end of the Soviet; start of the Russian Federation

[npr broadcast of] August 22, 2011 - DAVID GREENE, host:

[opening to Transcript, excerpt: 7 minute radio segment]

Now we'll take a moment to look back to a tipping point in another part of the world. Twenty years ago this month, hardliners in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union staged a coup. They were trying to put an end to Mikhail Gorbachev's modest attempts at democratic reforms. Ultimately, the coup attempt backfired, and the hardliners got exactly what they didn't want. They unleashed a public protest that ushered in the end of the Soviet Union, and rallied many Russians behind a new leader named Boris Yeltsin. All this gave Russians - for a fleeting time, at least - a feeling that democracy had truly been born.

The events during those few days in August 1991 were dramatic, and here's what we were hearing.

(Soundbite of archived recording)

http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=139843553