Press Release, 22.08.2023

On 22 August, the leaders, members and activists of the Yabloko party commemorated those killed in the August 1991 coup. Chairman of Yabloko Nikolai Rybakov, Yabloko Deputy Chairman Ivan Bolshakov, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of Karelia Emilia Slabunova, Chair of the Yabloko Gender Faction Galina Mikhaleva, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Yabloko Kirill Goncharov and other members of the party laid flowers at the monument to the Defenders of Democracy in Russia, which is located at the intersection of Novy Arbat and the Garden Ring in Moscow.

The memorial is devoted to the tragic events of August 1991, when Dmitry Komar, Ilya Krichevsky and Vladimir Usov died under the wheels of tanks while defending the Supreme Council of the RSFSR (the parliament of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) from the so-called State Emergency Committee, a group of high-level Soviet officials within the Soviet government, the Communist Party, and the KGB, who attempted a coup d’état against Mikhail Gorbachev on 19 August 1991.

“Yabloko comes here every year so that, no matter what, hope would remain. So that the dreams and aspirations that people had in the late 1980s and early 1990s – could be realised and Russia could really became a free, modern and peaceful state. The names of these three young people will, unfortunately, forever remain on the list of those who gave their lives for this,” Nikolai Rybakov, Chairman of the Yabloko party, said.

Emilia Slabunova, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of Karelia, noted that the events of August 1991, when people came into the streets to defend democracy, showed how high the demand for democracy was. “I would like to express not just hope, but even confidence that this demand for democracy is maintained. It gets even stronger, in my opinion. The fact that modern repressive methods keep it somewhere deep is just for the time being. This demands will definitely sound loud and Russia will be a democratic and free country,” she said.

“They are heroes, really. That is why we commemorate them now. Does it mean that they gave their lives in vain? No, not in vain. Because they remain in our memory as fighters for a free Russia,” Galina Mikhaleva, Chair of the Yabloko Gender Faction, stressed.

“Both we and our fathers, people of democratic views, alas, could not protect the heritage for which three young people fought and for which they gave their lives. In this sense, our historic mission is to return Russia to the democratic way of development and bring about democratic change, and most importantly, to achieve peace. We will do everything possible to implement this,” Kirill Goncharov, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Yabloko, added.

It should be noted that the self-proclaimed State Emergency Committee (GKChP) attempted a coup d’état against President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev. On 19 August, 1991, a state of emergency was introduced in the country, and tanks and military vehicles were brought to the streets of Moscow. Moscow residents protested against the GKChP regime, which was overthrown on 22 August. Later this day became the Day of the State Flag of the Russian Federation. During the days of the August coup, three young people died – Dmitry Komar, Vladimir Usov and Ilya Krichevsky.