Looking at his advisors and seeing them nod their heads, Petrov felt a bit more confident in this decision. “Once we institute the “no-fly” zone, I want us to issue an ultimatum to the Ukrainian government. We will tell them that they need to withdraw their military from the east so a referendum can be held, and the UN can be brought in to monitor a vote. If the people vote to leave and form their own country, then Ukraine must abide by it. If they vote to remain, then we will leave eastern Ukraine and withdraw our support from them.”
No one seemed to have any objections. There was a moment of silence as Petrov continued to formulate the plan in his mind. Then he asserted, “I also want some of our forces to cross into Ukraine at the appointed time as ‘peacekeepers’ to protect the civilian population from the fascist government forces. They have killed nearly two thousand civilians in the last few weeks. It’s time to send forces in there to help protect them from this illegitimate dictatorship so that a vote can take place.”
The President paused for a moment, sitting back in his chair and looked at some of the pictures on the wall as he thought about what this would all mean. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I know this action may push us closer to a confrontation with the West. The EU and the Americans need to learn that not every vote goes their way, that sometimes, people do not want to embrace their form of democracy. The EU also needs our natural gas and oil, and this will only become more acute as we get closer to winter. While the Americans may threaten us, I do not believe the EU will follow through on any threat of military force. If they do, we simply turn off their gas and oil and refuse to turn it back on. In the meantime, I want us to begin preparation for a limited war with the West. I hope it does not come to that, but I want our military to move to a war footing and begin preparations to deal with the threat,” Petrov said, very seriously.
Looking at his Minister of Defense, he ordered, “Begin to have some of our subs and other ships move to shadow the American and NATO warships in the Baltic and Black Sea. Also, have our cyber hackers prepare their zero-day attacks against Ukraine and Europe. If the Americans do decide they want a fight, then we will make them realize there is more than one way to fight and win a war,” the President said with a sly smile.
The others in the room nodded their heads and smiled as well. They all knew what he meant. The future of warfare was not necessarily going to be through the conventional fight. Russia had spent over a decade building an incredibly talented army of cyber hackers. They had spent years developing a broad portfolio of skilled individuals, testing various countries’ cyber defenses. They had even carried out several major cyber-attacks, like the time they hit the Georgian government communications system the day that the Russian forces invaded, or when they had successfully taken down a Ukrainian powerplant. These attacks proved they could reach out through the digital world and cause damage in the physical realm.
The meeting began to wind down. There were some clarifying questions on the President’s orders, but the overall directives were untouched.
As soon as the official business with Petrov ended, Colonel General Boris Egorkin grabbed a secured line and began to issue mobilization orders to the 1st Tank Army, telling them to begin deploying to various military bases within striking distance of Ukraine. He also began to mobilize the 6th Army, ordering them to prepare to follow the 1st Tank Army into Ukraine if an assault order were to be given.
Foreign Minister Dmitry Kozlov stayed back to talk longer with the President about the timeline of the referendum vote, the issues surrounding getting a UN observer in there, and the deployment of Russian soldiers to remove the Ukrainian forces from east Ukraine so a vote could be held. They also discussed the media campaign and how that would be waged to sway public opinion.
Petrov got an almost nauseated look on his face. “Kozlov, I want you to show unedited footage of all of the dead bodies of our soldiers from the raid the Americans just carried out. Run news articles on the families of the soldiers who were killed — I want it to be clear that the U.S. and NATO are the true aggressors, not Russia. It should be full-court press to humiliate and pressure the Americans to leave Ukraine and end their support of this fascist regime in Kiev. We need to paint Prime Minister Groysman for what he is… a monster who is only bent on exacting revenge and killing those who oppose him.”
Red Storm
After going over some of the finer details of Operation Red Storm with the President, it was time for Foreign Minister Dmitry Kozlov to get things rolling with the Chinese. His office phoned ahead and said he needed to speak directly with the Ambassador, in person. The officials at the embassy told Kozlov’s aide they would be ready for his arrival.
As Minister Kozlov’s fancy black Mercedes Benz pulled up to the Embassy, several guards were there to open his door and lead him into the Embassy. He quickly made his way up to the Ambassador’s office, where he saw Ambassador Yin waiting to receive him.
Smiling, Yin offered his hand. “This is a most welcome surprise, Minister Kozlov. To what do I owe this surprise visit?”
While he was quite welcoming, the ambassador had been thrown off by this sudden interruption in his schedule. “I wonder what has happened to cause this short-notice meeting?” he wondered. “And why is he here in my office instead of talking to me on the phone?”
Kozlov jumped right into it. “I am sorry for the short notice, but this could not be discussed over the phone, it needed to be done in person. I needed to tell you that it is time to move forward with Red Storm.” His voice was quiet, almost hushed.
Kozlov saw the Ambassador nod his head, a slight smile forming on his face. The Chinese had been waiting for this day as well. It was finally time for them to reassert their dominance in Asia as the hegemon, not the US.
“I understand. I will let Chairman Zhang know Russia is now moving forward,” Yin replied as Minister Kozlov got up and made his way out of his office. Nothing more needed to be said; the two countries had been coordinating this plan for years, each slowly implementing their various parts until they were ready to initiate the entire plan. Now, it was time to move forward and begin the final preparations that would change the military and political dimensions of the world.
Consequences
Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman was nervous as he lit his fourth cigarette of the day at the early hour of 11am. He was absolutely incensed that President Petrov had the audacity to declare a no-fly zone over nearly half of his country. As if that weren’t enough, Petrov was backing the separatist leaders’ call for a referendum vote. As he angrily huffed on his Ziganov, a vein on his forehead was visibly pulsating. “I have no way of stopping this,” he bemoaned to himself. “Unless the Americans and NATO are willing to intercede, my air force (or what’s left of it) will be grounded.”