1991 Gorbachev left the post of Secretary General

25 years ago, on August 24, 1991, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev announced that he was resigning as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and called on the Central Committee to dissolve itself. He stated: “The secretariat, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU did not oppose the coup. The Central Committee failed to take a decisive position of condemnation and opposition, did not raise the communists to fight against the violation of constitutional legality. Among the conspirators were members of the party leadership, a number of party committees and the media supported the actions of state criminals. This put the communists in a difficult position."