Before the general could continue, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kozlov interjected. “If General Chayko is able to break through and capture Prague, and even threaten Dresden, Nuremberg or Munich, we may be able to pursue a ceasefire with the Allies and secure a better peace deal than we would if we are only able to hold on to our current gains. I’m fairly confident we can get the Allies to agree to more favorable terms if we’re holding a large portion of Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and parts of Germany,” he proclaimed with a sense of excitement in his voice.
Petrov wanted to bring an end to the war with the Allies as soon as possible. The longer this war dragged on, the more likely it was that his country would lose. Getting the British to withdraw from the war had been a real coup, but that could quickly change if it were ever discovered how PM Chattem had come to power. Plus, that flamboyant demigod in America had somehow managed to rally the majority of the country against the Eastern Alliance. Gates was no longer interested in winning a battle with Russia — he wanted to destroy Russia and China once and for all.
“Well, as long as I have nuclear weapons, it’ll never get that far,” Petrov thought.
“That is the goal, Minister Kozlov,” Egorkin said to the group, “to put ourselves in as good a position as possible for peace talks. This is why I’m not starting the offensive until September. When we launch this offensive, we need to hit the Allies with everything we have. If this attack does not work, then there’s a high likelihood that our forces will have to withdraw back to our own borders, and even then, I’m not sure we could stop a concerted Allied push.”
Sighing, Petrov surveyed the men around the table before settling back on Egorkin. “What about our Indian allies? Their troops have been arriving in strong numbers. Are they going to be of use, or not?”
“They will help,” Egorkin answered. “Right now, I have them working feverishly on developing a series of defensive lines near our borders, should the offensive fail. While I don’t believe we will be unsuccessful, since the Americans have shifted their military focus to the Pacific for the time being, I’m not going to risk leaving our borders defenseless. I plan on holding the Indian Army in reserve. Should our offensive collapse, we won’t be left having to rely on third-tier reserve divisions to defend our borders.”
Satisfied with the military part of his briefing, Petrov dismissed his generals and Minister of Defense. He needed to speak privately with Minister Kozlov and Ivan Vasilek, the FSB Director.
With the room now empty, Petrov leaned in and looked Ivan in the eyes. “We’ve known each other a long time, Ivan,” he said, speaking softly. “I need to know how much of a danger this Alexei Kasyanov is to our regime.”
Ivanov was prepared for this question. “He is a grave danger, Mr. President. I would like to say otherwise, but he’s now being supported by the American CIA, the German BND, and the British MI6. They are backing him with money, technology, and social media support to spread his message. He is steadily giving speeches across Russian radio waves and on internet platforms. I have every available resource looking for him as we speak, but he’s gaining traction with the youth and those who are weary of the war. The casualty lists on his website are the biggest draw. People go there to see if their family member has been killed or captured, and from there, they’re given a steady dose of Western propaganda. These poisonous lies are then spread and, eventually, believed,” he replied.
“We have to do what we can to squash them and find this traitorous swine,” Petrov asserted, venom in his voice.
“Yes, Sir,” said Kozlov. He sighed. “It would appear the West is doing to us what we have been doing to them for years.”
Petrov turned to his foreign minister. “Alexei, how strong is our alliance? Are the members holding strong?” he inquired, hoping this grassroots traitor was the only major concern they were having to deal with.
Minister Kozlov had been working hard to make sure the alliance stayed together. The Eastern Alliance was still a bit shaky, especially as the Americans rallied the rest of the world to stand against them. The quick dissolvement of NATO was met by the creation of the American-led Global Defense Force. While many of the GDF nations could not contribute much to the war in terms of soldiers and weaponry, they were contributing immense amounts of resources and manufacturing capacity to the war effort. Brazil had increased its ammunition production of 5.56mm NATO rounds from roughly 300 million rounds annually to more than four billion rounds — that added capacity in rifle ammunition alone was making a huge impact at the front line.
“The Asian alliance members are shakier than our Eurasian allies,” Kozlov admitted. “Indonesia is my big concern. While they’ve practically given their military over to the PLA, they are slow in growing their military and getting them properly equipped. Malaysia is even worse. They only joined under threat from the PLA, so they’re sluggish rolling everything out. The Chinese Army may be large, but it can’t be everywhere at once, and the Americans are getting ready to invade the Philippines. Once they secure the Island of Luzon, they’ll prepare to liberate Taiwan.”
Shaking his head disapprovingly, Petrov inquired, “And what of our Eurasian allies? Are they training their military to our standards and ready to assist?”
“Yes and no, Mr. President,” replied Kozlov. “They are training and growing in size. But they’re largely underequipped. They’re using very outdated equipment. Right now, most of these troops are moving to Iran, where they’ll join with their Muslim brothers for the fight against the Israeli-Saudi-led alliance. They’re not going to be of much help in our campaign.”
“You know, I don’t even care if the Iranians are successful in their conquest of the Middle East,” said Petrov with a snort. “Their campaign will draw further resources from the GDF and the Americans, which, in the end, will help us as we prepare for Operation Armored Fist.”
The president turned his attention to Ivanov. “I want this rebellion in our country crushed. Use our new pawn in Britain and find out what you can about this MI6 operation that is cultivating this rebellion. Let’s see if we can put Chattem to use in ferreting out these traitors within our country,” Petrov ordered.
The men then turned to discuss other matters of state, after which the meeting became more of a social visit among old friends. They stayed there late into the evening, drinking vodka and sharing laughs. The world was not worth defeating if there couldn’t be some enjoyment in life in the meantime.
Operation Strawman
Alexei Kasyanov added a few bullet points to his upcoming broadcast. True to his word, the Der Spiegel reporter, Gunther Brinkbaumer, had introduced him to a couple of men from the CIA, who had taken him in and become responsible for his personal security and housing. Now he was moved from one safe house to another after every broadcast to keep them one step ahead of the Russian FSB, which was dedicating more and more resources to finding him.
Once Alexei had agreed to work with the Allies, they’d collaborated on a social media campaign that would be designed to sow discord and distrust between the population and the Petrov administration. All the while, they continued raising the prospect of an alternative government to the corrupt Petrov regime that the country had been enslaved by for the past eighteen months. The CIA arranged a steady stream of news about the war to be provided to Alexei, who then compared that information to the official stories being shown to the people by RT and the other Russian news agencies.