On August 19, 1991, a number of high-ranking Soviet leaders spoke out against the policies of President Mikhail Gorbachev. During his planned vacation in Foros, the conspirators announced the introduction of a state of emergency in the USSR and the creation of the State Emergency Committee to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, they could not realize their plan.

Gorbachev himself was blocked in Foros. About what happened at the dacha of the President of the USSR, tells the head of his security, Major General of the KGB (retired) Vyacheslav Generalov.

- Where were you on August 19th?

- From the 18th I was in Foros with Gorbachev.

- How many people were guarding Gorbachev at that moment?

- About 130 people of personal protection, there were also employees from the 9th Directorate. I do not take into account the border guards and sailors, who were also involved in guarding the facility and were outside. And inside there were employees of the 9th Directorate and personal security.

- Dividing people into supporters and opponents of the putsch, you are ranked among its supporters. Why? 

- It is necessary to ask those who reckon. I, on the other hand, carried out my functional duties, which were prescribed to me by my position. Moreover, every year, everywhere and always, I performed these functions. Now they say that during the putsch, the object was allegedly surrounded by three divisions, but this is all innuendo. There was no attraction of additional forces. 

By the way, after Marshal Yazov, one of the members of the State Emergency Committee, gave an order to the Ministry of Defense to bring the troops to combat readiness, I forbade issuing weapons to the border guards. As they carried outfits with bayonets-knives until August 19, they continued to carry them. 

The sailors and border guards obeyed me. Because they were assigned to guard the facility, at my disposal.

  • © Photo from the personal archive of Vyacheslav Generalov

- When the state of emergency was declared in the country, you were next to Gorbachev at his dacha in Crimea. The whole world was convinced that the president of the USSR was forcibly removed from power, and the putschists said that he was sick. So after all, the president was really held by force in the country?

- Nobody blocked him. In theory, he was supposed to fly with me to Moscow on the 20th to sign the Union Treaty. When the State Emergency Committee was formed, on August 19, I suggested to him: "Let me arrange a plane for you to fly to Moscow?"I had such powers. “No, we're not going anywhere,” he replied. The daughter and son-in-law also refused to fly and stayed there. Therefore, it is wrong to say that someone blocked it. It was self-isolation. Moreover, he ordered his personal guards to strengthen their posts to the night option, which means taking a weapon. And when they came to me and handed this order, I said that I did not have the strength for the night option of protecting the object. He isolated himself so that no one would touch him.

- What is your role in this episode of the country's history?

- I'll tell you this thing. I had no influence on the president's actions. If he wanted to ... He was invited by the State Committee for Chronicles, when they flew to him in Crimea: "Let's go to Moscow, we will solve all the issues there." He said, "I'm not going anywhere, I'm sick." Then his assistant Chernyaev came to me: "We need to fly to Moscow." I told him: "Good." But Mikhail Sergeevich said he would not fly. Therefore, one cannot say that I was responsible for his isolation. This is not true. Although everywhere later in the materials of the investigation it was written that I isolated the president.

- You said that a delegation from Moscow came to see Gorbachev the day before, you called them "GKCHPists", and they called him to the capital. It turns out that  Gorbachev knew about the upcoming putsch?

- First, he knew the state of affairs in the country. It was not the first year, two or three years ago, as everything began to collapse. The people who came to him were boiling. And they expressed their opinion that the deadline has come. And if urgent measures are not taken, then further the country may fall apart. He did not heed their words, said: "Do what you want, go to hell, I will not go anywhere, I am sick."

- You heard that, you were there at that moment when he sent them to hell?

- I was in the house, but not in the office. Therefore, I know about it only from the words of those people who were there. Because then we all got together and they told how it was.

- How large was the delegation?

- Five people. Starodubtsev, Tizyakov, Pugo, Yanayev, and Prime Minister Pavlov were absent.

- In the video from Foros, Gorbachev says that he has no connection. Was it really so?

