Union Press Alliance - FY2011 Budget features a twelve billion defense budget increase

[Serbovia]

Karelingradskaya Gazeta​

Est.1928 - The largest daily newspaper in Greater Serbovia. Available domestically in Serbovian, Lusatian and Sarmatian in general editions and in Korelan and Darujhi in local editions.​

KARELINGRAD, SERBOVIA PROPER - Supreme Court throws out dismissal appeal by five Vinograd professors


The year-long Vinograd Professors case appears to be reaching a definitive ending after the Union Supreme Court rejected an appeal made by the professors concerning their February 2010 dismissal from their positions at the Central University of the Serbovian Banat. The Supreme Court read out its verdict in the case Korolyov, Korzhakov, Nikonov, Sikorsky and Slavik vs The Banat today amidst high media attention and student demonstrations in support of the professors.

Social Science professors Andrei Korolyov and Feodor Korzhakov, Law professor Anton Nikonov, Economics professor Michal Sikorsky and Humanities professor Teodor Slavik were dismissed from their offices at the university after taking part in violent student demonstrations opposed to a hike in tuition fees starting in 2011 that was announced by the Banat's Minister of Education and Culture Jana Mladenov (Monarchist). The professors appeared in rallies opposed to the change during January 2010, while Korolyov and Korzhakov were arrested during a Mounted Gendarme operation to empty a Faculty of Social Sciences building that had been squatted by Communist students during the course of the demonstration. Several other staff members took part in the demonstrations and faced disciplinary action on behalf of the university.

The case of the Vinograd Professors, championed by lawyer and Rights Alliance chairman Boris Petrenko, has been considered to be of significance in relation to the ability of political organization by higher education professors and staff. Petrenko's case against the dismissal that passed all the way from the Greater Vinograd Prefectural Court into the Supreme Court was grounded in claims that the dismissal had violated the fundamental freedoms of speech of the professors in question in addition to violating the employment agreements signed between university professors and the Serbovian Banat.

"Fundamental freedoms of speech guaranteed by the Union Charter of Rights are an entirely different thing than illegal seizure of public property and resistance to public law enforcement forces", Supreme Court Chief Justice Anatoly Medvedev said in a concluding address of the trial. "Professors Korolyov, Korzhakov, Nikonov, Sikorsky and Slavik should have recognized the fact that as high-ranking employees of the public establishment they have a responsibility to conduct themselves in a dignified and appropriate manner", Medevedev stated. Boris Petrenko has stated his intent to appeal to the Regent and Chairman Director, His Excellency Alexei Nikitin, Baron of Upper Taman, (Kadet.) but Nikitin is expected to reject such appeals.

Two thousand demonstrators from the Vanguardist and Autonomist wings of the Communist Party as well as the nonpartisan Alliance of Labour Justice leftist group assembled in Karelingrad on the morning of the court's final day, while a smaller group of several hundred students demonstrated outside of the Banat Ministry of Education and Culture and the CUSB main building in Vinograd. Several arrests were reportedly carried out by Gendarmes and the Karelingrad Prefectural Police for causing public disturbance.

Though appeals to the Regent are likely to face rejection, it is believed that the case will continue in the public eye at least through parliamentary discourse. Several Trudovik and Communist members of the Duma have expressed vocal support against the dismissal of the Vinograd Professors, and the case is expected to be discussed in the Duma's next full session on Monday. Former Professor Sikorsky is a known member of Communist Party-Autonomist while Professor Korolyov stood as a candidate for the Trudovik Party in 2009's Duma elections.

 

[Serbovia]

Karelingradskaya Gazeta​

Est.1928 - The largest daily newspaper in Greater Serbovia. Available domestically in Serbovian, Lusatian and Sarmatian in general editions and in Korelan and Darujhi in local editions.​

NEWS IN BRIEF


KARELINGRAD, SERBOVIA PROPER - Discussion on higher education policy and the recent case of the Vinograd Professors is continuing after Director of Enlightement Artyom Shevchenko (Monarchist) commented on the case on the UTV 24 News Channel. Mr. Shevchenko said on an UTV news program that the five dismissed professors had "plainly neglected their duties as members of the public establishment, instead choosing to embrace factionalist radicalism" and had "neglected their duties as educators in favor of open advocatin of irrationalism." Shevchenko expressed his support for the dismissal and its affirmation in the Supreme Court.

