Coup Document/Three Days in Riga
Kalnins, Ojars
COUP DOCUMENT THREE DAYS IN RIGA Ifirst learned about the coup against Mikhail Gorbachev around midnight, Sunday, August 18. My wife and I had just finished watching the Mel Gibson version of...
...I don't know what will happen next...
...Thank [Latvia's charge THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR NOVEMBER 1991 31...
...The talks reportedly were calm, but we have no details...
...The Latvian flag was immediately raised near the building...
...We are evacuating the Foreign Ministry, for Radio Liberty just announced that the Foreign Ministry will be taken next.[FM] 17:12 EST: Nothing new is presently happening, although in the last hour there have been rumors that—I am interrupting that message —I just got a call and was told that at this moment they are taking the Council of Ministers building...
...Forgive us for being so chaotic...
...It's for writers and researchers, not computer experts...
...The building is protected by security 30 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR NOVEMBER 1991 forces loyal to the Republic of Latvia...
...Not too long ago Kuzmin called Godmanis several times and warned him that 'unnecessary weapons' would be taken from the Council of Ministers' security personnel...
...Power in the city is being taken by a committee composed of military and civilian representatives...
...Clean up your desk and briefcase...
...We are making a special offer to readers of the American Spectator who have been among our most loyal users and buyers for years...
...This is the only way we can maintain contact...
...If there is forceful resistance, then he will use all necessary means to enforce the USSR constitution...
...Please answer immediately so that we know you received this...
...Supply trucks are not being allowed out of the city...
...The entrance doors are wide open...
...We will stay in our places as long as we can...
...Also the damaged communication lines at the radio house have been repaired and the transmission network is operating again...
...Jakimovs informed Colonel Goncharenko, coordinator of Latvian and Lithuanian OMON units...
...And we will win...
...Ojars, if you can, please answer as soon as you receive this telex...
...We know as much about Moscow and Leningrad as you do for there is no phone contact...
...We will send more.[LETA] 17:12 EST: Soviet military to withdraw...
...The newspaper Diena is publishing and is widely distributed...
...It was reported that paratroopers entered the television complex by knocking out windows...
...An emergency meeting of the Latvian government has been scheduled for 16:00, where they may adopt an appeal to world governments...
...People are on strike, but it's hard to tell how many...
...Staley requested that the city council cease, for one week, mass media activity...
...excerpt from announcement by President Gorbunovs and Prime Minister Ivars GodmanisALETA] by Ojars Kalnins 11:38 EST: Supreme Council press release no...
...If something happens to the parliament the government will be decentralized...
...Ojars, you are presently the only one receiving information about events in Latvia...
...After confirming the seriousness of the developments with Paul Goble, Baltic Desk Officer for the State Department, I jumped in my car and headed for the Legation of Latvia in northwest Washington to see if I could establish contact with Riga...
...We will immediately send you the independence declaration.[FMJ 14:58 EST: On August 21 at 19:30 acting Interior Minister Peteris Jakimovs spoke by phone to USSR Interior Minister First Deputy B. Gromov, who promised to immediately give an order confining OMON to their base...
...Many people out in the streets...
...The Latvian Foreign Ministry had recently acquired a cellular phone which could be reached by direct-dialing a Stockholm area code, but that too was busy...
...Try it...
...Call now...
...I saw with my own eyes that OMON is working together with the army...
...Worst of all, you lose some of your best ideas, just when they would do the most good for your career...
...Wednesday, August 21 08:28 EST: I've found a telex that works...
...See you later.[FM] 13:12 EST: We saw Bush's speech and press conference, no need to send that...
...Dainis Ivans, deputy chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia, met today with Colonel General Fyodor Kuzmin, Baltic military district commander...
...Radio is broadcasting only via the Riga Broadcast Network.[FM] 22:04 EST: Latvian radio has been taken...
...PM Godmanis said that he is in the building of the Council of Ministers...
...In Riga, the interior ministry has been taken by force, all communications have been blocked and television and radio centers have been occupied...
...Some of the troops said that they had previously been stationed in Germany...
...Armored cars and troops have also left the TV tower...
