Flag #1 looks cool in my opinion, but I'm not sure how likely they'd be to use it. So flag #3 would be the best, I think.
Zhirinovsky's Russian Empire
- Thread starter Pellegrino
- Start date
I was having trouble putting the double headed eagle on a solid color unfortunatly. Had too many color spots on MS Paint when I blew it up to cover three colors on the flag.
Here is a rough draft of a Russian Republic of the Baltics flag with Russian colors:
Rough Draft #4:
Yes, I did base it of the old SSR flag. I am sort of stuck between #3 and #4 right now, I kind of like them both. The ultra-nationalist would prefer the UIS flag, but with the name Russian Republic I think the Russian colors would probably fit a bit better with the name of the country
Here you go.
Click on the image for a higher resolution.
Amazing!!!! Thanks Angel Heart!!!!
MarshalBraginsky
Banned
Pellegrino, I also forgot to mention something. IOTL the Soviets had a naval base in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. With the UIS existing as a fascistoid superstate, it would be obvious that the Vietnamese government would kick them out. ITTL, if the Soviets don't have Cam Ranh Bay as their base, where would they go in terms of looking for a new military base? Also, would energy security still be an issue in the UIS, especially with the price of natural gas and oil? Even though the Middle East could pick up some slack on oil production, in this case oil prices would be extremely high.
whitecrow
Banned
Realpolitike doesn't work that way. If UIS keeps the same deal as the Soviets, I don't see the Vietnamese kicking them out unless someone provides Hanoi with the incentive to do so.
During this period, Vietnam is improving its relations with the US, China, and the west as it embarks on economic reforms. Wouldn't it please its new and more valuable friends to kick out the Russian base, which has little relevance to Vietnam's interests?
whitecrow
Banned
That would fall into "someone provides Hanoi with incentive", like I said. But MarshalBraginsky seem to say "Facist UIS => Communist Vietnam kickers them out for being facist & abandoning communism". Which is not how realpolitik works.
MarshalBraginsky
Banned
Plus the US would actually strong arm Hanoi to do so, but yeah you're right. Although wouldn't the US be less comfortable with the UIS base in Vietnam? Coupled with the Mt. Pinatubo eruption that resulted in the closure of Clark and Subic military bases in the Philippines, the US could only rely on Okinawa as their remaining base in the Central Pacific.
We should keep in mind that it was the Clinton Administration that extended American diplomatic recognition to Vietnam (and even then I believe not until 2000). Kerrey, who fought in the war, may be less inclined to do business with them, and I believe China-Vietnam border skirmishes continued well into the late 1980s -- it shouldn't be hard to argue that a more powerful Russia, in the form of the UIS, would lead to Vietnam never (or at least, not so quickly) liberalizing relations with its not-puppet neighbors; perhaps ITTL the UIS could remain Vietnam's chief foreign backer, which has interesting butterflies for Southeast Asia as a whole.
MarshalBraginsky
Banned
If the US becomes Vietnam's chief backer, then what happens to other Pacific nations? What butterflies are you talking about since I don't know which events would be butterflied away.
I come up with some ideas about topics, which may be touched in future uptades.
1. Russian/UIS educational system. How history will be learned, how nationalist policies will reflect on situations of non Russian student (especially with Turk ancenstry), how they will be treated by teachers and their peers. And what about youth organisations, like pioniers (soviet scauts), did they will be turn into "Zhirinovsky Youth" or something like that? And did education in other republics will be different than in Russia (maybe less propaganda stuff befero centralisation will occure?)
2. OTL in 90's Russian demographics colapsing and obviously Vlad won't be happy about that, Russia need more people because in other case UIS will be overuns by Turks, in Kazakstan OTL Kazakh population grown up about 4 milions in 20 years. It means TTL, even with 4-6 milions Russians/Eastern Slavs moving into Kazakshtan, in 2010 (with OTL demographics trends) there will be 12-10 milions Slavs vs. 10 milions Kazakhs, with pespectives of Kazakhs became majority in following decade.
We know Z OTL even argue to introduction polygamy in Russia. TTL is unlikely he will do it, but with decreasing Russian population he maybe come up with some radical natalist policies, like forceful inseminations of womens in Gulags or some Russian "Lebensborn"? ....
1. Russian/UIS educational system. How history will be learned, how nationalist policies will reflect on situations of non Russian student (especially with Turk ancenstry), how they will be treated by teachers and their peers. And what about youth organisations, like pioniers (soviet scauts), did they will be turn into "Zhirinovsky Youth" or something like that? And did education in other republics will be different than in Russia (maybe less propaganda stuff befero centralisation will occure?)
2. OTL in 90's Russian demographics colapsing and obviously Vlad won't be happy about that, Russia need more people because in other case UIS will be overuns by Turks, in Kazakstan OTL Kazakh population grown up about 4 milions in 20 years. It means TTL, even with 4-6 milions Russians/Eastern Slavs moving into Kazakshtan, in 2010 (with OTL demographics trends) there will be 12-10 milions Slavs vs. 10 milions Kazakhs, with pespectives of Kazakhs became majority in following decade.
We know Z OTL even argue to introduction polygamy in Russia. TTL is unlikely he will do it, but with decreasing Russian population he maybe come up with some radical natalist policies, like forceful inseminations of womens in Gulags or some Russian "Lebensborn"? ....
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PART FIFTY NINE: THE BLOODY RECESS
PART FIFTY NINE: THE BLOODY RECESS
PART FIFTY NINE: THE BLOODY RECESS
OK guys, sorry for the delay, but I received some good ideas from you guys recently and wanted to incorporate them into the next few updates. We now look at what is happening in Estonia as the war there is coming to a close…
Also, I named a Russian Paramilitary brigade the Tibla Brigade. Apparently Tibla is an ethnic slur Estonians use agaisnt Russians, but I thought it might fit in with the Russian "ownership" of this slur (sort of a "hell yes we are tibla" sort of mentality). This is not uncommon in war (and in sports). There are many examples of this in modern time, but I really don't know if that would apply here. I decided to go with it, but if this is something that those of you more familiar with the word can speak on I would appreciate your input as I may take it out.
