Moscow 1991 Photo Collection

Photographs from Moscow during the August 1991 coup and the collapse of Soviet power.

In August 1991, Moscow became the stage for the last great political drama of the Soviet Union. Tanks entered the city, the State Committee on the State of Emergency tried to seize power, and thousands of people gathered around the Russian White House to resist the coup.

This photo archive brings together photographs made by Oleg Klimov in Moscow during those days: barricades, soldiers, civilians, improvised defenses, fear, exhaustion, euphoria and the fragile belief that history could still be changed by people standing in the street.

For Klimov, this was also the beginning of his long work as a photojournalist. The photographs are not only images of a political event, but also a personal record of a moment when Soviet power was collapsing and the future still seemed open.

The archive includes images from the days of the coup, the defense of the White House, the public mourning for those who were killed, the first official raising of the Russian tricolor, and the uncertain beginning of post-Soviet Russia.

The photographs can be viewed online with captions, dates and contextual information. High-resolution files are not available for direct public download, but access can be requested for editorial, research, exhibition or publishing purposes.