...The headquarters of the Popular Front of Latvia has been taken.[FM] 19:52 EST: Supreme Council Press Release No...
...2 (excerpt): "The Liepaja Army Garrison Commander, First Rank Captain Staley, informed Andrijs Jaunsteins, deputy chairman of the Liepaja City Council, that in accordance with orders issued by Baltic War Fleet Admiral Ivanov, that he, Staley, has been appointed Liepaja War Commander...
...Realizing the importance of this moment to the fate of Latvia, the Council of the Popular Front turns to the people of Latvia...
...My wife and I had just finished watching the Mel Gibson version of Hamlet on videotape, and had CNN on in the background while we rewound the tape...
...Dinbergs for the congratulatory note on our declaration of independence.[FM] 16:45 EST: . . . The Soviet army has now left the TV and radio buildings, inter-city telephone and telex communication has resumed...
...The army is in the building right now...
...Fifteen armored cars are moving down from Freedom Blvd., ten more on Lubana Street with one squad of troops...
...Gorbunovs that he has Writers, Researchers...
...68 (excerpt): "[Baltic Military District Commander Fyodor] Kuzmin has informed Mr...
...We will all be in our places...
...There was a calm discussion between the guards and Godmanis security aide Andrijs Bunka...
...Reports we have indicate that a journalist and Supreme Council deputy Aivars Berkis were injured during the takeover of the radio...
...We are listening to RFE/VOA [Radio Free Europe/Voice of America] since Riga Radio is off...
...The Latvian procurator staff abandoned it at noon...
...The Latvian Republic and its governing bodies have been effectively shut off from the rest of the world...
...With the image of the body-strewn Danish court still fresh in our minds, we were startled to hear that an equally dramatic upheaval had just taken place in the Kremlin...
...Ivans, the Republic of Latvia Supreme Council vice chairman, will have to answer for all he has said and done about the Communist party...
...Please call my mother and tell her I won't be home on August 23...
...Telex is still working...
...That's all for now.[Diena] 17:28 EST: At 22:00 two armored cars arrived at the Council of Ministers building...
...Avoid provocations or conflict with military personnel...
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...That has not been done yet...
...FM] 14:47 EST: Latvian Radio reports that the Latvian Supreme Council has received news that the Russian Parliament is continuing its work...
...Soon the Latvian govOjars Kalnins is public affairs liaison at the Embassy of Latvia in Washington, DC ernment telex machines began shutting down one by one, yet the messages kept coming, as enterprising staffers at the Foreign Ministry found still-operational telex machines that belonged to private businesses in the city...
...Information broadcast by BBC and other international news agencies stating that the Republic of Latvia government has fallen is false...
...In talks with Latvian government officials, he said that he is only following orders and is not a member of the emergency committee...
...Ivans presented General Kuzmin with the Republic of Latvia's constitutional law on the Republic of Latvia's status as a state, as well as other documents adopted by the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia...
...Ivans evaluated the situation as a failed coup attempt and requested that the supreme council be informed of the Baltic Military District commander's position...
...Thank you for your support...
...of the Communist party of Latvia, announced at a press conference that he is following current developments with joy and pride...
...LETA] 20:01 EST: The army has taken the radio relay centers...
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...There was a Soviet Latvian flag on the first armored car...
...Latgale TV is broadcasting throughout the Latgale region...
...The Supreme Council has adopted and released a new declaration of independence, without a transition period...
...Today, Latvia's Communist party will meet...
...He says that a state of emergency committee will be formed quickly...
...Tonight they have already begun leaving the radio building...
...I informed them that I was at the Legation ready to receive and distribute any news they had on developments...
...Diena] 16:10 EST: The situation in Riga is becoming normal...
...You can't find things when you need them.-You waste precious time searching for needed documents or information...
...There was shooting.[FM] 22:05 EST: At 4:55 in the morning military forces occupied Riga radio studio and the telephone and telegraph central...
...Mary's Court, Brookline, MA 02146 Telephone 617-277-9222 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR NOVEMBER 1991 29 been appointed as the main person in this area to execute directives of the state of emergency committee...
