[War] Russia 2013

[Michael Downey]

Okay, here's my nation summery. I've finally settled on Russia.

Leader: President Leonid Nemerenko
Party/Alliance: Russian Democratic Party
Recent History:

Political Situation
By 2009, Vladimir Putin's star was falling very quickly. The Duma,
constituent governments of the Federation, and the general populace as
a whole had grown tired of what was very apparent as a slow,
inefficient and rather corrupt government that had done next to
nothing in terms of rebuilding the country. The European Union and
United States were also putting a great deal of external pressure on
the Kremlin over Putin's deteriorating human rights record.

The situation came to a head when Putin was implicated in the
attempted assassination of a political rival, Strong allegations of a
major spending scandal had forced Putin into a special election that
was essentially an impeachment trial. Putin's primary rival in the
race, Dimitri Severov, was the candidate for the Russian Democratic
Party; a broad centrist coalition with right and left wing elements
all united together on a strong anti-corruption, pro-reform platform.

Severov was nearly shot by an assassin while giving a speech in
Vologograd. Captured by bodyguards, the assassin was found to be a
member of the MVD's OMON anti-terror unit. A EU-sponsored
investigation pointed the finger at Putin. While he escaped
prosecution, Putin and his United Russia party were finished and the
former President was forced into exile in Switzerland.

Upon his ascension in late 2009, President Severov immediately went to
work, the details of which are available below. Severov and the RDP
enjoyed fairly good popularity, as the first competent and uncorrupt
Russia had seen since the collapse of the USSR. During the next
election in early 2013 election Severov chose not to run in order to
set a precedent after Putin's decade-long rule. He was succeeded by
another RDP candidate, though not a close associate of Severov, Leonid
Nemerenko.

The party landscape of Russia has become more consolidated. The RDP
absorbed certain pro-reform groups such as the Union of Right Forces,
Yabloko, etc. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation has toned
down some of its far-left rhetoric and is now considered more of a
socialist group than true communists. The Liberal Democratic Party,
which was at its founding and still is a ultra-conservative and
authoritarian group, is the other primary rival to the RDP.

Severov and recently Nemerenko have tried to reestablish federalism in
Russia and have devolved back to the member states some of the powers
that Putin usurped from them. The results have been varied and mixed.

Federal elections are considered fair and even by most international
observers, but local elections are rife with fraud. A particularly
embarrassing incident involving the mayor of St. Petersburg in
December illustrates this fact.

Economic Situation
A recession in 2008 brought Russian economic growth almost to zero
percent. One of Severov's first acts while in office was to tackle
corporate fraud, tax evasions and misspending habits on the part of
the Federal government. Strong demand for Russian oil, agricultural
products, greater consumer confidence, as wells as closer trade ties
with the EU, China and India reversed this downward trend and the
Russian Federation has experienced a total GDP growth of 8% since
2010.

The economy has slowed somewhat but remains in a state of growth.
Nemerenko has vowed to continue the fights against government and
corporate corruption, as well as address structural and institutional
problems that are still a headache for foreign and local investors
alike.

Military Situation
The Russian military has improved only slightly since 2007.
Dedovshchina, the practice of bullying new recruits by veteran
soldiers, that has so crippled the Russian armed forces was stamped
out in what some would say was a brutal manner by Severov's new
minister of defense. The military has actually started to feed and pay
all of its soldiers regularly and introduced new health and education
benefits for both servicemen and immediate family. This has mostly
solved Russia's moral and manpower problems, but the military has not
yet been able to replace conscripts with contract volunteers.

Equipment shortages continue to be a problem. Russia is producing
plenty of new tanks, ships and aircraft, but most of it is being
bought by China and India, not Russia. The new administration has
listed this as a top concern.

Finally, the Russian military is still dogged by hangups from the Red
Army: high officer-to-enlisted ration and a shortage of sergeant-level
NCOs.

