The new minister of defense, appointed on Yeltsin’s recommendation, was Air Marshal Yevgenii Shaposhnikov, who had opposed the coup and made his position known to Yeltsin and his entourage. Yeltsin now had his man in charge of the Soviet military. He also negotiated the appointment of Vadim Bakatin, a Gorbachev ally who had supported Yeltsin during the coup, as the new KGB chief. Furthermore, Yeltsin insisted on the removal of Aleksandr Bessmertnykh, the Soviet foreign minister, who had reported himself ill while the coup was in progress.
