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Soviet President Gorbachev is removed from office in a coup and
replaced by an emergency committee. Meeting in emergency session,
the NATO Council warns the Soviet Union of serious consequences
if it abandons reform. Western aid programmes are suspended. Russian
President Boris Yeltsin calls for a general strike while loyalist
tanks flying Russian flags position themselves near the Russian
parliament building.
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Romanian Foreign Minister Adrian Nastase visits NATO.
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Ministerial meeting of the North Atlantic Council. Foreign Ministers
review the political situation in the Soviet Union and publish a
statement condemning the unconstitutional removal of President Gorbachev
and calling for the restoration of democratic reform. President
Gorbachev returns to Moscow as the 19 August coup collapses and
its leaders are arrested. Western leaders praise President Yeltsins
role in resisting the coup and lift a freeze on aid to the Soviet
Union. Romanian Foreign Minister Adrian Nastase visits NATO.
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The Soviet Union announces a wholesale purge of the Military High
Command. President Gorbachev proposes that the Communist Party be
disbanded and resigns as its General Secretary.
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President Gorbachev indicates that the demands of secession-minded
republics for independence can no longer be resisted. EC countries
agree to establish diplomatic ties with the three Baltic states.
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President Gorbachev appoints Boris Pankin, former Ambassador to
Czechoslovakia, as Foreign Minister, strips the KGB of its troops
and orders an investigation of its activities.
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Soviet legislators vote to suspend all activities of the Communist
Party.
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