1 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: August nineteen, my husband and I were woken up by 2 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: a telephone call. It was six thirty in the morning. 3 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 1: It's August nineteen ninety one and Marsha Lipman had just 4 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: started working for the Washington Post in Moscow. I woke up. 5 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: I picked up the receiver. It was a friend from California, 6 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: and what she told me was switch on television. Isn't 7 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: what what are you talking about? It's six thirty year 8 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:44,840 Speaker 1: and she said, switch on television. There is a political 9 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: coop in Moscow. There was a presenter there reading this 10 00:00:52,360 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: litany of stale, recognizable communists speak. Has stepped down, he's 11 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:05,680 Speaker 1: too sick to do his duties. A new political committee 12 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:10,560 Speaker 1: is now in charge of the country. And I realized that, yes, indeed, 13 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 1: something absolutely horrible was happening, that after years of liberal 14 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: reform under Gorbachev, a coup was underway, a coup by 15 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,800 Speaker 1: hardliners determined to take the Soviet Union backwards in time, 16 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: away from democracy, back to the old authoritarian days. My husband, 17 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,759 Speaker 1: by the time, of course, was also awake, and we 18 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:37,279 Speaker 1: were standing there in front of the television. I remember 19 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 1: we're holding hands without normally do this, you know, standing 20 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:43,600 Speaker 1: in front of me television at six thirty in the morning, 21 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: held it hands, but it was like he wanted to 22 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: hold on to something. Over the next three days, the 23 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 1: Soviet people were going to live through Communism's final reckoning, 24 00:01:55,280 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: three days that would change the world forever. I'm Lance 25 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: bass And from Kaleidoscope Exile and iHeart podcasts. This is 26 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:15,239 Speaker 1: the Last Soviet. In the last episode, we left Serge 27 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,960 Speaker 1: Kraklev weighing up the decision of a lifetime stay in 28 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: space and save the galaxy's only space station, or go 29 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:28,000 Speaker 1: back home to Earth, to Moscow, to his wife and daughter. 30 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what was going through his head 31 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: at the time, but whenever I make a big decision, 32 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,080 Speaker 1: like when I had to decide whether to train in 33 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: the Russian Space Program, it feels like my brain is 34 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 1: playing a game of ping pong, conflicting thoughts bouncing back 35 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:47,079 Speaker 1: and forth. Suddenly you feel like you've reached some clarity, 36 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: and then a new thought just slams its way in. 37 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 1: It's agony, and Serge had a lot of things to 38 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: weigh up. First, he had his family to think about. 39 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,239 Speaker 1: They were prepared for him to leave for five months, 40 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: which was hard enough. But if he stayed, they'd have 41 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: no idea when sarage would come home. In a BBC 42 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: documentary from nineteen ninety three, Saragey's wife, Yelena, says, I 43 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: was so upset at this point. He was meant to 44 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: be more than halfway through his five month mission, and 45 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 1: my soul and my heart, I kept thinking, just a 46 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: little longer and he'll be back home. All the while, 47 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: Saragey is concerned about his family's safety. He knows how 48 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: his country is disintegrating, the poverty, the chaos on the streets. 49 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: Anything could happen. And it's not just what's happening on 50 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: the ground that's wearing Saragey. It's also what might happen 51 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: to him to his body, because the thing is humans 52 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: aren't actually meant to live in a tin can. In 53 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: space and zero gravity, your bones lose density, your muscles weaken. 