State Committee On The Emergency Situation In The Ussr

As the international community and the people of the Soviet Union demanded to hear from Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the leaders of the hard-line group that ousted him Monday said the Nobel Peace Prize laureate is safe but implied that they would not permit him to speak for himself.

Rarely in the long catalogue of human folly has a band of seemingly rational men been so willfully perverse. The plot to unseat Mikhail S. Gorbachev, led by the custodians of the most powerful institutions in the Soviet Union, was so wooden-headed, so inimical to the goals that they hoped to achieve as to defy imagination. These eight gray men set out to turn the clock back to a sterner, safer time.

When Mikhail S. Gorbachev was ousted, so were some of the achievements that blossomed under perestroika. Among them: Union Treaty: Gorbachev was to officiate at the treaty's signing, scheduled to begin Tuesday. His treaty would have kept the federation together while granting greater autonomy to the republics. These republics were to be given greater powers in the national legislature, military matters, foreign affairs, natural resources and the administration of energy resources.

Oleg D. Baklanov, former Defense Council vice chairman; member of State Emergency Committee Valery I. Boldin, Gorbachev's former chief of staff Major Gen. Vyacheslav V. Generalov, KGB commander at Gorbachev vacation retreat in Phoros Vladimir A. Kryuchkov, former KGB head; member of State Emergency Committee Anatoly I. Lukyanov, chairman of the Supreme Soviet, accused of treason Vladimir Medvedev, Gorbachev's former adjutant Valentin S.

A bent old woman stood motionless Tuesday in a store on Sretenka Street, staring at a grimy metal cooking oil dispenser that towered over her. When two younger women approached and asked, in the negative manner customary to Soviet shoppers, "No oil?" her only response was to shake her shawl-wrapped head. As the women walked away, they wondered aloud, "What are we going to do?"

Striding toward the Russian Federation government headquarters Tuesday in their orthopedic shoes and heavy sweaters, the two grandmothers declared that they were determined to save Russia from the clutches of "the scum" who have seized power. "If you gave the two of us, 72-year-olds, machine guns, we'd shoot them all," said one of the women, who identified herself only as Anna. "It's terrible, what's happening," said Alexandra, her companion, tears filling her wrinkle-framed eyes.

Less than 48 hours after the coup against Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, senior U.S. officials have advised President Bush that the Soviet hard-liners probably cannot sustain their grip on power and their rule is likely to unravel as a result of internal friction, public opposition and an inability to solve the country's desperate economic problems. Some ranking Administration officials said Tuesday that an attempt could be made soon to seize Boris N.

In old-style Kremlin politics, the rightists who sought the ouster of Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev appeared to have lined up most of the key forces: the army, the police, the KGB, the prime minister, the Cabinet and Gorbachev's own vice president. What they overlooked were the people, historically the pawns of power politics.

Assessing the coup: Muscovites comment on a crisis resolved . "I'm feeling enormous joy--like none I've ever felt before. Yes, I think the coup is all over. I have strong hope that we will finally begin living in a normal, free country. This victory of (Russian Federation President Boris N.) Yeltsin's will, hopefully, mark the end of socialism as a system of oppression." --Mikhail A. Boldyrev, 50, researcher. 'Days Were Numbered' "All this looked like a political farce to me.

Although their comments were brief, lacked detail and were chiefly aimed to reassure, both President Bush and Soviet Foreign Minister Alexander A. Bessmertnykh on Wednesday sought to address one of the most worrisome issues during the Soviet coup--over the preceding three days, who controlled this nation's nuclear arms?

His country crumbling even as he sat in the Kremlin, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev made a desperate plea Tuesday for preserving the Soviet Union and said he will resign if its disintegration becomes irreversible.

For President Bush's "new world order," the failed Soviet coup was a benchmark far more important than the traumatic Persian Gulf War and--as a symbol--was the high point in two years of whirlwind global change. The unraveling of the putsch, the international reaction during the three days of the coup and the underlying implications of both have given a greater boost to the momentum for global change than any event since the wave of revolutions that swept Eastern Europe in 1989.

They've been called everything from the gang that couldn't shoot straight to the little coup that couldn't. Overnight, their image changed from the fearsome new rulers of the Soviet Union to the Eight Stooges. When they went public, they were immediately dated in TV terms. They were straight out of "Ninotchka"--old-fashioned, boorish-looking Communists trying to catch up with an exciting modern world.

If it is truly the world's press that writes the first draft of history, then the failure of the rightist coup in Moscow will be compared to the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in the impact it will have on the future of that immense and troubled nation. And the populist Siberian-born president of the Russian Federation, Boris N. Yeltsin, is clearly the man of the hour. Here are some editorial excerpts from the global media: "In October, 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power in 10 days.

'They have not succeeded and this is a great victory for perestroika.' --Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev

The Soviet coup that alarmed the world for three days generated millions of words around the globe. Here is a selection: "The policy of reform initiated by M.S. Gorbachev, conceived as a means to ensure the dynamic development of the country and the democratization of the life of society, has, for a number of reasons, come to a dead end." -- The coup leaders, in their first appeal to the Soviet people. 'Clouds of Terror' "Soldiers, officers and generals!

Here is a look at the developments that unfolded during the failed coup in the Soviet Union: MONDAY * Vice President Gennady I. Yanayev takes power early in the morning from President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. Speaking for an eight-man ruling Emergency Committee, he says Gorbachev is in poor health and is undergoing treatment. He declares a six-month state of emergency for certain regions. Gorbachev is thought to be detained at his summer home in the Crimea.

The takeover of the Soviet government by hard-liners on Monday had threatened to jeopardize several major initiatives in which Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev had played a key part. Here is a list of those plans, which now are expected to be revived: MIDEAST PEACE TALKS: Gorbachev and President Bush had jointly called for a Middle East conference for October in hopes of persuading Israel and its Arab neighbors to sit down and negotiate a peace settlement.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, back in office but perhaps no longer truly the supreme leader of his land, on Thursday fired the defense minister, KGB chief and other plotters who tried to overthrow him and signaled a wide-scale purge of other Communist reactionaries.