Eurasian Association

The **Eurasian Association**, also called the **EA** or **Eurasia**, is a supranational union comprised of six constituent countries and six "Association Cities". The union is located primarily in Northern Eurasia on **Earth**, stretching from the Pacific Ocean and Siberia in the east to Anatolia and Russia in the west. The Association has one extraplanetary holding, the **Jutrobog Republic** on **Luna**, and has an extensive colonial presence at Sisiphysia and Malea on **Mars**. With a population of 462 million, the Eurasian Association is the second-least-populous polity on Earth, 15 million ahead of the **Oceanic Republic** and 5 million behind the **Union of South American Nations**. The capital of the Eurasian Association is Moscow, which is its own Association City, while the largest city is Istanbul, also an Association City.

## History

### Foundations

The foundations for the Eurasian Association lay with the old **Soviet Union**, but only properly came into existence during the late 20th century. The closing years of the **First Cold War** would see the USSR, at that time one of two global superpowers (in contrast to the **United States**) undergo a period of rapid reform and development. The government of then-General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev would begin **Obnovleniye** (Обновление, "Renewal") in the mid-1980s, a series of political, economic, and diplomatic reforms meant to transition the economy toward a market structure, increase personal freedoms, reduce state censorship, and restart relations with the United States and Western Bloc. While these reforms were largely successful in their goals, they were met with significant opposition from the conservative elements of the Soviet government. These groups, consisting chiefly of older members of the Communist Party and military hardliners, believed that Obnovleniye would amount to the Soviet Union admitting defeat to the United States in the First Cold War, thereby leading to the inevitable collapse of the Union itself. This opposition would culminate in the **Christmas Day Coup of 1990**, in which anti-reformist groups sought to wrestle control of the state from Gorbachev, although this failed when an attempt on his life was unsuccessful. It became clear that the majority of the Soviet military was on his side, or at least unwilling to risk the larger political consequences of the coup.

As such, the Christmas Day Coup instead led to the acceleration of the Obnovleniye program and the continued transformation of the USSR. Such reforms would include increased personal freedoms, the expansion of private enterprise, and greater autonomy for the constituent republics (despite several declaring independence throughout the 90s). By the final years of the 20th century, the Soviet Union was nearly unrecognizable compared to a mere 20 years prior, so much so that in 1997, on the 75th anniversary of the USSR's establishment it would be formally dissolved and reorganized as the **Union of Eurasian Republics**.

### Union of Eurasian Republics

While at the outset the UER could have been seen at the time as a bastion of democracy and of personal and economic freedoms, when compared to its communist predecessor, this would quickly be worn away as consolidation and corruption took hold. Political and economic elites, mostly old government ministers and other well-connected figures who managed to survive the rapid Obnovleniye reforms (their survival often a product of the haste), would use their clout to entrench themselves in power as influential business heads and other high-ranking positions in the new free market. This would give rise to an increasingly powerful oligarchy with ties to both the new civilian government and market.

Gorbachev would serve as the Eurasian Union's interim president until the first elections in late-1998, in which he did not run. The Presidencies of Sergei Shoigu (1999-2004) and Vladimir Putin (2004-2010) would see the new elites continue to gain sway within the Eurasian Union's political and economic systems through their support of pro-business and pro-market politicians. Although these figures would typically compete with one another, constantly trying to gain the upper hand in business ventures or by the number of government officials in their pockets, when it mattered, they were united in their efforts. One such example would be their support of the ascendant **Great Eurasia Party**. Great Eurasia, a largely conservative and statist party, was formed shortly before the establishment of the UER to advocate for the "revival of Eurasia as a great power". Support for Great Eurasia would increase greatly in the 2000s and result in the election of **Alexander Malyshkin** to the presidency in 2010, along with a substantial majority in the national legislature.

