Moscow  - Oleg Shenin, one of the organizers of the failed 1991 coup against then Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev, died Thursday of unspecified illnesses, Russian television reported Saturday.

Shenin was head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in August 1991 when he, and a group of other hard-line Communists, attempted to steal control of the Soviet Union from Gorbachev.

The putsch failed and, after a short incarceration, Shenin was released from prison for health reasons. (dpa)