54 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: Then there's the space sickness, nausea and dizziness. Your immune 55 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: system starts to break down, you have trouble sleeping. A 56 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: few people have been in space longer than six months, 57 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: So sarage just didn't know what would happen to him. 58 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:26,520 Speaker 1: That's sarage from the same BBC documentary. He says, first 59 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:29,279 Speaker 1: of all, I had to ask myself, do I actually 60 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 1: have enough strength to stay mentally physically Sarah says, of 61 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: course I had doubts. So there are a lot of 62 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,680 Speaker 1: reasons for saraga to think, actually, I don't want to 63 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: do this. But perhaps there was something else at the 64 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:55,159 Speaker 1: back of Saragey's mind. Because sarage was dedicated to a dream, 65 00:04:55,279 --> 00:05:03,159 Speaker 1: the dream of the Soviet Union dominating space. Well, ministers 66 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:18,880 Speaker 1: and all her subdues have been captivated by the charm 67 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: of Gagarin was Saragei's hero. He was the first one 68 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: of us, sarage says, the first to step into the 69 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 1: great unknown should and so perhaps the thing he focuses 70 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:39,600 Speaker 1: on is that dream of Gagarin, the hero cosmonaut, there 71 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: to serve the Soviet Union at all costs, because in 72 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:47,280 Speaker 1: the end, that's what sarage was trained to do, to serve, 73 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 1: to do his job. He says, he felt in his 74 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: heart that he could do it, his mind, his body, 75 00:05:55,640 --> 00:06:00,719 Speaker 1: he was prepared for this comes up on it, and 76 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:06,239 Speaker 1: so he dials into mission control and he tells them 77 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: I will stay, stay to protect the station and serve 78 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: my country. But what he didn't know then was that 79 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:19,680 Speaker 1: just a month later everything would change once again. Good evening, 80 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: the stunning overthrow of Mikael Garbatoff by Communist hardliners dominates 81 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:27,480 Speaker 1: the news this Monday. Garbertroff is reported under house arrest 82 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:43,719 Speaker 1: as Soviet tanks took our positions throughout Moscow. At seven 83 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: am on the Soviet space station, Sergei Krikilev unhooks himself 84 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,320 Speaker 1: from his face caught It doesn't sleep well these days, 85 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 1: lying awake for what feels like forever, occasionally falling in 86 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:59,040 Speaker 1: and out of frenetic dreams. He floats into the station's 87 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 1: main module and gets ready for his daily check in. 88 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 1: But before he has a chance to read out his vitals, 89 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:14,440 Speaker 1: the Michian control plays him an urgent broadcast. President Gorbachev 90 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:17,080 Speaker 1: has stepped down. He's too sick to do his due 91 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: to us. A new political committee is now in charge 92 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 1: of the country. What serge is hearing is the beginning 93 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: of a coup by Communist hardliners against the President Mikhail Korbachev. 94 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:37,480 Speaker 1: These hardliners were old school party big wigs in the bureaucracy. 95 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: Para Streicher is designed to take authority away military leaders. 96 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: The military is worried about losing its political cloud, and 97 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 1: high ranking members of the KGB, the secret police, are 98 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,360 Speaker 1: worried they're going to lose political control of the people. 99 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 1: They believed that the Soviet Empire was something to be 100 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 1: proud of. In some ways, these guys were the original 101 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:00,280 Speaker 1: versions of Vladimir Putin, someone who has written and spoken 102 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: about restoring Russia to the glory days of the Soviet Union. 103 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,000 Speaker 1: He's talked about reuniting the Greater Soviet Union, and now 104 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 1: he's been bumping up this Soviet nostalgia. Yea, he was 105 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 1: actually all about making Russia grade again, long before titald 106 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: Trump was talking about making America grade again. By looking 107 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: backwards back in nineteen ninety one, the hardliners had the 108 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 1: same aim and so they got together in shadowy back 109 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 1: rooms and had whispered conversations about what to do, and 110 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:37,560 Speaker 1: eventually they came up with an idea, a plan to 111 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: stage a military coup in Moscow, and on August nineteenth, 112 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:46,840 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one, they decided it was their time to act. 113 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:54,640 Speaker 1: From ADC. This is a special edition of World News 114 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: Tonight with Peter Jenning. The first thing they do is 115 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: lock up Gorbachev at his dacha or summer house and Crimea. 