This is a timeline of the 1991 Soviet coup attempt, starting from the house arresting of Mikhail Gorbachev and ending in the surrender of the failed coup leaders, both in Foros, Crimea. Apart from the coup plotters united in the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP), and the Government of the Soviet Union (which largely supported the GKChP), the two main players were the governments of the Russian SFSR (where almost 150 million people lived, or 51% of the total Soviet population), and the Ukrainian SSR (home to over 50 million people, or almost 20% of all Soviet citizens).

Prelude Date and time Place Description The direct cause and primary motivation for the attempted coup was a confidential conversation of 29 July 1991 between Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin and Nursultan Nazarbayev at Novo-Ogaryovo (Moscow), discussing how to implement the New Union Treaty that was to be signed on 20 August 1991. The three leaders came to an agreement to purge some high-ranking officials of the Soviet government and KGB on or after 20 August as well, including Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov (to be replaced by Nazarbayev), Vice-President Gennady Yanayev, KGB head Vladimir Kryuchkov, and Interior Minister Boris Pugo, while Gorbachev rejected Yeltsin's demand to remove Minister of Defence Dmitry Yazov. As the whole conversation was wiretapped by the KGB, its head Kryuchkov began plotting a coup with his would-be co-conspirators to prevent their own removal from power, preferably at a time when Gorbachev was away on holiday outside Moscow, just like how Leonid Brezhnev and his associates had overthrown Nikita Khrushchev in 1964. On 4 August, Gorbachev flew to his summer dacha in Foros, Crimea for a holiday that was to last until 18 August; he planned to return to Moscow on 19 August. On 6 August, Kryuchkov ordered his KGB experts to make an impact assessment of how the general public would react to declaring a state of emergency. The results were largely negative, and would further deteriorate the economic situation. However, a tapped Gorbachev–Yeltsin telephone conversation on 14 August confirmed their readiness to sign the New Union Treaty, showing no signs that their alliance was falling apart, as Kryuchkov had hoped; therefore, he decided to press ahead. Starting from 14 August, Kryuchkov began making detailed plans for the coup, ordering his KGB subordinates to prepare for a state of emergency and wiretapping the conversations of all democratic leaders. Kryuchkov held meetings with his co-conspirators all day at the KGB headquarters on how to proceed with the state of emergency. The Kryuchkov KGB group met a larger group of top party and Soviet government officials (who were not yet involved in the plot) at the "ABC" safehouse. Kryuchkov informed Prime Minister Pavlov and others that they were going to be removed from power after the New Union Treaty signing on 20 August. Pavlov said he was prepared to resign, but nevertheless joined the plotters. After the coup had failed, Pavlov and other participants in this meeting testified that removing Gorbachev from power was not discussed at the ABC safehouse; they simply planned to go to Crimea to convince Gorbachev to declare a state of emergency.

Timeline

Date and time Place Description KGB officers arrived at Gorbachev's dacha in Foros, Crimea, ordered his telephone lines to be cut, and around 16:45 initiated an unscheduled meeting with him, headed by General Valentin Varennikov, isolating Gorbachev from allies outside. They initially denied Gorbachev was under arrest, and tried to persuade them to join their side; although Gorbachev was more concerned about the rise of Boris Yeltsin at the time, and so far trusted most people in the would-be State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP), he understood it was created extra-constitutionally. Gorbachev instead negotiated to convince the plotters to stay loyal to him, accusing them of treason if they did not. As no agreement could be reached and Gorbachev forcefully refused cooperation on the GKChP's terms, the plotters put him under house arrest and left, confused and angry that the President did not support them. The KGB delegation from Crimea arrived in the Moscow Kremlin to report on their failure. The plotters disagreed about their next course of action for some time, eventually deciding that in order to prevent Gorbachev from retaliating, he had to be removed from power on "health grounds" by Vice-President Gennady Yanayev. Only a few hours earlier that day, Yanayev (who had been drinking with a friend at a resort near Moscow when he was unexpectedly called to Moscow) had been informed about the plot by Kryuchkov. When asked by Kryuchkov to sign a prepared copy of a one-sentence decree to become acting president of the Soviet Union due to Gorbachev's incapacity and declare a state of emergency, Yanayev protested: there was no evidence Gorbachev had any medical problem, that whatever business there was could be taken care of once the president had recovered, and finally that Yanayev did not feel ready to become acting president. However, the plotters pressured Yanayev into signing the decree, as getting the vice-president on board was their only hope of superficially legitimising the coup, even though their actions remained thoroughly unconstitutional. Acting President Yanayev and Prime Minister Pavlov spent the rest of the night drinking until dawn in Yanayev's office. KGB head and coup mastermind Kryuchkov spent the rest of the night organising the implementation of the coup, calling a general meeting of the KGB leadership at 03:30, where he announced the end of perestroika, the failure of the democratic leadership (Gorbachev and his advisors) to control the situation, and that it was time to impose a state of emergency. News broadcasts later reported (retroactively) that the state of emergency entered into force "for a period of six months, beginning at 04:00 o'clock Moscow time on 19 August 1991." General Igor Maltsev ordered the Crimean Airport to close. Warships anchored near Kap Foros near the summer dacha of president Mikhail Gorbachev.Hybinette-Bergknut, Leena. Vuosi 91: Kaappaajat pelkäsivät liittosopimusta. 1991. pp. 186–187. Bertmark Kustannus Oy. Helsinki 60 commandos of the KGB "Alpha" group were sent to Boris Yeltsin's resort house (dacha) in Arkhangelskoye-2 near Moscow, with orders to arrest him. It is unclear whether they came close to it, but Kryuchkov changed his mind and called off the Alpha operation in Arkhangelskoye, because he feared the backlash it would cause, and he still counted on Yeltsin coming to the support of the GKChP against Gorbachev. The KGB allowed Yeltsin to travel to Moscow unhindered. Kryuchkov spread a list of 70 opposition leaders to be detained to military commanders. A State of Emergency was declared in the entire territory of the Soviet Union. All power was claimed by the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP), a "Gang of 8" whose members were Acting President Gennady Yanayev, Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov, Interior Minister Boris Pugo, Defence Minister Dmitry Yazov, Chairman of the KGB Vladimir Kryuchkov, First Deputy Chairman of the Defense Council of the USSR Oleg Baklanov, Chairman of the Peasants' Union of the USSR Vasily Starodubtsev, and President of the Association of State Enterprises Alexander Tizyakov. 19 August, 06:00~18:00