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'''Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev''' ({{lang-ru| |
'''Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev''' ({{lang-ru|Генна́дий Ива́нович Яна́ев}}; 26 August 1937 – 24 September 2010) was a [[Soviet people|Soviet]] [[Russian people|Russian]] politician and statesman during the [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] years, but also held lower posts during the rules of [[Nikita Khrushchev]], [[Leonid Brezhnev]], [[Yuri Andropov]] and [[Konstantin Chernenko]]. Yanayev was born during the height of [[Stalinist]] repression in [[Perevoz, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast|Perevoz, Gorky Oblast]]. After years in local politics, he worked himself up to become the Chairman of the [[All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions]], but held other less prominent posts such as deputy of the [[Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries]]. |
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Because of his chairmanship of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Union he got a seat in the politburo. During the 1990 July plenum he was elected in the [[Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee]]. Later that year, with the help of [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], Yanayev was elected [[Vice President of the Soviet Union]]. Having growing doubts of where Gorbachev's reforms were going, Yanayev started working with the [[Gang of Eight (Soviet Union)|Gang of Eight]], a group which deposed Gorbachev and led the [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|August coup of 1991]]. The [[coup d'état]] collapsed three days after its formation, due to the popularity of [[Boris Yeltsin]]. During the coup's grip on power, he was made Acting [[President of the Soviet Union]]. He was then arrested but was [[Pardon|reprieved]] in 1994 by the [[State Duma]]. He spent the rest of his life working in the Russian tourist industry. Yanayev died on 24 September 2010. |
Because of his chairmanship of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Union he got a seat in the politburo. During the 1990 July plenum he was elected in the [[Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee]]. Later that year, with the help of [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], Yanayev was elected [[Vice President of the Soviet Union]]. Having growing doubts of where Gorbachev's reforms were going, Yanayev started working with the [[Gang of Eight (Soviet Union)|Gang of Eight]], a group which deposed Gorbachev and led the [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|August coup of 1991]]. The [[coup d'état]] collapsed three days after its formation, due to the popularity of [[Boris Yeltsin]]. During the coup's grip on power, he was made Acting [[President of the Soviet Union]]. He was then arrested but was [[Pardon|reprieved]] in 1994 by the [[State Duma]]. He spent the rest of his life working in the Russian tourist industry. Yanayev died on 24 September 2010. |
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Revision as of 23:31, 26 September 2010
Gennady Yanayev | |
|---|---|
| File:Gennady Yanayev.jpg A photo taken during the press conference of the State Committee of the State of Emergency | |
| Acting President of the Soviet Union | |
| In office 19 August 1991 – 21 August 1991 | |
| President | Mikhail Gorbachev |
| Vice President of the Soviet Union | |
| In office December 1990 – August 1991 | |
| President | Mikhail Gorbachev |
| Preceded by | None—post created |
| Succeeded by | None—post abolished |
| Chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions | |
| In office March – July 1990 | |
| Preceded by | Stephan A. Shalaev |
| Succeeded by | None—post abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 26 August 1937 Perevoz, Gorky Oblast, Soviet Union |
| Died | 24 September 2010 (aged 73) Moscow, Russian Federation |
| Political party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev (Russian: Генна́дий Ива́нович Яна́ев; 26 August 1937 – 24 September 2010) was a Soviet Russian politician and statesman during the Mikhail Gorbachev years, but also held lower posts during the rules of Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko. Yanayev was born during the height of Stalinist repression in Perevoz, Gorky Oblast. After years in local politics, he worked himself up to become the Chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, but held other less prominent posts such as deputy of the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.
Because of his chairmanship of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Union he got a seat in the politburo. During the 1990 July plenum he was elected in the Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee. Later that year, with the help of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yanayev was elected Vice President of the Soviet Union. Having growing doubts of where Gorbachev's reforms were going, Yanayev started working with the Gang of Eight, a group which deposed Gorbachev and led the August coup of 1991. The coup d'état collapsed three days after its formation, due to the popularity of Boris Yeltsin. During the coup's grip on power, he was made Acting President of the Soviet Union. He was then arrested but was reprieved in 1994 by the State Duma. He spent the rest of his life working in the Russian tourist industry. Yanayev died on 24 September 2010.
