大象传媒

In the final selection from his history of Russia, Martin Sixsmith describes the tumultuous events that took place in Moscow in 1991.

He was there as a 大象传媒 correspondent as Communist plotters tried to save the Soviet Union. They imprisoned President Gorbachev at his holiday villa and announced that they were saving the country from further reform and openness. They hadn't reckoned with Yeltsin, who climbed on top of a tank stationed outside the Moscow white house and, almost singlehandedly, won back the army and forced the plotters to back down.

This was the end of the USSR. The former republics, Ukraine among them, were free to take their own steps towards a new democratic constitution. But these were steps which would do nothing to alter the tension between Russia and Ukraine that had existed throughout their history.

Producers: Adam Fowler and Anna Scott-Brown
A Ladbroke production for 大象传媒 Radio 4.