...We are eagerly awaiting news from you...
...Therefore General Kuzmin sent General Dudkin to the Council of Ministers to apologize...
...like the card files you have used for years...
...What Squarenote does for you is to collect all your information into one accessible, printable, sortable index card file...
...Our struggle is just...
...During a Popular Front meeting, [Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia] D. Ivans reported that in talks with the command of the Baltic Military District, there was an agreement that the army will begin moving out of all occupied buildings...
...We can only send and receive news by telex...
...The army arrived in two armored cars...
...Each Latvian patriot must join the general strike in his place of work, wherever possible...
...I just can't leave...
...Riga is suspiciously quiet...
...Armored vehicles are only on the bridges...
...Two armored vehicles and a car with paratroopers have left the area around the TV building...
...Send No Money...
...The situation is generally still calm...
...At this moment of destiny the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Latvia pleads for diplomatic, political, and economic measures to stop the Soviet military actions in the Baltic, to restore all normal functions of the government of the Republic of Latvia, and respect the Latvian people's stated desire to regain independence...
...Or return it and you owe us nothing...
...Diena] 10:33 EST: Latvian Republic Foreign Ministry Announcement: "The attempted military coup of August 19, 1991 by Soviet Bolshevik military powers is in reality open aggression against the Latvian Republic and the other Baltic states...
...Our telex operator will sit and wait for news from you...
...15 (excerpt): "The Republic of Latvia TV building was overtaken...
...Yeltsin has designated a commander, thus Russia now has its own army...
...We are cut off from phone contact...
...All his personal security has been arrested...
...They were written by courageous people under great stress, in a city under siege...
...Near the Riga train station a microbus has been fired upon with machine guns, killing the driver...
...long pause in message] Just received fresh news...
...The city is quiet...
...We can't give any more details.[FM] 13:44 EST: The OMON bandits have just grabbed the headquarters of the volunteer security guards and a car with three people...
...The threat of violence or repression must stimulate activity...
...Gain Complete Control Over Your Scattered Notes, Memos, Clippings, Research Papers, And Letters...
...The Popular Front is meeting at the parliament and adopted a resolution that a demonstration will take place...
...OMON was there to try to prevent this...
...By the second day of the coup, after TV, radio, and telephone lines had been cut in Riga, the only way to get news into or out of Latvia was by telex...
...Tell her not to worry, I hope she'll understand...
...Prime Minister Godmanis assured the people of Latvia that the Republic of Latvia Council of Ministers is still in power and in control of the current situation...
...PC Magzine's Editor's Choice Award UnionSquareware 27 St...
...Taken so far: Popular Front HQ (people beaten with rifle butts), radio broadcast station in Ulbroka, police academy, interior ministry, TV tower, radio house in Vecmilgrava and in Dom Square, telephone and telegraph central...
...Latvian TV is not broadcasting at this time...
...After that the disarmed Council of Ministers security personnel returned with Godmanis's aide Bunka.[LETA] 21:24 EST: At 02:00 Republic of Latvia Prime Minister I. Godmanis spoke on Latvia's Independent Radio, which 'is heard throughout Latvia...
...Will stop sending after this message and wait for a telex from you...
...All the details of what took place in Riga during the Kremlin coup still need to be sorted out, but the telex messages that streamed into the Latvian Legation in Washington during those three days tell a dramatic story in themselves...
...Please confirm receipt of telex.[Diena] 06:16 EST: The Popular Front faction of the parliament has unanimously called for a general strike tomorrow at 6:00 a.m...
...Armored cars on the bridges have been replaced by tanks and paratroopers have been replaced by infantry...
...3 (excerpt): " . . . Alfreds Rubiks, first sec...
...Protest meetings must be held at each location, and pickets at the gates of each establishment...
...Press Release No...
...Please try to inform the foreign minister in Copenhagen.[FM] 13:52 EST: Tonight at 20:00 the police academy training camp in Jurmala-Kauguri was taken by five armored vehicles without gunfire.[FM] 14:33 EST: Just walked around the Riga Center...