- He had no government connection only in the office. But I offered him: “Since your phone has been turned off, please, let's drive the car to your dacha. There is a government connection in the car. " He: "No, I will not speak from the car, let me be turned on in the office."

  • Still from the video message of the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev to the people, recorded on August 20, 1991 at a dacha in Foros
  • RIA News

I called, reported to Kryuchkov (member of the State Emergency Committee, head of the KGB of the USSR). Kryuchkov said: “I am not in command of communications. The GKChP members said they would not turn on his phone. If he wants, let him speak from the car. " I had a connection. I spoke through the same government communication with Moscow and with everyone with whom I needed to. 

- That is, the government connection was cut off to Gorbachev after he said: "Go to hell, do what you want"?

- Yes. After his refusal to go to Moscow so that he would not start calling Americans, Germans and so on, his phone was cut off until the situation in the country was sorted out.

- Who was in charge of communications? Who gave the order to turn off the government communications to Gorbachev?

- I don't know what kind of relationship they had in the Emergency Committee. I have not been to any of their meetings. I think that communication was subordinate to Kryuchkov. Because the Office of Government Communications is subordinate to the chairman of the KGB. 

- And what orders were given to you during the August putsch?

- I was engaged in security. And I want to tell you the following thing: if the members of the State Emergency Committee had any malicious intentions towards Gorbachev, they would have acted in a completely different way. On the contrary, they wanted to preserve Gorbachev, his authority in the international arena and in the country. Therefore, they behaved very carefully and uncertainly. They kept repeating: “The main thing for us is that Gorbachev does not lose his authority in the world, so that Gorbachev does not lose his authority in the country. But the country must be saved. And we are ready to help him. " They were devoted to him. Then they began to say that the members of the State Emergency Committee started everything because they were afraid that they would be removed, that the decrees on their resignations had already been prepared. There was nothing like that. They were not afraid of anything: no dismissals, no dismissals.

- In the country, perestroika, glasnost, the country opened up to the world. Everyone loved it. And suddenly this press conference, where GKChpists are sitting at the presidium table ...

- It really was a failure. They were not ready for these events and did not know what to do next. The GKChP was such a hasty organization that was not thought out to the end. And what you say - perestroika, glasnost - yes, everything was fine until 1987 inclusive. Everyone was happy. But when disruptions began in industry, when the army ceased to be financed, when the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs ceased to be financed, then everyone realized that everything was going to collapse.  

  • GKChP members answer journalists' questions at a press conference
  • © Vladimir Rodionov / RIA Novosti

And the fact that the GKChPists sat at the presidium table, so in the Politburo they also sat like that. Nobody could wean them off at once, and they could not wean them off. They were brought up like that. They have party discipline, their own views on things. And the emergency was not really prepared. There was no propaganda in the media. There was nothing. Therefore, there was no success. 

- It turns out that the common people did not understand at all who and from what the GKCHP were trying to save? 

- That's right. Not long before that, a referendum was held with the question: "Do you agree with the preservation of the Soviet Union." Remember his results? People voted to keep. Meanwhile, preparations began to sign the Union Treaty, which actually annulled all the results of the referendum. The agreement spelled out such decisions that destroyed the country immediately after signing. And many leaders of the republics did not want to sign it. Nazarbayev, for example, was categorically against it. Yeltsin was also against it at first. And this agreement was being prepared in secret. Namely, its publication on the eve of August 18 became the catalyst for all these events. This agreement prompted the GKChP members to take action, and they went to Gorbachev with a proposal.

- Who prepared the Union Treaty?

- The agreement was prepared by the members of the Presidential Council of the USSR Vadim Medvedev and Alexander Yakovlev with the assistance or participation of Gorbachev. All the rest were invited only to the announcement of some separate points, individual chapters of this treaty. Several times all interested persons gathered in Ogaryovo, but there was no agreement among them. The signing of the agreement was planned in two stages. On the 20th, it was supposed to be signed by Yeltsin, Kravchuk, Nazarbayev and some others. But Nazarbayev said: "I will not come to sign this agreement." Confusion and vacillation began. 

