ENDINGS 491congratulated me after our speech in Ukraine about respect for
the Union and the people choosing. I liked the guy. I sent him
fishing lures. And, he was rather pleasant.^52Ex-Prime Minister Thatcher broke the news of the coup to Ambassa-
dor Leonid Zamyatin in London:
She called me at eight in the morning and said very angrily:
‘Mister Ambassador, do you know what is happening in Russia?’
‘I am sorry, madam, I don’t.’ ‘Well, then turn on your TV set and
see for yourself. I need permission for the flight of an English air-
craft to Russia. You are flying with me. I will take a doctor along.
Gorbachev must be sick. Maybe dying. I must be in Russia!’^53Her geography was shaky since Foros was not in Russia but in Ukraine,
and perhaps her rhetoric owed something to Victorian melodrama;
but her feelings for her Soviet friend were genuine.
The State Committee included Defence Minister Yazov and Inter-
ior Minister Pugo as well as Prime Minister Pavlov; its policies were
guided behind the scenes by KGB Chairman Kryuchkov. When they
appeared on television, it was obvious that Acting President Yanaev
felt demoralized as his fingers involuntarily drummed a glass of water.
To their surprise, a crowd of protesters gathered outside the Russian
Supreme Soviet building. Kryuchkov omitted to take Yeltsin into cus-
tody. The shambles continued. Yeltsin appeared on top of a tank
outside the same building and declared his defiance of the plotters.
Army units refused to enforce the State Committee’s orders. The coup
quietly petered out on 20 August.
The State Committee sent a small party by plane to Foros, includ-
ing Kryuchkov and Yazov. They were travelling to seek Gorbachëv’s
pardon and to argue that they had meant him no harm. Gorbachëv
simply shunned them.^54 He was getting used to treating everyone cau-
tiously – Yazov’s treachery in particular had staggered him. With the
phone system working again, he commanded the Kremlin to be
cleared of the leading putschists. He spoke to George Bush and
thanked him for his solidarity. Alexander Rutskoi, the Vice President
of Russia, led a second group of travellers. After piloting his own plane
south to Crimea, he appeared at Yuzhny with Russian Prime Minister
Ivan Silaev. He had brought forty lieutenant-colonels in case of any
trouble. Gorbachëv entrusted his family and aides to Rutskoi’s care.^55
They took Kryuchkov on board as a guarantee against a mid-flight
armed interception – he was searched for weapons before he took his