Let's get another update now, shall we?
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Chapter III: The Seeds of Conquest
The first few months since the rebirth of the Russian Empire had seen wars that ultimately led to the reunification of the South Caucasus with the Empire. It ultimately led to unbridled prosperity in the former Transcaucasian nations never before seen since 1991, as Russia provided aid and industrial benefits to the region. This time, President Putin began to gaze his eyes on a particular target; a nation that would most certainly give Russia an edge in Southeast Asia. For about 110 years, the Philippines had survived as a nation freed from Spanish rule, then ruled jointly with the Americans as a commonwealth. And because of its geography as a tropical nation, all 7,100 islands have warm-water harbors that the Russian Empire and President Putin need desparately. Now, in the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the United States, Europe, and China are distracted long enough for Russia to make its move. However, to make his actions seem legitimate, President Putin needed a justification of his plan.
It eventually came on 15 September, 2005, when five simultaneous explosions occured in Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport. Expolding in the most busiest part of the day, it killed 467 people and injured 824 others. It was the worst terrorist attack in Russian history, eclipsing the hostage crisis in Beslan, North Ossetia-Alania, which killed at least 385 people. Eventually, the FSB concluded that the attack was perpatrated by a small group of Chechen separatists and Islamists called the "Liberation Tigers of Chechnya and Ichkeria (LTCI)", and also revealed that the group had financial, technical, and moral support from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front(MILF) and Abu Sayyaf, which were fighting against the Philippine Government for years. Shortly afterwards, people began clamoring the Russian Government to do something about it.
The first scenes of one of the bombs exploding in Domodedovo Intl. Airport
The situation intensified when high-ranking members of the Philippine Government, including Foreign Affairs Secratary Alberto Romulo and President of the Senate Juan Ponce Enrile, denied claims by the FSB and and the Foreign Intelligence Service(SVR) that the Philippines was providing a safe haven for terrorists, citing that it has cooperated with American soldiers in hunting down these Al-Qaeda-sponsored groups around the country. Still, President Putin, working with Foreign Minister Lavrov and Defense Minister Serdyukov, began drafting something that would change the balance of power in Southeast Asia.
While Manila sleeps, President Putin crafts the bill
On 1 November, President Putin, in a televised session of the Imperial Duma, released an ultimatum to the Philippine Government to be enforced within 5 days, with refusal meaning war with both nations. The ultimatum reads as follows:
-Russian Spetsnaz and FSB units are to move freely in the Philippines in a manhunt for suspected terrorists in Southern Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago
-Terrorists, real and suspected, caught by said troops are to be tried in special Russian military courts, and the death penalty may be applied
-The Russian Empire is to have unrestricted access to the warm-water harbors in the Philippines, including the Port of Manila and Subic Bay
-The Russian Imperial Air Force is to have unrestricted access to Diosdado Macapagal International Airport and all Philippine Air Force bases, as well as the permission to construct an air base adjacent to DMIA.
-Petron and the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) are to be dissolved, with their assests divided between Gazprom and Rosneft
-Within 90 days of approval, the Philippines is required to pass a series of harsh, Draconian laws designed to protect itself against future terror threats; and
-Notify the Russian Imperial Government "without delay" of the execution of the measures comprised in the ultimatum
This ultimatum was seen by some as a way to declare war on the Philippine nation, with some of the terms designed so that the Philippine Government could never really accept. In fact, it was criticized by a host of liberal Russian thinkers. Even Mikhail Gorbachev, the last General Secratary of the USSR, had compared it to the Austro-Hungarian Ultimatum to Serbia, whose refusal led to the First World War. In Manila, the result was obvious.
The Philippine President also rejected it.
By a unanimous vote in a joint Congressional meeting, the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives rejected the ultimatum, citing it was "an attack by the Russian Empire against the sovereignty of the Philippine nation, and that President Putin and the Russian Imperial Government needs to reconsider this act". President Putin, however was in no mood to negotiate. On 3 October, 2005, the Russian Empire declared war on the Republic of the Philippines. For the first time in its renewed history, Russia was at war to capture land that wasn't held by the czars or the Soviets.
The goal is simple: Total Annexation
For the rest of the world, they will soon learn that Russia will not be ignored anymore.
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And so concludes this update.