Upon gaining power, Malyshkin and Great Eurasia would waste no time entrenching themselves into the system. Sweeping electoral and legal reform would ensure near-continuous Great Eurasian victories in elections, while crackdowns on the political rights and freedoms of dissidents or those considered unfavorable (homosexuals, immigrants, etc.) would ensure continued support from an ultra-conservative voter base. Extensive changes to electoral law would abolish the previous two-term limit and allow Malyshkin to secure an unprecedented third term in office in 2022. In the realm of foreign policy, GE would reverse the country's near-isolationist policy that had existed since the late 1990s, drawing closer to nearby states that were fostering their own authoritarian, largely anti-Western governments such as Turkey, Bharat, Iran, and Turkestan. The five nations would form the **Pan-Eurasian Strategic Cooperation Initiative** (**PESCI**) in 2021, drawing the ire of the United States (which had largely dismissed Eurasia as a threat since its formation) and the broader Western sphere. The formation of PESCI and subsequent expansion of the **North Atlantic Defense Organization** (**NADO**) and the establishment of the **Asian Economic and Defense Union** (**AEDU**) would be seen as the unofficial start of the **Second Cold War** in 2022.

### Second Cold War

The Second Cold War would begin with a dramatic shift in global diplomacy, as both the American- and Eurasian-led spheres drifted away from each other and actively tried to negate the other's political and economic influence on the world stage. The Second Cold War would also begin a new phase of military build-up, as hypersonic weaponry and military robots began to enter service, alongside a significant rearmament of nuclear weapons, as old treaties were allowed to expire and warheads were refitted for service. These new technologies (except the nuclear weapons) would be tested on battlefields across the world as both spheres engaged in numerous proxy conflicts in Iran, the Levant, Indonesia, and Cuba.

Although Alexander Malyshkin would die in 2028 his successor, **Mikhail Serkov**, would exacerbate the conflict by strengthening Eurasian ties to the generally anti-American Union of South American Nations, opening up a new front in the Second Cold War defined by events like the Panama Crisis and Second Falklands War, much of Serkov's presidency would be taken up by the Iranian Collapse, fighting a brutal proxy war in a bid to prevent the loss of one of Eurasia's most valuable allies. Mikhail Serkov would die in 2039, and his successor, the prodigy **Alenin Petrov**, would lead Eurasia through the final phase of the Second Cold War. Just as the conflict in Iran was coming to a close, the collapse of neighboring Turkey, one of Eurasia's closest allies, in 2050 would force most of Anatolia to fall under Eurasian military administration. Petrov would also expand the Second Cold War into space, beginning a race to colonize Caelonesia and gain control of the valuable resources within the Near-Earth Asteroids towed into Earth orbit.

### Eurasian Revolution & Modern Day

These continued acts would come with great detriment to Eurasia, however. The military strain of occupying both parts of Iran and all of Anatolia, economic recession following the Golden Eye pandemic of 2049-2051, and greater civil unrest against a lack of personal freedoms boiled over into full-scale revolution in mid-2054, following a coup against Petrov and his subsequent murder at the hands of impatient hardliners within the military and civil administration. The following months would be filled with both civil unrest and armed insurrection against the central Eurasian government, as ethnic groups and various governmental forces tried to exert their will across the country. One such force, the Common Eurasian Alliance, a pro-democracy group made up of various Slavic and Turkic subsects, would prove most capable in gaining control of the government, and in 2055, in alliance with various powerful military and civil figures, would issue the Sochi Memorandum, officially dissolving the current government of the Union of Eurasian Republics and establishing the Transitional Congress in its place.

While fighting would continue across the Eurasian nation for the better part of a decade, the so-called "Congressional Period" of 2055-2058 would be one of great reform equivalent to that of the Obnovleniye program before it. GE-era social policies were rolled back, personal freedoms were restored, along with the old regime of state censorship and control of the media, while economic reforms reduced the near-iron grip of the oligarchs over the economy, and the governmental structure of the country was almost completely overhauled. Instead of a single, centralized nation, the Union would be broken into six constituent republics with their own internal political systems, while the central government would unify them in foreign, space, and defense policy. In early-2058, the Union of Eurasian Republics would officially be dissolved and replaced with the modern Eurasian Association.

The Association would immediately set about distancing itself from its predecessor, as well as ironing out relations with former enemies. The Cairo Agreement in 2057 would prove decisive in formally resetting relations between Eurasia and the United States, European Union, and AEDU, and would also formalize some of the informal border changes which occurred during the Second Cold War, to further reduce tensions.