Gennady Yanayev

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Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev
Vice President of the Soviet Union
In office December 1990 – August, 1991
President	Mikhail Gorbachev
Preceded by	None - post created
Succeeded by	None - post abolished
Acting President of the Soviet Union
In office August 19 – August 21, 1991
President	Mikhail Gorbachev
Preceded by	Mikhail Gorbachev
Succeeded by	Mikhail Gorbachev
Born	August 26, 1937 (1937-08-26) (age 70)
Political party	CPSU

Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev (Янаев, Геннадий Иванович in Russian) (born August 26, 1937), Russian politician and statesman. He was also the first and only Vice President of the Soviet Union (1990-91).

Yanayev had worked with Komsomol since 1963. In 1968-1970, he held the post of Chairman of the Committee of the Soviet Youth Organizations. Between 1986 and 1990, Yanayev was a secretary, deputy chairman and chairman of the All-Union Central Soviet of Trade Unions (Всесоюзный центральный совет профессиональных союзов (ВЦСПС), or Vsesoyuzny tsentralny sovet professionalnykh soyuzov). From July, 1990 - January, 1991, he was a member of the Politburo and secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. From December, 1990 - August 1991, Yanayev held the post of Vice President of the Soviet Union.

During the August Coup of 1991, Yanayev was a member of the State Emergency Committee and became acting President of the Soviet Union, replacing the deposed Mikhail Gorbachev. He was later prosecuted and sentenced for his role in the August Coup attempt. However, Yanayev was eventually freed by the amnesty of the Russian State Duma in 1994.

[edit] Quote

"Let me say that Mikhail Gorbachev is now on vacation. He is undergoing treatment, himself, in our country. He is very tired after these many years and he will need some time to get better." - Gennady Yanayev, speaking at a press conference during the August Coup against Gorbachev. [1]