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Join Wundery Plus in the Wundery app or on Apple Podcasts. It's the morning of August 19, 1991, inside an apartment building in Moscow.

André Milov, a university student, is jolted awake by the sound of his alarm clock.

André heaves himself out of bed and stumbles bleary-eyed across his apartment towards the kitchen.

Andre pours himself a mug of instant coffee and takes a restorative gulp.

Through his open window, Andre can hear the sounds of a city awakening and the distant

rumble of a garbage truck. But he frowns. Today's Monday. The trash isn't usually picked

up until Wednesday.

Andre shrugs.

Maybe they changed it, he thinks,

as he flops onto the sofa.

He reaches for the remote and turns on the television.

Andre is expecting the morning news, so he's surprised to see that the transmission has been

interrupted by Soviet State TV, which is currently

broadcasting a performance of Swan Lake, the ballet by Chikovsky.

Andre sits up suddenly wide awake.

The first time Swan Lake replaced ordinary programming was in 1982, when former Soviet leaderreshnev died after nearly two decades in power.

Swan Lake has been aired twice since then on both occasions marking the death of a Soviet

premiere. For Russians like Andre, seeing Swan Lake on television can mean only one thing, political upheaval.

Andre notices that the roar of the garbage trucks outside is getting louder,

rising to an almost deafening pitch.

...