Gang of Eight (Soviet Union) - The Further Fate of GKChP Members

The Further Fate of GKChP Members

• Pugo, committed suicide together with his wife. However, some sources speculate that he may have been murdered.
• Yazov, spent 18 months in Matrosskaya Tishina. According to the magazine "Vlast" No.41(85) of 14 October 1991 "...from the prison contacted the President with a recorded video message, where repented and called himself "an old fool". Yazov denies ever doing that. He accepted the amnesty stating that he was not guilty. He was dismissed from the military service by the Presidential Order and awarded a ceremonial weapon. He was awarded an order of Honor by the President of Russian Federation. Yazov works as a military adviser at the General Staff Academy.
• Varennikov, spent 18 months in Matrosskaya Tishina, refused to accept the offered amnesty, and was eventually recognized as not guilty. Prior to GKChP he participated in events to capture the TV-station in Vilnius and according to the assistant of Gorbachev, Andrei Chernyayev, the decision to use the force was taken him personally without discussion with the President. Varennikov since 1995 was a people's deputy and in 2008 publicly was stating that the military force used during the August putsch was intended for security purposes including the protection of Yeltsin. He died in 2009 and was buried in Moscow.
• Baklanov, spent 18 months in Matrosskaya Tishina, then accepted an amnesty in 1994 as not guilty. Later he worked as a director of Rosobshchemash.
• Yanayev, spent 18 months in Matrosskaya Tishina. Later he became a chairman of the department of national history at the Russian International Academy of Tourism.
• Pavlov, during the putsch was taken to a hospital with a diagnosis of hypertension, but on 29 August was transferred to Matrosskaya Tishina. He accepted his amnesty as not guilty and became the head of the Chasprombank. Pavlov resigned from the bank on 31 August 1995 and six months later the bank was left without license. Later he was an adviser at Promstroibank (today known as Bank VTB). Pavlov died in 2003 after a series of heart attacks and was buried in Moscow.