116 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:05,360 Speaker 1: They put him under house arrest with no communication to 117 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: the outside world. There's a lot we know tonight hand 118 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 1: still a lot we do not know. There's been no 119 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,440 Speaker 1: word from mister Germatophy. Even as specific whereabouts are not known, 120 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 1: it is assumed he is not free. Then they seize 121 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 1: the meeting. Being of somber music on Soviet television was 122 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:22,600 Speaker 1: one of the first clues here that something had happened. 123 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:26,680 Speaker 1: Some people thought somewhat important had died. Early in the morning, 124 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:29,120 Speaker 1: they ordered the army to take over the main television 125 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: tower in the north of Moscow. Gas media has been 126 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:35,280 Speaker 1: taken over by this emergency committee. Newspapers are not answering 127 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:38,480 Speaker 1: their phones. Clearly glass nows to openness is under attack. 128 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:43,120 Speaker 1: All scheduled programming is replaced by the ballet swan Lake 129 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:50,320 Speaker 1: on loop. It's interspersed with news flashes. A man in 130 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:53,960 Speaker 1: glasses awkwardly reading a prepared statement from a piece of paper. 131 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:01,440 Speaker 1: This is what Sergei and millions of other Soviets were 132 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:07,080 Speaker 1: hearing that morning. Were waiting, confused, listening to Tchaikovsky over 133 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: and over, were standing in frother me television at six 134 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 1: thirty in the morning. Hold it hands, that's Musha Litman again. 135 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:18,960 Speaker 1: It was like he wanted to hold on to something 136 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:24,720 Speaker 1: because the effect, the shock was immediate and strong in 137 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 1: the sense was that everything that will have just lived through, 138 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: those times of opening up, of freedom, of wild dreams 139 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:39,880 Speaker 1: coming through, of old constraints falling apart, that this is 140 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:52,959 Speaker 1: about to be over. Both parents they lived in fear. 141 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: They unfortunately brought me up in fear. And I dreamed 142 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:01,640 Speaker 1: and expected that my children would not grow up in fear. 143 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:04,680 Speaker 1: I had such wonderful dreams about them growing up in 144 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:08,360 Speaker 1: a free atmosphere. And suddenly it was cut off. It 145 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:13,240 Speaker 1: was being taken away from us with that presenter reading 146 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: from his papers. But Masha isn't going to give away 147 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: her children's freedom so easily. We need to find out 148 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:28,040 Speaker 1: whether there would be resistance. She heads out on the streets, 149 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:33,120 Speaker 1: and that's when she sees the tanks mingling with the 150 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: rush hour traffic. Red army armored personnel carriers on the 151 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:42,959 Speaker 1: streets of Moscow this morning, heading south towards the River Moscow, 152 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 1: towards the White House, the seat of the Russian Parliament. 153 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 1: Tanks from the sofa. Immediately, she has one question on 154 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: her Moscow. Would the people join the coup or would 155 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:58,319 Speaker 1: they fight back? Christnell carriers rolled by carrying scores of truth, 156 00:11:58,559 --> 00:12:02,040 Speaker 1: some of them brandishing machine guns. When she reached the 157 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: parliament she has her answer. This was the best street 158 00:12:06,679 --> 00:12:12,360 Speaker 1: party ever held in Moscow. Ardamy Troitsky as a culture 159 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:16,079 Speaker 1: journalist in music critic, but at this moment in time 160 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 1: he was working on an independent TV news channel, a 161 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:22,840 Speaker 1: channel that supported democracy, and as soon as he heard 162 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:25,439 Speaker 1: news of the coup he headed out onto the streets. 163 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:32,400 Speaker 1: It was really like a huge political rave, and of 164 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 1: course it was happening round the clock. It was incredible. 165 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 1: I've never seen anything like these, neither before nor after. 