The activity of Smolensk Oblast Council of People's Deputies and Smolensk Oblast Communist Party Organization during the events of August 1991

The article analyses the events of August 1991 in the USSR and Smolensk region on the basis of archival data and media materials. The author studies the activity of regional authorities in the period of August events, and shows public attitude to the State Committee on the State of Emergency (SCSE). The Commission tried to find out the reasons for the coup d'état and the removal of the President from power. The events of August 1991 marked the end of the power of the Communist Party and the beginning of the USSR's collapse that led to democratic changes in Russia.