...Senders have been identified at the end of each message in the following manner: FM: Latvian Foreign Ministry Diena: Latvian newspaper Diena LETA: Latvian news agency PAR: Latvian Supreme Council (parliament) press center Monday, August 19, 1991 05:36 EST: For the time being all is calm in Riga...
...Each new message begins with the time it was received in Washington...
...Baltic Military District Commander Kuzmin has taken a wait-and-see position...
...The Foreign Ministry will begin working again at 7:00 GMT...
...The army has left...
...As soon as we have new information we will send it without delay...
...Foreign Minister Jurkans departed for Copenhagen...
...Squarenote gathered all theresearch, organized it, and evenprinted outmy lecture notes...
...The paratroopers have left all occupied buildings: radio, TV, international telephone central...
...Excuse all the typos and errors and confusion, we are extremely excited, but this time out of joy...
...Youll actually see the tops of your filing cabinets and desks, slim down your briefcase, and clean out your pockets...
...Just mention this ad, and well send you a copy of Squarenote to try, at our risk, for 30 days...
...In the discussion the thought was raised that they may disobey orders...
...The Council of Ministers has been taken.[Diena] 17:42 EST: The Council of Ministers rejected Kuzmin's order...
...The newspaper will continue to come out...
...It's a private business that hasn't been disconnected...
...those responsible for operating high-technology equipment can stay 'sick' at home...
...The Supreme Council has not been taken, but rumors are spreading...
...Rubiks suggests that the declaration of a state of emergency could lead to the introduction of martial law...
...Paper clutter makes you inefficient, frustrated, and can really hurt your career...
...I hope this doesn't get cut off...
...If we can, we will send additional news.[LETA] 18:03 EST: The Supreme Council press center reports that the Baltic military district command insists that those who took the weapons from the Council of Ministers building were OMON troops in army uniforms...
...if the occupation of buildings doesn't end...
...This is since yesterday...
...Armored cars are moving near the parliament and Council of Ministers buildings, but nothing indicates anything out of the ordinary...
...Two deaths...
...Latvian TV is broadcasting and the program "Panorama" and Russian language news has begun...
...A Soviet flag has been raised on the Soviet Latvian procurator's building...
...All because of paper clutter...
...In a radio interview, Deputy Talavis Jundzis said that the offices of the Radio House have been vandalized, it is totally chaotic—broken doors, personal items stolen...
...All war materiel has been removed from Riga...
...There are troops and armored vehicles in the Dom Square...
...Security guards were ordered, in Kuzmin's name, to give up their weapons...
...But the army did not totally destroy the technical equipment in the studios...
...OMON men are walking around in army buildings in the city center...
...two injured...
...Even under the best of conditions, phone communications with Latvia have always been difficult, and as I expected, all international lines to Riga were busy...
...The foreign minister will try to fly to Copenhagen.[FM] 05:45 EST: At this time our office has resumed work again...
...Colonel General Kuzmin stated that he had a similar conversation with [Lithuanian President] V. Landsbergis, that the military will be withdrawn from Riga tonight...
...I had sent a series of telexes to the Foreign Ministry, the parliament press center, the daily newspaper Diena, and the Latvian news agency LETA...
...We don't know what else has happened...
...There are unconfirmed reports of armored vehicles in Riga...
...At this time, no information is known about persons in the building...
...Press Release No...
...We've just learned it was a Writers' Association microbus.[FM] 17:07 EST: Writers' Association employee Raimonds Salmins has been shot to death and his passenger, Janis Verpahovskis, has been injured...
...TV has begun broadcasting again, only the Moscow station...
...We observed separate groups of 3-5 armored vehicles in Riga and Jurmala...
...Yeltsin has given an order to provide weapons to those deputies working in the parliament.[FM] 15:58 EST: Latvian Radio has reported that a column of tanks and armored cars is moving toward Riga from Adazi.[FM] 16:08 EST: The Council of Ministers security HQ has been taken on Sporta Street...
...But in just 8 minutes a day, with SquarenoteTM on your IBM PC or compatible, you can gain complete control over your scattered notes, clippings, letters and documents...
...I spent the next three days and nights at the Legation, logging in telex messages, faxing out reports to the State Department and the press, and telexing reports of reactions in the West back to my contacts in Riga...