166 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:45,880 Speaker 1: Tanks lined up in front of the Russian Parliament and 167 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 1: stopping them, a huge crowd shouting, singing songs, saying no, 168 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:54,920 Speaker 1: they didn't want to go backwards, and he gathered around 169 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:59,600 Speaker 1: tanks for rating the soldiers. One woman chattered angrily, you 170 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:05,320 Speaker 1: are fascists. They wanted freedom, democracy. They were even trying 171 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:08,440 Speaker 1: to block the tanks with their bodies. One man laid 172 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:10,600 Speaker 1: down in front of a tank to try to halt 173 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:14,800 Speaker 1: its progress. They also started to build barricades. We makeshift 174 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:19,160 Speaker 1: barricades with whatever piece of disused machinery or brickwork was available, 175 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:24,960 Speaker 1: barricades being made out of cars and the buses. One 176 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:28,760 Speaker 1: crane driver joined the effort, shifting concrete blocks to the 177 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:34,320 Speaker 1: delight of the crown. Pieces of methyl and wood and lanterns, 178 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: I think build the obstacles designed to prevent any army 179 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:40,920 Speaker 1: attempt to seize the Russian Parliament building. Of course, they 180 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:45,120 Speaker 1: were also faming fun. I mean they communicated, they sang songs, 181 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: they flirted. The energy was tremendous because on one hand, 182 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: of course people they've been afraid, but they fought this fear. 183 00:13:55,520 --> 00:14:00,480 Speaker 1: It was electric. It felt like anything could happen. Some 184 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:04,320 Speaker 1: people were drinking. Indeed there was some boos, but not 185 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:07,439 Speaker 1: a lot of it because we got high on other things. 186 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:11,880 Speaker 1: So we got high on revolution, not on alcohol or grass. 187 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 1: The Soviet people had turned up. They weren't going to 188 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,160 Speaker 1: roll over and let the tanks take away their dreams 189 00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:29,800 Speaker 1: of a freer, more open country. But as day turned 190 00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:33,000 Speaker 1: to night, the party atmosphere started to turn from joy 191 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: to fear. Tonight, small groups of Muscovites gathered around bonfires, 192 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 1: determined to see what further action the military will take, 193 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:44,440 Speaker 1: and ur Timmy noticed a sense of dread making its 194 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:47,040 Speaker 1: way through the crowd. I think that there was a 195 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:51,920 Speaker 1: great deal of anxiety. Soldiers have sealed off the Russian parliament. Inside, 196 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:55,880 Speaker 1: officials watch nervously. There were a lot of rumors, increasingly 197 00:14:55,920 --> 00:15:00,480 Speaker 1: certain that Russia's great experiment with democracy has suffered irrevers blow. 198 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:04,440 Speaker 1: A lot of rumors coming all the time from everywhere, 199 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: Some rumors who were rather frightening, like you know, there 200 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:14,720 Speaker 1: is a KGB division coming to Moscow from somewhere and 201 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 1: they are real killers. We are told that they fear 202 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: an attack by military forces loyal to the Committee of Eight. 203 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 1: We've all seen it happen before. In fact, it happened 204 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: just a couple of years earlier in China, a brutal 205 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:32,840 Speaker 1: massacre of Chinese students and other protesters by the Chinese army, 206 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:36,359 Speaker 1: where Chinese soldiers shot and killed hundreds of pro democracy 207 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:40,280 Speaker 1: protesters in Tenement Square in Beijing. There was a volley 208 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:43,400 Speaker 1: of tear gas ben without warning, the army opened up 209 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:48,200 Speaker 1: with bullets, firing indiscriminately at the crowd. As nightfalls, the 210 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,240 Speaker 1: people on the streets of Moscow can't help but think 211 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:58,800 Speaker 1: maybe this is about to happen to them. We managed 212 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:02,560 Speaker 1: to get a room at a hotel overlooking the barricades 213 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:07,240 Speaker 1: and overlooking the White House. That's Serge Schmimon, the New 214 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:09,960 Speaker 1: York Times correspondent we've been hearing from through the series. 