Some new names in this update:
Tapa, Estonia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapa,_Estonia
Vladivostok, Russia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladivostok
Black Dolphin Prison:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dolphin_Prison
GAZ-24 Volga:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAZ-24
Aqaba, Jordan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqaba
Tamsalu, Estonia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamsalu
Tõnismägi district, Tallinn:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%B5nism%C3%A4gi
Estonian ethnic slur:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibla
MSNBC interview with Walter Mondale, Former U.S. Secretary of State
July 16, 2008
MSNBC: You famously said that the three month recess between the Latvian and Estonian peace accords in Helsinki was a “bloody recess” in which the United States failed in its moral duty. Would you care to elaborate?
Mondale: Yes, we should have gone right back to the table once it became clear that massive human rights violations were not only occurring, but intensifying. Both sides embraced a policy of ethnic cleansing once they realized that March 15 would be the end of the war. We needed to step in and stop the slaughter, either by pulling out of the peace accord or moving the date up.
MSNBC: Wouldn’t that have played right into the hands of Vladimir Zhirinovsky?
Mondale: One of the greatest foreign policy blunders of the late 20th century that this country committed was looking at things through the prism of ‘is this playing into the hands of Vladimir Zhirinovsky?’ We needed to look at things in clear terms of right and wrong, not just our own self interest. Had we done that in Estonia nearly half of the people killed in that horrible Civil War might still be alive today.
MSNBC: Ralph Nader famously argued during his Presidential run in 2000 that President Kerrey wanted the war to last longer, even into 1996 if need be. The Green Party argued that since the Estonians were killing so many Russian men that President Kerrey believed it was in our country’s interest to drag the war out even longer.
Mondale: Ralph Nader has some bizarre ideas. That one might just take the cake.
Fighting erupts across Estonia intensifies as Russians from neighboring Latvia flood into country
Economist
January 01, 1995
Russian men in Latvia prepare to cross into Estonia to join pro-Russian militias
(TALLINN, ESTONIA) - In a move that Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho called “completely unacceptable,” pro-Russian forces in Tallinn launched a surprise offensive this morning with the aims of capturing the city of Tallinn as other pro-Russian forces launched similar offensives across the Republic of Estonia.
“This is clearly a coordinated effort,” Aho said in a press conference,” with the intention of capturing as much land as possible during this short recess before the Helsinki Peace Accords resume in March. We call on both sides to refrain from hostilities during this time period and allow diplomacy to take hold.”
American President Bob Kerrey also criticized the offensive, calling it a “betrayal” and calling on the UIS to end financial and military support for the Russian paramilitary forces that have emerged as the de facto military of the proclaimed “Russian Republic of the Baltic.” It is estimated that in the last seven days over 20,000 Russians have flooded into Estonia, propping up the badly demoralized military of the Russian Republic of the Baltic.
“We have been receiving reports that the Russians have been sending political prisoners and even criminals to Estonia,” commented a Red Cross worker in Riga, “right now every Russian with a gun seems to be hell bent on going to Estonia. They realize that the war now has an end date: March 15, 1995. Once the Helsinki Peace Accords start back up the war is going to end, and they want to capture as much of the country as they can between now and then.”
The Estonian military appears near the breaking point as the town of Tapa, a major transportation hub between Narva (the capital of the Russian Republic of the Baltic) and Tallinn appears close to falling to Russian paramilitary forces. The fall of Tapa would be a devastating blow to the Estonians, who have been trying to prevent the Russians from capturing all of northern Estonia.
“If they lose Tapa they loose Tallinn, and if they lose Tallinn they lose the war,” commented the Red Cross volunteer, “right now thousands of Russians from right here in Latvia are flooding across the border into Estonia as well, opening up another front for the badly demoralized Estonian Army.”
It is estimated that nearly 1500 Russian veterans of the Latvian Civil War have flooded into Estonia in the last three days, with almost no steps taken by the Latvian government to even attempt to stem the flow of fighters out of the country.
“I suppose it is silly to think that the Latvians would actually want these people in the country,” the Red Cross worker admitted, “but they need to realize that as Estonia goes, so goes Latvia. Estonia is the only real ally Latvia has, and for them to turn their back on their brothers to the north like this will come back to haunt them in the very near future.”
Front lines on December 25, 1994 (Russian Republic of the Baltic in RED)
Front lines on February 1, 1995
Russian Forces capture town of Tapa as Estonian forces surrounded in Tallinn
The Scotsman
February 13, 1995
In a sign that the Estonian Army may be near the breaking point; Russian paramilitaries captured the disputed town of Tapa as ethnic Russian units in Tallinn successfully encircled the remaining Estonian forces in the Tõnismägi district of the Estonian capital.
“This is nothing short of a disaster,” one Estonian refugee said as she carried a small child on her back as she fled Tapa, “they are raping and killing everything in sight. They are not men, they are monsters!”
The defeat in Tapa is a devastating loss for the Estonian Army, who hoped to prevent the Russian militias from connecting their forces in Tallinn to their capital in Narva. The loss of Tapa coupled with the encirclement of nearly 25,000 Estonian troops is a devastating blow for the country, and many international observers believe there is a very real possibility that the Russians may capture all of northern Estonia before the Helsinki Peace Accords resume in March. Early reports from Tallinn indicate that the Russian Tibla Brigade, lead by radical nationalist Vitali Vaulin, has begun a systematic reign of terror in an attempt to ethnically cleanse the city of Estonians.
“The Tiblas are executing people they call ‘traitors’ in front of school children,” one refugee from Tallinn told the BBC yesterday, “once they started moving in on the Tõnismägi district they took all of the captured prisoners of war to a local school, one of the few that still remained open, and forced all of the Estonian children to sit and watch them be executed. They then told the children that some of their parents would be executed tomorrow. As soon as we heard what they did we all packed what we could and fled.”
Russian nationalist may have shot civilians in Tapa
A leading figure of the radical right in Russia, Eduard Limonov of the newly created Bolshevik Party, was featured on Russian state controlled television yesterday firing a snipers rifle into Estonian controlled Tapa yesterday, opening questions about his role in the war crimes committed during the capture of the town. Limonov was recently forced to relocate to Kazakhstan, but appears to have joined forces with fascist leader Dmitri Vasilyev who fled Moscow in March of last year after he was denounced by Russian President Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Vasilyev’s Pamyat has subsequently taken an active role in the conflict with nearly 20,000 Paramilitary fighters claiming allegiance to the fascist organization.
