Ex-KGB chief does not regret involvement in 1991 coup

[Dover]

Ex-KGB chief does not regret involvement in 1991 coup

Interfax. Sunday, Feb. 29, 2004, 8:02 PM Moscow Time

MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) - Vladimir Kryuchkov, former chairman of the Soviet State Security Committee (KGB), has said he does not regret his involvement in the August 1991 coup, and if it were possible to replay those events, the members of the so- called State Emergency Committee (GKChP) would act more resolutely.

"I do not consider the GKChP a coup attempt. That was an attempt to save the Soviet Union, to preserve our unified state, and secure a healthy path for its development. Time has shown that we should have acted differently and more resolutely to secure the Soviet Union's integrity," Kryuchkov told Interfax on Sunday, his 80th birthday.
Kryuchkov headed KGB's First Main Department (foreign intelligence service) from 1974 to 1988 and was KGB chairman from 1988 to 1991.
On August 19, 1991, in the run-up to the planned signing of a new treaty between the 15 former republics within the Soviet Union, which would have been the ultimate result of negotiations between them to preserve the USSR, a number of top Soviet officials announced the establishment of the State Emergency Committee and demanded that Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev hand over power to vice president Gennady Yanayev. Gorbachev himself was put under house arrest at his resort residence of Foros in the Crimea.
The committee included Yanayev, Kryuchkov, Soviet defense minister Dmitry Yazov, interior minister Boris Pugo, prime minister Valentin Pavlov, first deputy defense council chairman Oleg Baklanov and others.

After a three-day standoff with protesters near the headquarters of the then Soviet parliament, the Supreme Council, in Moscow, the GKChP members and a number of their high-ranking supporters were arrested and taken to a detention center. They were accused of high treason in the form of plotting to seize power in the country. In February 1994, the Russian State Duma announced an amnesty, which extended to the GKChP members.

"Unfortunately, our attempt was unsuccessful, and we paid a bitter price for this. At the end of 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist, it was destroyed, and, as a result, we have acquired a country that has still not ensured efficient economic growth," Kryuchkov said....cont'd

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/doc/HotNews.html#52875

[robcon]

1. This is new?

Are you saying it is "Latest Breaking News" that an autocrat from the Soviet Union still thinks he should be in power? I shudder to think what would be stale news.

[salin]

2. It is interesting

some believe that some actions of Putin are a bit reminiscent of the old soviet days... just criticism or a sign of things folks should be paying attention to... when participants discuss those events - in light of todays context... with no regrets or revision.. is it an indicator of how current politicians with ties to the old rule (circa 1991) also percieve that part of Russian history? Maybe not - but it suggests that perhaps folks should continue to pay attention to events unfolding in Russia.

[Crachet2004]

3. Yeah, like this old KGB...

guy really regrets the failed coup, because now Russia doesn't have good economic growth? This had to be posted as comedy.

But yes, Russia is extremely important in the world today...probably going to be a lot more important too.