in the count. the turning point in russia's history. was a justified move forward. in the ring when you sense the battle for democracy on our keep. your with our three our top stories this hour. rebels say they're advancing towards tripoli but the libyan leadership dismisses the scale of their press call for all parties to negotiate. by the snowballs in the middle east with a four day amid fears exchanges of fire between hamas and israel may lead to a ground offensive in gaza. a crackdown against english writers gains momentum with harsh sentences handed to those who played over the nine a parts of the chaos as human rights groups say judges and politicians have gone too far. and e.u.

leaders promise of a single economic government fails to reassure anxious investors and top of the markets as pressure trouble over once again for instance the banks. on this week also marked twenty years since the coup that over franco gorbachev changed the course of history for the soviet union coming up next a closer look at those dramatic events in our special. 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 but the 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 a sort of following picture instead of the usual programme in every channels broadcasting tchaikovsky's famous ballet. the point 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 to be sent. 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 potters were in the criminal. meanwhile moscow so-called white house was at the center of civil resistance at the time it housed the russian parliament where the people's deputies met in session. it was past seven in the morning when the security chief came to my place. or words when i open the door it's all b. 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 we decided to take a roundabout route instead of going straight to this building for. the coup was legit 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

and work with the situation was quite right 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 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 in the village of photos. both its and scores of surrounding hecht as they came of prison for the head of state. he spent several days and what amounted to confinement but there were a psych can be seen from all sides you get in almost bird's eye view of it from the mountain and the rude leading to resilience can easily be blocked with stones after

those events the joke here was that gorbachev's residents must have been deliberately built in this place so that he could be easily cut off from the outside world is going to work their way with the. k.g.b. colonel tolstoy was directly involved in the events of those days he's a direct descendant a name sake of the celebrated russians 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 go to trough residence i have no idea what would have happened if gorbachev and others had tried to escape from the residence or the office or what i do think he would have faced very unpleasant consequences for. this is exclusive footage of the residence of the first savior president the splendid park was laid out almost on bare rocks this had special

significance because gorbachev was known to be very fond of strolling by the seaside. what type of visa arizona seeders these pines and the shrubs were all planted just before the territory was to be commissioner at in one nine hundred eighty eight with that nickel yep it was a short while before mikhail gorbachev's first visit here. the crimean residence was code named terra 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 or you will see 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 provocations broke. 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 to go for the line was shut down at four pm on august eighteenth what. remained of his residence moreover measures to isolate him were reinforced still further valarie shah was the one who caught at the gate to the residence during to 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 hello pad 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. commie general valentyn for a nickel of was one of the key figures in the coup attempt. on august eighteenth one thousand nine hundred one if it'd go which of his residence in the crimea which . asked the serbian president to recognize the legality of the coup. we knew what we were going to do drink and unite told him all that good a somehow befitting to state of emergency gorbachev retorted by exclaiming that a state of emergency was bonser green 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 out as 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 nineteen ninety one must go he levin am i cried halt armored 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 woke me 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 if this is no call at 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 as 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 our court. into another a military garrison in st petersburg also refused to back it it was great to hear that people in many towns were supporting us to. keep 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 students who assumes it's meanwhile the coup organizers called a press conference in moscow many took note of can now do you know it's trembling hands he named himself the country's head of state claiming the good childhood fallen ill. the press conference reached a turning point after a question from touchy an american or the then twenty four year old journalist who may do you realize that what you have down to do is a coup do you see parallels with your actions in soviet history in the nineteen

seventeen or nineteen sixty four. ers 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 i bring it up and just say that they looked hesitant would be an understatement i knew they looked as if life was dying out of them and there was no with alex he left in their faces and she was the eyes they looked like people who had lost a battle before they had a chance to start it. this nineteen nineteen ninety one zero eight a spontaneous rally began in ma. goes my nation at square the crowd swelled as more and more people arrived the events in moscow are described as ansi constitutional there are calls for an open and a general strike. in this day on we are

protesting until our demands are met. no to fascism no to fascism their lives have a right. angle of approach. shaping the future flights of. martine takes us to the max air show. as you know song was sixteen years old in the communities marmes that's not to say that song so or should not be honest for his crimes song is. no rational person can deny that sean has been honest is being honest and will be honest.

as ours must be executed for the group. this is conscient this is not. to mention. bandstand. because you've been immersed now me whatsoever. and i didn't come here justice. can heard the first. star of the small town. martin. and i that is now.

on august nineteenth one nine hundred ninety one top k.g.b. officials in moscow ordered reinforced security precautions and residence 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 slide. but there was little chance of the tape being taken out of the compound on the same day coastguards protecting the residence attempted to establish contact with the president as a nominee 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. and 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 they are three groups on permanent duty scour 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 seen as they're. going to pay for all of us have

a celebration. health resorts the communist functionaries and their families was near the residence of the soviet president oldest is high season that the resort was crammed with holiday makers to capacity puzzle fair soft of the forest result was in charge of discos and other entertainment programs. must go on aug nineteenth i said to students and physician bloke become trees president mikhail gorbachev is under arrest near here shall we cancel the dances you know she said he guessed should not suffer let them dance this iteration 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 and chief of his security guards alexander korsakoff was with him they drove a service car to moscow and reached the city unhindered. bilson 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 visitor gathered outside the white house for claim 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 garrick aid was here that's how we began blocking all approaches to the building. crimea the city of sevastopol a soviet black sea fleet based fifty kilometers from of summer residence throughout the coup first rank captain simeone of waited for an order to rescue. the with the defense ministry part of the coup the rescue plan was ignored yet of with 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 hurt 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 bitch off urging him to hold on that telegram was received by lubov. an employee of the forest 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 thinks were simply left around the course. 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 on 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 go. this old 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 but it's over. 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 of. you both come over spent the night waiting for the some 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 at school who called on people to go and defend democracy are going with clifford the border guard when my son had to squeeze it be you he went to the barricades because that was a call from someone who served in afghanistan too. but a day before. i asked him if he was going to the barricades and he said no but he

has his field of fighting in afghanistan. he had no business monkeying around barricades but on tuesday it was a different story. on the wednesday elements that he was no more. after that tragedy it became obvious the coup had failed thanks began leaving moscow and all of us 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 from land and yet. with 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 a bus to take us to gorbachev no problem. he said go right ahead of the wrong.

scores plane was cool because 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 not to change during those three days in august i defended the soviet union to the last bullet that's what i did but failed. to fin only at the standoff central moscow ammonium. to felix region ski the founder of soviet secret police standing in front of k.g.b. headquarters and lubyanka square was 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 water. is 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 the team of investigators of the prosecutor general's office displayed tolerance of that then they began dropping hints are 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 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 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 we will nor. of any misguided decisions were made during those three days in august one

thousand nine hundred one you know 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 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 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 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. a figure to be frank this place is not considered to be very lucky at all that we're back from you i got back. from this in the officer on duty august twenty second one nine hundred ninety one five am boris yeltsin declares there 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. yeltsin and yeltsin. only five months are left before the collapse of the soviet.