On August 19, when the citizens of Moscow woke up and turned on the TV as usual, they were surprised to find that no matter which channel they turned to, the ballet "Swan Lake" was playing without exception. The repetitive melody made them think that the TV station had a malfunction. However, some citizens of Moscow who had some media experience speculated that there might be some new changes in the Soviet government.
In fact, if they had turned on the TV half an hour earlier, they would have seen the "Letter to Soviet Citizens" broadcast by the host of Moscow TV, and the Soviet Central Television and Radio officially announced the order of Soviet Vice President Yanaev: Soviet President Gorbachev could no longer perform presidential duties due to health reasons. According to Article 127 of the Soviet Constitution, Vice President Yanaev would act as president. Slightly different from history, only Prime Minister Pavlov and First Deputy Chairman of the National Defense Council Baklanov jointly signed the "Statement of the Soviet Leadership", announcing that a six-month state of emergency would be implemented in some parts of the Soviet Union from 4:00 on August 19, 1991, and the Soviet State Emergency Committee would be established. Yanaev followed the tank troops of the Taman Division to the White House.
Pavlov also received news this morning that a Yeltsin security convoy was ambushed outside Moscow last night, all the agents protecting Yeltsin were killed, and Yeltsin himself was missing. Pavlov roughly guessed the cause and effect from the report, but he was still secretly worried. Yanayev's method was so clean and efficient, was it a good thing or a bad thing for them?
Pavlov looked gloomily at the sky outside the window of his office in the Kremlin. He sighed helplessly and said to the secretary beside him, "We have tried our best in many things. How the Soviet Union will proceed depends on God's will."
The Prime Minister's secretary next to Pavlov looked embarrassed and didn't know how to respond to the Prime Minister's words.
At this time, Yanayev not only wanted to assassinate Yeltsin, but also wanted to completely destroy his reputation and completely destroy the image of Yeltsin as the savior of democracy and freedom that he had painstakingly created. When the tanks moved to the street corner near the White House, the crowd of onlookers gradually increased. It seemed that no one had noticed that the middle-aged man sitting on the tank was their vice president. Most of the onlookers were young people. They looked at Yanayev standing on the tank with malicious eyes, and watched the Taman Division's every move warily.
These people are probably Yeltsin's supporters, Yanayev thought to himself. He analyzed the current situation and found that these people did not take any further action. They must have not received instructions from the White House. Yanayev did not know the specific situation in the White House. He hoped that when the tanks arrived at the square, he would hear the news that Yeltsin had committed suicide.
At 8:00 a.m. on the 19th, 26 tanks surrounded the White House, and artillery fire was aimed at this building that symbolized the highest power of the Slavic nation. The secret police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs also set up obstacles at nearby intersections, prohibiting vehicles from passing.
The indifferent citizens of Moscow finally gathered in the square out of curiosity, only to find that the tank soldiers were busy setting up a screen for outdoor movies, and then moved a projector to place it in front of the screen. At this time, Yeltsin's supporters who wanted to stop them also stopped their tricks and watched curiously what the soldiers were doing.
Not only the White House, but also the Red Square and other important public places have set up screens to play open-air movies, and passing Moscow citizens have stopped out of curiosity.
In the square, Yanayev personally pressed the start button, and the film began to rotate, projecting a blurry but still clear video footage onto the screen. When Gorbachev's face, which attracted everyone's attention, appeared on the screen, the originally silent crowd suddenly exploded.
Gorbachev's expression in the film looks a little angry, but because of the lighting, many people can only see the rough outline of the picture and the sound transmitted from the speakers to everyone's ears.
"Shut up, what do you know, Varennikov? You are just a soldier, so you take it for granted. Besides, a soldier's duty is to obey orders, not to participate in a coup."
The citizens were surprised to see that the Soviet General Secretary, who seemed to never lose his temper, was now furious, showing the rude side of Gorbachev to the citizens of Moscow. Then the screen suddenly shook, and in full view of the public, the clip of Gorbachev's assassination was played.
This is a perfect headline. If the State Emergency Committee had not imposed a newspaper ban and only allowed nine party newspapers to print publications, those journalists with no moral bottom line would have fabricated a report that distorted the facts as soon as possible. Although Gorbachev was not popular with both the citizens who supported the reformists and the citizens who supported the conservatives, he was still the first general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party after all. The simple and kind-hearted Slavic people would not agree with the assassination of the supreme general secretary of the Soviet state in such a fair and open manner.
