The Voice, Rodarion's most trusted and popular independent newspaper
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Megrelian defector reveals all
'Mikhail' arrived in Eslovakia and gave Vocea an exclusive memoir of the events leading up to the Megrelian invasion of Armavira.
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13 August, 2013Written by Flavius Georgescu
Two days ago the chief editor of this newspaper approached me and said 'I want you to go to Eslovakia and meet this man'. He gave me a file and picture of a man we called 'Mikhail' for his own safety. He was immediately shocked to find he was a Megrelian, an aslyum seeker to Eslovakia and most importantly a defector. With the folder came a small printed email which bascially requested that Mikhail meet a reporter from Vocea so he may tell the truth. I was honoured to recieve the order by my editor and I immediately jumped on the next avaliable flight from Pope Julius Airport to Ekaterinburg. I travelled out of the city to a modest hotel in the suburbs, there I met Mikhail and found he was a genuine case, a man so shocked and appalled at what was transpiring across the border he wished to tell the world the true reasons, so the war maybe seen in a more clear light.
Mikhail previously worked in the Megrelian Foreign Ministry and worked close to the official from Tehraan, who would oversee that the Megrelian government remained in line with Hegemonic Union policy and the party line. He followed him everwhere as par with his job description, the events leading up to the invasion, something which angered him especially the response by Administrator Giorgi Nikolozani. As we shall see, the true reasons differ majorly from the reasons presented by the totalitarian oppressive government in Tsatatsena.
The story(transcribed from Mikhails exact words)
It all began several months ago, say January of early February. I had been at my position for about three weeks, those three weeks were easy as hell, the official from Tehraan was hardly present, he rarely stayed in Megrelia. However by January or early February he arrived and stayed night upon night, which was strange. He had with him constantly a steel briefcase which he had handcuffed to his wrist, odd again. Anyway, he began to meet the Administrator more and more regularly, by that time I was called in to shadow him and to meet his every political need within Megrelia, I essentially became his private secretary and so I was present at every meeting he took part in and this is where the war was planned.
The first meeting regarding the war involved the official, the Administration and members of the military. It was here that the official stated Tehraan's wish for Megrelia to invade Armavira. Not, recommend or suggest, but wish, well the way it was presented by the official appeared to be more of a demand. The official stated that the deployment of Rodarian soldiers to Armavira was a threat, strangely enough the Administrator disagreed. Since Armavira became an autonomous state within the Papal Republic the border clashes declined and peace began to emerge along the border, and this is documented in minutes of meetings. The official became angry, he appeared shocked that the Administrator would disagree with the Tehraanian view regarding Armavira. The official then said the Armaviran branch of the Order of the Cross was a major terrorist threat, the Administrator again disagreed, since it was founded in the early 2000s there had been not one terrorist incident in Megrelia.
In my view, Armavira wanted peace as much as most Megrelians, they didn't care for war against the Intergrationalist government in Megrelia, they didn't care for the grander cold war between the Papal Republic and the Hegemonic Union. But the official was ademant this wasn't true. The Administrator disagreed and the official left in a sulk, I thought that was the end of it, but it wasn't.
The day after next, the official and the Administrator met again, with the same Megrelian officials and military commanders present. The official opened his briefcase and revealed several pictures of what appeared to be containers and several buildings. The official then claimed they were satellite pictures of storage facilities for Rodarian supplied chemical weapons. The Administrator seemed split between believing the official or rejecting the photos as frauds in order to sway his opinion. The administrator replied "so what?" I remember that because the official's face was priceless. The official then ranted that this was proof that the Rodarians were planning to use Armavira as a base to launch an invasion of Megrelia and remove Intergrationalism from its government system. The administrator began to fall for it, it was not until a general reminded him that the Armavirans had not done one thing that showed signs of an impending attack, there were no irregular troop movements, no redeployments of aircraft or vehicles, nothing.
