The implosion of the Soviet Union was the culmination of a gripping game played out between two men who intensely disliked each other and had different concepts for the future. Mikhail Gorbachev, a sophisticated and urbane reformer, sought to modernize and preserve the USSR; Boris Yeltsin, a coarse and a hard drinking "bulldozer," wished to destroy the union and create a capitalist Russia. The defeat of the August 1991 coup attempt, carried out by hardline communists, shook Gorbachev's authority and was a triumph for Yeltsin. But it took four months of intrigue and double-dealing before the Soviet Union collapsed and the day arrived when Yeltsin could hustle Gorbachev out of the Kremlin, and move in as ruler of Russia.Conor O'Clery has written a unique and truly suspenseful thriller of the day the Soviet Union died. The internal power plays, the shifting alliances, the betrayals, the mysterious three colonels carrying the briefcase with the nuclear codes, and the jockeying to exploit the future are worthy of John Le Carré or Alan Furst. The Cold War's last act was a magnificent dark drama played out in the shadows of the Kremlin.
Afanasyev, Viktor, editor of
Afanasyev, Yury, historian, pro-Gorbachev deputy
Akayev, Aksar, elected president of Kyrgystan in 1990
Akhromeyev, Sergey, marshal of the Soviet army, putschist
Alksnis, Viktor, army officer, campaigned against Gorbachev
Andropov, Yury, general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1982–1984
Bakatin, Vadim, pro-reform minister, last chairman of the KGB
Baklanov, Oleg, head of Soviet military-industrial complex, putschist
Belyaev, Igor, documentary maker, friend of Gorbachev
Bessmertnykh, Alexander, Soviet minister for foreign affairs, fired after August coup
Boldin, Valery, Gorbachev’s chief of staff, putschist
Bonner, Yelena, widow of Andrey Sakharov
Bovin, Alexander, USSR/Russia ambassador to Israel
Brezhnev, Leonid, first, then general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1964–1982
Burbulis, Gennady, close associate of Yeltsin
Burlarsky, Fyodor, pro-reform editor of
Chernenko, Konstantin, general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1984–1985
Chernyaev, Anatoly, close associate of Gorbachev
Chubais, Anatoly, Yeltsin’s deputy prime minister, responsible for privatization
Gaidar, Yegor, Yeltsin’s deputy prime minister, responsible for shock therapy
Gamsakhurdia, Zviad, elected president of Georgia in 1991
Gerasimov, Gennady, Soviet foreign affairs spokesman
Gorbachev, Mikhail, general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1995–1991, president of the Soviet Union, 1990–1991
Gorbacheva, Irina, daughter of Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev
Gorbacheva, Raisa, wife of Mikhail Gorbachev
Grachev, Andrey, Gorbachev’s press secretary
Grachev, Pavel, army general, sided with Yeltsin in August coup
Grishin, Viktor, Moscow party chief, 1967–1985
Kalugin, Oleg, KGB dissident
Karimov, Islam, elected president of Uzbekistan in 1990
Khasbulatov, Ruslan, chairman of the Russian Supreme Soviet, 1991–1993
Khrushchev, Nikita, first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1953–1964
Komplektov, Viktor, USSR/Russian ambassador to the United States
Korotich, Vitaly, pro-reform editor of
Korzhakov, Alexander, Yeltsin’s security chief
Kozyrev, Andrey, Russian minister of foreign affairs
Kravchenko, Leonid, head of central television, fired after August coup
Kravchuk, Leonid, elected president of Ukraine in 1991
Kryuchkov, Vladimir, chairman of KGB, putschist
Kuznetsov, Alexander, Yeltsin’s personal cameraman
Lebed, Alexander, army general, sided with Yeltsin in August coup
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich, founder of Soviet Union
Ligachev, Yegor, conservative member of Politburo
Lukyanov, Anatoly, chairman of USSR Supreme Soviet, 1990–1991, putschist
Luzhkov, Yury, mayor of Moscow, 1992–2010
Moiseyev, Mikhail, army general, supported August coup
Murashev, Arkady, liberal Moscow police chief
Nazarbayev, Nursultan, elected president of Kazakhstan, 1990
Nenashev, Mikhail, head of state television until 1990
Palazchenko, Pavel, interpreter for Gorbachev
Pankin, Boris, Soviet minister for foreign affairs after August coup
Pavlov, Valentin, Soviet prime minister, putschist
Petrov, Yury, aide to Yeltsin
Petrushenko, Nikolay, army officer, campaigned against Gorbachev
Plekhanov, Yury, KGB general who held Gorbachevs prisoner during August coup
Poltoranin, Mikhail, ex-editor, Yeltsin press secretary
Popov, Gavriil, mayor of Moscow, 1990–1992
Primakov, Yevgeny, director of foreign intelligence service after August coup
