When the results were announced, President Petrov made a public statement on state-sponsored TV. “Today, I congratulate the people of eastern Ukraine on their decision to choose freedom from the hold of fascism. All UN election rules were followed in carrying out this vote, so there can be no doubt as to the choice of the people. And now, it is incumbent upon NATO to respect the results of the election and withdraw their forces from Ukraine. This continued buildup of forces is an unnecessary provocation, which if undeterred, will eventually lead to conflict. I’d like to remind NATO that there are only 48 hours remaining to withdraw all combat forces from the east of the Dnieper River, and seven days to leave Ukraine all together.” President Petrov did not say what would happen if they did not leave, but with nearly 65,000 Russian soldiers now in east Ukraine, little was left to the imagination.
The President’s senior advisors had been meeting for the past hour in advance of Gates arrival, going over the information that had been pouring into their offices and scrambling to develop a set of recommendations on what to do next. While no one wanted a confrontation with Russia, it appeared they were heading towards one. It was a dangerous game of chicken, waiting to see which nation would blink first.
President Gates walked into the Situation Room and everyone rose to attention. He waved them back down while he took his seat at the head of the table. Gates surveyed the room and could see the tension on everyone’s faces. The results of this meeting would change the face of Europe (and potentially the world), and everyone knew it.
The President opened the meeting. “Let’s just cut right to it. What options do we have right now? What are your recommendations?”
Secretary of State, Travis Johnson, spoke up first, “Mr. President, I spoke with the Russian Ambassador a couple of hours ago, and he simply reiterated to me that with the results of the election, the US and NATO forces must withdraw beyond the Dnieper River within 48 hours and leave Ukraine within seven days. Once those deadlines have passed, he said they will treat our forces as hostile invaders in a sovereign country that they are allied with, and they will respond accordingly.”
The room let out a soft murmur at this acknowledgment. Everyone wanted to avoid a conflict with Russia, but it was becoming increasingly unlikely, unless they wanted to walk away from Ukraine.
The President addressed the issue head on. “So, I want to ask everyone a question. We have deployed troops to Ukraine and are in the process of deploying tens of thousands of troops to Europe. Is standing up to Russia, right now in this situation, worth the lives of American young men and women? Would this war be worth our blood and treasure?”
The President let the question hang there for a minute, wanting to see who would respond. If he was about to commit the lives of American service members to a potential war with Russia, he wanted to know that it was justified.
The Secretary of Defense was the first to answer. “Mr. President, if we do not stand up to the Russians now, then when will we stand up to them? The Russians stole the Crimea from Ukraine under the Obama administration, and the US and Europe stood by and did nothing. We passed some meaningless sanctions that have had a negligible impact on them. The Russians intervened on behalf of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The rebel army that was going to depose that dictator was systematically destroyed by the Russian Air Force while America and the rest of the world, again, did nothing. The Russians intervened in east Ukraine, fueling a three-year civil war, and now they are about to steal half of the country. If we do not stand up to Vladimir Petrov now, when will we? No, the Ukraine is not worth the life of a single American. However, stopping Vladimir Petrov from dividing Europe and the Middle East is.”
It was an impassioned statement by the Secretary of Defense and caused everyone to pause and reflect for a moment on what he had just said. The world was at a turning point. Either they would stop the Russians from dividing up Europe, or they would have to concede defeat.
Tom McMillan leaned forward in his chair. “We need to hold firm, Mr. President… even if it means going to war with Russia. This fight has been a long time coming. Petrov has been bolstering defense spending for nearly fifteen years. He has been building a modern army with one purpose, to rebuild the former Soviet Union. He knows we are at our weakest point militarily in decades. We have been fighting Islamic extremists for sixteen years, which has sapped our strength and spread us thin. The rest of the NATO members are in even worse shape. If ever there were a time to press NATO and America militarily, this is it.”
He had a point. The US and NATO were still fighting in Afghanistan, and operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria had been picking up in pace as Saudi Arabia led an Arab coalition (the US continued to provide intelligence and logistical support). Fortunately, the Russians had withdrawn nearly all their forces out of Syria in the past five weeks, probably in anticipation of potential hostilities in Ukraine.
The President listened to other perspectives from his senior advisors for quite some time as they walked through the various options and consequences to each of them. After several hours of heated discussions, the President felt he had enough information to make a decision. Looking at General Hillman (who had argued for military action) the President said, “General, I have listened to you make your case, and I believe James Castle and Tom McMillan have made a convincing argument for why we need to move forward with a hardline towards Russia as well. This may ultimately lead to a military confrontation with Russia, but as everyone at this table has said, if we do not stand up to the Russians now, then when? While the timing could not be worse, I believe we need to be decisive.”
Gates took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, almost not sure if he wanted to even utter the words that were about to come out of his mouth. “General, please issue the orders for all US and NATO forces to prepare for hostilities with Russia. Inform them that we are not standing down. If the Russians do not withdraw their military from eastern Ukraine, then we will treat them as hostile and respond appropriately,” he said, knowing he was issuing an order that may ultimately trigger the third world war.
The room let out a collective sigh and then there was a sense of relief. The decision had been made, and now it was time to execute. Everyone put on their game face, and then a flurry of activity began. The various aides grabbed their government-issued smartphones and started making calls to the Pentagon Operations Center and the various other agencies and major commands. As the President changed the DEFCON level from 4, to 2, he essentially placed the country at a de-facto state of war, which put into place a whole slew of protocols and actions. Though the US did not initiate the Continuity of Government (COG), the leaders of the majority and minority parties were being secretly picked up by the Secret Service and brought to a secured bunker to be briefed and given additional security.
As the meeting broke up, Secretary Castle left the White House and stepped into the up-armored Suburban that was waiting to whisk him back to the Pentagon. Seeing that it was 10:45pm, there was little traffic delay. Castle sat in the back of the vehicle and looked out the window, contemplating the events of the meeting. “I think it was my statement that shifted the President towards taking military action,” he thought. “Did I give the right advice? Did I make the right decision? We are committing the lives of thousands of American and European lives to standing up to Russia… the responsibility of that feels like a ton of bricks on my shoulders.”