5:15 P.M. The barricades around the White House have been reinforced with concrete blocks and dumpsters, but there has been no attempt to storm the building. Several thousand Muscovites have formed a human chain around the building complex in order to defend it.
5:30 P.M. Yeltsin has issued Presidential Decree No. 62 creating “a government in exile,” including Vice Premier Oleg Lobov; member of the Presidium of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet, Sergei Krasavchenko; and member of the State Council, Aleksei Yablokov. They leave Moscow for Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg) and establish temporary headquarters in a special bunker 70 kilometers outside the city.
The USSR Central Bank has announced that it is terminating the sale of hard currency to citizens going abroad on personal business.
5:55 P.M. At the emergency session of the Leningrad Soviet, the deputies oppose the introduction of a state of emergency in the city. Sobchak has flown to Leningrad from Moscow. All approaches and entries to the Leningrad Soviet have been blocked by trucks.
6:00 P.M. A meeting of the USSR Council of Ministers is convened by Valentin Pavlov to discuss the operation of the economy under the state of emergency. Among the ministers present at the meeting, only Minister of Culture Nikolai Gubenko and Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Management Nikolai Vorontsov express their loyalty to President Gorbachev. Vorontsov offers to serve as an intermediary between the Emergency Committee and the Russian leadership in the White House.
A scheduled plenary session of the CPSU Central Committee is postponed until the USSR Supreme Soviet has been convened to discuss the introduction of the state of emergency.
6:38 P.M. Yeltsin has issued his Appeal of the President of Russia to the Patriarch of All Russia.
7:00 P.M. The Congress of Compatriots opens in Moscow. Yeltsin is now not expected to officially open the congress as planned for 7:00 P.M. Participants in the congress issue no statement regarding the unfolding events in the country.
7:20 P.M. Leningrad Mayor Anatolii Sobchak appears on Leningrad television’s program “Fakt” along with Deputy Mayor Viacheslav Shcherbakov and the head of the Leningrad Regional Soviet, Yurii Yarov. Sobchak calls for a political strike and a rally to take place the following day on St. Isaac’s Square. Earlier in the day, Sobchak reported at an emergency session of the Leningrad City Soviet that President Gorbachev had been asked to resign but had refused and demanded to be allowed to make a televised appearance. Sobchak’s speech at the session of the city soviet was broadcast live by radio to St. Isaac’s Square where a protest rally was taking place. The work of erecting barricades has continued outside the city soviet.
8:08 P.M. The press center of the Leningrad KGB acknowledges that the introduction of the state of emergency came as a surprise to many KGB officers. It appears that support for the State Emergency Committee within the KGB is far from unanimous.
8:52 P.M. The Russian Information Agency reports that Yeltsin has addressed several thousand people gathered outside the White House. He announced that the Russian government would remain in the White House around the clock.
9:00 P.M. The USSR television news program “Vremia” goes on the air according to its regular schedule. In addition to the reading of the Emergency Committee decrees, the program contains sensational reports from Moscow and Leningrad showing—in a sympathetic light—mass resistance to the coup.
9:40 P.M. The “Vremia” studio receives irate phone calls from, among others, Boris Pugo, CPSU Politburo member Aleksandr Dzasokhov, and the head of the Moscow Party organization, Yurii Prokofiev, who are outraged by the report from Moscow. Finally, Yanaev calls and says that “it was a good, balanced report.”
10:00 P.M. An announcement is made on the newly created Radio of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation—Radio Russia—broadcasting from the White House to clear away the barricades to make way for a tank unit from the Taman Division which will guard the White House during the storming that is now expected to come during the night. Shortly thereafter the tank unit, commanded by Major Sergei Yevdokimov, takes up its guard post.
Eight armored scout vehicles flying the Russian tricolor arrive at the White House under the command of Major General Aleksandr Lebed. Lebed reportedly announces that he and airborne troops from the Tula Division have arrived to protect the legal Russian authorities on orders from the APF commander, Colonel General Pavel Grachev.
10:20 P.M. Human rights activist Yelena Bonner calls upon Muscovites to “defend freedom.”
10:30 P.M. Yeltsin signs a decree (No. 63) naming and condemning the leaders of the coup for their criminal acts. He appeals to all organs of state to uphold the Constitution and offers legal protection to officials disobeying the orders of the Emergency Committee. This is the last decree issued during the first day of the coup.
According to a press release of the Emergency Committee, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation has ordered that cadets from the academies of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs be transferred, fully armed, to Moscow no later than August 21. Acting on orders from the Emergency Committee, the USSR Minister of Internal Affairs has voided the orders of Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
11:30 P.M. The independent news agencies Interfax and Postfactum as well as the Russian Information Agency are still operating. Copies of the underground editions of Nezavisimaia gazeta and Kuranty are circulated.
Moscow Mayor Gavriil Popov returns to Moscow and addresses the crowd outside the White House.
August 20, 1991
12:00 A.M. Five of thirteen mines in Vorkuta go on strike. By noon three more mines have joined the protest. It is expected that the remaining five will go on strike as well. Miners in the Kuzbass also prepare for strikes.
Personnel of the radio station Moscow Echo have been informed that the Sklifosovskii Emergency Medicine Institute, which has the largest facility for emergency treatment in Moscow, is preparing to receive large numbers of wounded.
12:15 A.M. The Russian Information Agency reports that the leadership of the army, the MVD, and the KGB as well as members of the Emergency Committee itself are vacillating in their support of the coup.
In Leningrad, Mayor Sobchak holds a press conference and predicts the defeat of the coup. He states that all the deputies favor convening an Extraordinary Session of the Congress of People’s Deputies of the USSR. He also says that General Samsonov has given his word of honor that military forces will not be moved into the city. Nonetheless, there are reports of troops and tank columns moving toward Leningrad. Meanwhile, the mayoral offices have been barricaded and Molotov cocktails readied. A guard for the building is assembled out of officers of the OMON and Afghan war veterans.
1:00 A.M. Half the telephones in Ivan Silaev’s office have been disconnected, complicating his communications with government officials in other parts of Russia.
Nearly 10,000 people have assembled outside the White House. Self-defense units are being formed.
2:00–3:00 A.M. There is a report that Yeltsin tried to contact Yanaev, unsuccessfully. Later, Yeltsin reaches Yanaev, who tells him that Gorbachev is not yet capable of performing his duties owing to the state of his health.
3:11 A.M. There is an unconfirmed report that Gorbachev flew out of Simferopol the evening of August 19, his destination was unknown. Witnesses report that he appeared to be in good health.
4:00 A.M. Demonstrators believe that the storming of the White House is imminent. The people who spent the night defending the building appeal to Muscovites to relieve them so that they can go home and rest. According to the independent news agency Interfax, Ivan Silaev appealed to the defenders of the White House not to disperse “until people come to relieve you.”