View source for State Committee on the State of Emergency

{{Short description|Government organization in USSR in 1991}}
{{Distinguish|State Committee of the Soviet Union}}
{{Expand Russian|topic=mil|Государственный комитет по чрезвычайному положению|date=April 2012}}
{{use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox organization
|name         = State Committee on the State of Emergency {{small|(SCSE)}}<br />{{small|{{lang|ru|Государственный комитет по чрезвычайному положению (ГКЧП)}}}}
|image        = Press conference of the Committee of the GKChP USSR (August 19, 1991).jpg
|size         = 300px
|alt          = 
|caption      = Press conference in the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia main building|MFA building]], August 19
|map          = 
|msize        = 
|malt         = 
|mcaption     = 
|abbreviation = 
|motto        = 
|formation    = 19 August 1991
|dissolved    = 21 August 1991
|type         = Self-declared [[provisional government]]
|status       = Dissolved by the [[Russian SFSR]] and [[Soviet Union]]
|purpose      = Prevention of the [[New Union Treaty]] signing, governance for planned six-month [[state of emergency]]
|headquarters = [[Moscow Kremlin]], Russian SFSR, Soviet Union<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/russia/newsid_4800000/4800701.stm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070902081128/http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/russia/newsid_4800000/4800701.stm |archive-date=September 2, 2007 |title=Хроника путча: часть I |author=Артём Кречетников |publisher=[[BBC Russian Service]] |date=August 17, 2006|language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/russia/newsid_5261000/5261982.stm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070828040103/http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/russia/newsid_5261000/5261982.stm |archive-date=August 28, 2007 |title=Хроника путча: часть II |author=Артём Кречетников |publisher=BBC Russian Service |date=August 18, 2006|language=ru}}</ref>
|location     = [[Moscow]], [[Russian SFSR]]
|region_served = Soviet Union
|membership   = 
|language     = [[Russian language|Russian]]
|leader_title = Chairman
|leader_name  = [[Gennady Yanayev]]
|main_organ   = 
|parent_organization = 
|affiliations = [[CPSU]]<br>[[KGB]]<br>[[Red Army|Soviet Army]]<br>[[Ministry of Internal Affairs (Soviet Union)|Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs]]
|num_staff    = 
|num_volunteers =
|budget       = 
|website      = 
|remarks      =
}}

The '''State Committee on the State of Emergency''' ({{Lang-rus|Госуда́рственный комите́т по чрезвыча́йному положе́нию|r=Gosudárstvenny komitét po chrezvycháynomu polozhéniyu|p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj kəmʲɪˈtʲet pə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəmʊ pəlɐˈʐɛnʲɪjʊ}}), abbreviated as '''GKChP''' ({{langx|ru|ГКЧП}}) and nicknamed the '''Gang of Eight''', was a self-proclaimed political body in the [[Soviet Union]] that existed from 19 to 21 August 1991.<ref>{{Cite journal |author = Волгин Евгений Игоревич |editor=  |format= |url= https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/kpss-v-kontekste-politicheskogo-krizisa-19-21-avgusta-1991-g |title= КПСС в контексте политического кризиса 19-21 августа 1991 г |journal= Вестник Московского Университета. Серия 12. Политические Науки|type=  |orig-year= | agency =  |edition= Вестник Московского университета. Серия 12. Политические науки  |year= 2009 |volume=  |issue= 2 |pages = 24–36 |series=  |issn = 0868-4871 |doi =  |bibcode =  |arxiv =  |pmid =  |archive-url =  |archive-date =  |language=  |quote=  }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |author = Сосенков Ф.с |editor=  |format= |url= http://nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=18015 |title= Проблема сохранения Советского Союза в документах Государственного комитета по чрезвычайному положению |type=  |orig-year= | agency =  |edition= Genesis: исторические исследования  |location=  |year= 2017 |publisher=  |volume=  |issue= 2 |pages = 85–93 |series=  |isbn =  |issn = 2409-868X |doi = 10.7256/2409-868X.2017.2.18015 |bibcode =  |arxiv =  |pmid =  |archive-url =  |archive-date =  |language=  |quote=  |doi-access=  free}}</ref> It included a group of eight high-level [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] officials within the [[Government of the Soviet Union|Soviet government]], the [[CPSU|Communist Party]], and the [[KGB]], who attempted a [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|coup d'état]] against [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] on 19 August 1991. The coup ultimately failed, with the provisional government collapsing by 22 August 1991 and several of the conspirators being prosecuted by the [[Supreme Court of the Russian Federation]].

