Former Soviet leader Gennady Yanayev, who led the abortive 1991 coup against then president Mikhail Gorbachev, died on Friday aged 73 following an illness, a former Soviet politician said.
"I offer all my condolences to his loved ones," Ruslan Khasbulatov, one-time speaker of the Russian parliament, told the Moscow Echo radio station on Sept. 24.
Yanayev from 1968–1970 held the post of Chairman of the Committee of the Soviet Youth Organizations. Between 1986 and 1990, he was a secretary, deputy chairman and chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. From July 14, 1990 to January, 1991, he was a member of the Politburo and secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, responsible for international affairs. From December 1990 to August 1991, Yanayev held the post of Vice President of the Soviet Union.
During the August Coup of 1991, he was a member of the State Emergency Committee and declared himself the acting President of the Soviet Union, replacing the deposed Mikhail Gorbachev. He was later prosecuted and sentenced for his role in the August Coup attempt. However, Yanayev was eventually freed by the amnesty of the Russian State Duma in 1994.