Eduard Limonov seen shooting at Estonian civilians during seige of Tapa
Captured Estonian troops shortly before they were killed by Russian paramilitary forces at a local school (AP)
Gangster’s Paradise: A former Russian Paramilitary commander bitterly recalls his time in Estonia
Foreign Affairs (8/19/2011)
By Timothy Welch
Andrei Belov tosses his cigarette butt into the Narva River as he watches the fireworks go off in Russia.
“Alexander Lebed is a piece of shit,” he angrily says as he turns back on the country of his birth, “he fucking exploited us. He exploited every last one of us. But we didn’t revolt, we could have, but we didn’t. Despite everything, we knew our brethren needed us. Our country needed us.”
Andrei Belov was a former commander of the dreaded Varna Tigers, a paramilitary organization made up of exiled Russian criminals and neo-fascists that were responsible for some of the most brutal war crimes in modern European history. Nearly 100,000 people were killed during the horrific Estonian Civil War of 1992-1995, with nearly half of those casualties occurring during a 90-day period that is often called “the bloody recess” by many historians. But for many of the veterans like Belov, Estonia was less about nationalism and more about a second chance.
“I was a criminal,” Belov said with a laugh, “there are not many situations when admitting you were a drug dealer is seen as a positive, but I suppose this is one of them. I didn’t really care much for the fascists, but I had to come to Estonia. It was the only way out of Black Dolphin.”
As a young college student in Moscow, Belov began to supplement his income by purchasing automobiles in Japan and driving them back to Moscow for sale. He and several friends found that in most instances they would easily triple their money by doing so. But unlike his classmates, Belov became greedy.
“I still hate myself for that decision,” Belov said, “most of my friends made over a ten thousand dollars buying and selling Japanese cars. But I wanted more. I wanted a million. So I started buying drugs in Japan, marijuana at first, but then cocaine. I would easily make ten times the money selling it in Moscow.”
Belov’s deals with the unsavory criminal underworld in Japan soon would prove his undoing when his dealers asked him if he would be willing to expand his business into the gun market.
“I never drove to Vladivostok before,” Belov recalled, “I would always take the train and then bribe a cargo ship for a ride to Japan. Even during the height of the sanctions you could sneak into Japan, and once there it was easy to buy a car. Nobody cared if you were in the country illegally if you were buying an automobile. The Japanese government had strange laws that made it impossible to own a car that was over five years old, so the used car market in Japan was full of cheap cars that nobody would buy. They were just happy to be rid of them.”
However, for the first time Belov decided to drive to Vladivostok with a trunk full of automatic rifles, assured by his contacts that they would fetch an easy $100,000 USD in Japan. Belov became so enamored with the prospect of making that much money that he never stopped to looked at the political scene around the UIS at the time.
“It had been easy to bribe your way out of any jam during the height of the sanctions,” Belov recalled with a sigh, “but the Constitutional Crisis had just ended and the communists were being shipped to Sakhalin and Kunashir en masse. I didn’t stop and ask how that was going to change things for me.”
As Belov drove across Russia in an old GAZ-24 Volga he assumed that the one thousand British pounds he carried with him in the glove box would easily ensure that he would remain unmolested during his drive. But to his surprise, the local police near Sakhalin Island had been replaced by the UIS military.
“They were put in charge of maintaining order,” Belov recalled, “and they were on edge. Nearly 100,000 communists were just dumped in their lap and they had no idea what to do with them. They were terrified of an uprising or even a civil war. And like a fucking idiot I just drove up to their checkpoint with a trunk full of automatic rifles.”
Belov was arrested by the military and turned over to the KGB as a suspected communist terrorist. He was quickly tried by a special military tribunal and sent to the most notorious prison in the UIS: Black Dolphin.
“I was in shock,” Belov recalled, “there were four types of people who were sent to Black Dolphin: serial killers, cannibals, pedophiles, and terrorists. I tried to argue that I was just a lowly smuggler, but they were having none of it.”
Sentenced to life in prison, Belov soon began to dream about suicide.
“It was all I could think about,” Belov said, “every day was pure torture. They didn’t beat me or anything like that, but I was completely isolated from the other prisoners and the outside world.”
Belov was locked in an overcrowded ten-by-ten cell with another prisoner, the only face he saw during his ten-month sentence.
“They put me in a cell with an Arab who was captured in Chechnya,” Belov recalled, “normally I would have nothing to do with a fucking Arab, but we became close friends in there. He didn’t speak a word of Russian so I started teaching him; it was the only thing we had to keep sane. We were forced to stand in our cell for sixteen hours of the day; we would just pace and wait for them to bring us our food. The whole time he kept talking about his home in Jordan and how much he dreamed of seeing Aqaba one more time before he died. I knew it was a pipe dream, and I suppose he did too. And I wanted to tell him to stop, he was driving himself crazy. But I loved hearing about Jordan. It was the only thing I had in there.”
However a chance opportunity came when Belov was pulled from his cell and put in front of a military tribunal which made him an offer he could not refuse: to serve his country and earn a pardon.
“Some Colonel came to Black Dolphin one day,” Belov recalled, “they pulled me out of the cell and brought me to an office where the Colonel sat at a table with the Warden and a few other officers. Without looking up they told me that I could go to Estonia and fight for the Russians or stay in Black Dolphin.”
Belov was stunned, overwhelmed with sensory overload and unable to fully grasp the proposition.
“I didn’t say anything at first,” Belov recalled. “Keep in mind; I hadn’t seen the sun in ten months. Or a Russian face. Or a woman. We had exercise time in the prison, but it was in a small room and it consisted of walking around in a circle. Also, the guards always wore masks when they came to fetch us. Suddenly I am overwhelmed with all of this. I just stood their with my mouth agape looking at the one female in the room. I finally muttered out ‘Estonia’.
Within the hour Belov was on a bus and within three days he was sitting on the shores of the Varna River wondering how his life had come full circle.
“Lebed created a monster back in 1994,” Belov said sarcastically, “he wanted to be rid of the fascist and the criminals and the military was running out of recruits who would agree to go to Estonia, so he turned us into a Slavic Australia: a dumping ground for Russia’s undesirables.”
