Uploaded April 2014 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago
If the coup leaders had watched the evening broadcast of Vremya, the official news Soviet news program, on August 20, they would have known they had reason to fear. Soviet journalists broke all censorship taboos by interviewing the soldiers brought into the city to restore order and their officers, who broke even stronger taboos by responding. The widespread evidence of fraternization between soldiers and Muscovites was a harbinger of the military insubordination that would soon topple the coup.
If the coup leaders had watched the evening broadcast of Vremya, the official news Soviet news program, on August 20, they would have known they had reason to fear. Soviet journalists broke all censorship taboos by interviewing the soldiers brought into the city to restore order and their officers, who broke even stronger taboos by responding. The widespread evidence of fraternization between soldiers and Muscovites was a harbinger of the military insubordination that would soon topple the coup.
