Then he said, “No. Not tonight. Tonight I am going to change the manner in which I address you all. I apologize in advance for my frank tone, and my lack of diplomatic nuance, but millions of lives are depending on an understanding of what is going on.
“To the Russian people: You are being lied to, manipulated, tricked, used. Valeri Volodin was a product of the Soviet Security Services; he was born and trained to use deception. He is very good… no, he is better than that. He is the best I have ever seen.
“But it is not possible to tell a lie well enough to make it true.
“Volodin’s invasion has failed. His tanks have stalled east of Vilnius. His three most dangerous subs in the area are all at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. A large and growing coalition of nations is standing up to this illegal attack. Armies are moving into Poland and now Lithuania to assist the defensive actions of local forces and the United States Marine Corps.
“Valeri Volodin went into this thinking NATO would hand him the three nations of the Baltic in exchange for a promise that he would leave Poland and the rest of Ukraine alone. That plan is up in smoke now, but instead of him just losing this conflict, a conflict he started, now he is about to lose a lot more.
“What I am about to say might make many of you angry. I ask you to keep an open mind. As we speak, the armed forces of Poland are preparing to launch an attack into Kaliningrad. Russian territory. The Russian defense there is weak at the moment, because they have been focusing on Lithuania. Further, NATO has agreed today in special session to immediately send its Very High Readiness Joint Task Force to defend Poland in the case of attack there. And in the sea off Kaliningrad, where Volodin’s Baltic Fleet is still smoldering, multiple amphibious assault ships carrying thousands of United States Marines have been moving into position to land.” He looked in the camera. “I thought I would be sending them to defend Lithuania. But now? Now I am considering sending them into Kaliningrad Oblast.”
Ryan looked hard into the camera. “These are indeed difficult times.
“Please understand, all these tens of thousands of armed men, all these aircraft and ships and special operators and missiles and tanks, all NATO and NATO-allied forces, will begin to turn around and go back to their bases the second Valeri Volodin gives the order to his army to quit Lithuania and quit Belarus, removing the threat of an invasion of Poland. Despite everything you have heard in the Russian media, and despite everything you will no doubt hear from the television pundits waiting for me to finish my speech so they can hastily discount everything I say here, we do not want one inch of Russian territory. Not now, not ever. It belongs to you, the Russian people. But we can’t let a madman like Valeri Volodin go on threatening his neighbors.
“We will invade Kaliningrad to stop war in the Baltic, but we will return Kaliningrad to Russia, when we achieve our aims.
“My message to Valeri Volodin is a simple one. You have, once again, overplayed your hand. Get out of Lithuania now or lose long-held Russian territory.
“And if you dare employ any weapon of mass destruction, nuclear, chemical, or biological, we will be forced to respond in kind. Launch a nuclear weapon at us, at any of us anywhere, and Moscow will open itself up to devastating retaliatory strikes. I want to speak plainly. I will not fire first, Mr. Volodin. But I will fire last.”
Ryan took a sip of water. “One more message for the good people of Russia: As I said before, the moment I stop talking, you will be lectured to by a number of well-trained disinformation specialists from the Kremlin, attractive men and women with a gift for selling whatever Valeri Volodin has to offer. But moments from now, when they begin talking, you will notice something different about them. A bit of confusion, a measure of caution with their words.
“Why is this?
“Because while I have been speaking with you, all Russian media outlets have received a statement from a Kremlin banker from Moscow. This man was Valeri Volodin’s personal cashier, and the statement is backed by evidence to prove his assertions that for the past several months he has been moving the personal assets of Valeri Volodin out of Russian control, and into a series of offshore accounts. He was captured in the British Virgin Islands along with a Kremlin security official, and he is revealing all the information about Volodin’s crimes against his own nation.
“Your president has been stealing money from Russia, and then hiding this money in overseas banks to the tune of billions of dollars, ladies and gentlemen. He even hid it from insiders within his own government, creating an escape in case this war did not turn out his way. Long before the first shot was fired in the Baltic, Valeri Volodin had been preparing to leave Russia behind if he needed to.
“Your media will still mock me and disagree with me, to be sure. You can’t retrain a parrot in a number of minutes, but prepare yourself to look confusion in the face when the Kremlin’s spin doctors posing as unbiased journalists show themselves in about thirty seconds.”
Ryan signed off moments later.
All across Russia, the image of President Ryan sitting at his desk at the White House switched to that of a panel of Russian journalists. As predicted, they seemed confused by the accusations, but they did their best to carry the water of their leader.
At least for now.
Five minutes later the cameras were out of the Oval and they were replaced by Ryan’s national security staff.
Mary Pat Foley said, “Mr. President. This puts significant pressure on Volodin. You add that to the announcement you are about to make and… I think you should consider what Volodin might do.”
“You are talking about the Borei somewhere off the coast. You are saying Volodin might order a nuclear launch.”
“The captain of the Knyaz Oleg is a pro-Volodin zealot. Very political. He’ll do whatever his president orders.”
Bob Burgess added, “He is literally the worst person we’d want to have commanding a nuclear submarine off the coast of Washington.”
Ryan said, “And still no hint of where it is?”
Burgess replied, “Finding a submarine off the Atlantic coast is like finding a specific pebble in the bottom of a lake. As long as it sits there quietly and doesn’t draw attention to itself, we will not find it, Mr. President.”
Mary Pat said, “I think you need to think about leaving Washington until this crisis passes.”
Ryan shook his head immediately. “No, I’ll stay here. I’m not jetting off to a bunker in Colorado.”
Arnie Van Damm had sat quietly behind the conversation. He said, “I’ve been thinking about a vacation to South Dakota. Or maybe Micronesia. Wonder what Tierra del Fuego looks like this time of year. I’d like to take a lengthy sabbatical.”
Jack chuckled. “Request denied. Hell, I’m protecting you. You are in no shape to hike the southern tip of Argentina. Better take your chances with the inbound nukes.”
“Funny, Jack.”
The café on Krivokolenny Lane had hosted dozens of these meetings, but never one in the fall. Usually these were springtime occasions, every year at the same time.
Volodin would have preferred the tradition remained. It was another half year to the next scheduled meeting, and in a half year Volodin was certain he’d be in a better place than he was now.
But he had to come tonight. Diburov was powerful, he had called the meeting, and Valeri Volodin knew all the siloviki, not just Diburov, were restless and they were angry. The events of the last several weeks would just play into this anger.