215 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 1: He has a prime spot overlooking the battle outside the 216 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:20,000 Speaker 1: Russian Parliament, and what he sees is terrifying. So then 217 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: we all realize that these barricades, dramatic as they are, 218 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 1: you know, they looked like all these images of revolutions 219 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:31,440 Speaker 1: past with flags and slogans, but that they're totally useless 220 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: against tanks. The flimsy barricades the people had built were 221 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: symbolic they were going to be there, you know, to 222 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:43,160 Speaker 1: protect the future against the past. And then that night 223 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:47,320 Speaker 1: something happened that made everyone think the past was about 224 00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:51,600 Speaker 1: to destroy the future. An extraordinary drama here in Moscow tonight, 225 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 1: it seems of destruction of fire on the street, three 226 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 1: tanks drove towards the Parliament. The tanks were commanded by 227 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,960 Speaker 1: a guy called Sergey Sorofkin, who until recently was head 228 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,920 Speaker 1: of the Russian Army in Ukraine. To reach the building, 229 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:11,840 Speaker 1: they had to get through a narrow underpass. They were 230 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: going down to hunder pass, and that's when the people attacked. 231 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:21,439 Speaker 1: Within minutes, the tanks were surrounded mobbed by a crowd. 232 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 1: They were stuck. They got themselves crapped. From there, young 233 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:29,680 Speaker 1: men hurled rocks of Molotov cocktails. Because they were being 234 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 1: fulted by rocks and molotov cocktail. Two men climbed on 235 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:37,240 Speaker 1: board of one of the tanks. Then one of the 236 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:42,840 Speaker 1: hundred pertainel carriers caught fire. It then slammed into the barricade, 237 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:48,679 Speaker 1: and as the smoke cleared, three protesters laid down, one 238 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:53,920 Speaker 1: who said that shold the fulpened fire into the crowd, 239 00:17:54,040 --> 00:18:17,919 Speaker 1: and one were definitely shot in the head. On the 240 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:21,359 Speaker 1: Soviet space station, Serge is reading about all this drama 241 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:25,920 Speaker 1: on Maggie's bulletin board. I'd rewrite articles in very simple English. 242 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:28,440 Speaker 1: They would connect. It's like my own system was a 243 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:32,600 Speaker 1: tiny bulletin board, and they called it Rita, which is 244 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:36,200 Speaker 1: my name in Russian. So Rita's information. So I was 245 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:42,320 Speaker 1: their information source. And so he reads the news. Maggie 246 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:45,720 Speaker 1: sent him shots in the nights. He read about an 247 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:49,399 Speaker 1: old world represented by taints and a new one represented 248 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: by the people, the people and the security forces, has 249 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:55,080 Speaker 1: not been seen since the early days of the Russian Revolution. 250 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 1: He read about the violence and the deaths of the protesters, 251 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:02,040 Speaker 1: the Soviet food tones blood with three protest is killed, 252 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,200 Speaker 1: and the more Sergey read, the more he became charged 253 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 1: with injustice. Soviet tanks should not be attacking the Soviet people. 254 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:14,199 Speaker 1: It's not in the spirit of the ideals. He grew up, 255 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:20,400 Speaker 1: serving ideals that focused on honor and virtue. And by 256 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:24,000 Speaker 1: the evening Sergey had made up his mind. He was 257 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:27,399 Speaker 1: going to do something no serving cosmonaut had done before. 258 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:34,960 Speaker 1: He was going to make a political statement, and so 259 00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:37,240 Speaker 1: he wrote a message to send out over the ham 260 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:42,920 Speaker 1: radio waves, a message from outer space, his attempt to 261 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:46,360 Speaker 1: tell his countrymen this is where I stand as a cosmonaut. 262 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:52,399 Speaker 1: And the message went like this, we stand with Gorbachev. 263 00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:57,680 Speaker 1: We denounced the coup and I think that's a very 264 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:00,919 Speaker 1: brave act what they did. This is Gaya Quinto on 265 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 1: an Australian radio show. Well, because that went out to 266 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,280 Speaker 1: the world, didn't Yes, it certainly did. It was it 267 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: was on their space stations as a message which could 268 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:12,639 Speaker 1: be read by all hand radio operators and which was 269 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:17,520 Speaker 1: read by them. And when Garabachev disappeared, no one knew 270 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:19,800 Speaker 1: when he was coming back. And they're left in a 271 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:23,159 Speaker 1: fairly precarious position out there, and they are dependent on 272 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:28,199 Speaker 1: people on earth, and yet they sided with Gabachov and 273 00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:32,600 Speaker 1: he didn't come back. It's very courageous. It was courageous 274 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:36,480 Speaker 1: because if Gorbachev's side lost, who knew what would happen 275 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:40,040 Speaker 1: to Sergei and his family back home. This was a coup. 276 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: It was reported that coup leaders ordered two hundred and 277 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: fifty thousand pairs of handcuffs from a factory outside of 278 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:51,120 Speaker 1: Moscow in preparation for their victory. The infamous KGB jail 279 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:55,040 Speaker 1: was also cleared out, ready to take new prisoners. Those 280 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:58,119 Speaker 1: who opposed the coup, especially such high ranking members of 281 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:04,439 Speaker 1: Soviet society as Cosmonaut, risked prison by speaking out or worse. 