Especially when the last sentence, "Long live President Yeltsin," was heard, the people's uncontrollable anger was instantly ignited. KGB agents hiding among the citizens fanned the flames, shouting, "Yeltsin is hiding in the White House!" "Let's go catch the executioner!" "Revenge for President Gorbachev! Long live the protection of the Soviet Union!"
The bewitched crowd shouted slogans to overthrow Yeltsin and rushed to the White House. Those who originally supported Yeltsin's riot looked at each other in bewilderment. This plot did not go according to their script at all, and they did not know what to do for a while.
A large number of indignant people had gathered in front of the White House. The funny thing was that the Taman Division, which had originally arrested Yeltsin, had now become a steel barrier to protect the White House in order to stop the emotional people. The Moscow citizens who continued to gather tried to break through the roadblocks and rush into the White House, but were stopped by the soldiers.
Yanaev, who was sitting on the tank, saw this expected scene, patted his clothes, stood up, picked up the loudspeaker beside him, and prepared to turn the draft he had been thinking about all night into an inspiring speech.
"Citizens of Moscow, please calm down. I am the Vice President of the Soviet Union and General Secretary Gennady Ivanovich Yanaev." Yanaev's voice was steady and powerful. Perhaps someone else might not be able to scare these people, but the moment Yanaev revealed his identity, the bustling crowd gradually became quiet. This may be the unique appeal of politicians.
Yanayev ignored the angry looks in the crowd and continued to speak, "I'm sorry that the government has deceived everyone. Gorbachev was not unable to serve as General Secretary because of health problems, but because of the shameless assassination of a traitor! As you can see, the despicable Yeltsin betrayed the people. He deceived everyone with the slogans of democracy and freedom. He is an out-and-out shady villain. In order to sit on the position of the head of state, he did not hesitate to use such a dirty way as assassinating the General Secretary to achieve his goal. Fortunately, those who fight for justice and truth will not succumb to his tricks."
Yanaev's eloquent speech intimidated those who were planning to riot and those who were trying to take advantage of the situation.
"Great Russia has suffered a lot. It has experienced the barbaric iron hoofs of the Tatars, the long guns of the Napoleonic Empire, the sharp blades of the Poles, and the continuous artillery fire of the Nazi bastards. However, these invaders were all driven out of Russia by us without exception, and they were all dejected without exception. This time, the motherland is once again facing a dangerous test, not from brutal foreign enemies, but from despicable and shameless traitors. And countless foreign enemies are gloating and waiting for us to fall, so as to cut a piece of fat from the interests of the people. I promise that Yeltsin, the shameless traitor, will be judged as he deserves, and his despicable behavior will be made public. Instead of letting him go unpunished!"
"But if someone attempts to storm the White House, I will regard him as an accomplice who wants to rescue Yeltsin in the chaos, and a coward who betrays the Russian people and the country." At this point, Yanayev picked up the AKS74U at his feet and said coldly, "We will send him to see God!"
Yanayev's speech drew thunderous applause from the crowd. He raised his hand to salute and thank everyone. Suddenly, he noticed a guy in a peaked cap in the crowd quickly walking towards him. Yanayev instinctively sensed a hint of threat and took a few steps back. He was about to speak to the soldier next to him, but the soldier had already walked to a distance of only ten steps away from him, and then pretended to raise his hand to applaud, and suddenly shot him with a small pistol hidden in his palm.
Because of the flash hider, the originally faint sound of the gun was immediately drowned out by the wave of applause. Yanaev slowly fell down in front of everyone. He only felt the burning pain from the wound, and the palm of his hand covering the wound was a shocking dark red.
As the murderer fled, he ignored the crowds around him and shouted "Long live Yeltsin, long live democracy". The guards realized that something was wrong and quickly chased after the attacker.
"This guy is really... a bit cruel!" Yanaev looked at the figure that was gradually going away, and his consciousness gradually blurred. When the guards rushed over, he felt that the whole world was quiet as if a sponge had absorbed the sound, and then his eyelids closed heavily. The busy guards around him did not notice the smile that remained on Yanaev's mouth after his conspiracy succeeded.