Russia held 1991 coup plotters accountable. Why can’t the U.S.?

Kevin Shay
Democracy Guardian
Published in
10 min readFeb 19, 2021

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The plotters of a coup attempt against Gorbachev were immediately arrested. Most remained in jail for more than two years. Plotters of a coup attempt against then-U.S. President-elect Biden in 2021 remain free.

This story was updated on March 14, 2021.

After Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the former Soviet Union Communist Party in 1985, he began implementing reforms that party hardliners feared would lead to the empire’s collapse.

Among those changes was to meet with U.S. President Ronald Reagan and sign arms control treaties. As Gorbachev lobbied for a plan to decentralize power in favor of more independent republics like Belarus, the economy worsened. People had to stand in long lines to buy food, medicine, and other essentials, causing more unrest.

While the economic recession wasn’t just tied to the changes made by Gorbachev, who thought they were necessary for his country to survive in a new age that had seen the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, they became another point of contention. Fearing that hardliners might oust him as General Secretary, Gorbachev reformed the position as an executive president who would be much harder to remove. The Soviet Congress approved the change in March 1990.

By August 1991, hardliners had enough. A core group of conspirators, termed the “Gang of Eight” that included the prime minister, vice president, defense minister, and KGB head, met in secret to plan a political coup. As Gorbachev spent his usual vacation with his family at a Black Sea vacation home, officials who included Gang of Eight member and Communist Party leader Oleg Baklanov confronted the Soviet leader on August 18. They demanded that he either declare a state of emergency or resign and name Gang of Eight leader and Vice President Gennady Yanayev as the nation’s top leader.

Gorbachev refused, and the gang placed him under house arrest. KGB operators cut the phone lines to his dacha, and intelligence officers guarded the gates to stop anyone from leaving.

The plotters announced that Gorbachev was ill and ordered 250,000 pairs of handcuffs from a factory to be sent to Moscow and 300,000 arrest forms. Cells were cleared at the notorious Lefortovo Prison in Moscow to receive prisoners.

The following day, the conspirators took control of the government radio and television broadcasts and moved…

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Investigated the JFK and January 6th plots. Walked and drove across nations. Also writes a bit. More at https://www.amazon.com/Kevin-J.-Shay/e/B004BCQRTG