Belov found himself in the middle of a violent and often senseless civil war that pitted the organized Estonian Army against a rag-tag group of petty criminals and nationalists, few who had any real training.
“There were dozens of paramilitary organizations operating at the time,” Belov recalled, “At first I was part of the Black Dolphin Brigade. But I soon jumped ship and joined up with the Varna Tigers. As much as I hated the fascists, they at least were not full of a bunch of goddamn pedophiles.”
Belov soon moved rapidly up the ranks of the Varna Tigers due to his tenacity and his calm demeanor, a rare trait among the young paramilitary fighters.
“Most of them were rash and stupid,” Belov recalled, “they would disobey orders and half the time they were drunk. But I kept my head down, kept a low profile, and did what I was told. And as others were dying I knew that no matter what, this was preferable to going back to Russia. This was better than Black Dolphin. I kept telling myself that once I got my pardon I would go visit Jordan and take a picture and send it to the Arab with a message not to give up hope. No matter how bad things got, I kept fighting because I knew if I survived, I could go to Jordan when it was all over. I could live.”
Even as other former prisoners began to second guess the decision to go to Estonia, Belov persisted.
“They had our tattoos on file,” Belov recalled, “even if we went back to Russia they could cross reference our tattoos with those on file and if they found out we abandoned our post then we would have been shot. Besides, I was starting to believe in the cause.”
Belov soon felt the adrenaline rush of knowing that victory was in sight, despite the seeming betrayal of the UIS government in Moscow.
“We saw how the Russians in Latvia were sold out by the so called reformist in Moscow,” Belov said angrily. “None of us wanted to see the UIS dissolved, but Yuri Luzhkov gave up Latvia and Lithuania without so much as a whimper. He was more concerned with being able to buy French cognac in Moscow then keeping the country together.”
Still, for men like Belov the promise of a pardon proved to be elusive. The wanted war criminal watches as another firework goes off over the Narva River from neighboring Russia, he looks wounded as the explosion lights up the sky for several seconds.
“This is the 20 year anniversary of the Battle of Gorky Park,” he said softly. “We should be in Moscow right now. Every Russian patriot who fought for his country should be. But Alexander Lebed doesn’t want to offend his American masters. He doesn’t want us to embarrass him. He thinks we would burn down a synagogue if we set foot in Russia.”
Few in the West could blame President Lebed for his caution. For nearly nine years after the end of the Estonian Civil War “Liberation Day” (which celebrated the Battle of Gorky Park and the failed hard-line Communist coup in 1991) was a national embarrassment. It always seemed to bring out the worst elements of Russian society from all across the UIS, where they would converge in Moscow for a drunken orgy of fascist chants and (on three separate occasions) riots that left hundreds injured. And almost always the worst culprits would be the innocuous sounding “Baltic Veterans Association.” After the 2005 riots saw members of the Baltic Veterans Association attempt to storm the newly reopened Israeli embassy, President Lebed announced that citizens of the Russian Republic of the Baltic would have to pass background checks before they would be granted visas to enter Russia. The move was widely applauded in the West, and effectively prohibited nearly every member of the Baltic Veterans Association from coming back to Russia.
“At least they respect my service here in Varna,” Belov said sadly, “at least they know what it means to be a Varna Tiger in the Russian Republic of the Baltic.”
The real emergence of the Varna Tigers in 1994 came as the unrecognized Russian Republic of the Baltic looked close to collapse during Christmas of 1993. The Estonian Civil War was brutal, with thousands of Russians killed in 1993 alone. With sanctions devastating much of the former USSR, many of the eager Russian volunteers who came to Varna soon abandoned the adventure when it became clear that the Estonians were not only fighting back…they were winning. But it was after the failure of the communists during the Constitutional Crisis that gave the Russian Republic of the Baltic a second life.
“Most of the Russian leadership in Varna had been communists,” Belov recalled, “and they became very, very worried when the UIS began cracking down on communists in Russia. As a result they began sending out olive branches to both the Estonians and the Russians. They wanted to make a deal with someone…anyone.”
However, in the confusing weeks that followed the failed Constitutional Crisis another group soon fell out of favor with the central government in Moscow: Pamyat and the radical right.
“We were shocked that Pamyat and Dmitri Vasilyev turned on Vladimir Zhirinovsky,” Belov recalled. “Talk about a bunch of fucking idiots. I suppose most fascists are stupid to begin with, but still, it was amazing how badly they misplayed their hand. They figured the fascists would just rise up in support of Pamyat against the Jewish Zhirinovsky. But after seeing what he did to the communists who rose up against him in the Duma who would be stupid enough to try that?”
Eduard Limonov’s newly formed Bolshevik Party soon began recruiting former Communist Party members, as well as disgruntled members of the Liberal Democratic Party who opposed the free market reforms imposed by the liberal Duma. But within weeks they were being rounded up and sent to Kazakhstan en masse. Pamyat leader Dmitri Vasilyev knew he was next.
“Limonov’s falling out with Zhirinovsky was mostly over his partnership with the reformists,” Belov recalled, “but it was still enough for Zhirinovsky and his Gestapo to round up every Bolshevik Party member and send them to Kazakhstan. Vasilyev knew that it would be 100 times worse for him. He called Zhirinovsky a “filthy Jew”; there was no way he was getting off lightly. So he fled across the border to Varna and stationed his party in the Russian Republic of the Baltic.”
The strange partnership between former communists and radical fascists even appeared to have the blessing of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Moscow, who recognized that the presence of Pamyat in Estonia could tip the balance of power for the Russians. The Russian state media soon began portraying Vasilyev as a great hero, and even Eduard Limonov got in on the action.
“I was there when Limonov arrived in Tapa in February of 1995,” Belov said with a laugh. “He wanted to take part of the liberation of Tapa. But by then the tide had turned in our favor and over 50% of Tapa was under Russian control. Well for about fifteen minutes he shot into Estonian controlled territory and then went back to Varna claiming to be some great ‘war hero.’ To be honest, it is quite amusing that he might have been the only person on either side during the Battle of Tapa not to have actually shot anyone…but now he is faced with charges of war crimes in The Hague! I hope that photo op was worth it for him!”
