The Soldier in Russian Politics, 1985-96 by Robert Barylski

Author:Robert Barylski [Barylski, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Political Process, General
ISBN: 9781351291149
Google: zSBWDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 39950008
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-04-17T00:00:00+00:00

Discrediting the Union of Officers: The Terekhov Incident

According to some reports on 23 September 1993 in the late afternoon, Viktor Anpilov, head of Trudovaya Moskva, harangued the crowd that had gathered outside Parliament. He allegedly urged armed radicals, “those who are really men,” to attack CIS military headquarters at No. 41 Leningradsky Prospekt. Anpilov yelled that the orders had been given by Stanislav Terekhov, head of the Union of Officers. This evoked shouts accusing Anpilov of being an agent planted by the Kremlin. Fights broke out and had to be stopped by Parliament’s security guards. The fact that these details were printed in Krasnaya zyezda suggests that reporters were likewise suspicious of Anpilov’s motives.25

Another story attributed to government sources reported that at 8:50 P.M. a car full of militants arrived, killed militia guard Valery Sviridenko, and wounded a civilian living next door, Vera Malysheva. The government media picked up the theme that Moscow was threatened with bloodshed and anarchy because armed extremists were taking up positions in the city.26 The next morning Grachev and Kobets accused retired, opposition generals Achalov, Makashov, and Rutskoi of complicity in the death of innocent people. They said that it was deeply disturbing that Rutskoi had taken such action after the army had promised not to take Parliament by force. Grachev said that this was proof that Parliament was distributing arms and inciting violence. He argued that the threat to civil peace justified bringing additional troops into the city and he ordered more elite armed forces to take up positions in Moscow. Grachev described the incident as an attack on the military by Parliament’s supporters, part of an effort to drag the military into the political confrontation.27 It is interesting that the generals apparently said nothing about Terekhov. A separate news brief stated that some unnamed witnesses claimed that they had seen Stanislav Terekhov among the attackers that night and therefore he had been arrested by the military procurator in Moscow. This all smacked of old-style KGB manipulation and disinformation.

Khasbulatov convened the Tenth Extraordinary Congress at 10:00 P.M. on 23 September 1993. It ran into the predawn hours. At 5:00 A.M. on 24 September 1993, Congress adopted a resolution that called for simultaneous new presidential and parliamentary elections.28 This compromise with Yeltsin was designed to defuse the crisis. However, instead of focusing on Parliament’s so-called “double-zero” option, the Yeltsin administration behaved as if Moscow were threatened by anarchy and emphasized the stories about armed extremists in the city.

Rutskoi disclaimed the attack on CIS headquarters and called the incident a deliberate provocation launched by Parliament’s enemies to give Yeltsin an excuse to use military power to get his way. Rutskoi demanded that the authorities produce Terekhov and permit the media to speak with him. Three members of Terekhov’s Union of Officers—Col. General Albert Makashov, Lt. General M. Titov, and Lt. Col. E. Chemobrivko held a press conference and denounced the Yeltsin administration for arresting Terekhov and accusing him a launching a patently absurd attack on CIS military headquarters.

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