CRISIS IN THE KREMLIN : Moscow Coup: Day 3 : The Soviet Union

Mikhail S. Gorbachev flew back to Moscow from the Crimea, where he had been held by 30 KGB agents. Tens of thousands of Muscovites cheered at the news.

The federal prosecutor launched criminal proceedings against the eight-member State Emergency Committee for “crimes against the state.” And Russian authorities reported that KGB chief Vladimir A. Kryuchkov, one of the members, had been arrested.

Four of the plotters--Kryuchkov, Defense Minister Dmitri T. Yazov, Oleg D. Baklanov and Alexander I. Tizyakov--reportedly flew to Gorbachev’s Crimean dacha to see him.

The death toll for citizens who had opposed Soviet troops was still not definite. Eyewitnesses said four people had been killed, while various officials said three to five people had been shot to death or crushed under tanks.

The Baltic republic of Latvia followed neighboring Estonia and declared itself independent. Latvian Radio said President Anatolijs Gorbunovs signed a decree at the Parliament in Riga. In Lithuania, security guards and Soviet troops exchanged gunfire at a checkpoint in Vilnius. Two people were reported wounded.

U.S. Reaction

President Bush talked to Gorbachev on the phone and said he and his wife, Barbara, were “delighted” to learn that the Soviet leader and his wife, Raisa, were all right.

House and Senate members expressed relief at Gorbachev’s return and many of them praised Yeltsin. “I think we are ushering in the Yeltsin era. The people have spoken,” said Rep. David McCurdy (D-Okla.).

World Reaction

In Czechoslovakia, which was marking the anniversary of the Soviet invasion in 1968, thousands celebrated in Prague when they heard of the collapse of the coup.

German Chancellor Helmut Kohl invited Yeltsin to visit and the Russian president said he planned to come soon. In Dresden and Leipzig, celebrations broke out.