Boris Pugo

Boris Pugo
Борис Пуго
Minister of Interior
In office
1 December 1990 – 22 August 1991
Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov
Valentin Pavlov
Preceded by Vadim Bakatin
Succeeded by Viktor Barannikov
Chairman of the Central Control Commission
In office
30 September 1988 – April 1991
Preceded by Mikhail Solomentsev
Succeeded by Eugene Makhov
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Latvia
In office
14 April 1984 – 4 October 1988
Preceded by Augusts Voss
Succeeded by Janis Vagris
Personal details
Born (1937-02-19)19 February 1937
Kalinin, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died 22 August 1991(1991-08-22) (aged 54)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Resting place Troyekurovskoye Cemetery
Citizenship Soviet
Political party Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Boris Karlovich Pugo, OAN (Latvian: Boriss Pugo, Russian: Борис Карлович Пуго) (February 19, 1937 – August 22, 1991) was a Soviet Communist political figure, Latvian by ethnicity.

Pugo was born in Kalinin, Russian SFSR (now Tver, Russia) into a family of Latvian communists who had left Latvia after Latvia was proclaimed an independent country in 1918 and the Communist side was defeated in the war that followed. His family returned to Latvia after the Soviet Union occupied and annexed it in 1940.

Pugo graduated from Riga Polytechnical in 1960 and worked in various Komsomol, Communist Party and Soviet government positions, both in Latvia and Moscow. His positions between 1960 and 1984 included the first secretary of the Central Committee of Komsomol of the Latvian SSR, a secretary of the Central Committee of Komsomol of the USSR, the First Secretary of the Riga City Committee of the Communist Party, and chairman of the KGB in Latvia.

Pugo was the first secretary of the Communist Party of Latvia from April 14, 1984 to October 4, 1988. Pugo also served as chairman of the Control Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1988 to 1991.

Between 1990 and 1991, he was the Minister of Interior Affairs of the USSR. He participated in the August Coup in 1991 and as the Minister of the Interior firmly supported measures to suppress opposition to the coup. After the coup had failed, he committed suicide, anticipating arrest.[1] He was contacted by the RSFSR prosecution for a meeting and he shot himself minutes after the phone call.[1] His wife Valentina Ivanovna also committed suicide,[2] although sources from the time were uncertain as to whether she killed herself or was killed by her husband.[1][3][4][5]

Despite his background, he had a poor command of the Latvian language.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "After The Coup; Phone Call, Then a Suicide". The New York Times. 24 August 1991. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  2. ↑ Synovitz, Ron. "What Happened To The August 1991 Soviet Coup Plotters?". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  3. ↑ "The Kremlin Plot". Newsweek. 30 August 1992. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  4. ↑ "Wife of Coup Plotter Pugo Dies After Suicide Attempt". Los Angeles Times. 5 September 1991. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  5. ↑ Nadler, Gerald (23 August 1991). "Conspirator calmly took call from pursuer, then shot wife, self". United Press International. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  • "The Men Who Tried to Topple Mikhail Gorbachev". Archived from the original on 2001-09-05. Retrieved 2004-07-20.
  • Boris Pugo at Find a Grave
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.