Gennady Yanayev | |
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| Born | Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev 26 August 1937 Perevoz, Gorky Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR |
| Died | 24 September 2010 (aged 73) Moscow, Russia |
| Political orientation | Marxism–Leninism Anti-imperialism |
| Political party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1962–91) |
Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev (26 August 1937 – 24 September 2010) was a Soviet politician who served as Mikhail Gorbachev's vice president (the only vice president in the history of the USSR) from 1990 until 1991.
Yanayev was instumental in the plotting of the 1991 August Coup, which had the goal of ousting the revisionist Gorbachev from office and rolling-back his policies. The coup failed however, and Yanayev was sentenced to prison. The Soviet Union was overthrown in a counterrevolution in December 1991, and Yanayev was eventually released from prison in 1994. He died from lung cancer in September 2010.