Boris Pugo
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Expand Russian Template:Infobox Officeholder Boris Karlovich Pugo (Template:Langx, Template:Langx; 19 February 1937 – 22 August 1991) was a Soviet communist politician of Latvian origin.
Early life and education
Pugo was born in Kalinin, Russian SFSR (now Tver, Russia) into a family of Latvian communists. They had left Latvia after Latvia was proclaimed an independent country in 1918, and the Communist side was defeated in the war that followed. His father, Karl Janovich Pugo, was a participant in the October Revolution and the Civil War as a member of the Latvian Riflemen. His family returned to Latvia after the Soviet Union occupied and annexed it in 1940.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Pugo graduated from Riga Polytechnical Institute in 1960 and worked in various Komsomol, Communist Party and Soviet government positions, both in Latvia and Moscow.
Party career
Pugo served in various positions between 1960 and 1984 including the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the Latvian SSR, a secretary of the Central Committee of Komsomol of the USSR, the First Secretary of the Riga City Committee of the Communist Party and chairman of the KGB in Latvia.
Pugo was the first secretary of the Communist Party of Latvia from 14 April 1984 to 4 October 1989. Pugo also served as chairman of the Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991.
Between 1990 and 1991, Pugo was the Minister of Interior Affairs of the USSR.
August coup and death
Pugo participated in the August coup in 1991 and as the Minister of the Interior firmly supported measures to suppress opposition to the coup. After the coup had failed, Pugo died by suicide, anticipating arrest.<ref name="coupphone">Template:Cite news</ref> He was contacted by the RSFSR prosecution for a meeting and he shot himself minutes after the phone call.<ref name="coupphone"/> His wife Valentina Ivanovna also died by suicide,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> although sources from the time were uncertain as to whether she killed herself or was killed by her husband.<ref name="coupphone"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
References
External links
Template:27th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Template:Latvian SSR First Secretaries
- 1937 births
- 1991 suicides
- 1991 deaths
- People from Tver
- Riga Technical University alumni
- Heads of the Communist Party of Latvia
- People's commissars and ministers of the Soviet Union
- Ministers of internal affairs of the Soviet Union
- State Committee on the State of Emergency members
- Candidates of the Politburo of the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- Candidates of the Politburo of the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- Candidates of the Politburo of the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- Eleventh convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities
- Members of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union
- Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1967–1971
- Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1971–1975
- Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1975–1980
- Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1980–1985
- Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1985–1990
- Expelled members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour
- Recipients of the Order of Lenin
- Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
- Recipients of the Order of the Red Star
- Latvian communists
- Russian people of Latvian descent
- Soviet colonel generals
- Soviet politicians who died by suicide
- Suicides by firearm in the Soviet Union
- Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery