(upbeat music)
(crowd cheering)
November, 1989,
an unexpected acceleration of history
has caused the already cracking Soviet block to fall apart.
The crowds of Berliners crossing the wall
between the two German states
will forever symbolize this event.
(crowd cheering)
Who could imagine that less than two years later,
citizens them again,
would bring down the statues of Lenin
and the very birthplace of communism.
This other symbol is forever attached
to the disintegration of the USSR.
Between those two dates, a string of events happened,
which some thought unpredictable and others inescapable.
(soft music)
The first event in this series took place 2,500 miles
from Moscow on two ships, battered by a storm
in the Mediterranean off the coast of Malta.
(upbeat music)
It was the first meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev,
General Secretary of the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union and George Bush,
the newly elected president of the United States.
It was very funny because it was a big storm
and they couldn't get these ships to meet each other.
And Bush got seasick and Gorbachev got seasick,
and everybody was sick.
The two men sailing towards each other
on that tumultuous sea,
were the leaders of the world's two mightiest superpowers,
George Bush, who had been president
of the United States for less than a year,
had succeeded Ronald Reagan,
the man who referred to the Soviet Union as the evil empire
and brought the nuclear confrontation
with the Soviet block to a climax.
(upbeat music)
Would Bush continue the politics of his predecessor?
Mikhail Gorbachev had been secretary general
of the CPSU since 1985, he was then 54 years old.
He introduced a younger spirit into the party leadership
and started radical reforms.
In foreign affairs, he lifted the iron curtain,
allowing satellite countries of the USSR,
such as Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia
to regain a hold on their national destinies.
On the domestic front,
he began to democratize the country
launching two revolutionary catch words,
Glasnost and Perestroika.
Glasnost, meaning freedom of speech,
Perestroika, meaning restructuring
of the political economic and social system.
People ask, what is Perestroika?
Well, it's doing your work earnestly.
That's what Perestroika is about.
It's helping others, it's feeding the shoulders of others.
That's a socialism.
(crowd cheering)
As soon as Gorbachev said, now you can speak out.
It was the end.
After that, there was no way
of stopping anything or going back.
It was too late, everything flowed from that moment.
By 1989, however, the outcome was unconvincing.
Although Soviet society was starting to breathe.
Although press censorship had been abolished,
individual liberties were more respected
and arbitrary internments had disappeared,
the daily life of Russians was deteriorating.
That was when the Malta Summit took place.
Gorbachev arrived at this Malta meeting
in an extremely weakened position.
He had one crucial goal
to obtain from the Americans, the end of nuclear escalation.
For moral reasons, of course, but also for economic ones.
The drastic reduction of military expenses in his country
would help him finance his famous Perestroika
and raise the living standards of his people.
(intense upbeat music)
Not only the European countries,
but the whole world was mired in this cold war.
You have to realize that the USSR and the United States
have engulfed dozens of billions of dollars
in the arms race.
Just imagine what could have been done with all this money.
During the months before the summit
that the Bush administration was divided down the middle.
So President Bush, (laughs)
and this is where I played a small role,
brought his whole commander, everybody to Camp David,
that's the presidential vacation home.
And invited to speak to his whole commander, two people,
representing different American academic views
of Gorbachev.
Professor Richard Pipes of Harvard
who didn't trust, Gorbachev,
didn't believe in Gorbachev,
thought the whole Perestroika was a trick.
And Stephen Cohen at Princeton.
Cohen in '89 with a well-known view
that Gorbachev represented for the United States,
a historic opportunity to end the war.
And after Pipe spoken and I spoke,
they asked us questions.
And it was clear to me immediately
that the president had made up his mind,
that he was going to end the cold war
with Gorbachev at Malta on those ships.
Bush spoke this famous sentence.
The USSR is no longer our enemy.
We need to get rid of the view of one another as enemies,
I in turn said the same thing, we shook hands.
So this gesture and this common speech
symbolize the end of the cold war.
It was to us all a great achievement.
The question immediately came to our minds,
how should we act to this new environment?
It was difficult to answer.
It was in this new political context
that Mikhail Gorbachev went to Vilnius in Lithuania
where thousands of protestors
demanded the country's independence.
He went with his wife Raisa to assess the situation,
which was becoming dangerous,
because Lithuania was an integral part of the Soviet union.
Like the other two Baltic states, Latvia and Estonia,
it was annexed by the USSR in 1940.
When Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev came here,
I accompanied him everywhere,
to the streets, on the squares
and to meet with the intellectuals.
Every time he would ask the same question,
do you really want to leave the Soviet union?
And he would get the same unanimous, yes.
What else could they answer but yes?
It was self-evident.
Back in Moscow, Mikhail Gorbachev
drew another conclusion from his trip
for his party colleagues.
When Gorbachev came back from Vilnius,
he addressed the Politburo with enthusiasm.
He said, everything is okay.
They want to remain with the Russians
and belong to the Soviet union, there is no problem.
However, two months later,
Lithuania declared its independence unilaterally.
For the first time in the history of the USSR,
one of its republics was breaking away.
It was a serious matter because it was likely
to be contagious.
Mikhail Gorbachev played for time,
sticking to the rules he set himself when he came to power.
(crowd chanting)
What matters for Gorbachev,
which is to me proof of his exceptional skills,
was his attachment to some moral principles.
His aversion of the use of force, his training.
Being trained as a lawyer,
he held the primacy of the law in high regard.
I solemnly swear to serve the peoples of our country,
to act strictly according to the constitution.
In order to continue his reforms legally,
Gorbachev had himself elected president of the USSR
by the Congress of the People's deputies.
In the same stride, he abolished the political monopoly
of the communist party,
introducing a multi-party system into the Soviet Union.
Everything had to be radically reformed.
I was aware of that.
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev thought so too,
but he was more in favor
of making improvements and amendments.
He used to tell me, "Watch out Alexander,
"this party is such a monster,
"you may lose control over it in no time."
This system was at the end of its tether.
It was outdated.
This was obvious from the fact that it led
an authoritarian policy.
The communist party and the administrative apparatus
exerted absolute control.
As you can observe, all of my innovative steps
were counted by the nomenclature.
It was always the same thing.
Instead of governing the affairs and implementing
the Perestroika, the communist party
set about to slow down the whole process.
There were people who considered that you
could only dismantle a communist system
by breaking up the Soviet Union.
I didn't understand that, I couldn't accept it.
I thought, and in total honestness,
it was better to build a union
in the style of your European union.
But that is why I prepared a new economic program
to complete over 500 days.
I've had to step in on this issue
during parliamentary debates to severely criticized,
Yavlinsky and Gorbachev himself.
I said to them, "How can we move
"to a market economy in 500 days,
"if we haven't even thought up a theory of market freedom?
"How can you solve this problem within 500 days?
"It's madness."
(soft music)
President Gorbachev was in fact faced
with the eternal dilemma
are Marxism and capitalism compatible?
In other words, can a free market be organized
within a controlled economy?
Perestroika, which was supposed to deal with this
did not have the expected effect.
Opening up trade to competition was a failure
because prices remained fixed
and newly independent producers
were not interested in selling at a loss anymore.
The result was a drop in production,
empty shelves in the shops
and a general shortage of everything.
There's nothing in the shops.
We spend our time running around, there's just nothing,
something's got to be done, please.
It's not the kind of question you ask Mikhail Sergeyevich.
Gorbachev was already talking about the need
to liberalize the prices of indispensable goods
two months after his election,
and the closer he got to the time
he had to make a decision to take his responsibilities
the more his pen was moving away from the paper.
Mikhail Gorbachev procrastinated
and finally gave up his program, but it was too late.
The dollar traded underhand became the reference currency.
The ruble collapsed, inflation was shooting up.
Beggars appeared in the Moscow streets,
a sight unseen before.
Salaries and pensions were not paid regularly anymore.
(soft music)
With hindsight, 20 years later,
Mikhail Gorbachev was very critical
of this aborted program for lightening economic change.
In fact it was a big mistake.
It's impossible to make a transition
from one economic system to another
within 500 days, we failed, we really failed.
(crowd chatting)
The failure was so extensive
that on the 1st of May, 1990,
for the first time in the history of the Soviet Union,
a leader of the country was forced to leave
the official podium on the Red Square,
by the booing of the crowd.
It was then that a man who'd been out of favor
for several years, came to the full, Boris Yeltsin.
He was a high official and important provincial apparatchik
appreciated for his efficiency and outspokenness
and had been first secretary of the party in Moscow
before being ousted by Gorbachev for criticizing
the slow progress of Perestroika.
I must admit that Yeltsin's appointment
was a joint mistake in the party.
We discussed it at length.
Should we accept him among us or not?
I was told, "Mikhail Sergeyevich, he is trustworthy,
"he should be on our team.
"He won't hesitate, he'll make decisions."
So we took him, and how did it all end?
Well, that you know.
(soft music)
Elected deputy of the people
at the head of the Communist Reformers,
Boris Yeltsin never lost an opportunity
to show his hostility to Gorbachev.
He regularly attacked him in parliament.
Time has come to present society
with an objective picture of the situation.
That's what Mikhail Gorbachev could have done.
He is the one who proclaimed the Perestroika,
and of course his responsibility is foremost in the crisis
it is currently undergoing.
Gorbachev's foreign policy was just as criticized
as the failings of Perestroika.
He was accused of having yielded to Western powers.
Not only by not seriously negotiating
the departure of Soviet troops from East Germany,
but also on a much more important matter.
Bush, the Bush administration told Mikhail Sergeyevich,
"We all agree, there have to be a United Germany
"This question can no longer be put off.
"There has to be, it's historical justice,
"but what do we do with United Germany?
"What do you do with it?
"Where do you put it?"
So one solution was to put Germany in NATO.
So you control, but Gorbachev didn't like the idea.
It was too big of a capitulation,
too big of a concession.
And then Gorbachev was told or he asked for,
I don't know which, that if Germany is in NATO,
NATO will never move eastward.
In other words, NATO will stop at Germany.
Gorbachev was given that promise, but he made a mistake.
He trusted them Americans.
(soft music)
Indeed, it was obvious that the Poles,
Hungarians and Czechs would do everything to enter NATO,
thus pushing the limits of the organization
to the very borders of the USSR.
Increasingly weakened,
Gorbachev nevertheless won a victory
when he was reappointed Secretary General,
by the 28th Congress of the communist party,
conservatives were put in a minority.
But suddenly in a spectacular move,
Boris Yeltsin slammed the door of the party.
No one else but me saw him in that state,
he was livid, deeply upset.
He who sucked the milk of the communist mother.
He who owed his whole life to communism,
had to part with all that.
Remember this time in the Kremlin Congress hall,
he is seen from behind walking up the aisle,
at the height of this power
that just awhile ago had been ruthless.
All powerful was now in a shambles.
In fact, when walking out like that,
he's walking towards new potential power.
In the fall of 1990, here is the situation.
Democrats have dropped Gorbachev
after he abandoned the 500 day program,
and communists too turned away from him
on the grounds that what use can you be
after all you've done to us?
So he was left, hanging in the air.
In this vacuum,
President Gorbachev was forced to choose
as he could not possibly get along with Yeltsin
for political and personal reasons,
he turned to the communists,
although they blamed him
for breaking the monopoly of their party.
In the autumn, he put together
a new strong-willed team with them.
He appointed Boris Pugo, Minister of the Interior,
Dmitry Yazov, Minister of Defense
and Wladimir Kryuchkov, Head of the KGB.
Then he made new concessions to hardliners
by appointing Gennady Yanayev, Vice President,
and Valentin Pavlov, Prime Minister.
This change of direction was so striking
that his most faithful companion in arms,
Eduard Shevardnadze walked out.
This is the advent of a dictatorship.
I declare it, with solemn awareness.
No one knows what this dictatorship will be,
or who will be the dictator, or what its practices will be.
I want to say this, I am resigning.
