Greater Ruthenia

**Greater Ruthenia**, formally the **Commonwealth of Greater Ruthenia** (Loxenian: **Велика Руська Річ Посполита**), is a unitary nation state in Eastern Europe, bordered by the Russian Federation to the east and by Poland and Calibert to the west. Greater Ruthenia also has a coastline along the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea. The Commonwealth spans an area of 812,028 km2 (313,262 sq mi), and has a population of approximately 55 million citizens.

The territory of the modern state of Greater Ruthenia has been occupied since 32,000 BC, and during the middle ages the region was the centre of East Slavic culture, with states such as the Kievan Rus', the Principality of Polotsk (11th to 14th centuries), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire dominating the region for much of it's history. In 1735, the western provinces of the Russian Empire fell to the Santaro Dynasty and the Ruthenian extent of the empire was divided up into two separate states, the provinces of Belarus and Loxenia. During the 20th century, the Slavic states began to form self determination movements and in 1909 and 1937 respectively the nations became independent states, with Loxenia becoming a federal republic whilst Belarus stumbled into a communist regime. In the 21st century, the Loxenian republic underwent a civil war and a change of leadership, joining Belarus as a member of the Confederacy of Independent Nations; however, the war turned against both Loxenia and Belarus who were both converted into Libirachi puppet regimes by the 2030s. Following both nation's entry into the Shanghai Pact in 2035, the Libirachi Fox Dynasty set about merging the two regimes together to form a united ethnic commonwealth as a single satellite state, founding Greater Ruthenia in 2036.

As a dutchy, the Commonwealth derives it's ability to govern through the royal prerogative of the emperor of the Fox Dynasty, who appoints the Grand Duke of Greater Ruthenia both as a member of the Libirachi nobility and as the leader of the commonwealth; under the Grand Duke, a *de-jure* parliamentary system exists with the leader of the largest party being invited by the duke to take office as First Minister, but in actuality the Ruthenian Assembly is *de-facto* controlled by the Coalition, which is the largest political party in the nation. A local branch of the Libirachi Commission for the Preservation of the New Order operates as the nation's internal security forces and the dutchy possesses a small standing army loyal to the Grand Duke, with the majority of the nation's armed forces being enlisted into the Ruthenian Territorial Army, which is ultimately subservient to the Libirachi Imperial Army.

Subsequently, the Commonwealth of Greater Ruthenia is considered to be a vasal state of the Fox Dynasty, with the Grand Duke and armed forces directly loyal to the Emperor of the Fox Dynasty, with the emperor able to appoint and dismiss the Ruthenian head of state as they see fit - the creation of the Commonwealth in 2036 during the Conquest of Africa was seen by many experts to be a sign that the Libirachi regime was powerful enough to be unafraid of openly exerting their influence on it's neighbouring states, instead of imposing their will through various external organisations. Greater Ruthenia has been a member of the United Nations, the N20 and the Shanghai Pact since it's formation in 2036.

## History

Following increasing Libirachi control over it's satellite states of Belarus and Loxenia during the early 2030s, Empress Penny Fox began the process of integrating the two nations in 2035, using the Shanghai Pact to facilitate the legal surrender of sovereignty to the body through the use of the Coordination Council, which under the leadership of Secretary General Geena Kulmuni formally granted power to the Libirachi throne on February 3, 2036. During the same time period, the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order had been tasked with producing a draft treaty to formally unite the two nations, and the subsequent Greater Ruthenia Act was presented to the parliaments of Belarus and Loxenia by Presidents Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Alex Glyn respectively on April 1, 2036, allowing the treaty to be formalised with minimal debate. As such, on May 16th the title of Grand Duke of Greater Ruthenia was established as a member of the Libirachi nobility, with the Greater Ruthenia Act granting the title primacy as the head of state for the nation. On June 1, 2036, the Republic of Belarus and the Federal Republic of Loxenia dissolved themselves in accordance with the Greater Ruthenia Act, with the Commonwealth of Greater Ruthenia taking over legal sovereignty for the former nations; similarly, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was created as the first Grand Duke in a private ceremony in Beijing, before returning to Loxzchen to appoint former Loxenian president Alex Glyn as First Minister on the same day.