At the same time, the Director of Enlightement expressed worry of subversive influences in the systems of higher education, calling for constituent states maintaining universities and universities of applied sciences to remove "un-Serbovian" educators from their posts. He called for other measures against the "presence of moral bankruptcy, as evidenced by the ongoing discussion of the Vinograd Professors, in our educational system." 26 of the 330 certified universities in Serbovia are run by Karelingrad, with thirty run by the Orthodox Church, 62 by private foundations and 212 by constituent state governments. The Duma discussed the Professor dismissals on Friday, and debate is expected to continue.

- PORT HANSHAN, TOUZEN - The Imperial Land Forces's single largest military installation in mainland Touzen, Port Hanshan, is due to face significant changes after the Stavka announced that it would be replacing the base's main tenant combat unit. The 5000-strong 32nd Belkan Jagers are redeploying to the Republic of Belkano-Yugotia at the scheduled end of their five-year rotation into Touzen, where they will be replaced with the 3rd Foreign Rifles. Both are mechanized infantry units, with the 3rd Foreign Rifles being a part of the Foreign Guard.

The upcoming transition of the 32nd Belkan will remove from Port Hanshan 5000 soldiers and 11000 dependents. In addition to a rotational combat infantry unit, Port Hanshan houses six thousand soldiers from various units of the Touzen Command in combat support roles. All in all, the Touzen Command comprises eighty thousand soldiers of the Land Forces, Navy, Air Force, Naval Infantry and the Corps of Gendarmes deployed for the purposes of Pasila Accord cooperation and joint defense.

 

[Serbovia]

Karelingradskaya Gazeta​

Est.1928 - The largest daily newspaper in Greater Serbovia. Available domestically in Serbovian, Lusatian and Sarmatian in general editions and in Korelan and Darujhi in local editions.​

KARELINGRAD, SERBOVIA PROPER - Nikitin rejects imperial restoration during his Regency, "political monarchy a current of the past"


Members of the Serbovian monarchist movement are not likely to realize their objectives of restoration of the House of Dragovic to the throne, at least if the matter is up to the Imperial Regent and Chairman-Director His Excellency Alexei Nikitin. Nikitin spoke before a conference of political scientists hosted by the Imperial Dmitri Karelin University in Karelingrad, where he had been invited to make a statement on the conference's topic, specifically the future of the Union's political system.

"Contrary to the desires and wishes of some, I do not see a restoration of the Imperial throne within my term a likely prospect unless it coincides with broader constitutional reform", Regent and Chairman-Director Nikitin addressed the so-called monarchist system, "I will do my best to remind all those concerned that the Union has had the current system of elected Regency for over eighty years, and during that time it has become more ingrained within our political structure than the old imperial rule. Any political reform will have to build up on that."

"The fact that several countries continue to retain political form of monarchy in various forms does not mean that we should do the same", Nikitin commented, discussing the political role still carried out by monarchs in different European countries, "These states consciously place themselves on the side-track of development and modernization and are likely to face heightened pressure of reform from their own citizenry."

Nothing more specific came from the Regent as for rumored plans of constitutional reform, perhaps owing to the dynamics of the coalition government maintained between Nikitin's Kadet Party and the Imperial Monarchists. The Kadet-Monarchist coalition agreed to delay considerations of a more specific constitutional reform up until the 2013 Duma elections in order to facilitate the formation of a conservative coalition government. In spite of this, the issue of constitutional reform is viewed as a significant point of contention between the two government parties, and it was no surprise that some Monarchist commentators again voiced condemnation of the Regent bringing up the topic to discussion.

Currently, Aleksandr Dragovic - also known by his title Alexander VI - is the head of the Imperial House of Dragovic, the members of which have lived in Franken since the Serbovian Civil War. Attempts by family members to attain Union passports or visas to visit the country have been denied since the Civil War, after the current Emperor's grandfather Alexander III was denied return to the country by the post-Civil War Interim Duma in order to facilitate parliamentary reform.

