What happened in Moscow 25 years ago.

25 years ago, opponents of President Boris Yeltsin took to the streets to seize the White House. This developed into a bloody confrontation between soldiers and oppositionists, and the result of the events of October 3-4 was a new government and a new Constitution.

1. October 1993 coup. Brief description of what happened

   On October 3-4, 1993, the October Putsch occurred - this is when the White House was shot, the Ostankino television center was captured, and tanks drove through the streets of Moscow. All this happened because of Yeltsin’s conflict with Vice President Alexander Rutsky and Chairman of the Supreme Council Ruslan Khasbulatov. Yeltsin won, the vice president was removed, and the Supreme Council was dissolved.

2. In 1992, Boris Yeltsin nominated Yegor Gaidar, who by that time was actively pursuing economic reforms, for the post of Chairman of the Government. However, the Supreme Council harshly criticized Gaidar's activities due to the high level of poverty and astronomical prices and chose Viktor Chernomyrdin as the new Chairman. In response, Yeltsin harshly criticized the deputies.

   Boris Yeltsin and Ruslan Khasbulatov in 1991

3. Yeltsin suspended the Constitution, although it was illegal

   On March 20, 1993, Yeltsin announced the suspension of the Constitution and the introduction of a “special procedure for governing the country.” Three days later, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation declared Yeltsin’s actions unconstitutional and grounds for the president’s removal from office.

   On March 28, 617 deputies voted in favor of impeaching the president, with the required 689 votes. Yeltsin remained in power.

   On April 25, at a national referendum, the majority supported the president and the government and spoke in favor of holding early elections of people's deputies. On May 1, the first clashes between riot police and opponents of the president took place.

4. What is Decree No. 1400 and how did it aggravate the situation?

   On September 21, 1993, Yeltsin signed decree No. 1400 on the dissolution of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council, although he did not have the right to do so. In response, the Supreme Council stated that this decree was contrary to the Constitution, therefore it would not be executed and Yeltsin would be deprived of his presidential powers. Yeltsin was supported by the Ministry of Defense and security forces.

   In the following weeks, members of the Supreme Council, people's deputies and Deputy Prime Minister Rutsky were virtually locked in the White House, where communications, electricity and water were cut off. The building was cordoned off by police and military personnel. The White House was guarded by opposition volunteers.

   X Extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies in the White House, where electricity and water are turned off

5. Assault on Ostankino

   On October 3, supporters of the Armed Forces held a rally on October Square and then broke through the defenses of the White House. After Rutskoi’s calls, the protesters successfully seized the city hall building and moved to take the Ostankino television center.

   By the time the capture began, the television tower was guarded by 900 soldiers with military equipment. At some point, the first explosion was heard among the soldiers. It was immediately followed by indiscriminate shooting into the crowd, indiscriminately. When the oppositionists tried to hide in the neighboring Oak Grove, they were squeezed from both sides and began to be shot from armored personnel carriers and from weapon nests on the roof of Ostankino.

   During the assault on Ostankino, October 3, 1993.

   At the time of the assault, television broadcasting was stopped

6. White House shooting

   On the night of October 4, Yeltsin decides to take the White House with the help of armored vehicles. At 7 am the tanks began shooting at the government building.

   While the building was being shelled, snipers on the rooftops shot at the crowds of people near the White House.

   By five o'clock in the evening the resistance of the defenders was completely suppressed. Leaders of the opposition, including Khasbulatov and Rutskoy, were arrested. Yeltsin remained in power.

   White House October 4, 1993

7. How many people died during the October Putsch?

   According to official data, 46 people died during the storming of Ostankino, and approximately 165 people died during the shooting of the White House, but witnesses report that there were many more victims. Over the course of 20 years, different theories have appeared, in which the numbers vary from 500 to 2000 dead.

8. Results of the October Putsch

   The Supreme Council and the Congress of People's Deputies ceased to exist. The entire system of Soviet power that had existed since 1917 was liquidated.

