| Boris Pugo | |
| Citizenship: | Soviet Union |
| Office: | Minister of Interior of the Soviet Union |
| Term Start: | 1 December 1990 |
| Term End: | 22 August 1991 |
| Premier: | Nikolai Ryzhkov Valentin Pavlov |
| Predecessor: | Vadim Bakatin |
| Successor: | Viktor Barannikov |
| Order1: | Chairman of the Central Control Commission |
| Term Start1: | 30 September 1989 |
| Term End1: | April 1991 |
| Predecessor1: | Mikhail Solomentsev |
| Successor1: | Eugene Makhov |
| Office2: | First Secretary of the Communist Party of Latvia |
| Term Start2: | 14 April 1984 |
| Term End2: | 4 October 1989 |
| Predecessor2: | Augusts Voss |
| Successor2: | Jānis Vagris |
| Birth Date: | 19 February 1937 |
| Birth Place: | Kalinin, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Death Place: | Moscow, Russian SFSR Soviet Union |
| Death Cause: | Suicide by gunshot |
| Party: | Communist (1960–1991) |
| Resting Place: | Troyekurovskoye Cemetery |
| Native Name Lang: | ru |
Boris Karlovich Pugo (Latvian: Boriss Pugo, Russian: Борис Карлович Пуго; 19 February 1937 – 22 August 1991) was a Soviet communist politician of Latvian origin.
Pugo was born in Kalinin, Russian SFSR (now Tver, Russia) into a family of Latvian communists who had left Latvia after Latvia was proclaimed an independent country in 1918 and the Communist side was defeated in the war that followed. His father, Karl Janovich Pugo, was a participant in the October Revolution and the Civil War as a member of the Latvian Riflemen. His family returned to Latvia after the Soviet Union occupied and annexed it in 1940.[1]
Pugo graduated from Riga Polytechnical Institute in 1960 and worked in various Komsomol, Communist Party and Soviet government positions, both in Latvia and Moscow.
Pugo served in various positions between 1960 and 1984 including the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the Latvian SSR, a secretary of the Central Committee of Komsomol of the USSR, the First Secretary of the Riga City Committee of the Communist Party and chairman of the KGB in Latvia.
Pugo was the first secretary of the Communist Party of Latvia from 14 April 1984 to 4 October 1989. Pugo also served as chairman of the Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991.
Between 1990 and 1991, Pugo was the Minister of Interior Affairs of the USSR.
Pugo participated in the August coup in 1991 and as the Minister of the Interior firmly supported measures to suppress opposition to the coup. After the coup had failed, Pugo committed suicide, anticipating arrest.[2] He was contacted by the RSFSR prosecution for a meeting and he shot himself minutes after the phone call.[2] His wife Valentina Ivanovna also committed suicide,[3] although sources from the time were uncertain as to whether she killed herself or was killed by her husband.[2] [4] [5] [6]