The correct answer is: B: It discredited Mikhail Gorbachev.
The August Coup in the Soviet Union was led by hard lined communists that were opposing Gorbachev's politics, especially the reforms that he was implementing. The August Coup lasted for only two days, and it didn't caused any direct problems, but it had a very influence among the people in the Soviet Union. It managed to lead to large scale loss of popularity for Gorbachev among most of the ethnic groups in the nations. The end result in the coming year was the falling apart of the Soviet Union and the formation of numerous independent nations from it, with Mikhail Gorbachev being pushed out of the political scene.