Gennady Yanayev

Gennady Yanayev
Геннадий Янаев
Yanayev in 1993
President of the Soviet Union (disputed)
In office 19 August 1991 – 21 August 1991
Preceded by	Mikhail Gorbachev
Succeeded by	Mikhail Gorbachev
Vice President of the Soviet Union
In office 27 December 1990 – 21 August 1991[1]
President	Mikhail Gorbachev
Preceded by	Anatoly Lukyanov (as vice head of state)
Succeeded by	None (post abolished)
Chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions
In office April – July 1990
Preceded by	Stepan Shalaev
Succeeded by	None (post abolished)
Full member of the 28th Politburo
In office 14 July 1990 – 31 January 1991
Secretary of the 28th Central Committee
In office 14 July 1990 – 31 January 1991
Personal details
Born	(1937-08-26)26 August 1937 Perevoz, Gorky Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died	24 September 2010(2010-09-24) (aged 73) Moscow, Russia
Cause of death	Lung cancer
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1962–1991)

Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev (Russian: Геннадий Иванович Янаев; 26 August 1937 – 24 September 2010) was a Soviet politician. Yanayev's political career spanned the rules of Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko, and culminated during the Gorbachev years. Yanayev was born in Perevoz, Gorky Oblast. After years in local politics, he rose to prominence as Chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, but he also held other lesser posts such as deputy of the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.

Due to his chairmanship of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, in 1990 he gained a seat in the 28th Politburo and Secretary of the Central Committee. Later that year, on 27 December, with the help of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yanayev was elected the first, and only, Vice President of the Soviet Union. Having growing doubts about where Gorbachev's reforms were leading, Yanayev started working with, and eventually formally leading, the Gang of Eight, the group which deposed Gorbachev during the August 1991 coup d'état attempt. After three days, the coup collapsed, in part due to Western backing of Boris Yeltsin, but during its brief grip of power Yanayev was made Acting President of the Soviet Union. He was then arrested for his role in the coup, but in 1994 he was pardoned. He spent the rest of his life working in the Russian tourism administration until his death on 24 September 2010.