[War] Russia: "Keeping the Peace"

[Michael Downey]

"Keeping the Peace"
President Nemerenko,
Sergeant Taminova,
Russian Federation
9 March 2014
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Despite it still being early March the weather was fairly pleasant in
Sukhumi, regional capital of the breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia.
Sergeant Taminova attributed it to the city's South Caucasus location,
proximity to the Black Sea and global warming. Russian, Japanese and EU
soldiers with bored looks on their faces hung out by APCs under a lazy
orange sun, smoking their issued cigarettes and exchanging bootleg Dutch
porn for bootleg Jap hentai.

Tamin hadn't been too pleased when his unit, the 76th Motor Rifle Regiment
out of the 205th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, had been pulled out of
training with the Ukrainians to be assigned PK duty here in Abkhazia. He was
looking forward to some leave, use some of the money he'd saved thanks to
his greatly-increased NCOs pay to rent a room and watch the Olympics in
Sochi. Now he was stuck in some crummy little renegade state down near the
ass of the Caucasus. Even those assholes in the 19th MRD would get to see
some of the Olympics with their unit assigned to Sochi for security duty.

*Security duty*. He snorted and took another drag off his cigarette. The
first few days had been intense once Moscow had decided that meddling in the
dispute between Georgia and Abkhazia really wasn't worth the effort and
pretty much blackmailed the two sides and sitting down and talking. Most
Abkhazians were 'Russians of convenience,' clinging to their dual
citizenship not out of loyalty to Mother Russia but to use it as leverage to
gain their eventual independence. When that crutch had evaporated and the
Abkhazians realized they'd have to actually solve their own problems like
adults, they hadn't been too pleased with the newly-arrived 76th MR
Regiment. Garbage, stones, bags of cow feces. One idiot had even tried to
toss a Molotov Cocktail at a passing BMP but just gotten himself burned to
death when the bottle exploded in his hand.

They'd all had a good laugh at that.

When the Abkhazians realized the men of the 76th weren't the Russian Army
troops they were used to, dedovshchina morons drunk from hitting their vodka
ration to hard, the yokels had begun to smarten up a bit. And when EU troops
started moving in and later the Japs, it had become quite clear to the
population that things were quite different now. Oh, there was still the odd
incident of violence but given that Abkhazia exited as a de facto
independent state purely on the good grace of the Federation, incidents were
now few and far between.

The occasional Havoc attack helicopter buzzing overhead helped too.

"Comrade Sergeant," said Lieutenant Kaminev, approaching Taminova. The
Sergeant gave his CO a curt nod but didn't salute, as was standard practice
when you were in your BDUs. "I take it all goes well?"

"Da, Comrade Lieutenant," replied Taminova. "Taxi drivers flipping us the
bird as they go by and dirty looks from the local cops are about the worst
problems we've had today."

"Good. I wanted you to tell your men-"

Kaminev didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. All Taminova heard was a
loud 'crack' and then the side of the LT's head exploded in a spray of red
mist that stained Taminova's face and his uniform.

"SNIPER!"

Taminova had known what had happened the moment Kaminev had gone down. "To
the East! To the East!" He shouted over his radio even as he ran for cover.
All around him PK soliders were doing the same while civilians screamed in
terror and raced off in every direction. Taminova heard more and more
gunshots, that hideous crack and echo, but didn't see or hear anyone else
get shot. That meant the sniper was an amateur; a trained marksman could
take down targets even in the mad confusion the market Sukhumi market square
had become.

Finding (he hoped) safety behind a low cement wall, Taminova tried to assess
the situation. Barking over his radio, he got a report back that no other PK
soldiers had been killed but two civilians had been shot, probably dead. *
Shit*. This was bad. Snipers, even bad ones, could make life miserable for
whole companies of troops for hours and hours on end. They couldn't safely
search the area without getting shot at. The only effective way to deal with
a sniper was either another sniper or to just bomb the whole area. Option
one seemed better than option two.

"Sergeant Taminova?" crackled a voice over his radio. The speaker's grasp of
Russian was pretty good, tinted by what Taminova suspected was an English
accent which probably meant it was one of the Royal Marines. "This is
Sergeant Doyle here. I'm about six hundred meters West of your position. I
think I've got you in my sites, tap your rifle on the ground if it is."

Taminova tapped the butt of his AEK on the hard asphalt and heard a grunt of
acknowledgment over the radio.

"Jolly good. Right, I think our sniper is in that apartment building just
East of you, about a hundred meters. Thing is, I don't know what window the
bugger is snipping from. I need you to get up and run across the street so
he'll come forward more to take his shot. Then I'll get him."

What? Taminova made a sour expression, hoping that Limey jackass was still
watching. Just run out as bait in the hopes the Royal Marine could see the
sniper to counter-snipe him, all in the hope that Taminova wouldn't get shot
first. *Shit*. Then again, what choice did Taminova have? Royal Marines were
like VDV, supposed to be very good at what they did.

"One the count of three," said Taminova over his radio. "One.... two....
THREE!" Leaping over the wall, he ran down the axis of the market square as
fast as he could. Like most Russians, the Sergeant was not a religious man.
But if there was a God, Taminova hoped he was watching. He feet hitting the
ground like artillery shells as he ran, Taminova couldn't help but wince
fearfully as another loud crack echoed through the air. It was quieter, more
distant. The Limey, it must have beem.

"I got him," came the voice over his radio. Taminova breathed a heavy sigh
of relief.
---

"A sniper attack," said Nemerenko, reading over the report. The incident had
killed three people, one Russian Army officer and two Abkhazian civilians,
plus the sniper himself.

"The man was an Abkhazian ultra nationalist," said Yevgeni, Nemerenko's
chief of staff. "Oleg Ushkavil. Did a stint with the Redy Army in
Afghanistan but not actually trained as a sniper. Was part of a Abkhazian
militia group during the Georgian civil war in the 1990s. Probably wanted
revenge against us for forcing negotiations."

"So for the moment we can comfort ourselves with the idea that this was the
act of a lone madman," said the President, although he was not very
comforted himself. "Yevgeni, see to it that none of our soldiers try and
take revenge upon any civilians for this. Utter control and professionalism
at all times. Tell the COs that this comes straight from me."

"I will," nodded Yevgeni. "Is this going to affect negotiations?"

"If it is the act of a lone madman, then no," said Nemerenko. "But I do want
our delegation at the Hague to emphasize to both the Georgians and the
Abkhazians that a peaceful settlement to their problem is critical. I'll try
and get the EU mediators to emphasize the same. In the meantime, have the
GRU start paying closer attention to known extremist groups in Abkhazia."

Such terrible things nationalism could drive people to do. If it went on
long enough, people started to forget what it was all about to begin with,
simply 'us' against 'them.' Russia needed stability in the Caucasus. Russia
needed peace. Especially now with the rest of the world tumbling into chaos.

---

Actions:
1) Russia emphasizes to both Abkhazia and Georgia that a peaceful resolution
to their conflict is critical to the future of all three nations
2) Have the GRU pay closer attention to any groups in Abkhazia that might
pose a problem to the Russian/Japanese/EU PKF
3) Tell the Russian soldiers good job; you've been acting controlled and
professional, make sure you keep it up.
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