   Before the elections on December 12, 1993, all power was in the hands of Yeltsin. On that day, the modern Constitution was chosen, as well as the State Duma and the Federation Council.

9. What happened after the October Putsch?

   In February 1994, all those arrested in the October Putsch case were amnestied.

   Yeltsin served as president until the end of 1999. The constitution adopted after the coup in 1993 is still in force. According to the new government principles, the president has more powers than the government.

After the referendum, the President accelerated the process of preparing a new Constitution. B.N. Yeltsin and his supporters sought to expand presidential powers, and the Supreme Council sought to limit them. The adoption of the new Constitution was the prerogative of the Congress of People's Deputies. Chairman of the Supreme Council R.I. Khasbulatov and his supporters did not see the point in changing the structure of power.

September 21, 1993 B.N. Yeltsin, by decree No. 1400, announced the dissolution of the Congress, the Supreme Council and elections to a new parliament, as well as a popular vote on the draft of the new Constitution of the Russian Federation.

The Constitutional Court declared Decree No. 1400 illegal.

A significant group of deputies gathered in the building of the Supreme Council on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment (now the Government House of the Russian Federation, the White House). They announced the removal of the President from power. By decision of parliamentarians, on the night of September 22, Vice President A.V. Rutskoi took the presidential oath.

On September 23, the X (extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies opened. He began to form a new government. First of all, the deputies appointed ministers of law enforcement agencies.

The White House was cordoned off by police. Communications, water and electricity were cut off there. Then the approaches to it were blocked with barbed wire fences. The security of the Supreme Council was armed with machine guns. The Supreme Council spent 12 days under siege, surrounding itself with barricades. Several thousand people spent day and night on the approaches to the White House. Some of them received weapons from the White House security. According to their recollections, among them there were relatively few people who supported R.I. Khasbulatova, A.V. Rutskoi and the new government. The majority spoke not so much for any political reforms or specific individuals, but rather against them - against President Yeltsin, “shock therapy,” and the destruction of the USSR.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II made attempts to reconcile the warring parties and prevent bloodshed. But the tension in society was too great. Politicians on both sides were leading the matter into open conflict.

On the territory of Moscow, unrest broke out every now and then, leading to armed conflicts. The decisive events took place on October 3, 1993. Crowds of thousands of demonstrators, supporters of the Supreme Council, won a clash with the police. Riots began to break out in different areas of the capital. On the night of October 3-4, armed opposition groups tried to seize the Ostankino television center. The special forces detachment guarding the television center opened fire on those gathered.

On the morning of October 4, the President's supporters managed to assemble a combined assault detachment. Under the cover of police barriers, he fired at the White House from tanks. The building was then occupied by officers from the Alpha Special Forces. A.V. Rutskoy, R.I. Khasbulatov, members of the government appointed by the 10th Congress were arrested.

28 military personnel and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were killed in the clashes, 12 civilians died on the streets, 45 people in the area of ​​the Ostankino television center, 75 people during the shelling and storming of the House of Soviets. October 3 and 4, 1993 are mournful, dark days in Russian history.

Society was divided in opinions about what was happening. Many modern experts believe that the actions of B.N. Yeltsin were illegal, but on his side was the support of the relative majority of Russian citizens who voted, expressed in the referendum, which gave Yeltsin’s actions legitimacy.

MOSCOW, October 4 – RIA Novosti. The October 1993 putsch was not accidental - it was prepared for two years and in the end actually killed people’s trust in power, says Sergei Filatov, president of the Foundation for Socio-Economic and Intellectual Programs, former head of President Yeltsin’s administration.

Twenty years ago, on October 3-4, 1993, clashes occurred in Moscow between supporters of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (1991-1999). The confrontation between the two branches of Russian government, which had lasted since the collapse of the USSR - the executive represented by Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the legislative one represented by the parliament - the Supreme Council (SC) of the RSFSR, headed by Ruslan Khasbulatov, over the pace of reforms and methods of building a new state passed on October 3-4, 1993 into an armed conflict and ended with tank shelling of the seat of parliament - the House of Soviets (White House).