From 22 to 29 August 1991, former members of the dissolved SCSE and who actively assisted them were [[arrest]]ed, but from June 1992 to January 1993, they were all released on their own [[recognizance]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5308|title=Прежде Всего Стародубцев на воле. С Лениным в башке и подпиской в руке|date=15 June 1992 |access-date=2014-02-13|archive-date=2014-01-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111024927/http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5308}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/28697|title=Новости Метрополий. Олег Шенин отпущен до суда домой|date=3 November 1992 |access-date=2014-02-13|archive-date=2014-01-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111041052/http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/28697}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/33373|title=В Прокуратуре России. Четверо обвиняемых освобождены|date=15 December 1992 |access-date=2014-01-11|archive-date=2021-07-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710213606/https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/33373}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/36887|title=Пресс-конференция по делу ГКЧП. Шесть узников "Матросской тишины" получили свободу до приговора|date=27 January 1993 |access-date=2014-02-13|archive-date=2021-04-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210405124652/https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/36887}}</ref> In April 1993, the trial began. On 23 February 1994, the defendants in the SCSE case were amnestied by the [[State Duma|State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.km.ru/front-projects/gkchp/chleny-gkchp-posle-putcha|title=Члены ГКЧП после "путча"|access-date=2012-08-31|archive-date=2012-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415013313/http://www.km.ru/front-projects/gkchp/chleny-gkchp-posle-putcha}}</ref><ref>Постановление Государственной Думы Федерального Собрания Российской Федерации от 23 февраля 1994 г. № 65-1 ГД «Об объявлении политической и экономической амнистии»</ref> despite [[Boris Yeltsin|Yeltsin's]] objection.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.1tv.ru/documentary/fi=6941|title=Борис Ельцин. Первый|access-date=2013-08-29|archive-date=2015-06-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630084122/http://www.1tv.ru/documentary/fi=6941}}</ref> One of the defendants, [[Valentin Varennikov|General V.I. Varennikov]], refused to accept the amnesty and his trial continued, which he ultimately won.

Diplomatic support came from several countries,<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |date=18 August 2006 |title=Би-би-си – Россия – Хроника путча. Часть II |website=news.bbc.co.uk |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/russia/newsid_5261000/5261982.stm |url-status=live |access-date=14 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070828040103/http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/russia/newsid_5261000/5261982.stm |archive-date=28 August 2007}}</ref><ref name="eth">{{Cite web |date=2007-09-11 |title=Апресян Р.Г. Народное сопротивление августовскому путчу |url=http://ethics.iph.ras.ru/works/N/9.html |access-date=2023-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911002221/http://ethics.iph.ras.ru/works/N/9.html |archive-date=2007-09-11 }}</ref><ref name="SovietCoup_Intl">{{cite web |last=Ishërwood |first=Julian M. |date=19 August 1991 |title=World reacts with shock to Gorbachev ouster |url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/08/19/World-reacts-with-shock-to-Gorbachev-ouster/5234533009911/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526035106/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/08/19/World-reacts-with-shock-to-Gorbachev-ouster/5234533009911/ |archive-date=26 May 2019 |access-date=31 May 2017 |work=United Press International}}</ref> such as [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan]], [[China]], [[Cuba]], [[Ba'athist Iraq]], [[Laos]], [[Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya]], [[North Korea]], [[Palestine Liberation Organization]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Апресян Р.Г. Народное сопротивление августовскому путчу |url=http://ethics.iph.ras.ru/works/N/9.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911002221/http://ethics.iph.ras.ru/works/N/9.html |archive-date=11 September 2007 |access-date=2021-12-04}}</ref> [[Vietnam]], [[Socialist Republic of Serbia]], and [[Socialist Republic of Montenegro]].

==Members==
The eight members were:
*[[Gennady Yanayev]] (1937–2010), Vice President
*[[Valentin Pavlov]] (1937–2003), [[Premier of the Soviet Union|Premier]]
*[[Boris Pugo]] (1937–1991), Interior Minister
*[[Dmitry Yazov]] (1924–2020), [[Minister of Defence (Soviet Union)|Defense Minister]] and [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]]
*[[Vladimir Kryuchkov]] (1924–2007), [[List of Chairmen of the KGB|Chairman]] of the KGB
*[[Oleg Baklanov]] (1932–2021), First Deputy Chairman of the Defense Council of the USSR
*[[Vasily Starodubtsev]] (1931–2011), Chairman of the Peasants' Union of the USSR
*[[Alexander Tizyakov]] (1926–2019), President of the Association of State Enterprises