 

[Serbovia]

Karelingradskaya Gazeta​

Est.1928 - The largest daily newspaper in Greater Serbovia. Available domestically in Serbovian, Lusatian and Sarmatian in general editions and in Korelan and Darujhi in local editions.​

VINOGRAD, THE SERBOVIAN BANAT - Gendarmes clash with left-wing students protesting the Vinograd Professor verdict



Dozens of students affiliated with the Communist Party and the Alliance of Labour Justice were arrested by the Mounted Gendarmerie today during rioting that broke out during a Communist demonstration opposed to the recently Supreme Court-upheld dismissal of five professors from the Central University of the Serbovian Banat. At least twenty-two students and thirteen Gendarmes were wounded during the clashes.

Colonel Artyom Shechenko, chief of the Vinograd Brigade of the Mounted Gendarmerie, said that the unrest had started after Gendarmes had identified a forming "black bloc" of violent radical activists in the crowd, and snatch squads attempting to take off leaders of the group were met by rioters armed with lead pipes and rocks. The several hundred Mounted Gendarmes in charge of policing the demonstration at the CUSB Vinograd Campus responded with the use of riot batons, tear gas grenades and water cannons in order to disperse the emerging unrest.

Over the course of the unrest, which lasted from Monday morning up until around two PM, Gendarmes assisted by members of the Banat Police Force cordoned off sections of the campus, checking identities of passers-by and arresting several individuals believed to have taken part in the rioting. Rocks thrown by the rioters reportedly damaged several cars and other private property. Colonel Shevchenko said that the organizers of the demonstration had "crudely neglected" their duty to ensure that no violence-prone elements were present.

Head of the Vinograd Communist Youth, Maxim Torbakov, denied claims made by the law enforcement, saying that the Gendarmerie itself had acted as a provocator during an "originally peaceful demonstration of several hundred people with just a couple of dozen violent individuals", and accused the officers in charge of sending in snatch squads to arrest leaders and speakers of the demonstration in spite of involvement with any violent behavior. Torbakov also accused the Vinograd Gendarmerie of engaging in acts of police brutality, saying that at least two students were put into hospital in a serious condition as a result of beating by several riot officers.

Some of the persons detained were released after being fined and having their identities taken down, but Colonel Shevchenko said that the rest would remain in custody at least for 48 hours, after which persons identified as actual rioters will be charged in the Vinograd Prefectural Court. Both the Gendarmerie and the Banatese Police Force increased their patrols in Vinograd during the afternoon in anticipation of further student unrest.

 

[Serbovia]

Karelingradskaya Gazeta​

Est.1928 - The largest daily newspaper in Greater Serbovia. Available domestically in Serbovian, Lusatian and Sarmatian in general editions and in Korelan and Darujhi in local editions.​

NEWS IN BRIEF


KARELINGRAD, SERBOVIA PROPER - Discussion on the dismissal of five Central University of the Serbovian Banat professors for taking part in last year's Vinograd student protests continued today as the Duma debated the matter. The case's politicization continued after Director of Enlightement Artyom Shevchenko (Monarchist) commented on the case, proposing stricter enforcement of maintaining social and political standards in the nation's university campuses. Opposition deputies have been quick to criticize Shevchenko's comments, accusing him of attempting to introduce authoritarianism into the education system.

Trudovik chairman and Duma deputy Alexandra Korbatova was the most vocal critic of the verdict and Director Shevchenko's commentary, calling for an inquiry of the Subcouncil of Constitutional Affairs into the verdict made by the Union Supreme Court in the Vinograd Professors case. Trudovik and Communist row deputies and individual Decambrists also made objections to the dismissal.

Elsewhere, one of the dismissed professors and Communist Party-Autonomist member Michal Sikorsky made a statement of support to radicals involved with the recent student unrest in Vinograd. Sikorsky is currently in Carentania for the so-called Workers' Congress.

- NOVIGRAD, AUTON. JEWISH REPUBLIC - The Novigrad Great Synagogue, originally constructed in 1873 during the Jewish Resettlement into the territories currently known as the Autonomous Jewish Republic, will finally face a renovation after years of decay after the local Jewish community was issued a significant financial grant for the purpose by the Imperial Foundation. Local Jews in Novigrad have been working for years to petition for government funding to restore the synagogue and to gather money on their own accord. The Karelingrad architectural office Novak & Antonov, specializing in restoration projects, has now been hired to plan the renovation.

