Boris Pugo

Boris Karlovich Pugo, OAN (Latvian: Boriss Pugo, Russian: Борис Карлович Пуго; 19 February 1937 – 22 August 1991) was a Soviet Communist politician of Latvian origins.

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 (1960–1991)

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]