Anatomy of a botched putsch. (attempted coup in the Soviet Union) From: The Economist (US) | Date: August 24, 1991 | COPYRIGHT 1991 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

HELICOPTERS beat the air over Moscow for days before. But the eve of the coup was Soviet Air Force Day, so no one thought twice about them. The announcement on the morning of Monday August 19th that Mikhail Gorbachev, holidaying in the Crimea, was "ill" and that his duties had been taken over by his vice-president came out of a blue sky.

Yet the coup not only could have been predicted, it was-by Mr Gorbachev's former adviser, Alexander Yakovlev, who resigned from the Co...