{"id":78483,"date":"2026-10-05T11:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T09:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/put-rossii-k-demokratii-ot-triumfa-1991-go-do-istoricheskogo-povorota\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T11:06:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T09:06:32","slug":"russias-path-to-democracy-from-the-triumph-of-1991-to-a-historic-turning-point-an-interview-with-lev-ponomarev","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/uk\/russias-path-to-democracy-from-the-triumph-of-1991-to-a-historic-turning-point-an-interview-with-lev-ponomarev\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia\u2019s Path to Democracy: From the Triumph of 1991 to a Historic Turning Point. An interview with Lev Ponomarev"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>How did the August coup come about? Why did the army not open fire on the protesters? What did Russia\u2019s future look like in August 1991? And why did the nomenklatura and the KGB take their revenge on the democrats?<\/h1>\n<p>In the latest episode of \u2018How Are Things Now?\u2019, we spoke to Lev Ponomarev, a human rights activist, former MP and one of the leaders of the democratic movement in the USSR and Russia of the 1990s. August 1991 marked a turning point in Russian history.<\/p>\n<p>The failure of the State Committee for the State of Emergency and the victory of the democratic forces were perceived by contemporaries as a triumph of freedom and the final collapse of the totalitarian system. However, according to those who took part in those events, this triumph was overshadowed by deep systemic contradictions.<\/p>\n<p>The main catalyst for the coup was the confrontation between a Russia undergoing democratisation and the conservative Soviet centre. In 1990, democrats came to power peacefully in the RSFSR, and the process of enacting new legislation began, guaranteeing freedom of speech and assembly and putting an end to political persecution. Against this backdrop, the Soviet leadership, spearheaded by the KGB and reactionary forces, attempted to halt the collapse of the established system and thwart the signing of the new Union Treaty.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe  id=\"_ytid_14127\"  width=\"2120\" height=\"1193\"  data-origwidth=\"2120\" data-origheight=\"1193\"  data-relstop=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7h_Amlhvu6M?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;rel=0&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The citizens\u2019 march on the White House, the resistance of unarmed people and the military\u2019s refusal to see the coup through thwarted the plotters\u2019 plans. Nevertheless, the victory over the State Committee for the State of Emergency did not mean the complete dismantling of the structure that had given rise to it. Most of the leaders and participants in the first wave of the democratic movement were former communists, who found it difficult to restructure the economy and build institutions amidst a severe crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the freedom of speech and pluralism of opinion that persisted throughout the 1990s, economic difficulties and the mistakes of the elite led to disillusionment amongst sections of society. The turning point came at the turn of the century, when a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of the security services came to power. In the author\u2019s view, this choice led to the dismantling of democratic institutions and the establishment of an authoritarian regime, which interrupted the country\u2019s historical path towards an open society.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How did the August coup come about? Why did the army not open fire on the protesters? What did Russia\u2019s future look like in August 1991? And why did the nomenklatura and the KGB take their revenge on the democrats? In the latest episode of \u2018How Are Things Now?\u2019, we spoke to Lev Ponomarev, a human rights activist, former MP and one of the leaders of the democratic movement in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":78476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Russia\u2019s Path to Democracy: From the Triumph of 1991 to a Historic Turning Point. An interview with Lev Ponomarev - Menschenrechte Osteuropa - News &amp; Konflikte","description":"How did the August coup come about? Why did the army not open fire on the protesters? What did Russia\u2019s future look like in August 1991? And why did the nomenkl"},"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":233,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218,482,541,230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bl-en","category-country-russia-2-en","category-country-russia-en","category-russland-cat-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78483"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78489,"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78483\/revisions\/78489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}