Gennady Yanayev, 1991 Soviet coup leader, dies
Gennady Yanayev, a leader of the abortive 1991 Soviet coup who briefly declared himself president replacing Mikhail Gorbachev, has died at age 73, Russia's Communist Party announced Friday.
Nobel prize winning Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was forced into exile for writings strongly critical of the Soviet government, has died.