The tension was rising

“What happened on October 3-4, 1993, was not predetermined in one day. It was an event that had been going on for two years. Over the course of two years, tension grew. And if you trace it at least through the congresses of people’s deputies, it becomes clear that this was a purposeful fight on the part of the Supreme Council against the reforms that the government was carrying out,” Filatov said at a multimedia round table on the topic: “October 1993 coup. Twenty years later...”, held at RIA Novosti on Friday.

According to him, the two top officials of the state - Boris Yeltsin and the head of the Supreme Council (SC) of the RSFSR Ruslan Khasbulatov - failed to reach the “normal path of relationship.” Moreover, “absolute and deep mistrust” arose between the two top officials, he added.

Political scientist Leonid Polyakov also agreed with this opinion.

“In fact, the putsch of 1993 is a postponement of the State Emergency Committee of 1991. In 1991, these people, seeing hundreds of thousands of Muscovites who surrounded the White House, the leaders of the State Emergency Committee were simply, as they say, afraid. At first they themselves frightened them by bringing tanks into the capital , and then they themselves were afraid of what they had done. But those forces that stood behind it, and the people who sincerely believed in what turned out to be destroyed in August 91, they did not go away. And two years followed, the most difficult, the most difficult in our history, which included the collapse of the USSR and the disappearance of the state... By October 1993, this explosive potential had accumulated,” Polyakov noted.

conclusions

Conclusions from the events of 1993, according to Filatov, can be drawn both positive and negative.

“The fact that we eliminated dual power is positive, the fact that we adopted the Constitution is positive. And the fact that we actually killed people’s trust in power and this continued for the rest of the 20 years is an obvious fact that we have to restore to this day We can’t,” he says.

In turn, political scientist Polyakov expressed hope that the events of 1993 were “the last Russian revolution.”

Film about the events of 1993

During the round table, a film about the events of October 1993 was presented, filmed by RIA Novosti specialists in a web documentary format, which has received worldwide recognition due to the fact that the viewer has the opportunity to interact with the content and has greater freedom of action than the viewer of a plot with a linear form of storytelling, where the course of history is predetermined by the director. This is the third RIA Novosti film in 2013 in an interactive format.

“For each of the participants in these events, it was part of his life, part of his inner story. And it was these people we wanted to talk about in our film, interactive video; to make it possible to see through their eyes, through their emotions, through their memories those difficult days. Because now it seems like some rather distant and somewhat unusual event in our country. I really hope that it will continue to be so, because tanks shooting from the embankment at the White House is an absolutely terrible sight. And, probably, for every Muscovite and every resident of Russia, it was something absolutely incredible,” RIA Novosti Deputy Editor-in-Chief Ilya Lazarev shared his memories.

The film contains photographs of people who were later found by RIA Novosti and who spoke about their memories of those events.

“We brought photographs to life and tried to bring some episodes of the video into our present time... Our colleagues, directors, spent three months working on this format - this is a very difficult story. You can watch the film episodically, linearly, but the main story and task is to make it immersive this atmosphere, draw your own conclusions, but rather just get to know the people who lived through this story and let it pass through them,” added Lazarev.

As a result of the tragic events of October 3-4, 1993 in Moscow, the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation were liquidated. Before the election of the Federal Assembly and the adoption of the new Constitution, direct presidential rule was established in the Russian Federation. By decree of October 7, 1993 “On legal regulation during the period of phased constitutional reform in the Russian Federation,” the President established that before the start of the work of the Federal Assembly, issues of a budgetary and financial nature, land reform, property, civil service and social employment of the population, previously resolved by the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation , are now carried out by the President of the Russian Federation. By another decree of October 7, “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation,” the president actually abolished this body. Boris Yeltsin also issued a number of decrees ending the activities of representative authorities of the constituent entities of the Federation and local Soviets.

On December 12, 1993, a new Constitution of Russia was adopted, in which such a government body as the Congress of People's Deputies was no longer mentioned.