The fall of Tapa effectively broke the back of the Estonian military, but it still came at a heavy price for the Russians. With a casualty rate over 50%, Belov found himself as the unlikely leader of the feared Tapa Brigade of the Varna Tigers after his commanding officer was killed.
“I never ordered anyone to kill civilians,” Belov said firmly. “I don’t really know what the fucking Hague wants with me. I’m not Vitali Vaulin, killing thousands of Estonians in Tallinn. I was just one of about two dozen men who led the Varna Tigers, but since I’m the last one alive they are coming after me.”
Belov’s claim to be innocent of war crimes doesn’t necessarily mesh with the facts however. Just weeks after the fall of Tapa, the Varna Tigers raided the tiny village of Tamsalu, just south of Tapa. After a three day siege the village was captured, and one of the worst war crimes of the war was committed.
“I didn’t order anyone to rape those women,” Belov said angrily, “and I certainly didn’t order them to kill civilians. I just ordered them to move them out of the town. It made military sense to empty out the town. It was a salient that stuck out nearly ten kilometers into Tiger controlled territory. If we left those Estonians there it would have allowed them to encircle us in Tapa. We had no choice but to remove them from Tamsalu.”
Estimates of civilians killed in Tamsalu range from 36 to as many as 300, although Belov denies both numbers.
“Perhaps a dozen civilians,” Belov said, “and most of them were killed by friendly fire from Estonian forces.”
With the fall of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Belov discovered that the pardon he fought so hard for disappeared as well. The UIS recently announced that anyone with a criminal record may face arrest if they return to Russia, and that the UIS will honor the demands for extradition of anyone wanted for war crimes by the UN War crimes tribunal. Both proclamations effectively bar Belov from returning to the country of his birth.
“I went to Moscow on several occasions after for Liberation Day,” Belov said softly, “and other than marching in a parade I didn’t cause any trouble. But I honestly don’t care about going back to Moscow. I really don’t. I just wish I had the chance to go to Jordan just once. I would have liked to see Aqaba once before I die.”
Flag of the Russian Republic of the Baltic
PART FIFTY NINE: THE BLOODY RECESS
OK guys, sorry for the delay, but I received some good ideas from you guys recently and wanted to incorporate them into the next few updates. We now look at what is happening in Estonia as the war there is coming to a close…
Also, I named a Russian Paramilitary brigade the Tibla Brigade. Apparently Tibla is an ethnic slur Estonians use agaisnt Russians, but I thought it might fit in with the Russian "ownership" of this slur (sort of a "hell yes we are tibla" sort of mentality). This is not uncommon in war (and in sports). There are many examples of this in modern time, but I really don't know if that would apply here. I decided to go with it, but if this is something that those of you more familiar with the word can speak on I would appreciate your input as I may take it out.
Some new names in this update:
Tapa, Estonia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapa,_Estonia
Vladivostok, Russia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladivostok
Black Dolphin Prison:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dolphin_Prison
GAZ-24 Volga:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAZ-24
Aqaba, Jordan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqaba
Tamsalu, Estonia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamsalu
Tõnismägi district, Tallinn:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%B5nism%C3%A4gi
Estonian ethnic slur:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibla
MSNBC interview with Walter Mondale, Former U.S. Secretary of State
July 16, 2008
MSNBC: You famously said that the three month recess between the Latvian and Estonian peace accords in Helsinki was a “bloody recess” in which the United States failed in its moral duty. Would you care to elaborate?
Mondale: Yes, we should have gone right back to the table once it became clear that massive human rights violations were not only occurring, but intensifying. Both sides embraced a policy of ethnic cleansing once they realized that March 15 would be the end of the war. We needed to step in and stop the slaughter, either by pulling out of the peace accord or moving the date up.
MSNBC: Wouldn’t that have played right into the hands of Vladimir Zhirinovsky?
Mondale: One of the greatest foreign policy blunders of the late 20th century that this country committed was looking at things through the prism of ‘is this playing into the hands of Vladimir Zhirinovsky?’ We needed to look at things in clear terms of right and wrong, not just our own self interest. Had we done that in Estonia nearly half of the people killed in that horrible Civil War might still be alive today.
MSNBC: Ralph Nader famously argued during his Presidential run in 2000 that President Kerrey wanted the war to last longer, even into 1996 if need be. The Green Party argued that since the Estonians were killing so many Russian men that President Kerrey believed it was in our country’s interest to drag the war out even longer.
Mondale: Ralph Nader has some bizarre ideas. That one might just take the cake.
Fighting erupts across Estonia intensifies as Russians from neighboring Latvia flood into country
Economist
January 01, 1995
Russian men in Latvia prepare to cross into Estonia to join pro-Russian militias
(TALLINN, ESTONIA) - In a move that Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho called “completely unacceptable,” pro-Russian forces in Tallinn launched a surprise offensive this morning with the aims of capturing the city of Tallinn as other pro-Russian forces launched similar offensives across the Republic of Estonia.
“This is clearly a coordinated effort,” Aho said in a press conference,” with the intention of capturing as much land as possible during this short recess before the Helsinki Peace Accords resume in March. We call on both sides to refrain from hostilities during this time period and allow diplomacy to take hold.”
American President Bob Kerrey also criticized the offensive, calling it a “betrayal” and calling on the UIS to end financial and military support for the Russian paramilitary forces that have emerged as the de facto military of the proclaimed “Russian Republic of the Baltic.” It is estimated that in the last seven days over 20,000 Russians have flooded into Estonia, propping up the badly demoralized military of the Russian Republic of the Baltic.
“We have been receiving reports that the Russians have been sending political prisoners and even criminals to Estonia,” commented a Red Cross worker in Riga, “right now every Russian with a gun seems to be hell bent on going to Estonia. They realize that the war now has an end date: March 15, 1995. Once the Helsinki Peace Accords start back up the war is going to end, and they want to capture as much of the country as they can between now and then.”
The Estonian military appears near the breaking point as the town of Tapa, a major transportation hub between Narva (the capital of the Russian Republic of the Baltic) and Tallinn appears close to falling to Russian paramilitary forces. The fall of Tapa would be a devastating blow to the Estonians, who have been trying to prevent the Russians from capturing all of northern Estonia.
