State Committee on the State of Emergency
The State Committee on the State of Emergency (Russian: Госуда́рственный комите́т по чрезвыча́йному положе́нию, tr. Gosudárstvenny komitét po chrezvycháynomu polozhéniyu, IPA: [ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj kəmʲɪˈtʲet pə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəmʊ pəlɐˈʐɛnʲɪjʊ]), abbreviated as SCSE (Russian: ГКЧП, tr. GKChP), was a self-proclaimed political body in the Soviet Union that existed from 19 to 21 August 1991. It included a group of eight high-level Soviet officials within the Soviet government, the Communist Party, and the KGB, who attempted a coup d'état against Mikhail Gorbachev on 19 August 1991. The American publicist Georges Obolensky called it the Gang of Eight. The coup ultimately failed, with the provisional government collapsing by 22 August 1991 and several of the conspirators being prosecuted by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.
Press conference in the MFA building, August 19 | |
| Formation | 19 August 1991 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | 22 August 1991 |
| Type | Self-declared provisional government |
| Legal status | Dissolved by the Russian SFSR and Soviet Union |
| Purpose | Prevention of the New Union Treaty signing, governance for planned six-month state of emergency |
| Headquarters | Moscow Kremlin, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Location | |
Region served | Soviet Union |
Official language | Russian |
Chairman | Gennady Yanayev |
| Affiliations | CPSU KGB Soviet Army Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs |
From 22 to 29 August 1991, former members of the dissolved SCSE and who actively assisted them were arrested, but from June 1992 to January 1993, they were all released on their own recognizance. In April 1993, the trial began. On 23 February 1994, the defendants in the SCSE case were amnestied by the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, despite Yeltsin's objection. One of the defendants, General V.I. Varennikov, refused to accept the amnesty and his trial continued, which he ultimately won.
Diplomatic support came from: Afghanistan, China, Cuba, Iraq, Laos, Libya, North Korea, Palestine Liberation Organization, Vietnam, Socialist Republic of Serbia, and Socialist Republic of Montenegro.