25 Years of Independence: The August Putsch

August marked 25 years since the 1991 Soviet Putsch, three dramatic days that precipitated the end of the Soviet Union and the emergence of a new, independent Russia. Andrei Kozyrev, Russia’s foreign Minister from 1991-96, stood with Boris Yeltsin in Moscow’s White House as tanks encircled the building. James F. Collins, then U.S. Chargé d'affaires and later Ambassador to Russia from 1997-2001, watched from the U.S. embassy compound just a few hundred meters away, while briefing nervous officials in Washington. Sergey Parkhomenko, a young, liberal journalist, covered the exciting events in Russia’s then nascent free press. Each will offer a unique, inside perspective on the tumultuous events that unfolded in Moscow and echoed across the Soviet Union and the world.