“If they lose Tapa they loose Tallinn, and if they lose Tallinn they lose the war,” commented the Red Cross volunteer, “right now thousands of Russians from right here in Latvia are flooding across the border into Estonia as well, opening up another front for the badly demoralized Estonian Army.”
It is estimated that nearly 1500 Russian veterans of the Latvian Civil War have flooded into Estonia in the last three days, with almost no steps taken by the Latvian government to even attempt to stem the flow of fighters out of the country.
“I suppose it is silly to think that the Latvians would actually want these people in the country,” the Red Cross worker admitted, “but they need to realize that as Estonia goes, so goes Latvia. Estonia is the only real ally Latvia has, and for them to turn their back on their brothers to the north like this will come back to haunt them in the very near future.”
Front lines on December 25, 1994 (Russian Republic of the Baltic in RED)
Front lines on February 1, 1995
Russian Forces capture town of Tapa as Estonian forces surrounded in Tallinn
The Scotsman
February 13, 1995
In a sign that the Estonian Army may be near the breaking point; Russian paramilitaries captured the disputed town of Tapa as ethnic Russian units in Tallinn successfully encircled the remaining Estonian forces in the Tõnismägi district of the Estonian capital.
“This is nothing short of a disaster,” one Estonian refugee said as she carried a small child on her back as she fled Tapa, “they are raping and killing everything in sight. They are not men, they are monsters!”
The defeat in Tapa is a devastating loss for the Estonian Army, who hoped to prevent the Russian militias from connecting their forces in Tallinn to their capital in Narva. The loss of Tapa coupled with the encirclement of nearly 25,000 Estonian troops is a devastating blow for the country, and many international observers believe there is a very real possibility that the Russians may capture all of northern Estonia before the Helsinki Peace Accords resume in March. Early reports from Tallinn indicate that the Russian Tibla Brigade, lead by radical nationalist Vitali Vaulin, has begun a systematic reign of terror in an attempt to ethnically cleanse the city of Estonians.
“The Tiblas are executing people they call ‘traitors’ in front of school children,” one refugee from Tallinn told the BBC yesterday, “once they started moving in on the Tõnismägi district they took all of the captured prisoners of war to a local school, one of the few that still remained open, and forced all of the Estonian children to sit and watch them be executed. They then told the children that some of their parents would be executed tomorrow. As soon as we heard what they did we all packed what we could and fled.”
Russian nationalist may have shot civilians in Tapa
A leading figure of the radical right in Russia, Eduard Limonov of the newly created Bolshevik Party, was featured on Russian state controlled television yesterday firing a snipers rifle into Estonian controlled Tapa yesterday, opening questions about his role in the war crimes committed during the capture of the town. Limonov was recently forced to relocate to Kazakhstan, but appears to have joined forces with fascist leader Dmitri Vasilyev who fled Moscow in March of last year after he was denounced by Russian President Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Vasilyev’s Pamyat has subsequently taken an active role in the conflict with nearly 20,000 Paramilitary fighters claiming allegiance to the fascist organization.
Eduard Limonov seen shooting at Estonian civilians during seige of Tapa
Captured Estonian troops shortly before they were killed by Russian paramilitary forces at a local school (AP)
Gangster’s Paradise: A former Russian Paramilitary commander bitterly recalls his time in Estonia
Foreign Affairs (8/19/2011)
By Timothy Welch
Andrei Belov tosses his cigarette butt into the Narva River as he watches the fireworks go off in Russia.
“Alexander Lebed is a piece of shit,” he angrily says as he turns back on the country of his birth, “he fucking exploited us. He exploited every last one of us. But we didn’t revolt, we could have, but we didn’t. Despite everything, we knew our brethren needed us. Our country needed us.”
Andrei Belov was a former commander of the dreaded Varna Tigers, a paramilitary organization made up of exiled Russian criminals and neo-fascists that were responsible for some of the most brutal war crimes in modern European history. Nearly 100,000 people were killed during the horrific Estonian Civil War of 1992-1995, with nearly half of those casualties occurring during a 90-day period that is often called “the bloody recess” by many historians. But for many of the veterans like Belov, Estonia was less about nationalism and more about a second chance.
“I was a criminal,” Belov said with a laugh, “there are not many situations when admitting you were a drug dealer is seen as a positive, but I suppose this is one of them. I didn’t really care much for the fascists, but I had to come to Estonia. It was the only way out of Black Dolphin.”
As a young college student in Moscow, Belov began to supplement his income by purchasing automobiles in Japan and driving them back to Moscow for sale. He and several friends found that in most instances they would easily triple their money by doing so. But unlike his classmates, Belov became greedy.
“I still hate myself for that decision,” Belov said, “most of my friends made over a ten thousand dollars buying and selling Japanese cars. But I wanted more. I wanted a million. So I started buying drugs in Japan, marijuana at first, but then cocaine. I would easily make ten times the money selling it in Moscow.”
Belov’s deals with the unsavory criminal underworld in Japan soon would prove his undoing when his dealers asked him if he would be willing to expand his business into the gun market.
“I never drove to Vladivostok before,” Belov recalled, “I would always take the train and then bribe a cargo ship for a ride to Japan. Even during the height of the sanctions you could sneak into Japan, and once there it was easy to buy a car. Nobody cared if you were in the country illegally if you were buying an automobile. The Japanese government had strange laws that made it impossible to own a car that was over five years old, so the used car market in Japan was full of cheap cars that nobody would buy. They were just happy to be rid of them.”
However, for the first time Belov decided to drive to Vladivostok with a trunk full of automatic rifles, assured by his contacts that they would fetch an easy $100,000 USD in Japan. Belov became so enamored with the prospect of making that much money that he never stopped to looked at the political scene around the UIS at the time.
“It had been easy to bribe your way out of any jam during the height of the sanctions,” Belov recalled with a sigh, “but the Constitutional Crisis had just ended and the communists were being shipped to Sakhalin and Kunashir en masse. I didn’t stop and ask how that was going to change things for me.”
As Belov drove across Russia in an old GAZ-24 Volga he assumed that the one thousand British pounds he carried with him in the glove box would easily ensure that he would remain unmolested during his drive. But to his surprise, the local police near Sakhalin Island had been replaced by the UIS military.
