2028 Russian Coup d'état

The **2028 Russian Coup d'état** took place on August 7, 2028 and saw the forces of General Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Sergey Kirienko overthrow the government of Viceroy Nadia Crestvick. The coup marked the beginning of a wave of political uncertainty and instability in the aftermath of the 2027 Global Banking Crisis which would culminate in the unification of the Arab State and the start of the conquest of Africa.

Following months of political and economic turmoil, the government of the Russian Federation under the leadership of Viceroy Crestvick began to break ranks with the Fox Dynasty's Asian economic recovery plan, earning the ire of the Libirachi government. In seeking to cultivate growth by denying Libirachi firms key contracts, many historians view the Russian government as using the banking crisis to "challenge Libirachi hegemony" in the aftermath of the Libirachi Civil War.

With the aid of the secretive Libirachi Commission for the Preservation of the New Order, the Russian armed forces under the leadership of Major General Vladimir Putin forced Viceroy Nadia Crestvick to resign, and installed a brief interim government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sergey Kirienko, before power was formally handed to General Putin within hours of the coup.

In the aftermath of the coup, the Russian Federation began to integrate more closely with Libirachi backed initiatives, such as the Eurasian Union of States; one of the earliest moves of the new Putin administration was to surrender significant amounts of power to the new Coordination Council of the EUS, widely seen as being a tool for the Libirachi government to dominate its neighbours.

## Prelude to the coup

 Main article: Attack on the Bolshoy oil fields

Following the 2027 Global Banking Crisis, the Russian Federation had been left with extreme debts and a mounting fiscal deficit; in response, Viceroy Nadia Crestvick had responded by implementing austerity measures to cut back on spending, whilst attempting to find new buyers of Russian oil and gas reserves. Key to these efforts was the Bolshoy oil fields, protected by a joint Security Coalition and armed forces taskforce designed to prevent sabotage. On April 17, 2028, members of the Loxenian Black Eagles terrorist group launched a series of suicide bombings against key parts of Russian oil infrastructure in the region, crippling the Russian Federation's oil exports. With the lost of a key pillar of Viceroy Crestvick's economic recovery programme, the regime began to flounder and raised taxes whilst also printing more money into circulation, massively devaluating the Ruble against other international currencies and only further adding to the economic woes of the nation.

As part of the nation's commitment to the Eurasian Union of States, the government of the Russian Federation was backed up by the EUS and the Libirachi Empire, although following the collapse of the Russian economy in May 2028 the Imperial Intelligence division of the Libirachi Commission for the Preservation of the New Order was tasked to find ways to topple Viceroy Nadia Crestvick's government or find a more suitable leader to keep the nation in tow with the Libirachi Empire's global plans. Despite formally backing the regime, President Damien Salamander signed off on a project to collate a group to form a coup attempt upon order from Empress Penny Fox and on June 18th, 2028 the Haden Accords were signed, formally bringing Libirachi support and weaponry to the Crestvick government, whilst also including clauses to allow an ensemble of Russian government officials to travel to Beijing and formulate their plot.

With much of the Russian economy in ruins following the Attack on the Bolshoy oil fields, the country's top military leadership quickly gave into the Libirachi requests and Major General Vladimir Putin emerged as the leader of the coup forces, bringing Prime Minister Sergey Kirienko into the plot too. With COMPNOR forces arming and training up the coup forces, the central government of the Damien Salamander II Cabinet began prepping for a transfer of power within the regime, rewording invitations to future scheduled meetings between Salamander and Viceroy Crestvick as being between "President of the Libirachi Empire and the Viceroy of Russia" rather than naming the participants in order to permit Putin to claim access to the meetings in the aftermath of the coup.

## Coup

At a regular Russian council meeting with Viceroy Nadia Crestvick on August 7, 2028, army forces loyal to General Vladimir Putin took control over the meeting room and detained the viceroy, forcing her to sign her own resignation. Following the arrest of Viceroy Nadia Crestvick on August 7, 2028, Prime Minister Sergey Kirienko assumed responsibilities as acting viceroy of the Russian Federation under Article 26 of the Russian constitution. Whilst Major General Vladimir Putin set about producing a new governing coalition from within the United Russia party, acting viceroy Kirienko formally assumed office by taking an oath of office, before presenting a motion before the State Duma that he had found a suitable successor to take over as viceroy. With the passing of the motion, Kirienko's position as acting viceroy became defunct and Major General Vladimir Putin assumed the powers of the viceroyalty, legally ending the shortest viceroyalty period. Sergey Kirienko would later be re-appointed as Prime Minister of Russia under the new administration of Vladimir Putin.

In the meantime, General Putin began putting together a governing coalition and set about appointing members of his new cabinet to their posts, ordering military officials to hold a parade to celebrate his inauguration as Viceroy; at the occasion, Putin delivered a major speech announcing a shift in the relations with the rest of the world, introducing an "Asian-centric" foreign policy at the behest of the Libirachi Empress Penny Fox and announced that international relations would be managed through the Eurasian Union of States, supposedly to allow "ministers to focus on internal affairs" but the move was largely regarded to be an act of subservience to the Libirachi Empire and many have theorized that former viceroy Nadia Crestvick had declined to submit Russia's international policy to the whims of the Beijing government, leading to Libirachi support for the new regime. The governments of Belarus and Austria also followed in the footsteps of the Russian government and likewise submitted their international policies to the Eurasian Union of States in October and November 2028 respectively.

## Aftermath

In the immediate aftermath of the coup d'état, Viceroy Vladimir Putin delivered a major speech in Red Square which introduced the launch of an "Asian-centric" foreign policy for the Russian Federation, widely perceived as being Libirachi dominated. Viceroy Putin announced that the foreign affairs of the federation would be conducted through the Eurasian Union of States, which established the Coordination Council to facilitate the function - following in Russia's footsteps, Austria and Belarus joined the organisation within months of it's formation. This marked a shift away from Russia's prior policy of strategic coordination or alliance with the Libirachi regime, with former Viceroy Nadia Crestvick instead advocating Russia as its own global power on equal terms with the Fox Dynasty. Ultimately as a consequence of the coup, Russia became increasingly under the control of the Libirachi government, which used it as one of many satellite states designed to bolster Libirachi economic and political dominance in Asia - however, the Russian Federation was allowed to retain independence on domestic affairs.

## International Reactions

* Avalonia - Väldeminister Ada Nilsen denounced the takeover as a coup, but recognized the regime after pressure from the Libirachi Empire
* Ducist - President Cyril Ramaphosa followed the lead of the Libirachi government and recognized the new government.
* Dunsteen - President Katharina Müller condemns the takeover, severing diplomatic relations with Russia
* Fox Dynasty - Empress Penny Fox and President Damien Salamander formally recognize the new regime, the first nation to do so
* Persia - Alongside members of the Eurasian Union of States, the government of President Kulmuni recognised the Putin regime
* Spain - President Elena Garcia denounces the regime for it's use of force to take over, but begrudgingly moves to continue trade with Russia.
* United Kingdom - Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss denounce the transfer of power as a coup
* United States of America - American presidential candidate Alexander Turpin denounces the takeover as a Libirachi backed coup