- By the way, Yakovlev is considered the “gray cardinal” of perestroika and the collapse of the USSR.

- And so it was. Thanks to Yakovlev, the Baltic states were released. He went there with Medvedev, came, persuaded Gorbachev to give the go-ahead for the separation of the Baltic states.

- How did it happen that the role of one person in such a large and multi-structural state turned out to be so significant?

- How can I tell you. Gorbachev's devotion to Alexander Yakovlev. Thanks to him, Gorbachev moved to the Politburo. Thanks to Yakovlev, Gorbachev became the first person. They helped each other. When Yakovlev was ambassador to Canada, Gorbachev pulled him back to Moscow. When he settled here, Yakovlev had already begun to help Gorbachev.

- Did you understand the motivation of the GKCHP workers? Why didn't they succeed?

- Why did not they succeed? I have already said: everything was not prepared. People weren't ready to act tough. They set the following task: not a single victim should be, and the honor of Gorbachev's uniform should not be dropped. How could this be done in such conditions? Remember how Yeltsin acted in 1993. He took and gave the command to shoot the White House. There, 300 people died, if not more. And no one blamed anyone, everything is fine. And then three people fell under the tanks - and they believe that they were the victims of that putsch. 

- Do you think the events of August 1991 triggered the collapse of the USSR?

- The collapse began much earlier. Take the same Baltics. Take Karabakh, which has already fought in full force. Take the fighting in Uzbekistan, in Osh and so on. It all started in 1990 and even earlier. And 1991 was the result of the fact that no measures were taken to settle conflicts. The signing of the Belovezhskaya agreements was a continuation of the collapse. Yeltsin was not entirely a fool. He said that since Gorbachev released the Baltic states, then we also want to become independent republics. Although it was all unconstitutional and illegal.

  • USSR President Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev (left) returned to Moscow from Foros. Meeting at Vnukovo airport on August 22, 1991
  • RIA News

- In your opinion, could the collapse of the USSR be avoided?

- I think not. The USSR would have collapsed anyway. Devastation has already begun in the country. The oil price fell to a low level. People stopped believing in the party, the party was removed from the leadership of the country, and nothing was given in return. And people got used to the role of party bodies: people could complain to party bodies, party meetings made decisions, and so on. And what did they give in return? Nothing. They were allowed to independently choose directors of factories and enterprises. What did it lead to? Towards anarchy. And everything went to collapse, not in December, so a little later.

- Do you remember the moment when the KGB of the USSR and the KGB of the RSFSR simultaneously existed for a short time?

- Yes. And the second Ministry of Internal Affairs existed. Barannikov commanded the Russian Interior Ministry, and Pugo commanded the allied Interior Ministry. Ivanenko commanded the Russian KGB, and Kryuchkov commanded the allied KGB.

- So did this dual power work?

- Sure. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, Yeltsin - as he considered himself the president of the Russian Republic - issued a decree that all the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB should obey him. How is it? And such blunders were full.

- Why did Gorbachev allow Yeltsin to be elected president of the RSFSR? 

- The fact is that Gorbachev was very afraid of Yeltsin. He didn't know what to do. Medvedev and Yakovlev held him back from any sudden movements, from throwing a sword and driving Yeltsin somewhere as an ambassador. And he himself could not decide anything. He was simply afraid of him.

  • Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin
  • Reuters

- How did your professional career develop after the putsch, after the collapse of the USSR?

- I was fired, without a rank, without a position, without severance pay, without a pension, with the deprivation of all awards. But later, when the GKChP trial ended, I filed a lawsuit against the FSB. I was reinstated in rank, reinstated in position. Moreover, I worked for another six months. But he quit anyway. I was offered positions, but I said: "No, I won't work in this KGB anymore." And left.

- What are you doing now, your hobbies, hobbies?

- Retired, I live in the country. I am a disabled person of the second group. My heart is not good. I live all the time in the country, I don't go anywhere. I only communicate with my best friends.