Russia: Twenty Years On

It has been two decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but for those who witnessed the drama of 1991, memories remain vivid. Waking on August 19 to hear the news of the coup against Mikhail Gorbachev; driving down Gorky Street as columns of tanks descended on the Kremlin; talking to the tank crews and hearing from nervous conscripts that they had live ammunition in their weapons and were prepared to use it. For three anxious days the fate of Europe and the world was fought over on the streets of Moscow