Foreign Affairs
The Severov administration busied itself very heavily with internal
issues and was not as interested in the quasi-hegemonic status the
Russian Federation had in the CIS. The prevailing train of thought was
that Russia would be influential over its neighbors and the world
stage by reversing its slide into economic and military irrelevance.

For that reason Moscow has not manipulated or pressured its neighbors,
like the Ukraine or Kazakhstan, as it did under Putin. The Federation
has withdrawn some of its forces from other CIS members and has become
more tactful in dealing with them.

Relations with the EU soured greatly during Putin's waning days but
rebounded after his defeat due to the democratic and economic reforms
Russia has implemented over the past four years. Trade in energy and
goods is growing, as is tourism.

Relations with China have cooled somewhat but remain cordial. The
growth of the PLA's own arms industry has somewhat reduced their
appetite for Russian equipment though they still partake in Russian
technologies that they can't make themselves or the West still won't
sell them.

India, on the other hand, has become a huger consumer of Russian
weapon systems. The Russian Air Force is still bitter over the fact
that the IAF deployed its first Su-47 squadron a full four months
before they did.

(John, I've purposefully left out relations with the USA until you get
that sorted out)

Social Issues
A growing per capita income, job market and health care service has
raised the average life expectancy by about five years in Russia.
Alcoholism remains a problem but is not as severe as it was before.
Street crime is down but the mob is not sweating about the police
breaking their door down. Also, the atmosphere of racial intolerance
that began to grow in the late 1990's and early 2000's hasn't gotten
worse but hasn't improved much, either.

Efforts to reverse population decline have ended the negative trend but
growth still hovers less than one percent above zero. The economy has
not improved to the point that it's not rather expensive to have more
than one child, or to even be married.

Recreational drug use is on the rise in Russia, with ecstasy and other
designer drugs hitting the streets and the youth.

Religious Affairs
As it is now, Russia still has a large proportion of
atheists/agnostics/non-practitioners from seventy years under the USSR.
The religious upswing the world has experiences over the past few
years hasn't *quiet* reached Russia as strongly as it has in the USA
and EU, but is there none the less. Christian Russians (Orthodox and
some of the Catholics and Protestants) are attending church more often
than they did in the late 1990's and early 21st Century, and the
Russian Orthodox Church has finally settled its squabbles with the
Vatican over a Catholic diocese so 'Western' Christian influences are
more accepted in the Federation. Given its population problems, the
Kremlin has actually been somewhat enthusiastic about Catholicism
gaining momentum in Russia.

The Severov/Nemerenko administration will have a limited but friendly
relationship with the ROC and other Christian sects. Both will
occasionally meet with the Patriarch as Putin and Yeltsin did, but
other than that both the administration and government as a whole is
happy to let Christianity in Russia run itself.

Islam is an entirely different matter. Muslims in Russia will become
rather devout, thought not necessarily more pious, in the next few years.
This will cause some friction with the Christian community, with all
the various denominations and the ROC in particular viewing Russia as
a Christian state. To make things a bit more complicated, Islam does
not have the same warm relationship with the Russian government as
Christianity does.

Judaism falls in between the cordial state relationship with
Christianity and the mildly hostile relationship with Islam. This is
Russia, after all, and there are a lot of hard feelings swimming
around due to the anti-Semitic intolerance the country has had for
several centuries in the past, even under Communism when that wasn't
supposed to matter. The Russian Jewish population HAS grown, but
enough of them have moved to Israel to keep the numbers the same as
they were ten years ago.

The Chechen Issue
On a fairly rosy background, Chechnya is the one black spot. The
wayward state has experienced next to none of the modest economic and
social improvements the rest of Russia enjoys. Their governor is still
appointed by Moscow, and rebels still periodically come down from the
mountains to kill and maim. The area is also still crawling with
Russian troops, though thankfully they are all being paid and fed by
the government which means they are *less* prone to rob, rape or
murder Chechen civilians. Not to say you won't be tortured and/or shot
by them if they think you are an Islamic rebel, because you will.