October 1993, the Russian parliament was dispersed by tanks and special forces. Then a civil war almost broke out in Moscow, caused by a political war - between President Yeltsin and the Supreme Council. Its tragic point was the shooting of the Parliament building (the White House). Who ordered and who shot at the White House? What is the role of the West in those events? And what did they ultimately turn out to be for the country?

FROM THE HISTORY

Politicians fought, but ordinary people died. 150 people

Political infighting between President Yeltsin and the Supreme Council led by Khasbulatov lasted throughout 1993. At this time, the Kremlin was working on a new Constitution, since the old one, according to the president, was slowing down reforms. The new Constitution gave enormous rights to the president and nullified the rights of parliament.

Tired of butting heads with deputies, on September 21, 1993, Yeltsin signed Decree No. 1400 to terminate the activities of the Supreme Council. The deputies refused to comply, declaring that Yeltsin had carried out a “coup d’etat” and that his powers were being terminated and transferred to Vice President Rutskoi.

Riot police blocked the White House, where parliament was meeting. Communications, electricity and water were cut off there. Supporters of the Supreme Council built barricades, and on September 3 they began clashing with riot police, killing 7 demonstrators and injuring dozens.

Yeltsin declared a state of emergency in Moscow. And Rutskoi called for seizing the Ostankino television center in order to gain access to the airwaves. Dozens of people died during the capture of Ostankino. On the night of October 4, Yeltsin gave the order to storm the White House. In the morning the building was shelled. In total, 150 people were killed and four hundred were injured on October 3-4. Khasbulatov and Rutskoy were arrested and sent to Lefortovo.

FIRST-HAND

Ruslan KHASBULATOV, Chairman of the Supreme Council in 1993:

“Kohl persuaded Clinton to help Yeltsin destroy parliament”

Ruslan Imranovich, after 15 years, how do you see the history of October 1993?

The greatest tragedy that turned the vector of Russia's development. As soon as we received freedom, the parliament was shot by tanks. In October 1993, democracy was shot in Russia. Since then, this concept has been discredited in Russia; people are allergic to it. The shooting of the Supreme Council led to autocratic thinking in the country.

So, if there had not been bloody October 93, Russia could have been different?

Parliament would not have allowed many destructive reforms, the formation in the 90s of a satellite “substate” completely subordinate to the West. Why now blame the USA and Europe, who are swearing, that Russia kicked up? After all, during the Yeltsin decade, they got used to the fact that Russia is a humiliated supplicant, unquestioningly carrying out any hint. And here Putin and Medvedev are unfolding in a new way. I personally saw the transcript of the conversation between Helmut Kohl (then Chancellor of Germany - Ed.) and Clinton. Kohl convinced the US President that the Russian parliament was interfering with Yeltsin, that there was complete mutual understanding with Yeltsin - “he unquestioningly fulfills all our requests.” But his parliament is “nationalist”. (Note, not even communist.) We, they say, must help Yeltsin get rid of the nationalists. Clinton agreed. The West pushed Yeltsin to massacre and helped him carry it out.

ARROW INDICATIONS

Tank officer:

“Our company was promised a bag of money”

Komsomolskaya Pravda found the former tanker who shot at parliament

The former platoon commander of the Kantemirovskaya Tank Division in 1993 agreed to answer my questions on the condition that his name would be changed. He asked to call himself Andrey Orenburgsky.

Andrey, why did you leave the army?

After 1993, everyone who carried out a task at the White House felt uncomfortable living in a military camp. The officers, who obviously kept party cards, called us “traitors” and “murderers.” Then leaflets appeared on the fences - with a death sentence and a list of our names. At night they threw stones at the windows... I had to ask to go to other districts. But there was also bad rumors there. Moreover, in everyone’s personal file, gratitude from Yeltsin was recorded. And everyone has the same date - October... And it’s clear to a fool...

How did your journey begin?