I'm doing this to protest against this dictatorship.
Thank you.
(audience clapping)
After me, it was Gorbachev who spoke.
He said, "This is untrue, there is no threat.
"If there were a genuine threat,
"why would he, Shevardnadze, know about it and not me?"
But I had reliable information.
And do you know why?
Because in the foreign office,
I directed 30 to 40% of diplomats
who were working for the KGB.
They knew everything,
naturally they informed me too.
Gorbachev didn't want to believe me.
(upbeat music)
The hardening of the regime in Moscow
caused conservative communists in the Baltic states
to go on the offensive.
They took to the streets in Vilnius and Riga
to call for their countries to stay in the Soviet fold.
They clashed with independentists, tension was mounting.
There were gatherings of 100 to 150,000 people.
You couldn't see the end of the crowd
that went beyond the horizon.
High officials called me to Moscow and told me,
we offer you all the necessary means
to suppress this movement.
I told them I don't want any of those means, I won't do it.
Then such offers stopped.
(tense music)
A coup was being prepared in Vilnius.
Commandos were standing by,
an order from Moscow and they stepped in.
Under my eyes, President Gorbachev called Yazov,
the defense minister and told him.
"How long is this going to last?
"Why can't you get it over with this bunch of nationalists?
Yazov answered, "Mikhail Sergeyevich,
"you are the commander-in-chief.
"Give me the written order, and tomorrow
"not only this TV tower won't exist anymore,
"but there won't be anything left there."
And Gorbachev said, "My word is not enough for you?"
In fact, no one wanted
to take it upon himself to shed blood.
(upbeat music)
The consequence of this indecision
at the highest level of state did not take long to happen.
The alpha elite commando seized the public buildings
in Vilnius and took on the nationalists,
entrenched in the television building.
There were 14 dead and 700 wounded.
Similar events occurred in Riga with four casualties.
Gorbachev reacted immediately,
which was not something Soviet leaders had been known for.
I deeply regret the tragic events that happened recently
in Lithuania and in Riga.
And I express my deeply felt condolences
to the families afflicted by this tragedy.
The news of the casualties in Riga and Vilnius
had a resounding effect in the USSR
and throughout the Western world.
(soft music)
After these events, the west
and mostly the United States were worried.
They feared that it would destabilize
not only the newly independent Eastern countries,
but also the Soviet union itself.
I remember the remarks of George Bush,
of Margaret Thatcher and of Francois Mitterrand.
at the time.
They feared that these events
might hinder Gorbachev's Perestroika.
They truly liked Gorbachev as long as he carried their hope
for a true democratization of the Soviet union.
(soft music)
So to take another step
on the long road to democracy
and in order to regain hold on the situation,
president Gorbachev decided to organize a referendum,
the first and so far, the last one
in the history of the country.
The population was asked whether the USSR
should be maintained according to a new treaty of union
that was still to be defined.
(soft music)
The answer was a 76%, yes.
The same day another referendum took place in Russia alone.
70% of voters declared themselves in favor
of establishing a function of president of Russia,
elected by universal suffrage.
On the 16th of June, Boris Yeltsin took the oath.
He had just been elected as the first president of Russia.
Moscow was now the seat of two opposing powers
that of the Soviet Union represented by Gorbachev,
and that of Russia with Yeltsin at his head
embodying the hopes of the Russian people.
(soft music)
If there were contradictions
between Gorbachev and Yeltsin,
they were not very serious.
What drove them was the struggle for power,
the struggle for the first place.
That's what it was really about.
And mostly that's what stood between them.
I must say that these two men loved power so much
that in my mind, if Yeltsin
had become secretary general of the party,
the party would have been strengthened, that's the paradox.
(soft music)
In this struggle,
Gorbachev was hindered by his economic results.
In order to pull his country out of the economic slump,
he was accused of causing,
he had no choice, but to turn towards the west.
He wanted to obtain large scale financial aid
and got himself invited to London, to the G-7 summit
of the most industrialized countries in the world.
He made himself a remarkable plea saying,
"Listen, I did everything that I was told to do.
