USSR--THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF GORBACHEV'S DETENTION Munich, August 21, 1991 (RI/Vera Tolz & Elizabeth Teague) Summary: Of the various reports of the circumstances of Mikhail Gorbachev's arrest that circulated in the aftermath of the Soviet president's ouster, the most reliable and informative was delivered by RSFSR State Secretary Sergei Stankevich. Stankevich's account has been partly confirmed by Gorbachev's aide Georgii Shakhnazarov. Following the announcement of Mikhail Gorbachev's ouster on August 19, there were various contraditctory reports concerning his whereabouts, the circumstances of his arrest, and the identity of those who took him into custody. Estonian prime minister Edgar Savisaar, for example, was cited by Western news agencies on August 20 as saying Gorbachev had been arrested at Moscow's Vnukovo airport when he refused to sign a decree turning power over to Vice-President Gennadii Yanaev.1 Other accounts carried by Western media maintained that Gorbachev had been arrested at his dacha in the Crimea, but had subsequently been transferred to an unidentified military base. It is now clear that Gorbachev was, in fact, arrested at his Crimean dacha and was subsequently kept there under house arrest. The most detailed report of the circumstances of his detention was contained in a speech delivered at 1800 on August 20 by RSFSR State Secretary Sergei Stankevich. Speaking at the headquarters of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet in Moscow, Stankevich revealed new details of Gorbachev's arrest and identified the military commanders and army and KGB units involved. The report was relayed by the internal radio that was set up in the building of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet following the closure of the RSFSR's TV and radio network. A recording was broadcast by Radio Liberty's Russian Service on August 20. There follows a translation of Stankevich's report. The RSFSR leadership has obtained details of the drama that occurred in the South, in the Crimea, and which is connected with the outster of the legally-appointed president of the Union-- Gorbachev. Eyewinesses are now present in the House of Soviets of Russia and are ready to testify under oath as to the course of events. According to the available information, the chronology of the events was approximatedly as follows. On August 19 at 4 a.m. two tractors blocked a runway in Bel'bek, in the Crimea, where President Gorbachev's flying equipment--a TU-134 plane and a MU-8 helicopter--was parked. Attention please! This was done on the order of Colonel-General [Igor'] Mal'tsev. He holds the post of Chief of Staff of the PVO [the Air Defense Troops]. I will repeat the name of this state criminal: Colonel-General Mal'tsev, chief of Staff of the PVO. The blockade of [the presidential dacha] was conducted by the Sevastopol' regiment of the KGB troops, which remains in full control of the dacha. At 10.42 a.m. an attempt was made to remove the TU-134 and MU-8 from the airport. Then General Yasinsky--attention please, another name--ordered the TU-134 to depart with ten military men on board. But these military men failed to turn up. All their names are known.2 At 6.34 p.m. the same day (August 19), the commander of operations of the General Staff, Colonel-General Denisov--yet another name--permitted the following people to board [the TU-134]: Kozlov, Gubernatorov ( the president's personal bodyguard), Sorokina and Aleksandrova (secretaries and stenographers of the president). The KGB checked all the documents and these people were allowed to board. The plane took off at 7.38 p.m. and flew to Vnukovo [airport in Moscow]. The leader of the crew was Kaluzin. All the president's communucations equipment was taken along on this flight. The MU-8 helicopter was also forced to fly to Simferopol' at 9 p.m. that day. The crew leader was Vasil'ev. The runway [at the presidential runway at Foros] remained blocked. According to information from military circles, political departments are setting up operational groups to supervise the activities of the army during the state of emergency. All instructions to these groups are being coordinated by Colonel-General [Nikolia] Boiko, also a member of the PVO command. We have information--I will not disclose it now--concerning the departures and arrivals of planes carrying paratroopers. The sky over the southern part of the Crimea is completely blocked by air traffic. As many as sixteen ships are anchored east of Cape Foros. As of 4 p.m. August 19, a regime came into effect under which the dacha on Cape Foros was completely cut off from the outside world by air, sea, and land. At 2.30 p.m., information came from Moscow that the big presidential plane, which Gorbachev had ordered to pick him up on August 19, had failed to arrive. The President had ordered the plane earlier, since he was planning to fly to Moscow on August 19 [in preparation for the signing of the Union Treaty, originally scheduled to take place on August 20]. At 3.10 p.m. on August 19, an oral order came from Colonel-General Mal'tsev which read as follows: 'There have been attempts on the part of some of Gorbachev's associates to force their way through to President Gorbachev. It is hereby ordered that, if such attempts are repeated, all such people are to be detained and transferred into the custody of the KGB.' According to unconfirmed reports, an attempt to get to Gorbachev was made by his aide [Georgii] Shakhnazarov. Along with President Gorbachev, the following people are in detention: General Medvedev, Vladimir Timofeevich, head of the President's personal bodyguard; Chernyaev, Anatolii Sergeevich, and Shakhnazarov, Georgii Khosroevich--both presidential aides. Also detained in the Crimea are Shakhnzarov's family--his wife Anna Grigor'evna Shakhnazarova and Karen Shakhnazarov, his son, a well-known film director. They were vacationing together with Shkhanazarov in the "Yuzhnyi" sanatorium near Foros. Their present whereabouts are unknown. This information, to which eyewitnesses are ready to swear, indicates that we are dealing with the violent ouster and detention of a legally-elected president. Therefore, a very serious state crime has been committed. All those who were involved in any way with this crime or with plotting the conspiracy are criminals, and must be held accountable before the law. In this connection, I wish to address all military men, MVD and KGB employees! Do not commit a fatal mistake. Don't spill the blood of your brothers and sisters. If you do, you will be accursed before the Motherland and your descendants. And this will happen sooner rather than later. You have only one alternative: to preserve your honor and human dignity. Do not execute criminal orders, don't spill blood. I appeal to everyone to display courage, tolerance, and, if possible, to prevent any forms of violence. May God help us! * * * Further details of the circcumstances of Gorbachev's detention were provided to the RSFSR Supreme Soviet on August 21 by Gorbachev's aide Shakhnazarov.3 Shakhnazarov confirmed that he was in a sanatorium in the Crimea on August 18 and talked to Mikhail Gorbachev at 1800 on that day. The two discussed the upcoming signing of the Union Treaty. According to Shakhnazarov, he was preparing to fly with Gorbachev to Moscow on August 19. Gorbachev was in a good health, Shakhnazarov said. Gorbachev's aide made no mention of his own detention. 1. AP, August 20, 1991. 2. The mention of military men appears to refer to Gorbachev's body guards, many of whom, Gorbachev has since revealed , his remained loyal to him during the coup. 3. Russian Television, August 21.