The Soviet Union

The Soviet Union is the largest country in the world and is the successor of the Russian Empire, a country which once dictated to Europe. However, ever since the 1917 revolution, Russia has declined in power and influence. Although Soviet ambassadors still proclaim their country´s importance, this is no longer recognisable as the country of Dostoyevsky and Pushkin, nor Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky, nor even Lenin and Stalin.

Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was wracked by bloody purges that gutted its military, economic, cultural and political elites. Dubbed by some a "Red Hitler", Stalin sent hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens to murderous work camps in Siberia and Central Asia. Although this policy aroused the condemnation of the whole world, it was effective at maintaining political control, and Stalin was the last leader of the Soviet Union to die in office. After Stalin´s death in 1953, what was intended to be a system of collective rule quickly degenerated into Byzantine political machinations in Moscow, and increasing warlordism in the East and South of the vast country.

The 50s and 60s saw a series of leadership changes in Moscow that were almost impossible to keep track of. In 1964, the "year of four Emperors", First Secretary Mikoyan was replaced by Mazurov, who was in turn deposed by Podgorny, who was removed from office by Voronov. Many First Secretaries have been puppets controlled by behind-the-scenes operators. The one institution that has survived and grown is the NKVD, the Stalinist secret police, who have constructed a parallel power structure throughout the country - control of the NKVD is often crucial in internal Kremlin power struggles.

The apex of Soviet chaos came in 1968 when General Viktor Kulikov, the commander of the Transbaikal military district, refused an order from Moscow to stand down, and was eventually confirmed in place. This illustrated what was already known to many experts in Soviet affairs, that senior military officers, especially those in the East and South of the country, effectively functioned as independent warlords giving only lip service to the authorities in Moscow. The most familiar example of this phenomenon to the people of Europe is the Soviet oil industry in Baku, which supplies oil to multiple foreign countries including Japan, Germany and the United States. The oil industry is under the control of General Sergey Sokolov, the commander of the Transcaucasian military district, who pockets most of the profits. Sokolov generally ignores directives sent by the Ministry of Energy in Moscow. His counterpart in the Far East, General Vasily Petrov, has a similar control over the Siberian diamond and titanium industries.

The Soviet military looks very impressive on paper and is certainly large, however it is not generally considered a threat to its neighbours. Soviet military technology is at least two generations behind that of Germany. Their air force is particularly weak, with many of their aircraft still using crude early-stage jet engines, and their land-based technology is little better, with their soldiers still relying very heavily on non-guided rockets which compare poorly to the precision-guided missiles that the German army deploys. The fact that much of the Soviet military does not even respond to orders from Moscow obviously exacerbates this (although the situation is a little better in western Russia). Despite this backwardness, the USSR has managed to develop nuclear weapons and joined the ranks of nuclear-armed states, albeit with the weakest arsenal. Some of the warlords (including General Sokolov) may have got their hands on nuclear weapons, which is of great concern to the German military.

The situation of minorities in the USSR is tenuous. Jews are often persecuted under the pretext of state security, with many *pogroms* reminescent of the Czarist outrages breaking out - most recently in 1965 in Tashkent. On the other hand, some Jews have achieved high office - notably the current NKVD director, Idel Yakovich, is a Jew of Latvian origins. This leads to many within the Europabund criticising the Soviet Union as a "Jewish state", which ironically leads to discrimination against Jewish refugees fleeing Soviet persecution.

The Europabund border with the Soviet Union is heavily patrolled, although this is less to ward off an invasion and more to prevent economic refugees. Despite this tough border policy, there is a steady flow of refugees, many of Ukrainian or Belarussian ethnicity, into the eastern Reich, with some making it as far as Berlin or even Paris and Rome. The Polish government, which struggles to suppress its indigenous Ukrainian population, accuses the NKVD of supporting Ukrainian nationalists inside Poland, which is probably true, but amounts to little due to lack of Soviet resources.

The Soviet Union is formally recognised by all major states but it is generally considered a semi-pariah and not taken seriously on international matters. Many foreign states prefer to go directly to regional warlords if they wish to achieve anything (for example, both Berlin and Washington have a direct relationship with General Sokolov). As such it is not considered a friend or an enemy by anybody and is largely irrelevant to most ongoing crises in the world, such as the various Latin American civil wars or African anti-imperialist conflicts. The only war the Soviet Union has been involved in was a border conflict with Afghanistan in the 1961 and 1962, but most analysts believe this was not an act of national policy so much as the commander of the Turkestan military district getting involved in a squabble with Afghan potentates over cross-border heroin smuggling - an extremely sordid affair and one where the Soviet troops performed at best tolerably, despite their opposition being lightly armed Afghan tribesmen. Both sides claimed victory.

As of 1970 the Soviet first secretary is Dimitri Ustinov, who has stayed in power for almost a year after replacing Viktor Grishin. Ustinov has a very close relationship with the NKVD director, Idel Yakovich, who is believed by many to be the "power behind the throne".