RuNet: A Cyberian Adventure

MOSCOW, AUGUST 1991. A desperate coup is underway. The plotters are hard-line Communists, determined to reverse the tide of liberalization and prevent the disintegration of the USSR. Demonstrations have been forbidden and political parties suspended. Central Television is playing Swan Lake on an endless loop.

The waiting is the worst thing. People queue outside the offices of newly-banned newspapers, competing for copies of leaflets churned out on overheating photocopiers. Mass communications, both within Russia and to other countries, have been cut.