Early life and career
Yanayev was born on 26 August 1937 in the town of Perevoz, Gorky Oblast during the height of Stalinist repression in the Soviet Union.[1] He graduated from the Gorky Institute of Agriculture in 1959. After graduation he worked as the head of mechanized agricultural unit and later as a chief engineer in the Gorky oblast. From 1963 to 1968, he became both the second and first secretary of the Gorky Komsomol, and then became the Chairman of the Committee of Youth Organizations of the USSR, a post he held for twelve years. From 1980 to 1986 he was Deputy Chairman of the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. He became Deputy Chairman of the trade unions in 1986, and in 1990 he became the Chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. As chairman of the trade unions, he was not able to quell the growing labour discontent in the country, however, his position granted him a seat in the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).[2] During the July plenum in 1990, he was elected a member of the Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee.[3]
Vice Presidency and the August coup
On 27 December 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev proposed Yanayev for the Vice Presidency to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Yanayev had initially been rejected by the Soviet parliament, but was finally approved due to Gorbachev's reluctance to replace him with another candidate. Because of Yanayev's more conservative views, Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard Shevardnadze resigned from office to protest against the increasing numbers of conservatives in top political offices.[4] In the beginning of January, Yanayev headed a committee working on the formation of a new cabinet.[5] Yanayev was later sent to the Soviet city of Kuznetsk to negotiate with a newly founded independent trade union, it marked the first time since 1917 that a Russian government official had negotiated with a trade union. However after getting the attention of the Soviet government the strikers withdrew their plans for a strike.[6]
After announcing the New Union Treaty, Gorbachev immediately went on vacation to his dacha in the Crimeas. Believing that this new union treaty would lead to the disintegration of the USSR, the State Committee of the State of Emergency placed him under house arrest on 19 August, one day before its signing. On that same day TASS issued their decree, which stated; "Owing to the conditions of his health, Mikhail Gorbachev is no longer capable to carrying on the duties of the President of the USSR. In Accordance with article 127, clause 7 of the USSR constitution, Vice President Gennady Yanayev has assumed the duties of the president of the USSR". The decree made references to the growing problems facing the country, such as ethnic tension, political confrontations and chaos, which according to the coup leaders, threatened the very existence of Soviet life and the territorial integrity of the USSR.[7] In an interview from 2008, Yanayev said he regretting making himself acting president, further claiming that he was pressured by the more conservative members to sign the documents which declared his own presidency. He described the events of 1991 as a burden for the rest of his life.[1]
On 19 August, citizens of Moscow gathered around the White House and began to erect barricades around it. In response Yanayev declared state of emergency in Moscow at 16:00.[8][9] Yanayev declared at the press conference at 17:00 that Gorbachev was "resting". He said: "Over these years he has got very tired and needs some time to get his health back." Yanayev said the Emergency Committee was committed to continuing his reforms. However, his weak posturing, trembling hands and shaky expressions made his words unconvincing.[8]
According to some historians, Yanayev was the most visible and powerful member of the Emergency Committee, but was not the brain. Vladimir Kryuchkov, chairman of the KGB, has been described as the "heart and soul of the conspiracy". This can be confirmed by the fact that Yanayev agreed to head the Emergency Committee on 20 August. Along with the other coup leaders Yanayev was dismissed as Vice President and later jailed for his crimes against the Soviet state.[10]
Later life and death
Three years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Yanayev was freed by the amnesty of the Russian State Duma in 1994.[10] He ended up becoming the head of the Department of History and International Relations of the Russian International Academy of Tourism.[1] On 20 September 2010, he felt ill and, due to his lung disease, was hospitalized at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow. Doctors diagnosed him with lung cancer. When interviewed during his stay, Yanayev said "The disease literally eats up the lungs". His doctors eventually reached the conclusion that chemotherapy would be the right course to save his life, but also the most difficult one. They did acknowledge that he was in poor health, and there were little guarantee for his survival. He died on 24 September 2010.[11]
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) expressed their condolences to Yanayev's relatives.[12] Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of the CPRF, said of him; "Yanayev lived an interesting, complicated and worthy life".[13] The CPRF officially praised him as "a highly professional specialist [...] a dear and trustworthy comrade". In another statement made by the CPRF, this time on their official website, they stated: "If they had acted much more decisively, our unified country would have been preserved".[14] Yanayev was survived by his wife and two daughters. Funeral arrangements were not immediately formed after his death.[15]
Quotations
Let me say that Mikhail Gorbachev is now on vacation. He is undergoing treatment, himself, in our country. He is very tired after these many years and he will need some time to get better.
— Gennady Yanayev, speaking at a press conference during the August coup against Gorbachev.
References
- ^ a b c Schwirz, Michael (24 September 2010). "Gennadi I. Yanayev, 73, Soviet Coup Plotter, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ Pry, Peter Vincent (1999). War scare: Russia and America on the nuclear brink. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 58. ISBN 0275966437.
- ^ "Биография Геннадия Янаева: ветеран и инвалид госслужбы". Temadnya.ru. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ Garthoff, Raymond L. (1994). The great transition: American-Soviet relations and the end of the Cold War. Brookings Institution Press. p. 442. ISBN 0815730608.
- ^ "Mulig at Sjevardnadse forsetter" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 7 January 1991.
{{cite web}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Sovjetunionen: gruvearbeidere trekker plan om streik" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 3 March 1991.
{{cite web}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ Neimanis, George J. (1997). The collapse of the Soviet Empire: a view from Riga. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 76. ISBN 0275957136.
- ^ a b "Тоннель на крови" (in Russian). nr2.ru. 18 August 2006. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ "Государственный комитет по чрезвычайному положению в СССР" (in Russian). souz.info. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ a b "Soviet coup leader Gennady Yanayev dies". British Broadcasting Corporation. 24 September 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
- ^ "Один из идеологов ГКЧП Геннадий Янаев скончался в московской больнице" (in Russian). echo.msk.ru. 24 September 2010. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ "Янаев перед смертью раскрыл правду о ГКЧП" (in Russian). LifeNews.ru. 24 September 2010. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ Antonova, Maria (24 September 2010). "Soviet 1991 coup leader Gennady Yanayev dies at 73". Agence France-Presse. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ Gutterman, Steve (24 September 2010). "1991 Russian coup plotter dies". Toronto Sun. Reuters. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ Heintz, Jim (24 September 2010). "Soviet coup plotter Yanayev dies at 73". Associated Press. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ "Russian Reaction". PBS NewsHour. 19 August 1991. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
Further reading
- The Last Battle for the USSR. 2010.