“They were put in charge of maintaining order,” Belov recalled, “and they were on edge. Nearly 100,000 communists were just dumped in their lap and they had no idea what to do with them. They were terrified of an uprising or even a civil war. And like a fucking idiot I just drove up to their checkpoint with a trunk full of automatic rifles.”
Belov was arrested by the military and turned over to the KGB as a suspected communist terrorist. He was quickly tried by a special military tribunal and sent to the most notorious prison in the UIS: Black Dolphin.
“I was in shock,” Belov recalled, “there were four types of people who were sent to Black Dolphin: serial killers, cannibals, pedophiles, and terrorists. I tried to argue that I was just a lowly smuggler, but they were having none of it.”
Sentenced to life in prison, Belov soon began to dream about suicide.
“It was all I could think about,” Belov said, “every day was pure torture. They didn’t beat me or anything like that, but I was completely isolated from the other prisoners and the outside world.”
Belov was locked in an overcrowded ten-by-ten cell with another prisoner, the only face he saw during his ten-month sentence.
“They put me in a cell with an Arab who was captured in Chechnya,” Belov recalled, “normally I would have nothing to do with a fucking Arab, but we became close friends in there. He didn’t speak a word of Russian so I started teaching him; it was the only thing we had to keep sane. We were forced to stand in our cell for sixteen hours of the day; we would just pace and wait for them to bring us our food. The whole time he kept talking about his home in Jordan and how much he dreamed of seeing Aqaba one more time before he died. I knew it was a pipe dream, and I suppose he did too. And I wanted to tell him to stop, he was driving himself crazy. But I loved hearing about Jordan. It was the only thing I had in there.”
However a chance opportunity came when Belov was pulled from his cell and put in front of a military tribunal which made him an offer he could not refuse: to serve his country and earn a pardon.
“Some Colonel came to Black Dolphin one day,” Belov recalled, “they pulled me out of the cell and brought me to an office where the Colonel sat at a table with the Warden and a few other officers. Without looking up they told me that I could go to Estonia and fight for the Russians or stay in Black Dolphin.”
Belov was stunned, overwhelmed with sensory overload and unable to fully grasp the proposition.
“I didn’t say anything at first,” Belov recalled. “Keep in mind; I hadn’t seen the sun in ten months. Or a Russian face. Or a woman. We had exercise time in the prison, but it was in a small room and it consisted of walking around in a circle. Also, the guards always wore masks when they came to fetch us. Suddenly I am overwhelmed with all of this. I just stood their with my mouth agape looking at the one female in the room. I finally muttered out ‘Estonia’.
Within the hour Belov was on a bus and within three days he was sitting on the shores of the Varna River wondering how his life had come full circle.
“Lebed created a monster back in 1994,” Belov said sarcastically, “he wanted to be rid of the fascist and the criminals and the military was running out of recruits who would agree to go to Estonia, so he turned us into a Slavic Australia: a dumping ground for Russia’s undesirables.”
Belov found himself in the middle of a violent and often senseless civil war that pitted the organized Estonian Army against a rag-tag group of petty criminals and nationalists, few who had any real training.
“There were dozens of paramilitary organizations operating at the time,” Belov recalled, “At first I was part of the Black Dolphin Brigade. But I soon jumped ship and joined up with the Varna Tigers. As much as I hated the fascists, they at least were not full of a bunch of goddamn pedophiles.”
Belov soon moved rapidly up the ranks of the Varna Tigers due to his tenacity and his calm demeanor, a rare trait among the young paramilitary fighters.
“Most of them were rash and stupid,” Belov recalled, “they would disobey orders and half the time they were drunk. But I kept my head down, kept a low profile, and did what I was told. And as others were dying I knew that no matter what, this was preferable to going back to Russia. This was better than Black Dolphin. I kept telling myself that once I got my pardon I would go visit Jordan and take a picture and send it to the Arab with a message not to give up hope. No matter how bad things got, I kept fighting because I knew if I survived, I could go to Jordan when it was all over. I could live.”
Even as other former prisoners began to second guess the decision to go to Estonia, Belov persisted.
“They had our tattoos on file,” Belov recalled, “even if we went back to Russia they could cross reference our tattoos with those on file and if they found out we abandoned our post then we would have been shot. Besides, I was starting to believe in the cause.”
Belov soon felt the adrenaline rush of knowing that victory was in sight, despite the seeming betrayal of the UIS government in Moscow.
“We saw how the Russians in Latvia were sold out by the so called reformist in Moscow,” Belov said angrily. “None of us wanted to see the UIS dissolved, but Yuri Luzhkov gave up Latvia and Lithuania without so much as a whimper. He was more concerned with being able to buy French cognac in Moscow then keeping the country together.”
Still, for men like Belov the promise of a pardon proved to be elusive. The wanted war criminal watches as another firework goes off over the Narva River from neighboring Russia, he looks wounded as the explosion lights up the sky for several seconds.
“This is the 20 year anniversary of the Battle of Gorky Park,” he said softly. “We should be in Moscow right now. Every Russian patriot who fought for his country should be. But Alexander Lebed doesn’t want to offend his American masters. He doesn’t want us to embarrass him. He thinks we would burn down a synagogue if we set foot in Russia.”
Few in the West could blame President Lebed for his caution. For nearly nine years after the end of the Estonian Civil War “Liberation Day” (which celebrated the Battle of Gorky Park and the failed hard-line Communist coup in 1991) was a national embarrassment. It always seemed to bring out the worst elements of Russian society from all across the UIS, where they would converge in Moscow for a drunken orgy of fascist chants and (on three separate occasions) riots that left hundreds injured. And almost always the worst culprits would be the innocuous sounding “Baltic Veterans Association.” After the 2005 riots saw members of the Baltic Veterans Association attempt to storm the newly reopened Israeli embassy, President Lebed announced that citizens of the Russian Republic of the Baltic would have to pass background checks before they would be granted visas to enter Russia. The move was widely applauded in the West, and effectively prohibited nearly every member of the Baltic Veterans Association from coming back to Russia.
“At least they respect my service here in Varna,” Belov said sadly, “at least they know what it means to be a Varna Tiger in the Russian Republic of the Baltic.”