The third meeting was more tense, the official sighed and came out with it, the most damning thing to be said to a Megrelian and something that has led to this war. The official sat up straight, looked the Administrator in the eyes and said, 'you will invade Armavira, the High Chairman demands it, he wants you to destroy Armavira so that the Rodarians are left bloodied, bruised and humiliated, kick them out entirely and make sure they don't come back. He then produced a small leaflet which explained the Hegemonic Union's plan to destroy Rodarion as a rising power, they wanted to kick down every Rodarian interest, starting with the big prize itself, Armavira. They want to cut them down and push them pack, like slicing meat off a prized pig until nothing is left but the basics. He also made clear that if the Administrator did not agree, the Party would find another.
What came out of that meeting was the truth, this invasion was nothing about removing Rodarian terrorism, removing the threat. Armavira was a peace loving state before and after it joined the Papal Republic, the Rodarians did nothing untoward to Megrelia, instead of building bunkers and rockets, they built farms, bridges and new housing. This invasion was about the Hegemonic Union's desires for Armavira, just to show the Rodarians who they were messing with. It was about national ego, and the Armavirans suffered for it. As a result this invasion is nothing but illegal, morally wrong and the end of Megrelia I do believe. All this talk of terrorists is nothing but lies and slander, the Tehraanians want the resources Armavira sits upon, they want to give Rodarion a bloody nose and they will do so no matter the human cost.
War planningThe Administrator caved in and began spouting the terrorist threat, Rodarian imperialism rubbish the Hegemonic Union gave him through the fax machine, he then ordered the illegal and unprovoked blockade of Armavira to stop any further Rodarian military units from arriving. Then came the invasion plans, this were produced by the Tehraanians themselves, not the Megrelian commanders. The Megrelian commanders for their part resisted the plans, one said Megrelia would lose hundreds of thousands of men, as well as vehicles and experience it could not replace, one even said the invasion would be followed by defeat and an Armaviran occupation. However the critics were silenced and the planning continued, the long term plans were drawn up and were horrific. They included possible reprisals against inevitable Armaviran insurgent attacks, these included public executions and other inhumane acts, I read one briefly that mentioned something about Armavira being annexed entirely into the Union and that only 50% of the population could be supported, let along orders to exterminate any Pro-Rodarian sections of Armaviran society. Those last parts were relayed whilst the war was in its earliest stages and the last piece of information I could find. What this means exactly I have no clue and I do not wish for you to speculate should it be non-fatal methods.
But what I can say with some certainty is that some members of the Megrelian government and military are doubtful of absolute victory, I know for certain that some are concerned over the constant threat of a major Rodarian intervention, since they already have 30,000 soldiers present. Thats all I know and all I wish to say.
My Personal viewsAs a Rodarian I am privy to believing this, the cold war between the Papal Republic and the Hegemonic Union has been ongoing for the past 12 years since the end of the Natalian Civil War. Rodarion is certainly not innocent in this covert conflict, but it certainly wouldn't invade a nation over it for that I am certain, if it did intend to do so, it would of invaded Megrelia in 2010 when Armavira joined the Papal Republic as an autonomous state, that was three years ago, and nothing happened. In regards to the mentioning of HU plans for an annexed Armavira, I am uncertain it's final and rock solid, military commanders recieve many different plans and orders which are then acted upon depending on the situation on the ground. But what is clear from Mikhail's testimony is that the Tehraanians planned this a long, long time ago and the reasons they presented are... bogus. This does not change the fact that war is ongoing and people are dying, nor does it have the power or resonance to change governemnts policies towards the HU or the war, but least it springs in people's minds that there is more to this war than meets the eye.
I hope you read this and judge for yourself, and choose hard between the two stories presented; 1. Armavira is a base for Rodarian terrorism, aggression and 'religious madness' or 2. the HU had plans and schemes regarding Armavira well before 2013, and their plans simply involve giving Rodarion a kicking and siezing territory, resources and people.