Gennady Yanayev Quotes

Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev was a Soviet politician who served as the first and only Vice President of the Soviet Union. Yanayev's political career spanned the rules of Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko, and culminated during the Gorbachev years. Yanayev was born in Perevoz, Gorky Oblast. After years in local politics, he rose to prominence as Chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, but he also held other lesser posts such as deputy of the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.

Due to his chairmanship of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, in 1990 he gained a seat in the 28th Politburo and Secretary of the Central Committee. Later that year, on 27 December, with the help of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yanayev was elected the first, and only, Vice President of the Soviet Union. Having growing doubts about where Gorbachev's reforms were leading, Yanayev started working with, and eventually formally leading, the Gang of Eight, the group which deposed Gorbachev during the August 1991 coup d'état attempt. After three days, the coup collapsed, in part due to Western backing of Boris Yeltsin, but during its brief grip of power Yanayev was made Acting President of the Soviet Union. He was then arrested for his role in the coup, but in 1994 he was pardoned. He spent the rest of his life working in the Russian tourism administration until his death on 24 September 2010.

Wikipedia

✵ 26. August 1937 – 24. September 2010

Gennady Yanayev: 3 quotes 0 likes

Famous Gennady Yanayev Quotes

“I should like to stress that the party is alive, not because Gorbachev is general secretary of its central committee. If he ceases to be general secretary, another leader will come.”

Gennady Yanayev

In an interview, February 1991 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/8060046/Gennady-Yanayev.html

“My body is such that I remain sane even after drinking all my buddies under the table.”

Gennady Yanayev

Denying if alcohol effects any of his decision. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/8060046/Gennady-Yanayev.html

“These events weigh on my heart to this day.”

Gennady Yanayev

Denying to play any critical role in the coup plot, he also said that the was pressured by more hard-line leaders to sign the documents declaring his presidency. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/25/world/europe/25yanayev.html?_r=0