282 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:10,000 Speaker 1: And at that point it looked like the coup was 283 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:20,280 Speaker 1: going to be successful. Three protesters lay down, and now 284 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:23,439 Speaker 1: a hush silence fell over the city, and there were 285 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:28,359 Speaker 1: constant rumors they're coming, and all night people waited for 286 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:31,760 Speaker 1: the tanks, waited for the tanks that would kill them 287 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:37,159 Speaker 1: in their thousands. But the night went on and the 288 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: darkness began to lift, and of course in Russia and 289 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:43,440 Speaker 1: the summer, the night is short, and as the sun 290 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:47,600 Speaker 1: began to rise, an extraordinary scene greeted the protesters. For 291 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:50,320 Speaker 1: a moment, it seemed the situation was out of control. 292 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 1: But during the night, the new leadership had lost their love. 293 00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:57,840 Speaker 1: The soldiers were gone. The young conscript soldiers on the 294 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:01,399 Speaker 1: streets were bewildered. They too were victims of this coup. 295 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:05,120 Speaker 1: It was one of the most remarkable feelings because there 296 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 1: was no announcement. It was just obvious this coup had failed. 297 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:14,920 Speaker 1: It had failed because nobody joined it, not even Sergei, 298 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 1: not even the dedicated communist cosmonaut Closeted inside the Kremlin, 299 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:23,320 Speaker 1: the acting president Yanaiev and the other plotters decided they 300 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:26,760 Speaker 1: could no longer stay in the city. As they fled 301 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: down the airport road, it was a humiliation, an extraordinary 302 00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:34,720 Speaker 1: climb down. The people had won, and now out in 303 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:37,160 Speaker 1: the city, there was a different feeling in the air, 304 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:42,080 Speaker 1: a sense that we were entering new, uncharted waters. It's 305 00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:46,320 Speaker 1: the feeling I remember most clearly. Tired as hell had 306 00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 1: and slept, it had napped and people had made little 307 00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:54,560 Speaker 1: bonfires around, you know, to cook on. And the bonfires 308 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 1: were put out, and people moved slowly. They got up, 309 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:01,919 Speaker 1: they gathered up their longings, whatever they had brought for 310 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:05,320 Speaker 1: the vigil. The vast crowd had gathered to remember three 311 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 1: victims of the coup, but in reality they were recording 312 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,240 Speaker 1: how close the country had come to disaster. The vigil 313 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:16,760 Speaker 1: to honor the three dead young men, and then silence, 314 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:21,639 Speaker 1: breathtaking stillness, as the crowd stood to remember and honor 315 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:32,359 Speaker 1: the victims of the coup and slowly started walking back 316 00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:36,400 Speaker 1: into the city, smiling, laughing. You know, it was just 317 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:40,840 Speaker 1: the feeling of the most pure kind of happiness. There 318 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:43,840 Speaker 1: was nothing to say. There were moments of high emotion, 319 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:48,159 Speaker 1: some fighting back tears. It was just a beautiful August 320 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:52,440 Speaker 1: morning in Moscow, and people were going home because they 321 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:55,920 Speaker 1: had defeated this coup. Many people spoke of this being 322 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:59,200 Speaker 1: a funeral not just for the three men, but perhaps 323 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:03,400 Speaker 1: for the Communist party itself. That marked a total turning 324 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:07,399 Speaker 1: point in then the fate of what was left of 325 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union. Victorious protesters marched through the streets, a 326 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 1: tide of people, bringing with them the banner of independence, 327 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,479 Speaker 1: a huge Russian flag and shouts of down with the 328 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:23,119 Speaker 1: Communist Party tearing down signs at the Communist Party headquarters 329 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: during a day of proud and peaceful attacks on the 330 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:29,639 Speaker 1: symbols of Communist Russia and scrawling freedom, Freedom across the 331 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:33,400 Speaker 1: walls of the KGB, croud revering in the party's humiliation. 