As the coup faltered, and the plotters lost the initiative while support for Boris Yeltsin, the President of the Russian SFSR, grew, the plotters called in reinforcements from the Tula Division, in the form of a battalion from the 137th Guards Airborne Regiment.
As the coup weakened and the plotters fell behind while President Boris Yeltsin gained more support, the plotters sought assistance from the Tula Division by deploying a battalion from the 137th Guards Airborne Regiment.