...There are injured...
...Because I knew that if it didn't come, my contacts, friends I had known and worked with for many years, had joined the list of victims...
...With each report of another Black Beret (omoN) attack on a government building, the circle grew tighter around my correspondents in Riga...
...Our unity and loyalty will be demonstrated on August 23 in the flaming Baltic way...
...Latvian radio is still broadcasting.[FM] 14:00 EST: OMON has taken the interior ministry.[FM] 14:12 EST: The telephone central has been taken.[FM] 14:29 EST: The residents of Zakusala have begun building barricades...
...For me, the most difficult part of the three days was waiting for the next telex...
...The only legal source of power is the people of Latvia...
...Today tanks approached the Supreme Council building and 10-15 OMON soldiers released tear gas and appeared to be ready to seize the building, but then retreated...
...Godmanis has spoken to some Baltic military district general...
...LETAJ d'affaires in Washington] Dr...
...FM] 17:10 EST: We have no further information about the situation...
...Call us now at 617 277 9222, or write us at the address below...
...The rumors were that at midnight they would take the Supreme Council...
...Thankfully, that was one report I never had to receive...
...Please confirm receipt of this telex...
...During a state of emergency, all forms of meetings and demonstrations are banned...
...Today all residents of Latvia must decide to oppose the occupation regime or bow their backs before their oppressors...
...Riga Radio has asked that no similar actions be undertaken elsewhere for the time being...
...Waiting for news from you...
...All are still in their places...
...We don't know how long the telex will continue operating...
...At 18:30 phone service has been resumed...
...Please distribute it to everyone you can...
...at this time two heavily armored helicopters are circling over Riga's old town...
...Latvia TV and Radio are working again...
...No further information is available at this time.[LETA] 22:26 EST: As a result of military action the middle-wavelength radio broadcasting station stopped its work.[LETA] Tuesday, August 20 04:09 EST: The parliament and government are working...
...OMON has attacked the Council of Ministers building...
...LETA/PAR] 22:48 EST: The Popular Front of Latvia's appeal to the people of Latvia: "As a result of a decree by the Supreme Council and Council of Ministers, a general strike has begun in Latvia...
...Prime Minister] Godmanis agreed...
...I received my first response about one hour later, at 5:36 a.m...
...According to latest reports the commander of the Liepaja Garrison has seized the executive council of the city of Liepaja...
...FM] 05:42 EST: An emergency parliamentary session will begin at 12:00...
...Diena] 08:22 EST: " . . . If outside forces attempt to interfere and grant power to any illegal formation, the Republic of Latvia Supreme Council and Council of Ministers invites residents of Latvia to uphold peace and social order, not to cooperate with any illegal power structures, begin non-violent resistance campaigns and demand that the legal power structures—municipal deputy councils—be renewed...
...Their whereabouts is presently unknown...
...The process of isolating and destroying the governmental institutions of the Republic of Latvia is continuing...
...Five or six automatic rifles were seized without any gunfire...
...FM] 12:26 EST: Three are dead, two or more are injured, but not seriously...
...The Interior Ministry looks abandoned...
...Rubiks says Mr...
...All local government bodies will be sent a non-violent self-defense plan...
...LETA] 12:21 EST: There are reports that OMON has taken the television building...
...Five armored cars led by an OMON car entered Riga coming from Jurmala...
...Clearly that was being preserved for the new landlords...
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...Following, in chronological order, are translations of the telex messages that the Latvian Legation received from Riga during that period...
...Part of the army has come over to Yeltsin...
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...We will keep sending, for we don't know when we'll get cut off from the outside world...
...I knew that a hardline takeover in Moscow posed a direct threat to the pro-independence Latvian government in Riga...
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...Preserve those precious ideas...
...Republic of Latvia President Anatolijs] Gorbunovs went on radio at 11:00 urging the people to maintain calm and not to obey any orders given by illegally formed ruling structures...
...In the past, our most reliable form of communication with Riga had been by telex, and by 4:30 a.m...
Vol. 24 • November 1991 • No. 11
