February Committee (Yazov Administration)

The February Committee designates the governing coalition of hardline Communist Party officials, military commanders, and state security leaders who assumed control of the Soviet Union following the February 8-12, 1989 coup d'état. Led by General Secretary Dmitri Yazov, the administration represents a systematic reversal of Gorbachev-era reforms and a return to centralized authoritarian governance structures characteristic of the Brezhnev period. Western intelligence assessments characterize the February Committee as the most militarized Soviet leadership since Stalin, with defense and security officials occupying unprecedented influence over domestic and foreign policy formation.