Coup Attempt’s Aftermath

Actions across the Soviet Union in the wake of the failed Kremlin coup:

LITHUANIA: Lawmakers banned the republic’s Communist Party and claimed ownership of its property. Soviet soldiers withdrew from a TV studio they seized in January in a bloody crackdown as hundreds cheered outside.

LATVIA: Latvia debated a measure to outlaw the Communist Party and sought the arrest of the republic’s hard-line party leader, Alfred Rubiks. Soviet troops withdrew without incident from six key buildings that were seized in the Latvian capital, Riga.

ESTONIA: Soviet paratroopers began withdrawing from positions, including the main radio and television tower, after the collapse of the coup.

MOSCOW: Shouting “Yeltsin! Yeltsin!” tens of thousands of people marched to Red Square to celebrate the failed coup. Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin told the rally that the coup was “a lesson for us all, including President Gorbachev.”

SIBERIA: Striking miners in the Soviet Union’s largest coal field resumed work, but refused to send coal to consumers until leaders of the failed coup are forced to answer for their actions, the official news agency Tass said.

GEORGIA: President Zviad Gamsakhurdia signed an appeal asking the West to support only popularly elected Soviet authorities and to recognize Georgia as a sovereign state.