Yanayev to foreign leaders: Emergency measures are temporary

(As communist hard-liners attempted to stage a coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, his vice president, Gennady Yanayev -- who had assumed the title of acting president -- issued the following statement announcing emergency rule. The statement appeared in the August 20, 1991, editions of Pravda and Izvestia and has been translated from the Russian.)

Message to heads of state and government and to the U.N. secretary-general:

On instructions from the Soviet leadership, I hereby inform you that, as of August 19, 1991, in accordance with the U.S.S.R. Constitution and laws, a state of emergency has been introduced in certain localities of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for a period of six months. During that period, all power in the country is to be transferred to the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the U.S.S.R.

The measures that are being taken are temporary. They in no way signify a renunciation of the course aimed at profound reforms in all spheres of the life of the state and of society. These measures are unavoidable and are dictated by the vital need to save the economy from collapse and the country from hunger and to avert the growing threat of widespread civil conflict, which would have unpredictable consequences for the peoples of the U.S.S.R. and the world community as a whole.

The most important goal of the state of emergency is to ensure conditions that guarantee the safety of every citizen and his property. Provision is made for the elimination of unconstitutional, uncontrolled, and in essence, criminal military formations that are sowing psychological and physical terror in a number of regions of the U.S.S.R. and acting as catalysts for disintegrative processes.

The entire complex of measures that are being taken is aimed at the earliest possible stabilization of the situation in the U.S.S.R., the normalization of social and economic life, the implementation of necessary transformations and the creation of conditions for the all-round development of the country.

A different path would lead to mounting confrontation and violence, to incalculable suffering of our peoples and, from the standpoint of international security, to the creation of a dangerous hotbed of tension.

The temporary emergency measures in no way affect the international commitments that the Soviet Union has assumed in accordance with existing treaties and agreements. The U.S.S.R. is prepared to continue to develop its relations with all states on generally recognized principles of good-neighborliness, equality, mutual advantage and noninterference in one another's internal affairs.

We are certain that our present difficulties are transient in nature and that the Soviet Union's contribution to the preservation of peace and the strengthening of international security will continue to be substantial. The leadership of the U.S.S.R. hopes that these temporary emergency measures will find proper understanding from peoples and governments and from the United Nations.

[signed] G. Yanayev,
Acting President of the U.S.S.R.