The Tamanskaya Division battalion chief of staff who turned ten tanks to defend the White House during the August coup
I decided that whatever order I was given, I wouldn't shoot anyone.
A Soviet Army major serving as chief of staff of a tank battalion in the Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division. On 19 August 1991, he led ten tanks to the Kalinin Bridge near the White House under GKChP orders, but after meeting Vice President Alexander Rutskoi, he turned his tanks around to defend the Russian parliament. The tank from his battalion, No. 110, was the one Boris Yeltsin climbed to deliver his historic speech, an image that became the symbol of the coup's defeat. After the coup he was ostracized within the division, left the army in 2000, and spent the 1990s scraping by on security and funeral-agent jobs.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- ~1991Chief of Staff, Tank Battalion, Tamanskaya Guards Motor Rifle Division (Major)
- 1991.08.19Defected with ten tanks to Yeltsin's side, defended the White House
- 1991–1992Remained in Tamanskaya Division (promoted to Lieutenant Colonel by Shaposhnikov, 1992)
- 1992–2000Served in Timiryazevsky District Military Commissariat
- 2000Retired as Lieutenant Colonel
- 2000년대 이후Various security and funeral-sector jobs; deputy security chief at a Moscow-area factory
Related historical events
The August 1991 coup and the tank unit’s choice at the White House
In the early hours of 19 August 1991, Major Sergei Yevdokimov, serving in a tank battalion of the Tamanskaya Division, entered Moscow under orders. Ten tanks from his battalion were positioned around Kalinin Bridge and the Russian government building, the White House, with instructions to block the bridge and approaches to the building. Yevdokimov concluded that blocking access without harming the people gathered nearby was impossible. In his recollection, the tanks had no ammunition, and the tank crews learned about the situation in the country through conversations with civilians and the building’s defenders.
Invited into the building by deputy Sergei Yushenkov, Yevdokimov spoke with Alexander Rutskoi. He agreed that the actions of the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) were criminal and promised to help. At Rutskoi’s suggestion, the tanks were repositioned to avoid injuring civilians, and their crews joined the defense of the building. On 20 August, his regiment’s leadership summoned him for questioning; he said he would not reverse his decision. Tank No. 110, which belonged to his battalion, was the one from which Boris Yeltsin delivered a speech.
Yevdokimov later explained that he based his decision on the illegality of the GKChP’s orders to enter Moscow and storm the White House without an order from Commander-in-Chief Mikhail Gorbachev. According to his account, he remained in the same regiment for about six months after the failed coup, then transferred to a Moscow military commissariat and completed his service. This chronology is based on Yevdokimov’s recollection; his assessment of the broader attitudes within the military at the time should likewise be understood as personal testimony.