AllMovie

ABC reporters were among the many world media figures who covered the exciting events that unfolded in Russia during the coup attempt between August 19-25, 1991. Footage is included of reports filed by Diane Sawyer, Ted Koppel, Peter Jennings, and others. Some of the featured clips recall the tensions present in the Soviet Union that summer as the new Union Treaty was about to be signed and various power struggles kept unfolding behind the scenes. The program notes such events as Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev being detained at his home in the Crimea, Boris Yeltsin standing on top of a tank denouncing the coup, and the varied responses of the Soviet people to the events unfolding around them that were captivating viewers all around the globe.