Boris Yeltsin celebrates failed military coup

 

Russian Republic President Boris Yeltsin,  makes a V-sign to thousands of Muscovites, as his top associate Gennady Burbulis, right, stands near during a rally in front of the Russian federation building to celebrate the failed military coup in Moscow 22 Augist 1991. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Boris Yeltsin stormed parliament and called for new elections after his chief rivals, speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov and Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoi, barricaded themselves in Moscow's White House and voted to impeach him. 

When the rebels incited armed gangs of anti-Yeltsin protesters to attack the Ostankino television studio, and the Moscow mayor's office, Yeltsin declared a state of emergency and ordered the military assault on the White House. 

Three months later, a new constitution was approved in a national referendum, giving the president enormous powers that the office maintains to this day.