"I was asked to take experts and I took them.
"I was sent American experts.
"I was asked to liberate prices and I did,
"I was asked to free the markets and I freed them.
"But now I'm at the end of my rope.
"If you don't help me, it will be a disaster."
But the most surprising was Major, the Englishman
who presided, he complimented him,
then walked him back and gathered us together
to discuss the matter.
To my great surprise Major said, "Yes, it's true,
"Gorbachev should be helped,
"but the future is uncertain and we will be tied up.
"We should keep some ammunition for his successors."
It was, and maybe also the way of putting it
rather surprising, since it was an acknowledgement
of the idea that Gorbachev was about to fall.
They preferred Yeltsin.
Yeltsin was a brutal, tough leader,
very much opposed to democracy,
who they thought could keep Russia under control.
Gorbachev is moving toward, he was on,
he could have attempted to lead Russia towards democracy,
social democracy,
independence in ways that the west didn't prefer.
They'd much rather have a harsh,
tough dictator who will do what they want.
If the G-7 had given Gorbachev a big financial package
of economic, financial and credit help,
there would have been no coup attempt.
They never would have dared move against Gorbachev
if he had $20 billion financial aid package,
they never would've done it.
(tense music)
Coming back from London, empty handed,
Mikhail Gorbachev knew that his political position
was hanging by a thread.
The summer vacation was approaching
and rumors of a putsch were circulating.
They were well founded.
A coup was definitely in the making.
It had been prepared for a long time
by a small group of men,
all of them close to president Gorbachev
or members of his government.
It started in December nineties.
We didn't meet altogether.
We saw each other in small committees.
the country was going to the dogs and extraordinary measures
were needed to stop this process.
We had the constitution of the Soviet Union behind us
and the March referendum.
When the people had said a firm no
to the destruction of the Soviet union.
(tense music)
The would be putschists were strongly opposed
to the new treaty prepared by Gorbachev,
which would turn the Soviet Union
into a Federation of sovereign states,
each enjoying a large measure of independence.
(soft music)
The project of a treaty to create the new union
was ready, it was published at the end of July.
The main problems were almost sorted out,
the day when it was to be signed, had even been set.
It was scheduled on the 20th of August.
The first signatories were going to be Russia and Belarus.
The putschists thought, now is the time to act.
That's how it happened.
(upbeat music)
On the 18th of August, while Mikhail Gorbachev,
his wife Raisa and his family were on holiday
in the presidential residence in Crimea,
a troubling event occurred.
The ministry of defense cut off the electricity
and the telephone in the presidential villa.
The military told me they had received the order.
That's how it was, and they left the Villa.
(tense music)
Meanwhile, Soviet Navy cruises
were patrolling ostentatiously along the coast.
The idea was to create a sense of tension in the residents.
After a while, a delegation of ministers
and party members broke
into president Gorbachev's residence.
(tense music)
Without further ado, they demanded that he declare
a state of emergency in the country,
which in fact would vindicate the coup d'etat.
He answered by stating the constitutional principles.
It's simple, I told these putschists,
go and bring together the Congress of the people.
Then you will express yourselves in front of them
and then I'll do the same.
And after that we'll make the suitable decision.
They told me, "In that case, sign your resignation."
I refused, thus the coup met with my resistance
and didn't get my support.
They wanted me to support them.
That's how things really happened.
(tense music)
According to one of the putschists
who was there, Gorbachev's behavior
on that 18th of August at foros
when the future of the regime was at stake
was very different.
You know, I was there and here's how Gorbachev behaved.
He took a piece of paper and he said,
"Well, I'll write to the president of parliament
"to ask him to gather the Congress of the people."
He took his pen, he took a sheet of paper
and then he fumbled with them.
And then he said, but actually, why should I write?
You're here, go and tell the president
to gather the Congress.
Another participant
read tacit encouragement for the Gorbachev's behavior.
(tense music)
In fact, we had a feeling that the president
could not tell us openly, "Go ahead, guys,
"do your coup, take hold of Yeltsin,
"grab him by the feet and throw him wherever you want."
