Tatiana Bayeva, who stood up for Czechoslovakia in 1968, dies at 77

Soviet-era Russian dissident Tatiana Bayeva, one of the eight people who risked their lives in 1968 to oppose the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, has died at the age of 77.

On August 25, just four days after the invasion, Bayeva joined seven other dissidents on Moscow’s Red Square, holding banners that read, “Hands off Czechoslovakia!” and “Shame to the Invaders!” Their peaceful protest was swiftly suppressed by Soviet authorities.

Bayeva, who was 21 at the time, was fired from her job as a result. A year later, she signed a declaration condemning the Warsaw Pact’s invasion of Czechoslovakia on its first anniversary. In 1992, she emigrated to the United States but later returned to Moscow.

In June 2018, she was honoured with the Czech Foreign Ministry’s Gratias Agit award on behalf of the ‘Eight Brave Ones’ for promoting the Czech Republic’s reputation abroad. According to available information, only Litvinov, now 84 years old, remains alive today.