11:30 A.M. Members of the USSR Committee on Constitutional Oversight sign a statement declaring the formation of the Emergency Committee to be without legal foundation. The statement, heavily distorted by the head of the official news agency TASS, Lev Spiridonov, is published in the Tuesday papers.
11:45 A.M. Demonstrators begin arriving at Manezh Square bearing banners of protest. No measures are taken to disperse the crowd. Vladimir Zhirinovskii, leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party, is chased from the square by protesters.
11:54 A.M. An army captain interviewed outside the building of the news agency TASS asserts that his unit would use its weapons against the civilian population if so ordered.
12:19 P.M. A spontaneous gathering takes place on Manezh Square and across from the Moscow City Soviet. Ten armored vehicles arrive from Maiakovskii Square but are blocked by the crowd on Tverskaia Street. The White House is reportedly surrounded by tanks.
12:30 P.M. Armored transport vehicles moving toward the center of Moscow are stopped by the crowd in front of the Moscow City Soviet. Demonstrators mount the vehicles and the vehicles turn back. The Russian tricolor flag appears in the window of the city soviet. Yeltsin is expected to speak.
The spontaneous gathering on Manezh Square now numbers several thousand people and continues to grow. Yeltsin’s address “To the Citizens of Russia” is read and word about Yeltsin’s call for a general strike spreads on Manezh Square. Demonstrators block Tverskaia Street near the Hotel National with two trolley cars.
Tanks have been positioned at all bridges in Moscow. According to Moscow Echo, the Commander of the Moscow Military District, Colonel General Nikolai Kalinin, newly appointed by Yanaev, announces that a state of emergency has been introduced in Moscow.
Chairman of the USSR Supreme Soviet Anatolii Lukianov has announced his intention to convene an emergency session of the USSR Supreme Soviet on August 26 and suggests that committees of the Supreme Soviet begin to consider the decrees of the Emergency Committee.
1:00 P.M. Yeltsin has emerged from the White House and mounted Tank No. 110 of the Taman Division, from which he appeals to Muscovites and all the citizens of Russia to give a worthy response to those involved in the putsch and to demand the return of the nation to normal constitutional development. Standing next to Yeltsin, Nikolai Vorontsov and General Konstantin Kobets also address the small crowd.
1:30 P.M. Military vehicles continue to mass around Manezh and Theater Squares. A motorized rifle unit is posted at the Bolshoi Theater. Buses with special assault troops are parked near the Historical Museum. Demonstrators again stop armored carriers between Manezh Square and Alexander Garden. Army Major Viktor Gogolev publicly announces that there are no orders to shoot A Moscow City Soviet Deputy announces to the crowd that two factories are out on strike [unconfirmed] and People’s Deputy Telman Gdlian has been arrested.
A group of demonstrators leaves for the White House. A large concentration of military personnel is observed in the vicinity of the White House.
Ruslan Khasbulatov has announced that the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet has resolved to convene an emergency session of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation to be held on August 21. One issue will be on the agenda: “The political situation in the republic owing to the coup d’état.”
1:35 P.M. Major General Aleksandr Lebed arrives at the White House on the orders of the Commander of the Airborne Paratrooper Forces (APF), Colonel General Pavel Grachev, to take command of the defense of the White House with the Second Battalion of the Riazan Regiment of the APF. The mission is accomplished that night.
2:00 P.M. The Central Telegraph in Moscow, now controlled by a troop of military personnel from the Taman Division, has terminated intercity and international communications.
People’s Deputies of the Russian Federation have called on the Muscovites to come to the White House to defend it from possible attack.
2:37 P.M. In Leningrad, Nina Andreeva, an outspoken conservative, expresses full support for the coup and the expectation that a majority of the Soviet population will support it, with the exception of Moscow and Leningrad.
2:43 P.M. In Leningrad, an emergency session of the Leningrad Soviet is to be convened at 4:00 P.M. A crowd of about 1,000 people gathers outside the building.
3:10 P.M. The Commander of the Air Defense Forces, Colonel General Maltsev, has issued the following order over the telephone: “There have been attempts on the part of people close to Gorbachev to break through to Gorbachev. If such attempts are repeated, I order you to arrest all involved and hand them over to the KGB.” This information is publicized by Sergei Stankevich on August 20 over the White House intercom system.
3:28 P.M. According to the Russian Information Agency, Gorbachev is under house arrest at his dacha in the Crimea.
The Memorial Society issues a statement condemning the coup.
3:30 P.M. At the White House, barricades are erected out of stones and bricks to prevent the storming of the building which, as rumor has it, will begin at 4:00 P.M. In the White House, a staff for the defense of the building is organized under Colonel General Konstantin Kobets, designated Chairman of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Defense. [The decree confirming the appointment is signed on August 20.]
4:00 P.M. The air space over and the sea and approaches to Gorbachev’s residence in Foros have been declared off limits by the Emergency Committee.
4:47 P.M. Yeltsin has issued Decree No. 61 transferring all executive organs, including the KGB, the MVD, and the Defense Ministry at the All-Union level, to his authority within the Russian Federation.
4:57 P.M. The Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation issues the resolution “On the Illegal Introduction of the State of Emergency” supporting Yeltsin’s “Appeal to the Citizens of Russia” and Decree No. 61. The Leningrad City Soviet issues a similar statement.
5:00 P.M. In Moscow, Russian Prime Minister Ivan Silaev holds a meeting near the White House and reads the two presidential decrees and the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation. He calls upon Muscovites and Russians to oppose the unconstitutional coup d’état. He states that the whereabouts of Gorbachev are unknown to the Russian leadership.
Armored carriers clear all approaches to Manezh Square. The trolleycars overturned by demonstrators across from Tverskaia Street are removed and armored vehicles placed along all streets leading to the square. An officer requests that the gathering disperse, but the crowd is now growing again. Copies of the presidential address and decree shower down onto Tverskaia Street from windows in the Moscow City Soviet.
Meanwhile, Yanaev, Pugo, Baklanov, Starodubtsev, and Tiziakov are holding a press conference at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press Center. Yanaev states that Gorbachev “is resting and undergoing medical treatment in the Crimea.” He explains that the state of emergency has been declared “in a very difficult period for the country in order to avoid excesses of any sort.”
5:10 P.M. Yeltsin issues his Appeal of the President of Russia to Soldiers and Officers of the USSR Armed Forces, the KGB, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs [MVD]. Characterizing the actions of the Emergency Committee, he says: “The ‘order’ promised us by the self-appointed saviors of the Fatherland will end in wholesale suppression of dissent, concentration camps, and nighttime arrests.”
In Moscow, tanks and military vehicles attempting to cross Borodin Bridge toward the city center were stopped by demonstrators who have blocked the route with buses and trolleycars. The military forces turn back, with one officer firing his automatic rifle into the air.