Though many Jews have moved from the AJR since the Jewish segregation was abolished in 1926 by General-Regent Dmitri Karelin, the Republic still boasts a significant Jewish community with 40% of the 5,7 million residents of the Republic recognizing Jewish faith, amounting to 40% of the total 5,6 million Serbovian Jews. Previously, attempts to restore the Great Synagogue after its poor maintenance over several decades have met issues including lack of funding and the 2006 arson by members of the banned ultranationalist group Knights of Serbovia.

- BELOZERSK, ZAPADNOSLAVIA - University students leaving their schools for the March's midterm holidays are expected to crowd Southern holiday resorts, particularly in the city of Belozersk and the adjacent towns of the Golub Bay. The midterm holidays have traditionally served as a warm-up of the summer's holiday season in form of domestic tourism by the Serbovian workforce as well as foreign tourists coming into the country, and many of the Southern coastal resort hotels which remain quiet or partially closed during the summer are anticipative of the upcoming groups of students.

At the same time, the annual influx of students to the south has caused locals to voice criticism. Though the midterms are a significant source of income during an otherwise quiet spring for the tourism areas, some locals say that the students don't spend as much money as working clients and are more likely to engage in binge drinking as well as disorderly and violent behavior. In addition, the recent introduction of midterm holidays to high schools has increased underage drinking during the holiday season.

In addition to domestic destinations, Touzen and Nicosia are also common destinations as well as various Western European countries.

 

[Touzen]

Ministry of Revolutionary Defense and Foreign Affairs

The people of Touzen thank the courageous men and women of the 32nd Belkan Jagers for their service in defense of the common interests of the peoples of the PASILA signatories. Their cooperative, progressive and ever vigilant attitude has contributed to the friendship between our peoples and we have no doubt whatsoever that the 3rd Foreign Rifles will live up to the meritorious deeds of their predecessors.

Finally, Lord Protector Kaname wishes to convey his gratitude for the service of the 23nd Belkan Jagers by assigning them the Constitutional Star of Merit 2nd Class with Banner and Sword, which the unit is from now on entitled to display in its unit insignias.

 

[Serbovia]

Supreme Command of the Union Forces
Directorate of War
United States of Greater Serbovia

The men and women of the 32nd Belkan Jagers relay their thanks to the people of Touzen for this most prestigious award, which shall be presented in the unit's regimental hall of fame and amended into official unit insignia and battle standards. In order to inspire all other servicemen of the Serbovian military who will one day take the mantle handed over by the Belkans, it will also be presented at the Port Hanshan Hall of Military Tradition.

The Supreme Command is certain that the 3rd Foreign Rifles will live according to the fine tradition of service set by the Belkans and other Serbovian servicemen part of the Touzen Command. The cooperation of Serbovian and Touzenese servicemen at the forefront of the defense of liberty inspires free peoples of the world and sets a stalwart sign that the free world is not afraid of fascism.

Regards,
Commander-General Gennadi Telashnikov,
Life Baron of Upper Timashevsk
Chief of the Supreme Command

 

[Serbovia]

Karelingradskaya Gazeta​

Est.1928 - The largest daily newspaper in Greater Serbovia. Available domestically in Serbovian, Lusatian and Sarmatian in general editions and in Korelan and Darujhi in local editions.​

NEWS IN BRIEF


- KARELINGRAD, SERBOVIA PROPER - The Foreign Policy and Security Working Group of the Union Directory met today to discuss continuing international tensions caused by the Himyari government of Trans-Nineveh, which has recently stirred controversy by execution of claimed foreign spies under highly dubious circumstances and by mass deportations of Engellexic citizens from the country. The Working Group, comprising Regent and Chairman-Director Alexei Nikitin, Director of the State Petar Nikolich (Kadet), Director of War Pyotr Bulgakov (Monarchist) and other senior officials was reportedly preparing matters to be brought up to the Directory on its Monday's session.

