Boris Pugo

{{Infobox Officeholder

| name = Boris Pugo

| image = Boris Pugo.jpg

| citizenship = Soviet Union

| office = Minister of Interior of the Soviet Union

| term_start = 1 December 1990

| term_end = 22 August 1991

| premier = Nikolai Ryzhkov
Valentin Pavlov

| predecessor = Vadim Bakatin

| successor = Viktor Barannikov

| order1 = Chairman of the Central Control Commission

| term_start1 = 30 September 1989

| term_end1 = April 1991

| predecessor1 = Mikhail Solomentsev

| successor1 = Eugene Makhov

| office2 = First Secretary of the Communist Party of Latvia

| term_start2 = 14 April 1984

| term_end2 = 4 October 1989

| predecessor2 = Augusts Voss

| successor2 = Jānis Vagris

| birth_date = {{birth date|1937|02|19|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Kalinin, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

| death_date = {{death date and age|1991|8|22|1937|02|19|df=y}}

| death_place = Moscow, Russian SFSR Soviet Union

| death_cause = Suicide by gunshot

| party = Communist (1960–1991)

| spouse =

| profession =

| resting_place = Troyekurovskoye Cemetery

| residence =

| signature =

| native_name_lang = ru

| native_name = {{nobold|Борис Пуго}}

| caption = Pugo in 1989

}}

Boris Karlovich Pugo ({{langx|lv|Boriss Pugo}}, {{langx|ru|Борис Карлович Пуго}}; 19 February 1937 – 22 August 1991) was a Soviet communist politician of Latvian origin.

Early life and education

Pugo was born in Kalinin, Russian SFSR (now Tver, Russia) into a family of Latvian communists. They had left Latvia after Latvia was proclaimed an independent country in 1918, and the Communist side was defeated in the war that followed. His father, Karl Janovich Pugo, was a participant in the October Revolution and the Civil War as a member of the Latvian Riflemen. His family returned to Latvia after the Soviet Union occupied and annexed it in 1940.{{cite web |url=http://hrono.ru/biograf/bio_p/pugo_bk.php |title=Пуго Борис Карлович |trans-title=Pugo Boris Karlovich |language=ru |work=XPOHOC |access-date=14 December 2020}}

Pugo graduated from Riga Polytechnical Institute in 1960 and worked in various Komsomol, Communist Party and Soviet government positions, both in Latvia and Moscow.

Party career

Pugo served in various positions between 1960 and 1984 including the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the Latvian SSR, a secretary of the Central Committee of Komsomol of the USSR, the First Secretary of the Riga City Committee of the Communist Party and chairman of the KGB in Latvia.

Pugo was the first secretary of the Communist Party of Latvia from 14 April 1984 to 4 October 1989. Pugo also served as chairman of the Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991.

Between 1990 and 1991, Pugo was the Minister of Interior Affairs of the USSR.

August coup and death

Pugo participated in the August coup in 1991 and as the Minister of the Interior firmly supported measures to suppress opposition to the coup. After the coup had failed, Pugo died by suicide, anticipating arrest.{{cite news|title=After The Coup; Phone Call, Then a Suicide|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/24/world/after-the-coup-phone-call-then-a-suicide.html|access-date=21 December 2017|work=The New York Times|date=24 August 1991}} He was contacted by the RSFSR prosecution for a meeting and he shot himself minutes after the phone call. His wife Valentina Ivanovna also died by suicide,{{Cite web|last=Synovitz|first=Ron|date=19 August 2016|title=What Happened To The August 1991 Soviet Coup Plotters?|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/what-happened-to-the-august-1991-coup-plotters/27933729.html|access-date=27 March 2018|website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty|language=en}} although sources from the time were uncertain as to whether she killed herself or was killed by her husband.{{cite news|title=The Kremlin Plot|url=http://www.newsweek.com/kremlin-plot-197950|access-date=21 December 2017|work=Newsweek|date=30 August 1992|language=en}}{{cite news|title=Wife of Coup Plotter Pugo Dies After Suicide Attempt|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-05-mn-2437-story.html|access-date=21 December 2017|work=Los Angeles Times|date=5 September 1991}}{{cite news|last=Nadler|first=Gerald|title=Conspirator calmly took call from pursuer, then shot wife, self|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/08/23/Conspirator-calmly-took-call-from-pursuer-then-shot-wife-self/7549682920000/|access-date=26 March 2018|work=United Press International|date=23 August 1991}}

References

External links

[http://hrono.ru/biograf/bio_p/pugo_bk.php Pugo Boris Karlovich biography] in Russian
{{cite web|url=http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2001/08/17/019.html|title=The Men Who Tried to Topple Mikhail Gorbachev|access-date=2004-07-20|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010905011525/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2001/08/17/019.html|archive-date=2001-09-05}}
{{Find a Grave|7323341}}

Category:1937 births

Category:1991 suicides

Category:1991 deaths

Category:People from Tver

Category:Riga Technical University alumni

Category:Heads of the Communist Party of Latvia

Category:People's commissars and ministers of the Soviet Union

Category:Ministers of internal affairs of the Soviet Union

Category:State Committee on the State of Emergency members

Category:Candidates of the Politburo of the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Category:Candidates of the Politburo of the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Category:Candidates of the Politburo of the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union