A screenshot from Belarus One broadcast
MINSK, 20 November (BelTA) – Why the Swan Lake ballet became kind of a symbol of a political crisis in the USSR in 1991 has been covered by the film “Time chose us” aired by the TV channel Belarus One, BelTA has learned.
At 6:00 on 19 August the USSR central television released an emergency broadcast to inform the nation about the introduction of the state of emergency for half a year and about the establishment of a committee to control the state of emergency – the State Committee on the State of Emergency. Instead of regular programming USSR citizens could only watch the Swan Lake ballet. This ballet is now firmly associated with those events.
The State Committee on the State of Emergency consisted of high-ranking officials led by Vice President Gennady Yanayev.
The Belarusian statesman Mikhail Myasnikovich worked as First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus in 1991-1994. He remembers those events well. “I remember that at that moment I was in charge as the first deputy prime minister. Everyone was at a loss. The Central Committee was busy moving papers somewhere. At least that was my guess. It was not clear who controlled enterprises with USSR affiliation, who they should report to, and what they actually are,” Mikhail Myasnikovich said.
He added that large army units were concentrated in the territory. “Heads of district administrations and oblast administrations phoned me to say that two or three generals were in their office asking them what to do. Our job (and we did it) was to supply food, fuel and lubricants. Certainly, we supplied what we could,” Mikhail Myasnikovich concluded.
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