1991 coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev - in pictures

19 August: The then Russian president, Boris Yeltsin (l), reads a statement while standing on the roof of an armoured personnel carrier in Moscow Photograph: AP

20 August: The Soviet military leader Alexander Lebed arrives in Moscow with his troops, as a group led by the Soviet vice-president Gennady Yanayev attempts to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev Photograph: Alain Nogues/Sygma/Corbis

21 August: A soldier loyal to the coup leaders stands on top of his tank in Moscow's Red Square Photograph: Peter Turnley/Corbis

20 August: Moscow residents buy newspapers carrying a statement to the Soviet people by the coup leaders Photograph: Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images

21 August: A soldier crosses a makeshift barricade in front of the Russian White House following the failed coup attempt Photograph: Peter Turnley/Corbis

21 August: Moscow residents walk among the debris left behind following an attempt to block troops from attacking the Russian Federation building Photograph: Liu Heung Shing/AP

21 August: A barricade made up of coaches, trolley buses and lorries in central Moscow Photograph: Art Zamur/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

A tank pushes over a lorry blocking a road in central Moscow Photograph: Anatoly Sapronyenko/AFP/Getty Images

21 August: Mikhail Gorbachev makes his first appearance following the coup attempt to speak to reporters at his country retreat before returning to Moscow Photograph: Stephane Bentura/AFP/Getty Images

Crowds cheer as soldiers pass by in tanks following their defection to Boris Yeltsin Photograph: Peter Turnley/Corbis

22 August: People gather in Red Square to celebrate the failure of the attempted coup Photograph: Peter Turnley/Corbis

22 August: Mikhail Gorbachev returns to Moscow from Crimea where he had been held by the coup plotters Photograph: Georges de Keerle/Sygma/Corbis

23 August: People step on the head of a statue of Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, founder of the KGB, after it was toppled outside the organisation's Moscow headquarters Photograph: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

23 August: Boris Yeltsin applauds Mikhail Gorbachev as he addresses the Russian parliament following the attempted coup Photograph: Georges de Keerle/Sygma/Corbis

24 August: A relative of one of the victims of the failed coup grieves during a funeral procession in Moscow Photograph: Andre Durand/AFP/Getty Images