In October, our company arrived from the state farm to help harvest the crops. The sergeant major led the soldiers to the bathhouse, and the officers to their homes. I got into the shower, soaped myself up, and then my wife shouted through the door: “Alarm!” I am, of course, a mother-to-be, but a propeller for the regiment. And there is serious fuss there. The commander of our company, Grishin, said that there is a mess in Moscow, people are rowdy, we will restore order. I also remember asking: what does the army have to do with it if there is a police force? Grishin said: “They are no longer enough...”

How did you go?

We crawled onto the Minsk highway and along the side of the road, sparing the asphalt. A Volga started to slow us down. In his headphones, the commander swears wildly at the mechanic: “Don’t stop! Push her to hell! Or throw it in a ditch!”

The Volga still stopped us. Grishin was yelling something in the very ear of the guy from the Volzhanka. Then - into the tank, and then we went further. And Grishin shouts to me: “This guy said: “Son, you’ll get a bag of money, just save Yeltsin from his enemies!”

The imaginary bag of money was inspiring. Early in the morning we walked along Kutuz to the Ukraine Hotel. Two of our tanks were already stationed at the White House. Then two more came.

What kind of ammunition did you have?

Different. There were training blanks, and cumulative ones... That’s when I realized that the matter smelled of kerosene. But there were also cartridges for machine guns... Colonel General Kondratyev approached. Said: “If someone is afraid, they can leave.” Nobody left. I was hoping that maybe I wouldn't have to shoot...

Did you understand what was happening?

Grishin told me that our task is to “demonstrate strength.” At first there was no talk about firing seriously.

What else do you remember on the bridge?

People were breaking through to us, but the riot police did not let them in. They waved their parliamentary ceremonies. They shouted: “Guys, dear ones, don’t shoot!”... Then the tank was ordered to go to the middle of the bridge. The guns were turned towards the White House. They stood there like that. And suddenly Grishin’s voice came through the headphones: “Prepare to open fire!”... Then the order was to hit the central entrance. Right in the middle.

What kind of projectile?

The first shot is a blank. Out of excitement, I took my aim low. The blank ricocheted and went to the side... The second one went there too. My hands were shaking. Grishin set fire to me and ordered me to get out from behind the gun sight. He sat down in my place. And - on the fifth floor. It hit the window exactly.

It was disgusting at heart! The people are there. And the building is beautiful... After all, Russians were shooting at Russians... When it was all over, I wanted to get drunk on vodka and fall asleep...

We were transferred to Khodynka. They fed me well and even gave me vodka - an unprecedented thing! And then there was an order to submit nominations for rewarding those who distinguished themselves.

Have you been introduced too?

Yes. To the medal. “For the exemplary execution of the Russian parliament” (laughs). But seriously, they gave us 200 “premium” rubles. But they promised “a bag of money”...

Victor BARANETS

THE PAST AND THOUGHTS

Gennady BURBULIS, Russian Secretary of State in the early 90s, Yeltsin’s ally: “The Kremlin was in a coma”

I remember how on the evening of October 3 Filatov (the head of Yeltsin’s administration - author) called me: “We need to do something.” I got into the car and drove through the frighteningly empty Moscow. It was eerie silence. I went to the 14th building of the Kremlin. Extinct building. No one walks the corridors. Everyone is devastated. It is impossible to imagine that such a state is possible in the heart of a huge country, in the brain of its power. I think the state the Kremlin was in was coma, paralysis. But the White House was in the same state. This state could not be allowed to last even an hour, let alone a day.

Did Yeltsin personally give the order to use force?

Who else could give it? When Yeltsin made the decision, agreements began between the security forces on further actions.

Was there anyone who came out strongly against the shooting?

Such decisions are never made with glee. But there are situations when avoiding choice is an even greater shame. The country was on the verge of civil war. In the midst of such events there are always adventurers thirsting for turmoil and blood. I believe that both sides are equally responsible - Yeltsin’s supporters and Khasbulatov’s supporters. Both sides persisted, but the people suffered.

What did this tragedy teach Russia?

The shooting of parliament is historically always a tragedy. But October 1993 led to the adoption of a new Constitution. She proclaimed that man, his rights and freedoms are the highest value, and became the pillar of the country for the coming decades. This is such amazing historical logic. October 1993 is the price to pay for the prospects we have today.