The tensions with the Trans-Niniveh government have stirred discussion in the Union Council, including calls to counter the regime's regional threatmaking and acts of political repression. At the same time, a boycott on exports of coltan to several nations including Serbovia from the country resulted in a four-point drop at the Venediktgrad Technological Stock Exchange (VETEX). Director of Commerce Yulia Nabokova (Kadet) said that DoC was liaising with Serbovian technological industries on the issue.

- KREPOST VOSTOK, ARN - The Rights Alliance is calling for an inquiry by the Union Subcouncil of Constitutional Affairs concerning the current military practice of so-called "penal service", under which a mentally and physically fit convict or defendant may elect to compensate for his sentence by service within the Imperial Union Army. Rights Alliance chairman Boris Petrenko is bringing forward the case to the Union Council after reportedly receiving several complaints from family members of persons in such penal service, alleging that the practice both violates the constitutional peacetime ban on conscription as well as personal liberties imposed by the Charter of Rights.

Penal servicemen have to volunteer to service, but critics say that some times it is made de facto compulsory by trying to draw in inmates in personal danger in prison or facing particularly long prison terms. Penal servicemen are assigned to special penal units, which also have a regular military component of volunteers as well as soldiers themselves under disciplinary measures. It is claimed that they undergo hazing and violence while serving, and during past operations have been used for dangerous or even suicidal tasks. The rehabilitative effect of military service for inmates has also been questioned.

Both the Directorate of War and the Supreme Command declined commentary, saying that they were waiting for the SCCA to evaluate the validity of the claims.

- VENEDIKTGRAD, POMORNIA - The annual Venediktgrad Automobile Exhibition, also known as VAEX 2011, is taking place this weekend at the Venediktgrad Central Convention Center. Major Serbovian car manufacturers including Venediktgrad VAZ, Imperator and Chernogorsk are expected to be in attendance, as well as several smaller manufacturers of specialist vehicles and equipment and representatives of foreign car manufacturers and dealerships. VAEX 2011 is expected to draw in several thousand visitors over the course of the exhibition, which is set to continue from Friday up until Monday.

 

[Serbovia]

Trud​

An independent voice of the workers. Funded with the cooperation of the Alliance of Labour Justice.​

The thin line between law and lack thereof

Most people in Serbovia know that it happens, many have even witnessed it first-hand, and some have become its victims. But police brutality is an issue that more often than not goes ignored among the media and especially among the politicians, while youths, immigrants, alcoholics, drug abusers and members of alternate political groups bear the brunt of this state-sanctioned violence.

In fact, it was Vladimir Timoferov, founder of the Imperial Corps of Gendarmes in 1832 who is often credited as the father of modern Serbovian policing, who included among his key maxims "the primary goal of the policeman is to attain respect, but if that cannot be done then the policeman must attain fear." Such maxims are still taught in the institutions that have train the six hundred thousand Gendarmes and Policemen in our country, and carried out especially by the former.

After all, the Gendarmerie is still a military institution with servicemen taking rotations in and out of military policing and regular policing duty. The role of such policing, which influences even the nominally civil agencies that make up 70% of the police force, has historically been accepted by the elite as a way of keeping the poor and other disadvantaged in line. When someone breaks into a house and the owners call the police, all they want to see is the culprit being taken away. They don't want to see him being beaten later in the night in the police jail. For them, ignorance is a bliss.

To provide an example: Kim Dae-Chun was a 24-year old Seoran immigrant in the second generation, on the 11th of January in the Northern Karelingrad district of Novikov on his way to his workplace at a construction yard. Under Serbovian immigrant law, immigrants are required to carry their ID cards at all times, and foreign-looking people are often checked by policemen for such. This time, it was four plainclothes members of the Karlelingrad Gendarmerie on a round, who challenged Dae-Chun at a metro station.

Dae-Chun, from his previous encounters with Mezhist skinheads, reacted with hostility not knowing that the four men were in fact law enforcement officers. Initially attempting to flee, he ended up being cornered and responded by drawing a knife, a tool he had with him among others that he needed at his construction yard. As a bystander recorded the incident using a cell phone, Dae-Chun was pepper sprayed in the face, then tackled to the ground where he was batoned and kicked for several minutes before being forced into an unmarked Gendarme car. It was only at the Karelingrad Central Police Jail that he was given the necessary medical treatment. But to no avail, for he died to his wounds on that day's evening.

