Yeltsin's historic cry for democracy

Moscow - It was a sunny day in August 1991 when Boris Yeltsin climbed on a tank in Moscow to declare his defiance against a Soviet military coup -- an iconic moment that captured the world's attention.

Dressed in a brown suit and surrounded by thousands of supporters outside the Russian parliament building, Yeltsin called the coup an illegal seizure of power and declared a national strike.

His brave act of defiance carried a resonance that not only defeated the three-day coup but also led to the fall of the Soviet Union and launched Russia on a stormy course towards democracy.

Yeltsin was then president of Russia, one of 15 Soviet republics, a democratic reformer who pushed Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev into dismantling a decaying system.

On the morning of August 19, a group of Soviet officials opposed to the reforms and calling itself the State Emergency Committee deposed Gorbachev and sent tanks into the streets of Moscow.

Yeltsin immediately rallied to the side of his arch-rival Gorbachev, who was said to have been taken ill but was in fact being held in detention at his residence on the Black Sea coast.

Thousands of mostly young demonstrators, many waving Russian flags and holding hands, began gathering in Moscow soon after the announcement about the change of power.

Yeltsin, sided by his personal bodyguard and closest supporters, defied the tanks and armoured personnel carriers patrolling Moscow's streets and climbed onto one of them.

Standing with a large Russian flag unfurled behind him, he read out a historic address to the citizens of Russia to defy the coup.

Demonstrators immediately began setting up barricades to defend the Russian parliament building. Several people were crushed to death by tanks as the tense stand-off continued.

The public announcement made by the coup leaders became increasingly desperate and, by August 21, many of the military were openly siding with the demonstrators.

The coup plotters were arrested and Gorbachev flew back to Moscow.

The failure of the coup started off an implosion of the entire Soviet system and, on December 8 of the same year Yeltsin along with the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus signed a statement declaring the end of the Soviet Union.

The memorable image of the defiant Yeltsin provided a common thread to the the tributes that poured in from around the world following his death from a heart attack on Monday.

"No American, at least, will forget seeing him standing on the tank," said US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said Yeltsin had shown "great personal courage" in defending freedom.

Agence France Presse