The August 1991 coup and the dissolution of the Soviet Union

Conservative sectors of the Communist Party, the military, and the KGB organized a coup d'état against Gorbachev in August 1991, firmly opposing his reforms, particularly a new union treaty that would grant greater autonomy to the republics. Gorbachev was detained and isolated at his vacation residence in Crimea, while the plotters formed a State Committee for the State of Emergency, announcing that Gorbachev had been removed for health reasons, and deployed troops and military vehicles in Moscow.