January, 2022
A frigid month for those North of the Equator, Warmth for those below; frost and ice decorated the edges of window frames or crunched on the shoveled sidewalks of hundreds of cities. What remained mulched and shattered by the throngs of pedestrians. All the while automobile tires turned virgin white to dirty brown. Accompanied by rancorous cacophony emanating from horns and engine blocks. People went where they would go, to work or leisure, chores to social engagements. Engaging in all manner of transaction whether private or commercial. Below the towering skyscrapers of corporate conglomerates and squat imposing edifices of government administration. The world hummed to the tune of prices, forecasts, commodities, and the exchange of goods and services. Rendering the pleasantries millions enjoy into reality. Contrasted with the stark realities of survival in other regions of the globe were such goods and services have been scarce, perhaps entirely absent.
Across a swathe of the Earth, twelve time zones, straddled one of the world's last remaining empires. The domain of the Russkiy Mir, the Russian world, the boundaries of the Russian Empire and all it contained. Once upon a time it held one seventh of the global population. Now, despite itself having a population larger than Western Europe combined the Empire of the Russian's was but one of many in an increasingly multi-polar world. The brief unipolar dominance of the United States of America swiftly giving way to a world with multiple pillars of power. Multiple blocs in which geopolitical might circulated.
Now, within the boundaries of the Moscow Kremlin, the gears of political authority were ever turning. Order, decree, debate, and account. The matters of state never ceasing and work in those hallowed halls never quite ceased. The watchful vigilance of the Kremlin's guard's eternal, their gazes stony and sharp like a winter's wind. The Empire had pressing matters of late. Internally, there was the constant push for modernization of systems and government bureaucracy. Mirrored by the push for modernization works civil, commercial, and industrial throughout the nation. A process frozen if not damaged by the chaos and upheaval of the 90s. Ending in a breakthrough of rampant growth for much of the 2000's till the Great Recession of 08'. Since then, there has been a slower, if not outright cautious, growth as Her Majesty's Government focused primarily on the development of Russia's vast resources and population.
Not all would be internal, however. Tensions with Kiev were like embers waiting for a spark to ignite a fresh fire. NATO itself still posed a real threat to the Empire's borders and influence. While shifting economic power in South Asia created a wild third theatre between established powers and new rising stars. But one must pick their battles and for now Russia when unable to focus itself internally would prioritize the security of its own borders and neighboring geo-strategic situation. Which, for the time being, regarded the Donbas Conflict.
An issue which had remained unsolved for now going on for nearly eight years. Trapping millions in a war that had seemingly gone into prolonged stalemate. The Kiev government unable to break the Novorossiyan lines while the separatists did not possess the strength to free themselves from Kiev's grasp. The Russian seizure of Crimea, a liberation as felt in Russia and to the Crimean people, was likely not something borne over well by the West. Which saw a resurgence in Russian power and cohesion as a sign of a possible return to a status quo of the pre-1990 globe.
In the Kremlin itself, the parties of government primarily gravitated to two camps. The Pro-Interventionist camp which advocated for a military operation to end the conflict, and a Non-Interventionist camp which promoted reproachment and diplomacy to end the conflict. The Empress herself has so far remained neutral, other than intermittent comments about expressing her well wishes and hope for the conclusion of the war and the ending of the suffering for the Donbas people, something which the State Duma and Russian public, if not the world, watch with pursed lips. For whichever way she threw her lot would surely be the policy enacted.
