Attempted coup d'etat in the USSR in 1991

USSR. Moscow. Police officers near a police car and armored vehicles at the intersection of Znamenka Street and Yanysheva Lane during an attempt by members of the State Emergency Committee (SEC) to stage a coup d'état to prevent the signing of the Union Treaty, which was to replace the USSR with a new federation of sovereign states. Representatives of the top Soviet leadership, led by USSR Vice President Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev, removed USSR President Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev from power and declared a state of emergency in the country. Vladimir Musaelyan, Eduard Pesov/TASS