Attempted coup d'etat in the USSR in 1991

USSR. Moscow. The crew of an infantry fighting vehicle on one of the city streets after the declaration of a state of emergency in the country during an attempted coup d'etat. In order to prevent the signing of the Union Treaty, which was supposed to replace the USSR with a new federation of sovereign states, representatives of the highest Soviet leadership, headed by the Vice President of the USSR Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev, removed the President of the USSR from power and created the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP). Alexander Chumichev/TASS