Russians Mark 10 Years After Coup

12/04/2001| IslamWeb

MOSCOW (AP) - Russians looked back Sunday on the bungled hard-line coup exactly 10 years ago that fatally wounded the USSR, with some pining for the democratic passions that fired resistance to the coup plotters, others cursing the hardships that have accompanied freedom.Russian President Vladimir Putin stayed conspicuously silent on the anniversary, fueling critics' fears that a Soviet-style authoritarianism is encroaching under his rule. Putin's predecessor Boris Yeltsin, who famously faced down the putsch and was later accused of betraying the democratic ideals that he rode to power, was also silent.
Russia is still coming to terms with the death of Soviet rule, and the varied reactions to its demise reflect the ambiguities that remain as to whether the collapse of the empire was good for the country or not.
``The authorities have ignored a celebration which should be a state holiday,'' said Sergei Yevdokimov, a retired army major whose tank battalion was the first military unit to turn against the coup plotters and join the opposition.
The legacy of the failed coup was a changed world, one without the Cold War and nagging fear of nuclear confrontation, without the seven-decade international communist experiment.
Yet on a day that in some countries might be a major holiday, just a few hundred people turned out Sunday at the Russian White House in central Moscow to recount the dizzying days of August 1991. Back then, tens of thousands rallied against the attempt to oust reformist Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
Under a muggy heat, Sunday's demonstrators milled about on a stone bridge and held a moment of silence for the three protesters killed in the 1991 events. Bored-looking police ringed a wide area, far outnumbering demonstrators. A lone accordionist played Russian folk songs.
Some accused Putin, a former KGB agent, of trying to restore Soviet-style authoritarian controls.
``It's no surprise that the Kremlin isn't taking part in the celebration,'' said Sergei Yushenkov, an independent liberal lawmaker. ``The regime which we now have is the restoration of the coup. ... We mustn't allow the secret services to take control of the country.''
Yushenkov is among a small minority of respected Russians who deeply distrust Putin. They note that he has restored the stirring music of the Soviet anthem for the new Russian anthem and say he is threatening media and other freedoms.
Yet most Russians - including Gorbachev - welcome Putin's efforts to restore order after the corrupt, tumultuous Yeltsin years, and are often willing to look the other way when his methods are less than democratic.
``Putin is trying to take the country out of chaos left by Yeltsin, but he's only at the start of the road,'' Gorbachev said last week.
Gorbachev has been increasingly outspoken as the anniversary approached, admitting he misjudged the strength of his opposition. Of the coup plotters, he said, ``They were serious people. ... They did it because their time was up, and they couldn't agree to that.''
On Aug. 19, 1991, they put Gorbachev under house arrest. Tanks entered Moscow.
Yeltsin, then president of the Russian Federation, one of the 15 Soviet republics, hoisted his burly frame atop a tank. He denounced the coup plotters. Supporters streamed in, sticking flowers in tank guns and building barricades. International condemnation mounted.
Two days later the coup was defeated. Gorbachev was back, but irreparably weakened. On Dec. 25, 1991, he resigned and declared the USSR defunct.
In the decade since, Soviet satellite nations in Eastern and Central Europe, and the former Soviet republics in the Baltics, have largely embraced democracy and free-market economies. And most are thriving.
But Russia and former Soviet republics in Central Asia and the Caucasus have atrophied under economic crises, separatist wars and the collapse of ties among the former republics.
``Ordinary people got nothing'' from the Soviet Union's demise, Yuri Yerushov, a 48-year-old unemployed man who was among the White House defenders in 1991, said Sunday.
The coup plotters gathered last month to defend their actions, saying the ensuing economic meltdown and a string of armed conflicts in Russia and other former Soviet republics proved they were right in trying to stem the Soviet breakup.
That theme was echoed Sunday in a rally staged by ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
``Democracy has been all lies, and what we see is a rotting, degrading country. We have witnessed a decade of political and moral corruption, banditry, alcoholism and AIDS,'' he told the crowd of about 100 people.
Outside Moscow few anniversary commemorations were planned.
Estonian President Lennart Meri was to hold a dinner commemorating his country's 10 years of independence and Riga, the capital of neighboring Latvia, is holding a gala celebration of its 800th birthday.
In Belarus on Sunday, 12 opposition activists picketed the country's KGB - which still goes by its Soviet name - and Interior Ministry headquarters, to protest President Alexander Lukashenko's rigid, Soviet-style policies. Five were detained and later released.
PHOTO CAPTION:
A World War II veteran Lev Kutsevich, 72, right, kisses his friend, no name available, while celebrating the 10th anniversary of the failure of the three-day hard line Communist coup attempt near the White House government building , Moscow, Sunday, Aug. 19, 2001. Russia marked the 10th anniversary of the failed coup that fatally wounded the Soviet Union with more reflection than celebration Sunday, with demonstrators gathering at the site where they faced down Communist hard-liners to recount those dizzying days and their wrenching legacy. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)