteen seventeen or nineteen sixty four. does for your clear him but a coup took place during the night. you said i would disagree with you because all legal and constitutional norms were complied with so new to me they were going 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 will tell if he 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 and i took. this ninety nine hundred ninety one zero eight a spontaneous rally began in my. suppose my nation ask where the 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 until our demands are met. no to fascism no to fascism or life forever i go. all in the. mind of approach. shaking the future flights. are to change to the max air show. as you know song was sixteen years old when he committed these murders must not incite song so or should not be punished for his crimes so on is being conned no

rational person can deny that someone has been honest is being honest and will be honest. as ours must be executed for. this is a punishment this is not. imagined. bandstand. because we've been immersed in only wants to hear for. now i didn't come here just. and heard they first. start really small now. martin. and my dad is now.

on august the nineteenth one nine hundred ninety one top k.g.b. officials in moscow ordered reinforced security precautions. residents in the crimea on the same day mikhail gorbachev videotaped what has since become a famous address. to 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 was an element of 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 the 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 him 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. all the tribes 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 permanent 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 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. fears of of the forest result was in charge of discos and other entertainment programs. on aug nineteenth i said to students and physician look the contrary is president mikhail gorbachev is under arrest near here shall we counselled advances you know she said the guests should not suffer let them dance this situation with gorbachev doesn't concern us. moscow august nineteenth one thousand nine hundred one there it

seems when sea water cannons it stands to break through to the downtown area demonstrators damage some of them and force them to turn back. meanwhile the cool denies this also of the arrest of the president of russia boris yeltsin of the time he was at his residence near moscow the chief of his security guards alexandre korsakoff was with him a driver service car to moscow and reached the city on him that. more youth of. the oxen 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 dragging 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 gary cane 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 gorbachev summer residence throughout the coombe 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 i first the pockets of resistance were to be suppressed 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 upshot of it was that naval commanders only sent a telegram to cool but off urging him to hold on and that telegram was received by a lubavitcher avail 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. those three days oldest eighteenth nineteenth and twentieth were 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 corps. was bracing for the

worst case scenario people inside the white house expected an assault on the building that possibility in mind they inspected all of the basement secret passages leading out into nearby courtyards. some of the regular reports coming in here claimed 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 old order 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 and all. of your 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 of. you both calmer 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 who called on people to go and defend democracy carbone. when my son had to disclose it to you he went to the barricades because that was a call from someone who served in afghanistan to. the day before. i asked him if he

was going to the barricades were going and he said no that he had his view 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 want to cross the twenty first a card carrying russia's vice president would score over took one of the convoys it was rushing to the airport to bring mikhail gorbachev back to moscow it was a total mess place on land and yet. it was pulled up and none of the ground controllers guided our flights not even jeering 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 no problem call madrid schoolboy he said

go right ahead with all your. good scores 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 had in effect returned to a different country much changed during those three days in oldest i defended the soviet 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 the crimean frontier guards. initially of the team of investigators of the prosecutor general's office displayed tolerance then they began dropping hints 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. 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. of any misguided decisions were made during those three days in august one thousand nine hundred one. 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 a 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. chops 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 ole dutch were virtually right. back. in the this in the officer on duty august twenty second one thousand nine hundred ninety one five am boris yeltsin declares that there reactionary coup has failed and thanks the 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.