All but Pugo were arrested and tried with [[treason]] following the coup; Pugo himself died from two gunshots to the head on 22 August 1991. His death was ruled a [[suicide]].<ref>{{cite news|date=August 17, 2001|title=The Men Who Tried to Topple Mikhail Gorbachev|location=Russia|work=The Moscow Times|url=http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2001/08/17/019.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010905011525/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2001/08/17/019.html|archive-date=September 5, 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/gorrev.html |title=''Gorbachev and Perestroika''. Professor Gerhard Rempel, Department of History, Western New England College, 1996-02-02, accessed 2008-07-12 |publisher=Mars.wnec.edu |access-date=31 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828102933/http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/gorrev.html |archive-date=28 August 2008}}</ref> However, by January 1993, all of the arrested GKChP members had been released from custody pending trial.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5308?isSearch=True |title=Ъ-Власть – Стародубцев на воле. С Лениным в башке и подпиской в руке |date=15 June 1992 |access-date=24 March 2021 |archive-date=23 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171123045045/https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5308?isSearch=True |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/36887 |title=Ъ-Газета – Пресс-конференция по делу ГКЧП |date=27 January 1993 |access-date=24 March 2021 |archive-date=5 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210405124652/https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/36887 |url-status=live }}</ref> On 23{{spaces}}February 1994, the [[State Duma]] declared [[amnesty]] for all GKChP members and their accomplices, along with the participants of the [[1993 Russian constitutional crisis|October 1993 crisis]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_7180/ |title=Постановление Государственной Думы Федерального Собрания Российской Федерации от 23 февраля 1994 г. № 65-1 ГД «Об объявлении политической и экономической амнистии» |access-date=16 August 2021 |archive-date=9 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009073115/http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_7180/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Coup d'état==
{{Main|1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt}}

The [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt]], occurring between 19 and 21 August 1991, was an attempt by the SCSE to take control of the country from then [[President of the Soviet Union]], Mikhail Gorbachev. The SCSE were [[Hardline|hard-line]] members of the Communist Party ([[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|CPSU]]) who were opposed to Gorbachev's reform program and the [[New Union Treaty|new union treaty]] he had negotiated, which dispersed much of the central government's power to the republics. The coup collapsed after only two days, and although Gorbachev was restored as president, his authority was irreparably damaged and he became less influential outside of Moscow. The event destabilized the Soviet Union and many speculate that it played a role in both the demise of the CPSU and the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]]. After the coup failed, the seven living members of the SCSE were arrested.

==Court trials==
On 14 December 1992, a year after the attempted coup, the Prosecutor General of Russia Valentin Stepankov approved the indictment in the GKChP case.<ref>[https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/33373 В Прокуратуре России]</ref> It was sent to the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Anatoliy Ukolov, a deputy chairman of the Collegiate, was charged with reviewing the case, and the hearing was scheduled for 26 January 1993. The defendants included the aforementioned seven living members of the group plus [[Oleg Shenin]] (1937–2009), Politburo and secretariat member; [[Anatoly Lukyanov]] (1930–2019), Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union; and [[Valentin Varennikov]] (1923–2009), General of the Army, Deputy Minister of Defense, and Commander of Land Forces.

The trials lasted more than ten months, from 14 April 1993<ref>[https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/45138 Суд над членами ГКЧП]</ref> until 1 March 1994. They were open to the public and press; however, foreign press did not participate due to lack of space in the courtroom. A prosecution commission was assigned to the case by the Collegiate, consisting of nine people and headed by Denisov, a Deputy Prosecutor General. The defense attorneys, Genri Reznik (Shenin), Genrikh Padva, Yuriy Ivanov (Kryuchkov), and Dmitriy Shteinberg (Varennikov) were hired, but in total, there were seventeen defense attorneys. After various delay tactics staged by the defense, the trial began on 30 November 1993. The main defendants were Yazov, Kryuchkov, Shenin, and Varennikov.

On 23 February 1994, the [[State Duma]] issued an amnesty to the defense,<ref>[http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_7180/ Постановление Государственной Думы Федерального Собрания Российской Федерации от 23 февраля 1994 г. № 65-1 ГД «Об объявлении политической и экономической амнистии»]</ref> and on 1 March 1994, the case was closed with all ten defendants accepting [[amnesty]]. Varennikov requested amnesty on the condition that Mikhail Gorbachev would be the next to be prosecuted, as he accused Gorbachev of creating the recent political disorder. The court rejected his petition, and upon Varennikov sending his request to the Prosecutor General's office, it was rejected again.