WHAT WAS IT

Alexander TsIPKO, political scientist:

“In 1993, Russia turned away from the path of a parliamentary republic”

There is a terrible historical pattern in the shooting of the White House. These deputies supported the Belovezhskaya Accords, destroying the USSR. And two years later, history itself discarded them.

Before the execution of the Supreme Council, Russia had the opportunity to maintain a parliamentary-presidential republic. But a different option was chosen - a presidential, even super-presidential republic. In essence, the restoration of omnipotence, almost autocracy. Opportunities for a peaceful, smooth transition from communism to capitalism were missed. Russia became the only country in Eastern Europe that achieved a political goal through blood. We missed the path that the rest of the socialist camp followed. The parliamentary path opened up more space for democracy.

The struggle between parliament and Yeltsin is not a conflict within the people, but a showdown between the ruling layers. Yeltsin and Gaidar wanted immediate total reforms, including the privatization of the oil industry. Parliament was in favor of gradual reforms.

Since Yeltsin shot the parliament in 1993, a gulf has opened between the people and the authorities. Since then, the attitude of the people towards power has developed as if it had nothing to do with them.

The events of October 1993 remind us that the system that has developed in Russia since then is unstable. The debate about the parliamentary beginning has not been fully resolved. And the fact that the prime minister in Russia today has become a figure relying on the majority in the Duma is not accidental. Sooner or later, Russia will still have to seek a democratic balance between parliament and the executive branch.

ONLY HERE

Former Alpha commander Gennady ZAYTSEV: “The President said: we need to free the White House from the gang holed up there”

A special forces officer talks for the first time about why he refused to carry out an order on October 4, 1993

Gennady Nikolaevich, how did the Alpha and Vympel groups (then part of the Main Security Directorate - the current Federal Security Service of Russia) manage to do without storming the White House and without casualties in 1993?

The president's order was, naturally, not the same as what we did...

Was it a written order?

No. Yeltsin simply said: this is the situation, we need to free the White House from the gang settled there. The order was such that it was necessary to act not by persuasion, but by force of arms.

But it was not terrorists who were sitting there, but our citizens... We decided to send envoys there.

Is that why there was no blood?

How was it not? Our Alpha soldier, junior lieutenant Gennady Sergeev, died... They drove up in an armored personnel carrier to the White House. A wounded paratrooper was lying on the asphalt. And they decided to take him out. They dismounted from the armored vehicle, and at that time a sniper hit Sergeev in the back. But this was not a shot from the White House, I unequivocally declare.

This meanness, it had one purpose - to embitter “Alpha” so that she would rush there and start shredding everything. But I understood that if we abandoned the operation altogether, the unit would be over. It will be overclocked...

Khasbulatov and Rutsky doubted for a long time - to give up or not to give up?

No, not long. We set the time - 20 minutes. And two conditions: either we build a corridor towards the Moscow River, call buses and take everyone to the nearest metro. Or in 20 minutes the assault. They said that they agreed to the first option... One of the deputies directly said: why is there any debate?

What if they hadn't given up?

Not really. Well, how could they not give up? Where are they going? Then they would have been detained by force.

With the use of weapons?

I think no. We had an order not only in relation to them, but in general. But especially in relation to these, of course.

Rutsky and Khasbulatov?

Naturally.

Was there an order to shoot?

Well, understand the reality of the situation. Once there is an order to free the “White House” from the gang entrenched there... So you won’t release it through persuasion. This means we have to fight... But we said: everyone who has a weapon, when leaving the White House, leave it in the lobby. A mountain of weapons formed there... But still, “Alpha” and “Vympel” fell out of favor.

Why?

For one simple reason, that the order had to be carried out using other methods.

That is, by force?

Yes. Therefore, in December 1993, a Presidential Decree was signed on the transfer of Vympel to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

What about Alpha?