No, he never said anything like that,
but presidents never used that language.
So the putschists entered Moscow
without the official authorization of president Gorbachev
and decided to precipitate the course of events.
Statement of Soviet leaders.
Due to the incapacity for reasons
of health of Mikhail Gorbachev,
to fulfill his function of president of the USSR
as per 97 of Article 127 of the constitution,
the state of emergency is declared.
500 Tanks rolled into Moscow.
It was Yazov, the Minister of Defense who gave the order.
They took up position in strategic places around ministries,
the radio, the television,
they encircled the Russian parliament, the white house.
The putschists and the Kremlin established censorship,
the prohibition of demonstrations, a curfew.
They got in touch with Boris Yeltsin
who refused their invitation to join their action.
At Boris Yeltsin's denture,
we then drew up an appeal to the people.
We found an absolutely clear, precise and adequate wording
to say that the legitimately elected president Gorbachev
had been removed from power,
and that the putschists were state criminals.
It was the key to what would happen over those three days.
The single sentence.
It was a sentence meant for the international community
as well as for the people within our own borders.
(upbeat music)
As more and more Muscovites
converge towards the white house,
which was encircled by tanks.
Boris Yeltsin decided to go there
to speak with the tank crews, most of them conscripts.
I told him, "Don't you think of it Boris Nikolayevich,
"it's out of the question.
"We don't know what they're up to,
"we don't know who can be ambushed on a roof or a balcony.
"You can't do that."
He turned around and said,
"Give me the text of the statement."
I still try and persuade him to change his mind.
Five or six minutes later,
Yeltsin had climbed onto a tank
and there were a few of us with him.
Since I have no access to television or the radio.
I will read this.
To the citizens of Russia
in the night of the 18th to 19th of August, 1991.
The president duly elected, according to the law
was moved away from power.
It prompts us to declare the so-called committee outlaw.
(crowd cheering)
Boris Yeltsin's statement
had an immediate effect on the demonstrators
who had come to find a leader.
The young soldiers in their tanks were at a loss
as to how to respond.
It started going wrong for us when Yeltsin and his people,
the Popov, the sub Czech, and so on,
all these national traitors,
you couldn't find another word for them.
Brought nearly 100,000 people in front of the white house.
It sank the boat for good.
(dramatic music)
At 5:00 PM, the putschists appeared
for the first time.
Gennady Yanayev surrounded by five men
gave a press conference,
ministers and party dignitaries,
they had all been appointed by Gorbachev.
I wish to announce that the administrative committee
of the emergency state of the USSR is fully aware
of the extent of the crisis that struck our country.
Due to the incapacity of Mikhail Gorbachev
for reasons of health, to exercise his function
as President of the USSR,
I will temporarily assume the function of president.
In Crimea, Mikhail Gorbachev,
and his entourage who had been following the events
on the television set of the villas warden
realized what the putschists intentions were.
Raisa was shocked by the press conference.
When Yanayev was seen with trembling hands.
Gorbachev remark that now the putschists
would try to put in reality in line with their lies
about his state of health.
So they were going to try and poison him.
From then on he refused to eat,
whatever came from the residence's kitchen.
Deprived of contact with the outside world
Mikhail Gorbachev who feared for his life
recorded a statement in front of a home video camera.
We've retrieved this exceptional document
from a set of archives.
After the press conference
of the state emergency committee,
led by comrade Yanayev,
I understood that the Russian and foreign public
had been misinformed.
I declare,
that everything that was said about my health is false.
This lie served a plot against the constitution.
The law for president is prevented
from exercising, his function.
Moreover, the Crimea residence
where I am on holiday is surrounded by soldiers.
I am under arrest.
(tense music)
The next day, Boris Yeltsin,
who spent the night in the parliament
protected by a large security service
received more and more support from the country and abroad.
Barriers were erected by Muscovites around the tanks
whose occupants who had received no orders
were showing signs of fatigue.
Among the putschists there was total confusion.
One by one, they were trying to Poland.
All of us members of the state emergency committee
were not ones who could order to fire on our own people.
