"Mass-protests have occurred in the East Slavian Azovia region for a 3rd day following the Goverments overturning of a bid for succession and the ensuing arrests of popular Azovian political and cultural leaders. It is widely speculated that this is in part due to the region being rich in resources and coast on the inland sea. The Soviet constitution from 1993 states that ethnic regions do have the right to govern themselves, though in practice Premier Volkova's regime have cracked down on dissent in the past 2 years, resulting in many political refugees in neighboring countries. Ongoing security operations within the nation have left much of the countryside unsafe following the 2010-2012 civil war, and reconstruction continues even in major cities."
"This will get out of hand if we are not careful about ending this." The holoscreen was promptly turned off and the remote tossed aside. Nadya looked to the small gathering of officials - at the moment the only ones she knew were trustworthy. "Martial Law will go into effect. Within the week I want full intel on any armed groups, their numbers, names, relatives.. anything. While the Interior Ministry will be handling curfew enforcement, I do want a rapid reaction force ready for deployment at a moments notice. 23rd OMSBr, 131st OMSBr are obviously 90% full readiness formations and will deploy when given the order, and I want the 58th Army to be up to full strength as soon as possible. They will -not- be deploying immediately. I will give the Azovians a few days to think things through. They can write to the PSUS all they want, but we will not tolerate a hostile 'nation' right on our all-season port."
"And what about their broadcasting to nearby nations?" someone asked. The region housed a media tower that broadcasted to the surrounding area, and had some channels soley based on their people that was largely watched by those who lived outside East Slavia. The Azovian population did not have a homeland since the 1700's, and were scattered around the inland sea coastal areas historically being sea-faring people.
"TsSN will assault it with VV OSN from Snezinsk. I do not have confidence that the local MVD can act impartial in such matters. The tower will be seized and broadcasts disabled." If they took care of that quickly, they wouldn't have to deal with GNN reporters around every corner. "Samilev, what has GRU reported on the status of ethnic East Slavian citizens?"
The man tossed over a folder and plugged in a data stick into the holoscreen projector. "They are largely nervous - defense militias have formed in many locations. There have been exchanges of fire between them and Azovian OMON and what we are believing to be ethnic Azovian paramilitary groups. A field team under command of.. V. Belyakov ambushed a small convoy last night, the Azovians do have access to heavier armaments, we are looking to see where they are coming from - they aren't ours."
"Then it's settled" Nadya stood up, pacing over to the window and looking out at the city below. After the civil war, Veblensk was very badly damaged and rebuilding was seen as too difficult, and since most of the population had fled, the capital was moved to Treneska. Veblensk and its suburbs became a massive ghost town as reconstruction efforts were focused on other areas as a priority. The city would be last to be fixed, but was envisioned to be a 21st century city. "Operation Serpent's Head will go into effect. The night of the lockdown, before the station goes into their nightly broadcasting the tower will be raided and disabled. After this, extensive sweeps for militants and political leaders will take place. Military should not need to deploy, but is to be on standby."
---
several days later, afternoon..
Another simple day in the port city of Petrushya. The cracked, old roads were filled with pedestrians returning home from work - fuel was rationed these days due to a energy crisis so they were told. There citys tram system still functioned, ferrying commuters across town and over the bridge to the other side of town.
In the central square where the protests had occurred in the previous days there was little activity outside city hall. When the PA system began echoing across the city, everything seemed to stop. Perhaps the negotiations went though? This was not the case. As soon as it began stating that a strict 18:00 curfew had gone into effect "due to civil unrest", across the river and along the road on the seaside a convoy of trucks and light armor slowly but steadily rolled into town. The side across the river already was under lockdown as posts were set up and anyone outside detained to be taken home once they were set up. From the hotel one had a good view of what was going on. Some GNN reporters rushed outside, flashing their "PRESS" badges at the local militsiya - who were just as equally confused about what was going on and were subject to the same curfew. One reporter from a regional news source caught eye of an approaching flight of helicopters and began filming from his room as they hovered low to the roof of nearby building and what seemed like atleast 40 in total spetsnaz from one ministry or directorate regrouped, one helicopter dropping some large containers that took 2 men to move. They entered the building nextdoor - the one that they could land on lacking roof access. He quickly began uploading and sending it back to his office with the title "Something of interest?"