I think that Barsukov (at that time the director of the Main Directorate) could have reported to Yeltsin somewhere: they say, this unit no longer exists, and that’s all, Boris Nikolaevich. And they forgot about Alpha. And in 1995 she was transferred to Lubyanka...

Alexander GAMOV.

REVELATION

Andrey DUNAEV, until the summer of 1993, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, supporter of the Supreme Council:

“The snipers were sent from the US Embassy”

If we wanted, we could have stayed in the White House for a month or two. There were stocks of weapons and food. But then civil war would break out. If instead of Khasbulatov there had been a Russian, perhaps everything would have turned out differently. The Rostov riot police, who arrived in Moscow, told me: “Two m...kas are fighting for power. One is Russian, and the other is Chechen. This way we’d better support the Russians.”

They supported not the law, but the Russian Boris.

A few years later, I met former Defense Minister Pavel Grachev at a birthday party. He said: “Do you remember when I walked in front of the tanks without a helmet? This is so you can kill me." That is, he deliberately set himself up. But we didn’t shoot... Before my eyes, an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs died, he was cut down by a sniper from the Mir Hotel. They rushed there, but the shooter managed to get away; only by special signs and style of execution did they understand that this was not the handwriting of our MVD men, not the KGB men, but someone else’s. Apparently, foreign intelligence services. And the instigators were sent from the American embassy. The United States wanted to stir up a civil war and ruin Russia.

Olga KHODAEVA (“Express newspaper”).

Read also other materials about the shooting of parliament in Express Gazeta.

ONLY NUMBERS

People against reprisals

Since 1993, the Yuri Levada Center has conducted regular surveys of the population about those events. If in 1993 51% of respondents considered the use of force justified, and in Moscow - 78%, then 12 years later only 17% of Russians approved the use of force, and 60% were against it.

One of the main problems of the government of B.N. By 1993, Yeltsin's relationship with the opposition had begun. A confrontation developed with the main organizer and center of the opposition - the Russian Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council. This war between the legislative and executive powers brought the already fragile Russian statehood to a dead end.

The conflict between the two branches of government, which determined the development of Russian politics in 1993 and ended in the bloody drama of early October, had a number of reasons. One of the main ones was the growing disagreement over the socio-economic and political course of Russia's development. Supporters of a regulated economy and the national-state direction have established themselves among legislators, while defenders of market reforms find themselves in a clear minority. Change at the helm of government policy by E.T. Gaidar V.S. Chernomyrdin only temporarily reconciled the legislative branch with the executive branch.

An important reason for the antagonism between the branches of power was their lack of experience in interaction within the framework of the system of separation of powers, which Russia practically did not know. As the struggle with the president and the government became more intense, the legislative branch, taking advantage of the right to change the constitution, began to relegate the executive branch to the background. Legislators vested themselves with the broadest powers, including those that, according to the system of separation of powers in any version, should have been the prerogative of the executive and judicial bodies. One of the amendments to the Constitution gave the Supreme Council the right “to suspend the effect of decrees and orders of the President of the Russian Federation, to cancel orders of the Council of Ministers of the republics within the Russian Federation in case of their non-compliance with the laws of the Russian Federation.”

In this sense, bringing the issue of the foundations of the constitutional system to the voters seemed to be at least some way out of the current dramatic situation. However, the Eighth Congress of People's Deputies of Russia, held from March 8 to 12, 1993, vetoed any referendums, and the status quo was consolidated in the relationship between the two authorities in accordance with the principles of the then-current constitution. In response, on March 20, in an address to Russian citizens, Yeltsin announced that he had signed a decree on a special governing procedure until the crisis was overcome and that a referendum on confidence in the president and vice-president of the Russian Federation was scheduled for April 25, as well as on the issue of a draft new constitution and elections of a new parliament. In fact, presidential rule was introduced in the country until the entry into force of the new Constitution. This statement by Yeltsin caused a sharp protest from R. Khasbulatov, A. Rutsky, V. Zorkin and the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Yu. Skokov, and three days after Yeltsin’s speech, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation declared a number of its provisions illegal. The extraordinary congress of people's deputies that met attempted to impeach the president, and after its failure agreed to hold a referendum, but with the wording of the questions approved by the legislators themselves. 64% of voters took part in the referendum held on April 25. Of these, 58.7% expressed confidence in the president, and 53% approved the social policy of the president and the government. The referendum rejected the idea of ​​early re-elections of both the president and legislators.