The four Gendarmes involved in his arrest and beating are currently on an administrative leave pending an Internal Affairs investigation. Though the case has caused significant uproar, other similar incidents occur on a weekly basis and often go unignored in the media and the politics. And until the elites and the quiet middle classes acknowledge the unprivileged the same human rights as they hold dear, a change cannot come.

 

[Serbovia]

Karelingradskaya Gazeta​

Est.1928 - The largest daily newspaper in Greater Serbovia. Available domestically in Serbovian, Lusatian and Sarmatian in general editions and in Korelan and Darujhi in local editions.​

KARELINGRAD, SERBOVIA PROPER - Nikitin warns Trans-Niniveh against further escalation



Following further provocations on behalf of the regime in the Himyari state of Trans-Niniveh, Regent and Chairman-Director Alexei Nikitin has issued a diplomatic warning to Trans-Niniveh. Director of the State Petar Nikolich (Kadet.) made a statement calling for Kohinoor to allow the evacuation of Serbovian diplomatic personnel from the country, threatening repercussions unless the evacuation of Serbovian diplomatic personnel from the country was allowed.

Following an announcement from the regime that its security forces had surrounded the diplomatic representations of Serbovia, Cantigny and Vangala, elements of the Karelingrad Mounted Gendarmerie reportedly surrounded the Trans-Niniveh embassy in Karelingrad's Anikov District, an area also containing several other diplomatic representations. Several blocks around the embassy were cordoned off by the Grand Ducal Constabulary while armored vehicles manned by Gendarmes in combat equipment and carrying assault rifles were seen entering the cordoned area.

Colonel-General Yuri Dolgorukov, head of the Corps of Gendarmes, described the measure as a precaution against violation of diplomatic immunity of Serbovian diplomatic staff currently in Trans-Niniveh. Colonel-General Dolgorukov said that "in the event that conventions of diplomatic immunity can be considered void between the Union and Trans-Niniveh", the Gendarmes could take members of embassy staff into custody pending deportation and possible investigation into acts of espionage and subversion carried out against the Union.

The Union Directory is set to convene on Monday to discuss the situation, and a preliminary meeting of key foreign policy officials took place yesterday under tight security. Anonymous sources within the Directorate of War and the Stavka claim that a working group on Trans-Niniveh has also been set up to consider alternative measures including support to opposition groups in the country and undertaking direct military action against the regime. Though independent analysts have underlined the precarious nature of the ongoing diplomatic criticism, they also say that complying with the demands made by the hostage-takers could jeopardize the cabinet's legitimacy within the Kadet right wing and the supporters of the national-conservative Monarchist Party.

Meanwhile, opposition members in the Union Council called for the Kadet-Monarchist cabinet warned against escalating the situation unnecessarily. Trudovik chairwoman Alexandra Korbatova called for the cabinet to pursue negotiatory action, as did several deputies of the Decambrist Freedom Party. At the same time, chairman of the Slavic Radical Party Yegveni Chernekov caused controversy by calling for the "death of 500 kebab (sic) for each Slav". Chernekov's comments were condemned by both government parties as well as major opposition groupings including the Trudoviks and Decambrists and he was expelled from the Duma halls for the remainder of the session and Council Premier Artyom Loganov (Kadet) is expected to reprimand him. The Social-Nationalist Party remained quiet on the issue.

 

[Serbovia]

Karelingradskaya Gazeta​

Est.1928 - The largest daily newspaper in Greater Serbovia. Available domestically in Serbovian, Lusatian and Sarmatian in general editions and in Korelan and Darujhi in local editions.​

KARELINGRAD, SERBOVIA PROPER - Diplomats return from Trans-Niniveh, to meet with the Regent on Sunday



Twelve Serbovian employees and eight members of the posted Gendarmerie security team of the Union Consulate in Kohinoor are currently on their way back to Karelingrad after the stand-off between Trans-Niniveh security forces and the embassies of several foreign countries reached a conclusion. The employees boarded a Department of State liaison aircraft sent from Hajr, and in Hajr boarded an Air Force passenger jet which is currently in international airspace on its way back to Karelingrad.

