Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev purged his top armed forces commanders Saturday in the aftermath of last week's failed right-wing coup.
He issued a decree formally firing land forces commander Gen. Valentin Varennikov, who played a key role in detaining Gorbachev and is now under arrest, and Gen. Ivan Tretyak, commander of air defenses. Both were deputy defense ministers.Gorbachev already has replaced defense minister Marshal Dmitry Yazov, one of the main conspirators, with air force commander Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, since promoted to the rank of marshal.
He has also fired Chief of Staff Gen. Mikhail Moiseyev, who passed on Yazov's order to send tanks into Moscow during the coup.
Shaposhnikov has promised an 80 percent clean-out of the armed forces high command.
Most of the army emerged from the coup with its honor broadly intact although three young men died during an attempt by light tanks to smash a barricade near the Russian parliament.