Flashback to the coup
Never argue with a babushka
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'Russia's moral authorities' stood
on the front lines
of a political revolution
By Eileen O'Connor
CNN Washington Bureau
(CNN) -- On August 19, 1991, Boris Yeltsin was storming down the steps of the Russian parliament, known as the Russian White House, as a small crowd began to gather -- mostly those curious about the tank outside. Few people had even heard the announcement that morning on television and radio, declaring a state of emergency and putting a small group of advisers to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in control.
As Yeltsin, the Russian president, pulled himself up on the top of the tank, an old Babushka, a Russian grandmother, tugged on my arm.
"What's he saying?" she asked.
I strained to hear, repeating his words to the tiny, frail lady beside me.
"He says Gorbachev isn't sick," I told her.
"He says this committee is just a bunch of adventurists," I repeated. "He says it's time for the forces of democracy to fight and rally around the Russian parliament, which is the only elected government body now."
She nodded, as we both turned toward a loud rumbling noise on the bridge above our heads. Tanks, scores of them, were rolling into the center of Moscow, down Kutusovsky Prospect.
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My cameraman, Michael Johnson, had his lens trained on Yeltsin. He glanced over, none of us sure what would happen next. Yeltsin continued, unbowed. His aides looked nervous, his security detail determined.
As Yeltsin finished and strode back up into the Russian parliament, I grabbed our tape, ready to run back to the office and get it onto the air.
The few people there started to pick up whatever was lying nearby, erecting, along with some parliamentary security officers, a barricade. It was haphazard, made of cardboard and concrete blocks from a nearby construction site.
I looked around for the babushka with whom I had been talking. She was there, sitting on a step nearby.
"What are you doing? Where do you want to go?" I asked her, thinking she might be lost.
"You heard him," she said. "I'm staying."
As I ran across the bridge, I saw more ladies just like her. My Russian friends always called them "Russia's moral authorities." When a babushka told me in a market that my infant daughter was sitting up too soon, everyone nearby clucked in agreement. You didn't argue with a babushka.
The babushkas on the bridge were pointing at the soldiers, sitting on top of their tanks and armored personnel carriers, asking them, "Who sent you? Why are you here?" Or even worse, "Does your mother know you're here?"
Some of the confused teen-age soldiers turned to each other, saying, "Our commander told us we're going to parade exercises."
Others replied, "I heard Gorbachev is sick, and they just want to make sure there's no trouble."
The babushkas set them straight.
"That's not right. Yeltsin says Gorbachev's not sick," they told the young men, adding to their confusion.
"You're not going to shoot us, are you?" asked one babushka.
"No ma'am," a soldier said.
His reply was a sign that this takeover was by no means a done deal.
Eileen O'Connor, a CNN national correspondent based in Washington, spent seven years in CNN's Moscow bureau, the last three as bureau chief. Her coverage of the August 1991 Soviet coup earned CNN a Peabody Award.