The real emergence of the Varna Tigers in 1994 came as the unrecognized Russian Republic of the Baltic looked close to collapse during Christmas of 1993. The Estonian Civil War was brutal, with thousands of Russians killed in 1993 alone. With sanctions devastating much of the former USSR, many of the eager Russian volunteers who came to Varna soon abandoned the adventure when it became clear that the Estonians were not only fighting back…they were winning. But it was after the failure of the communists during the Constitutional Crisis that gave the Russian Republic of the Baltic a second life.
“Most of the Russian leadership in Varna had been communists,” Belov recalled, “and they became very, very worried when the UIS began cracking down on communists in Russia. As a result they began sending out olive branches to both the Estonians and the Russians. They wanted to make a deal with someone…anyone.”
However, in the confusing weeks that followed the failed Constitutional Crisis another group soon fell out of favor with the central government in Moscow: Pamyat and the radical right.
“We were shocked that Pamyat and Dmitri Vasilyev turned on Vladimir Zhirinovsky,” Belov recalled. “Talk about a bunch of fucking idiots. I suppose most fascists are stupid to begin with, but still, it was amazing how badly they misplayed their hand. They figured the fascists would just rise up in support of Pamyat against the Jewish Zhirinovsky. But after seeing what he did to the communists who rose up against him in the Duma who would be stupid enough to try that?”
Eduard Limonov’s newly formed Bolshevik Party soon began recruiting former Communist Party members, as well as disgruntled members of the Liberal Democratic Party who opposed the free market reforms imposed by the liberal Duma. But within weeks they were being rounded up and sent to Kazakhstan en masse. Pamyat leader Dmitri Vasilyev knew he was next.
“Limonov’s falling out with Zhirinovsky was mostly over his partnership with the reformists,” Belov recalled, “but it was still enough for Zhirinovsky and his Gestapo to round up every Bolshevik Party member and send them to Kazakhstan. Vasilyev knew that it would be 100 times worse for him. He called Zhirinovsky a “filthy Jew”; there was no way he was getting off lightly. So he fled across the border to Varna and stationed his party in the Russian Republic of the Baltic.”
The strange partnership between former communists and radical fascists even appeared to have the blessing of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Moscow, who recognized that the presence of Pamyat in Estonia could tip the balance of power for the Russians. The Russian state media soon began portraying Vasilyev as a great hero, and even Eduard Limonov got in on the action.
“I was there when Limonov arrived in Tapa in February of 1995,” Belov said with a laugh. “He wanted to take part of the liberation of Tapa. But by then the tide had turned in our favor and over 50% of Tapa was under Russian control. Well for about fifteen minutes he shot into Estonian controlled territory and then went back to Varna claiming to be some great ‘war hero.’ To be honest, it is quite amusing that he might have been the only person on either side during the Battle of Tapa not to have actually shot anyone…but now he is faced with charges of war crimes in The Hague! I hope that photo op was worth it for him!”
The fall of Tapa effectively broke the back of the Estonian military, but it still came at a heavy price for the Russians. With a casualty rate over 50%, Belov found himself as the unlikely leader of the feared Tapa Brigade of the Varna Tigers after his commanding officer was killed.
“I never ordered anyone to kill civilians,” Belov said firmly. “I don’t really know what the fucking Hague wants with me. I’m not Vitali Vaulin, killing thousands of Estonians in Tallinn. I was just one of about two dozen men who led the Varna Tigers, but since I’m the last one alive they are coming after me.”
Belov’s claim to be innocent of war crimes doesn’t necessarily mesh with the facts however. Just weeks after the fall of Tapa, the Varna Tigers raided the tiny village of Tamsalu, just south of Tapa. After a three day siege the village was captured, and one of the worst war crimes of the war was committed.
“I didn’t order anyone to rape those women,” Belov said angrily, “and I certainly didn’t order them to kill civilians. I just ordered them to move them out of the town. It made military sense to empty out the town. It was a salient that stuck out nearly ten kilometers into Tiger controlled territory. If we left those Estonians there it would have allowed them to encircle us in Tapa. We had no choice but to remove them from Tamsalu.”
Estimates of civilians killed in Tamsalu range from 36 to as many as 300, although Belov denies both numbers.
“Perhaps a dozen civilians,” Belov said, “and most of them were killed by friendly fire from Estonian forces.”
With the fall of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Belov discovered that the pardon he fought so hard for disappeared as well. The UIS recently announced that anyone with a criminal record may face arrest if they return to Russia, and that the UIS will honor the demands for extradition of anyone wanted for war crimes by the UN War crimes tribunal. Both proclamations effectively bar Belov from returning to the country of his birth.
“I went to Moscow on several occasions after for Liberation Day,” Belov said softly, “and other than marching in a parade I didn’t cause any trouble. But I honestly don’t care about going back to Moscow. I really don’t. I just wish I had the chance to go to Jordan just once. I would have liked to see Aqaba once before I die.”
Flag of the Russian Republic of the Baltic
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Thank you
Many dictatorships have its foundation myth, Beer Hall Putsch, Bolshevik Revolution etc.
I think Z will cultivate memory about August coup, trying potraying events as more dramatic that they realy were, and of course exaggerated role he play in 1991. So events August 1991 will be much mitologisated, number of casualties will be oversestimated, same as Zhirinovsky role, and all riots presented as spontanenous rebelion against "Turk-Latvian-Zionist" commmunist dictatorship... And I guess throughout UIS we will see many squers, streets, schools, parks named after "August Revolution", "Martyrs of August", "19, 21, 26 August", "Heroses of August Revolution", "Defenders of the Gorky Park" etc.
As for Gorky Park, imagine bombastic monument/mausoleum with honour guard and huge state celebration...
And about Togliatti, maybe they just try back to old name? Or named it after some white general? I was thinking about Yelstingrad, however we have one in Kazakhstan.
As you can see from the last update, the battle of Gorky Park does start to come into play again very soon! Thanks for the idea Belle!
More good ideas...
I realize that the schools will still exploit Zhirinovsky to their advantage even after he is ousted (which could account for his populatity in 2012 ITTL), I will look into how UIS history will be covered by the school systems shortly...
Orville_third
Banned
Poor Estonia. Glad Limonv is getting what he deserves by the end. (And remember the idea I suggested a while back?)