There was no civil war or bloodshed
only an accident during the night
when the tanks began to leave.
There was a way out,
but it had been obstructed by vehicles,
such as a city cleaner, a truck, trolley bus.
Behind them, there was something,
probably tanks pushing, trying to get through.
I saw a man and then jumped into the pit
and run at full speed towards the tanks.
Behind them, you had 100, 150, 200 people.
When they reached the tank, they undid the cover,
it was folded behind it, and threw it over the tank.
The tanks without visibility, as they were under the covers,
they started to go back, at that time,
and they ran over to young people.
There was a loud cry in the crowd.
The soldiers got out of the tank
and none of them was lynched.
On the contrary, people told them,
brothers, what were you going to do?
What were you going to do?
For the first time in the USSR
people acted according to their own conscience,
their own interest.
Instead of following collective orders.
(tense music)
On the morning of the 21st of August,
the state of emergency was lifted.
The putschists surrendered,
the tanks drove back to their barracks,
amidst popular celebration.
(crowd cheering)
It was now time to bring Gobarchev back to Moscow,
in their panic, the putschists
decided to send Vladimir Kryuchkov
and a few others to Crimea.
They thought that by being close to Gorbachev,
they could protect themselves from the consequences
of the turmoil they had caused.
When hearing of this,
Yeltsin, who suspected possible treachery
decided to send his vice president, Rutskoy
to bring back Gobarchev himself.
He would then appear as Gorbachev's savior
in the eyes of world opinion.
Yeltsin, therefore informed Western embassies
in Moscow of his initiative.
I was in touch with the French embassy over there,
who let me know that a plane was about to leave.
I told the ambassador, put someone on that plane,
put someone on the plane.
That someone was a French diplomat
who spoke very good Russian.
He joined Rutskoy and his team
whose plane landed two hours later in Crimea.
They immediately went to see Gorbachev.
(tense music)
Gorbachev was protected by a small unit
who took us to him, to his wife, Raisa and his entourage.
However, the putschists were all around.
I told them that as far as we were concerned,
we were in favor of what he had done.
And we'd come to help him to come back, which thrilled him.
It's his wife who looked very shattered,
it was painful to see.
Rutskoy told them, we came to set you free.
The problem was
that Kryuchkov and his putschists
were still there.
And they too wanted to take President Gobarchev
back to Moscow in their plane.
Gorbachev told us, "Thank you guys,
"but they have to come and fetch me.
"So I'll take their plane.
"We'll pack our suitcases tonight
"and leave tomorrow morning."
We, the Yeltsin team told him,
"No way, you leave with us right away."
(plane engine roaring)
Although tempted to leave with the putschists,
Gorbachev agreed to take the plane sent by Yeltsin,
but he knew what was in store for him.
Mikhail Gorbachev was distressed.
He wasn't in his normal state of mind.
He didn't know what to say.
His whole body was shaking.
And I know why.
Because he'd realized that he was going to lose everything.
(plane engine roaring)
A large delegation of supporters of Yeltsin,
the real winner of the putsch,
greeted president Gorbachev at Moscow airport.
He put on a brave face.
His wife Raisa and his granddaughter
clearly looked shattered.
He vigorously condemned the coup,
but could not, but pay homage to his liberator.
I would like to express my gratitude
to the people of Russia
and their president, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin,
for their staunch opposition to this movement.
(crowd clapping)
Mikhail Gorbachev was now at the mercy
of Boris Yeltsin, who presented himself
as the savior of Perestroika and democracy.
And before the Congress of the People's deputies,
it didn't take him long to give his rival the coup declat.
He brandished the text of a decree,
which would suspend the activities
of the communist party in Russia,
as long as the exact part played by Gorbachev's entourage
in the coup had not been elucidated.
One of the deputies went further.
Given his role in this coup,
do you agree that the communist party should be dissolved
as a criminal organization?
(audience clapping)
Since the question was so direct,
I will answer in the same manner.
When you talk about the disillusion of the communist party
as a criminal organization, I don't agree at all.
To simply prohibit the party would be a mistake
on the part of the government and the democratic party.