332 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,040 Speaker 1: Then they reached the statue of Felix de Zinski, the 333 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:41,080 Speaker 1: infamous leader of the Soviet Union security forces. By this evening, 334 00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 1: the demonstrators outside the Luvianko were preparing to tear down 335 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,280 Speaker 1: the statue. There was a noose around his neck. Next, 336 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:50,720 Speaker 1: metal cables were attached to the statue. The crane actually 337 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:54,639 Speaker 1: tore him off. The journalist Masha Littman was watching on TV, 338 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:57,040 Speaker 1: and he was dangling in the air for a while. 339 00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:00,920 Speaker 1: One elderly Russian and the crowd said, through lives all 340 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,480 Speaker 1: my life. But I am glad I lived long enough 341 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:08,080 Speaker 1: to see this. The people had taken back power, and 342 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 1: that was only the start of it. All around the 343 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:18,119 Speaker 1: Soviet Union, statues of the great heroes of the USSR 344 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:24,080 Speaker 1: began falling, stalins and linens and Braznev's all over the country. 345 00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:28,640 Speaker 1: The attack at Trzynski was an attack at the KGP, 346 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:33,040 Speaker 1: It was an attack at the Soviet's regime. It was 347 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 1: an attack at the omnipotent government that held its population 348 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:43,720 Speaker 1: and fear. People were no longer scared, and the interfere 349 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:49,040 Speaker 1: really marked the end of the Soviet Union. Within a 350 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,480 Speaker 1: few months, the hammer and sickle was lowered over the 351 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:54,879 Speaker 1: Kremlin and replaced by the now familiar white, blue and 352 00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:59,800 Speaker 1: red of the Russian tricolor. For most people, this was 353 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:06,640 Speaker 1: a moment of celebration, but for Saragey and the space program, 354 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:09,520 Speaker 1: the collapse of the Soviet Union meant they had no 355 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:13,600 Speaker 1: idea what their own future looked like. And it's at 356 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:18,560 Speaker 1: this point that Maggie, Sarage's friend from Australia, begins to 357 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:26,080 Speaker 1: hear rumors something is wrong on the space station. Journalists 358 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,600 Speaker 1: rang up Saragey's wife and asked her about his illness, 359 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:33,720 Speaker 1: which is must have been rather devastating for her to 360 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:39,040 Speaker 1: listen to. And then she heard something even stranger. They 361 00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:42,200 Speaker 1: are in space. They're being stranded there, they're being punished. 362 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:45,720 Speaker 1: At one point Sergey said to me and Russian, he says, 363 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:54,240 Speaker 1: they say, we are in prison up here. That's next 364 00:26:54,280 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 1: time on the Last Soviet. The Last Soviet is a 365 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:11,399 Speaker 1: Kaleidoscope production in partnership with iHeart Podcast and Exile Media, 366 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:15,879 Speaker 1: produced by Sama's Dad Audio and hosted by me Lance 367 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:21,119 Speaker 1: Bass Executive produced by Kate Osbourne and Mangesh Hata Kadoor 368 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:27,119 Speaker 1: with Oz Wallishan and Kostas Linos from iHeart Executive produced 369 00:27:27,119 --> 00:27:31,520 Speaker 1: by Katrina Norvelle and Nikki Ettore from Sama's Dad Audio 370 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:36,400 Speaker 1: are Executive producers are Joe Sykes and Dasha Lisitzina. Produced 371 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:41,119 Speaker 1: by Assia Fuchs, Dasha Litzitzina and Joe Sykes. Writing by 372 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:46,840 Speaker 1: Lydia Marchant, Research by Mika Golobovski and Molly Schwartz, Music 373 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:51,119 Speaker 1: by Will Epstein, Themed by Martin Orstrin, Mixing and sound 374 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:55,000 Speaker 1: design by Richard Ward and special thanks to Nando Villa, 375 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:59,199 Speaker 1: Will Lissa Pollock, Will Pearson, conal Byrne, Bob Pittman, and 376 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,479 Speaker 1: Isaac Lee. If you want to hear more shows like this, 377 00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:05,800 Speaker 1: nothing is more important to the creators here at Kaleidoscope 378 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:10,040 Speaker 1: than subscribers, ratings, and reviews, so please spread the love 379 00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:11,040 Speaker 1: wherever you listen.