YELTSIN'S IMPACT

The Russian president struck first. On September 21, by decree 1400, he announced the termination of the powers of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council. Elections to the State Duma were scheduled for December 11-12. In response, the Supreme Council swore in Vice President A. Rutsky as President of the Russian Federation. On September 22, the White House security service began distributing weapons to citizens. On September 23, the Tenth Congress of People's Deputies began at the White House. On the night of September 23-24, armed supporters of the White House, led by Lieutenant Colonel V. Terekhov, made an unsuccessful attempt to seize the headquarters of the United Armed Forces of the CIS on Leningradsky Prospekt, as a result of which the first blood was shed.

On September 27-28, the blockade of the White House began, surrounded by police and riot police. On October 1, as a result of negotiations, the blockade was eased, but in the next two days the dialogue reached a dead end, and on October 3, the White House took decisive action to remove B.N. from power. Yeltsin. In the evening of the same day, at the call of Rutskoi and General A. Makashov, the Moscow City Hall building was seized. Armed defenders of the White House moved towards the Central Television studios in Ostankino. On the night of October 3-4, bloody clashes took place there. By decree of B.N. Yeltsin declared a state of emergency in Moscow, government troops began entering the capital, and the actions of White House supporters were called by the president “an armed fascist-communist rebellion.”

On the morning of October 4, government forces began a siege and tank shelling of the Russian parliament building. By the evening of the same day, it was captured, and its leadership, led by R. Khasbulatov and A. Rutsky, was arrested.

The tragic events, during which, according to official estimates, more than 150 people died, are still perceived differently by different forces and political trends in the Russian Federation. Often these assessments are mutually exclusive. On February 23, 1994, the State Duma declared an amnesty for participants in the events of September-October 1993. Most of the leaders of the Supreme Council and people's deputies who were in the House of Soviets during the assault on October 4 found a place for themselves in current politics, science, business and public service.

YELTSIN'S MAN: TOO MUCH COMPROMISE

« I view the period from the summer of 1991 to the autumn of 1993 as the radical phase of the great bourgeois Russian revolution of the late 20th century, relatively speaking. Or - this formulation belongs to Alexei Mikhailovich Solomin, he also said - The first great revolution of the post-industrial era. Actually, with these events this radical phase ended, and then another historical period began - this is the first.

Secondly, if you go down to a smaller level, it seems to me that this was a consequence of Yeltsin’s too compromising position. My point of view is that he should have dissolved the Congress and the Supreme Council in the spring of 1993, after in fact the actions of the Supreme Council literally contradicted the results of the referendum. It must be said - this is now known - since May 1993, Yeltsin carried in his inner jacket pocket a draft of such a dissolution, which changed all this time. As I said, the Supreme Council gave reasons for this. And then there was maximum popularity, then there was reliance on the referendum decision, it would have been possible to act, and it would not have led to such tragic and bloody events.

Yeltsin took the path of compromise, which is actually typical of him - we consider him so brutal and decisive, in fact, he always looked for a compromise first and tried to drag everyone into the constitutional process. The result of this constitutional process, naturally, was not liked by those who politically opposed it, because it provided for the disappearance of those main bodies that acted under the old Constitution, they defended themselves, and this defense consisted of preparing an attack on Yeltsin, in preparing for the congress, where he was supposed to be removed from office, in the concentration of weapons in the Parliamentary Center on Trubnaya, and so on.”

G.Satarov,assistant to Russian President Boris Yeltsin

WHAT WAS SHOOT IN OCTOBER '93?

“In October 1993, democracy was shot in Russia. Since then, this concept has been discredited in Russia; people are allergic to it. The shooting of the Supreme Council led to autocratic thinking in the country.”