An action-packed detective story. Little-known and unknown facts stated by a former Air Force officer who, like M. S. Gorbachev, had his phone cut off on the first day of the coup (August 19, 1992). Wherever President Gorbachev was, the case was always with him. Colonel Bystrov, according to the Charter, had to die, but not transfer the case into the wrong hands. The order in the former 9th Directorate was such that General Plekhanov took the case from his subordinate, as if this suitcase contained a thermos of tea and sandwiches. The president’s case, which resembled an ordinary diplomat, contained special equipment for activating and arming a nuclear weapons and a program of encryption commands for strategic missile units, including submarines. The signal transmitted by this equipment meant war. “I simply did not have the courage to write about many things; I deliberately kept silent about many things in order to avoid misunderstandings. I have simplified some points for greater clarity."