Politics

Putin's Chance to Change History

Twenty-five years ago, an unsuccessful coup attempt, known as the August Coup, was launched by a group of hawkish Communist Party members and security elites against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, in what was widely seen as one of the key moments that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The coup's ring leaders, known as the Gang of Eight, were dissatisfied with Gorbachev's liberalization plans and the balancing act between the Soviet republics and Moscow. Similar conversations are being had in Moscow today — and within the Kremlin are very familiar divides.

Since he launched glasnost and perestroika to save the Soviet Union, resentment toward Gorbachev had been building among the Soviet hard-liners for years. Gorbachev tried to buy support for his liberalization efforts by bringing those discontent hawks further into the government. When six of the Soviet republics virtually seceded in 1990-91, Gorbachev attempted to hold onto the remaining eight through a series of decentralization methods. Those hard-liners in the government, however, banded together to demand that Gorbachev call a state of emergency and militarily lock down the Soviet republics.