At this point, an incredible scene took place.
Boris Yeltsin came to the platform.
He wanted Gorbachev to co-sign the decree with him.
The president resisted, Yeltsin insisted.
Gobarchev refused.
Yeltsin, went back to his bench and.
Comrades to get it over with, allow me to sign the decree,
putting an end to the activity
of the Russian communist party.
(audience clapping)
The decree is signed.
(audience clapping)
These pictures,
add live on all the TV sets of the USSR,
accelerated the disintegration of the empire.
In the following weeks, the Soviet government recognized
the independence of the Baltic states
of Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine and Belarus.
That's when president Gorbachev,
who was trying to maintain a link,
however tenuous between Moscow, Ukraine, Belarus,
and the Asian republics,
thought of creating an economic union.
We worked on a new treaty of economic union
and Yeltsin was on the team, he even signed it.
We published this project for a treaty
and sent it off to the leaders
of all the republics to be ratified.
And behind my back, Yeltsin was preparing
the Belovezha Agreements.
Indeed on the 8th of December, 1991
in the hunting lodge of Belovezha
in the middle of the Belovezh Forest,
Boris Yeltsin secretly assembled the presidents
of Belarus and Ukraine.
Stanislav Shushkevich and Leonid Kravchuk.
(upbeat music)
The idea was to sign a new political and economic Alliance
with them to ruin Gorbachev's own treaty
and further undermine his function as president of the USSR.
Without Yeltsin and without the part played
by and Belarus and Ukraine,
there wouldn't have been a disintegration of USSR,
it's as simple as that.
And if there hadn't been a disintegration,
there would have been a recreation of the old regime
along the age, old principles, we all know.
Mikhail Gorbachev had lost everything.
He drank the bitter cup down to the dregs.
On the 21st of December at Alma-Ata in Kazakhstan,
11 republics joined the CIS,
the new economic union created by Yeltsin.
They thus signed the death warrant of the USSR,
which had become an empty shell.
Gobarchev vanished.
We spent half of our time worrying
about the future of the USSR, that's enough.
When you're born a hare,
you will never turn into a wolf or a lion, understand?
Whatever the mentality and intellect of that hare,
it will remain a hare.
A wolf or a lion may not have much intellect,
but they can in a split second,
tear your throat with their teeth.
It gives an idea of the relationship
between the Yeltsin and Gorbachev.
Yelsin, it's true, was a very capable man,
his only fault, he drank.
If you came to see him before noon, for example,
he would talk to you normally,
but in the afternoon, he was drunk.
And if the vodka wasn't cool,
he would shout at his assistants,
"Why isn't this damn vodka cool?"
Yeltsin is a clever and brave person,
even had some good ideas, but he was an adventurer.
In the Kremlin, Gorbachev only ruled
over the increasingly empty offices
that the adventurer Boris Yeltsin was eager to occupy.
Gorbachev, The apparatchik turned Democrat,
who sincerely believed in reforming communism.
The man who destroyed the fear
that had cemented the Soviet system for more than 70 years,
was accused by his people of cowardice
indecision and weakness.
But then how could such a weak man initiate Perestroika?
Tell me.
How could he have initiated a change in the social regime?
Glasnost, democratization, parliamentary life,
the end of the cold war, the end of political repression,
the end of religious repression, how?
Tell me, you see, in what tangle of contradictions
we were at the time?
On the 25th of December, 1991 at 7:00 PM,
abandoned by everyone.
Gobarchev read out his letter of resignation.
(soft music)
Dear fellow countrymen and citizens.
In view of the present situation
with the creation of the CIS.
I hereby cease my activity in the position
of president of the USSR.
(soft music)
Mikhail Gorbachev's signature
at the bottom of his letter of resignation was hardly dry.
When nearby over the Kremlin,
the flag of the USSR was lowered.
It had flown for 74 years over the largest empire
of the 20th century.
It was replaced by the three colors of Russia.
Another era was opening with the promise of democracy,
global disarmament and respect for human rights.
Time has passed, we know what's left of those.
(soft music)