CRISIS IN THE KREMLIN : 3 Days of Uncertainty

Here is a look at the developments that unfolded during the failed coup in the Soviet Union:

MONDAY

* Vice President Gennady I. Yanayev takes power early in the morning from President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. Speaking for an eight-man ruling Emergency Committee, he says Gorbachev is in poor health and is undergoing treatment. He declares a six-month state of emergency for certain regions. Gorbachev is thought to be detained at his summer home in the Crimea.

* The committee puts press and broadcast outlets under official “control.”

* Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin calls on Russians to resist the takeover, urges a nationwide protest strike.

* Hundreds of tanks, armored personnel carriers and other military vehicles move into Moscow.

* A Soviet military official announces he is assuming control of the three secessionist Baltic republics.

* World markets tumble while dollar and gold prices surge.

TUESDAY

* Hard-liners deploy tanks near the Russian Federation Parliament, the stronghold of Yeltsin, who has spearheaded anti-coup demonstrations.

* The military commandant of Moscow imposes an 11 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew on the Soviet capital Tuesday night.

* Two people are killed when opponents of the coup trap a military vehicle beneath an underpass near Yeltsin’s headquarters and soldiers inside the vehicle open fire. At least two other people are shot to death.

* As many as three members of the eight-man ruling committee reportedly resign or are “ill,” leading to speculation their solidarity was cracking.

* Soviet Foreign Ministry official says Foreign Minister Alexander A. Bessmertnykh had taken “sick” after returning from vacation.

* Soviet troops disarm Latvian prime minister’s guards and seize control of the republic’s broadcast studios.

* In Tallinn, capital of Estonia, more than 100 light armored vehicles and trucks roll into city.

* Hundreds of thousands of anti-coup demonstrators rally in Moldovian capital of Kishinev.

* In the Ukraine, thousands of people rally to protest coup.

* In Kazakhstan, President Nursultan Nazarbayev condemns coup leaders’ decisions as illegitimate.

* President Bush says he has assured Yeltsin that he will have continued U.S. support in restoring Gorbachev as president of the Soviet Union.

* Bush suspends economic assistance to Moscow.

* Bush swears in Robert S. Strauss as U.S. ambassador to Moscow and sends him on a fact-finding mission there. Strauss was told not to present his credentials to the hard-liners.

* European Community suspends more than $1 billion in economic aid and cooperation with Soviet Union and demands Gorbachev’s return.

* Japanese prime minister says his nation will suspend aid to Soviet Union, including a $350-million loan to refinance trade debts.

WEDNESDAY

* The coup leaders abandon power. All eight are reported by the unofficial agency Interfax and other sources to have fled Moscow by aircraft. Four are said to have flown to see Gorbachev, perhaps to beg for mercy.

* The Soviet Defense Ministry orders all troops back to barracks in regions where a state of emergency had been declared.

* Leaders of the national legislature demand Gorbachev’s reinstatement. The legislature nullifies coup leaders’ emergency decrees.

* Press restrictions are lifted.

* The Communist Party denounces the takeover.

* The Soviet prosecutor general’s office opens criminal investigation of coup leaders’ actions.

* In the Baltic republics, some Soviet troops begin returning to their permanent bases. Latvia joins neighbor Estonia in declaring immediate independence from the Soviet Union.

* Gorbachev tells Bush in a telephone call at 7:19 p.m (9:10 a.m. PDT) that the coup is over.

* In a later statement read on state TV, Gorbachev tells the nation he is in full control and credits the “decisive actions of the democratic forces of the country.” He leaves for Moscow from the Crimea, where he had been detained.