Boris Karlovich Pugo

Boris Karlovich Pugo (Latvian: Boriss Pugo, Russian: Бори́с Ка́рлович Пу́го) (February 19, 1937 – August 22, 1991, in Moscow) was a Latvian Communist political figure.

Pugo was born in Kalinin, USSR (now Tver, Russia) into a family of Latvian communists who had left Latvia following the loss of Communists in the Latvian independence war of 1918-1920. His family returned to Latvia after Soviet Union occupied and annexed it in 1940.

Pugo graduated from Riga Polytechnical in 1960 and worked in various Komsomol, Communist Party and Soviet government positions since then, both in Latvia and Moscow. His positions between 1960 and 1984 included the first secretary of the Central Committee of Komsomol of Latvian SSR, a secretary of the Central Committee of Komsomol of USSR, the first secretary of Riga City Committee of Communist Party and the chairman of KGB in Latvia.

Pugo was the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Latvian SSR from 1984 to 1988.

Between 1990 and 1991, he was the Minister of the Interior Affairs of the USSR. He was a member of the August Coup in 1991. He soon after committed suicide. He shot his wife and himself as soon as he realized that the coup had failed.

The year-end episode of the McLaughlin Group US television talk show ended with John McLaughin asking his panel "Who were the biggest losers of the year?" After the round of answers, he shouted, "Wrong! The biggest loser was Boris Pugo!"

Several media (including Moscow Times and TIME) have cast doubts on the circumstances of his suicide, suggesting he might have been killed and the murder masked as a suicide.