Moscow, Tuesday.
FORMER KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov said he never betrayed his country
in the August 1991 coup against Mikhail Gorbachev, and his only regret
was that the putsch failed.
The coup was ''a measure of despair in our attempt to stop the
destruction of the country,' Kryuchkov told the military branch of
Russia's Supreme Court. ''It is not our guilt but our tragedy that our
efforts failed.''
Kryuchkov took particular aim at Boris Yeltsin, who led opposition to
the 1991 coup. ''The motherland we are accused of betraying no longer
exists,'' he said. ''Another country exists, and it is led by the person
who destroyed the other one.''
A dozen Communist leaders are accused of taking former Soviet
President Gorbachev prisoner and seizing power from August 18-21, 1991,
in the failed putsch that accelerated the Soviet Union's collapse.
All have pleaded not guilty. If they are convicted of high treason,
they could get the death penalty -- in Russia, a shot to the back of the
head.
The trial, resuming for the first time since September, has been
repeatedly delayed. Some question whether it will ever reach a verdict.
Kryuchkov said the men who briefly overthrew Gorbachev decided to act
because they believed the United States and other powers had begun
seeking control of the Soviet nuclear arsenal.
''Our action in August was an attempt to use soft means to stop the
destruction of the country,'' Kryuchkov said.
''The only thing I reproach myself for is that I failed to protect the
country and my people against those grave trials which befell them
because of attempts by political adventurists.''
Kryuchkov said that the plotters sent a delegation to Gorbachev's
Crimean holiday home and informed him of their plans for the August
crackdown.
''I had the impression from them that Gorbachev agreed and would not
undertake any steps against emergency regulations,'' said Kryuchkov.
He then accused Gorbachev of betraying the country.
''The betrayal of the state's interests was carried out by former
President Gorbachev and now the overwhelming majority of the country's
population is paying for that,'' he said. ''I regret that we did not
raise the question of removing Gorbachev from power.''
Kryuchkov accused Yeltsin of violating the constitution by disbanding
the Soviet-era Parliament and sending tanks to defeat his opponents.
''History repeats itself, and Coup One was followed with Coup Two,''
he said, referring to the events in October. Some of the parliamentary
leaders ousted by Yeltsin had stood by him against the communists in
1991.
Former Parliament speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov and former Vice President
Alexander Rutskoi, are in prison awaiting trial.
''It is fate's irony that those who won in August 1991 are now in the
dock,'' said Kryuchkov.--AP.
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