Ten days after the close, the Presidium of the Supreme Court revived the [[prosecution]], ruling that procedural infringements regarding the amnesty had occurred. The Presidium arranged a new hearing and assigned a new judge, [[Viktor Aleksandrovich Yaskin]]. He conducted the case review using revised court procedures. Yaskin offered the defendants amnesty, and all but Varennikov accepted it. Varennikov was acquitted on the argument that he was following the orders of Minister of Defense.

Kryuchkov, Yazov, Shenin, and Pavlov were named as the main conspirators.

==Further fate of GKChP members==
Yazov spent 18 months in [[Matrosskaya Tishina]], a prison in northern [[Moscow]]. According to the magazine ''Vlast'' No. 41(85) of 14 October 1991, he contacted the President from jail with a recorded video message, in which he repented and called himself "an old fool". Yazov denies ever doing that, and he also accepted the amnesty offered by the Russians stating that he was not guilty. He was dismissed from military service by the Presidential Order, and at his discharge, was awarded a ceremonial weapon. He was also awarded an order of honor by the [[President of Russian Federation]]. Yazov later worked as a military adviser at the [[General Staff Academy (Russia)|General Staff Academy]]. He died in 2020 in Moscow, after a prolonged illness.

Baklanov spent 18 months in Matrosskaya Tishina, and then accepted amnesty in 1994, stating that he was not guilty. He later worked as a director of [[Rosobshchemash]].

Yanayev spent 18 months in Matrosskaya Tishina. He later became a chairman of the department of national history at the Russian International Academy of Tourism.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://versia.ru/articles/2008/oct/31/gennadiy_yanaev |script-title=ru:Бывший вице-президент СССР Геннадий Янаев: Ручонки действительно подрагивали |publisher=Версия |date=October 31, 2008|language=ru}}</ref>

Pavlov had been taken to a hospital during the coup with the diagnosis of [[hypertension]], but on 29 August 1991, he was transferred to Matrosskaya Tishina. He accepted amnesty stating that he was not guilty, and later became the head of the [[Chasprombank]]. Pavlov resigned from the bank on 31 August 1995, and six months later the bank was left without license.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.banki.ru/banks/memory/bank/?id=80976 |script-title=ru:Книга памяти: "Часпромбанк" |publisher=Банки.ру|language=ru}}</ref> Afterwards he was an adviser at [[Promstroybank (Russia)|Promstroybank]], today known as [[VTB|Bank VTB]]. Pavlov died in 2003 after a series of heart attacks and was buried in Moscow.

===Evaluations of Anatoliy Ukolov's interviews===
According to [[VID (company)|Vzglyad]], Anatoliy Ukolov, the original person charged with the prosecution of the SCSE, blamed the occurrence of the 1991 coup attempt on Gorbachev, implying that the leader should not have taken a vacation at the time. However, in an interview with Komsomol Pravda, Ukolov also mentioned how the members of GKChP chose not to follow the [[Letter and spirit of the law|letter of law]], but rather to take the situation into their own hands.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://souz.info/library/other/gkchp/gkchpobr.htm Обращение ГКЧП к советскому народу] {{in lang|ru}}
* [http://souz.info/library/other/gkchp/gkchppost.htm Постановления № 1 и № 2 Государственного комитета по чрезвычайному положению в СССР] {{in lang|ru}}
* [https://lenta.ru/articles/2004/08/18/coup/ Тринадцать лет спустя, или Три дня ГКЧП] {{in lang|ru}}
* [http://www.kp.ru/daily/23759/56516/ Как судили гекачепистов? (How were the GKChPsits trailed? Aug. 22, 2006)] {{in lang|ru}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110407154904/http://vzglyad.ru/politics/2006/8/18/45786.html Суд над ГКЧП (GKChP court trials)] {{in lang|ru}}
* [http://www.kp.ru/daily/25738.3/2726169 Михаил Полторанин: «ГКЧП — величайшая провокация Горбачева!»] {{in lang|ru}}
* [https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-37113785 ГКЧП 25 лет спустя. Разрушение советского Левиафана] {{in lang|ru}}

{{Departments of the USSR}}
{{Boris Yeltsin}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Conflicts in 1991]]
[[Category:State Committees of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt]]
[[Category:1991 establishments in the Soviet Union|State of Emergency, State Committee for]]
[[Category:1991 disestablishments in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Dissolution of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Anti-revisionist organizations]]
[[Category:Perestroika]]
[[Category:Factions in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:State Committee on the State of Emergency members| ]]
[[Category:Octets]]