At the same time, elements of the Mounted Gendarmerie which had surrounded the Trans-Niniveh embassy in Karelingrad were pulled out, though unconfirmed sources in the Directorate of the State say that the Directorate might be planning to declare members of the country's embassy staff personae non grata.

Regent and Chairman-Director Alexei Nikitin (Kadet) is expected to meet with the returning consulate employees on Sunday at the Anichkov Palace, the official residence of the Imperial Regent. A senior Palace official said that Nikitin is expected to make a public address regarding the now resolved diplomatic crisis in addition to issuing Diplomatic Service Merit Medals and Imperial Military Medals to the diplomatic and military members of the group respectively. "The so-called Kohinoor Twenty went out of their way not to abandon their post and their duties as civil and military servants even in the face of extreme peril", one official described, citing leadership by Consul Pyotr Belkanov during the course of the crisis.

At the Greater Karelingrad International Airport, where the plane carrying the diplomats is expected to land later in the night, small groups of onlookers waving Serbovian flags and various placards were waiting for the returning diplomats alongside Director of State Petar Nikolich (Kadet) and a honor guard of the Guards Life Hussars. A team of doctors and psychologists is also on siteto provide debriefing for the diplomats, who are to be transported to state guesthouses in Karelingrad.

Though the dust has settled for now, the Trans-Niniveh issue is still expected to see discussion as the Directory and the Union Council are convening on Monday. Analysts have noted that the incident came at a time when the Kadet-Monarchist coalition has been taking flak over higher education and the problems it has faced in delivering on its promise of cutting down crime rates, which itself could prompt the ruling parties to continue pressing the matter.

 

[Serbovia]

Karelingradskaya Gazeta​

Est.1928 - The largest daily newspaper in Greater Serbovia. Available domestically in Serbovian, Lusatian and Sarmatian in general editions and in Korelan and Darujhi in local editions.​

KARELINGRAD, SERBOVIA PROPER - Diplomats get heroes' welcome, Nikitin praises "steadfastness of Serbovian diplomacy"


The celebratory reception of the so-called Kohinoor Twenty continued today when the twelve diplomats and eight members of Gendarmerie Diplomatic Security Team 25 - diplomats in their ceremonial civil service uniforms and the Gendarmes in their black dress uniforms - were received at Anichkov Palace by His Excellency the Regent and Chairman-Director Alexei Nikitin accompanied by a Gendarmerie honor guard and other members of the Directory, including Director of State Petar Nikolich and Director of War Pyotr Bulgakov.

During the reception, Consul Pyotr Belkanov and eleven other diplomats were issued the Diplomatic Service Merit Medals while the members of the eight-man GDST 25 formerly attached to the Consulate were issued Imperial Military Medals by Regent and Chairman-Director Alexei Nikitin. Nikitin praised the steadfastness of the persons in question in refusing to abandon their post during a hostile military siege, saying that "against all odds they had upheld the finest traditions of the Union Diplomatic Service and the Imperial Union Army respectively."

Having undergone debriefing upon their arrival into Karelingrad last night, the Kohinoor Twenty have now returned to their Serbovian homes, though Consul Belkanov is staying overnight at the Anichkov Palace for discussions with Chairman-Director Nikitin and an expected appearance before the Duma on its Monday's full session.

The reception at the Anichkov Palace by highest leaders of the state and a Gendarmerie honor guard was viewed by thousand of spectators, drawn to the location by political youth grous and campaigning at the popular social networking site uHub.sb, with many in the crowd waving Serbovian flags and signs with slogans aimed against the Trans-Niniveh regime. Members of the Serbovian National Vanguard, a youth wing of the Social-Nationalist Party, torched several Trans-Nineveh flags during the demonstration.

After the reception, Chairman-Director Nikitin spoke in a televised address. Nikitin said that Kohinoor backing down had "proved the worth and value of Serbovian statecraft" and that the "Union had proved its worth in showing its willigness to defend Serbovian citizens and their interests everywhere on the globe." Though claiming victory, the Regent and Chairman-Director also emphasized that with the resolution of the immediate crisis at hand, "diplomacy is now our primary weapon" in dealing with Kohinoor and similar regimes. However, he said that Karelingrad was monitoring how matters would fan out between Trans-Niniveh and the Serbovian ally of Engellex.

 

[Serbovia]

Karelingradskaya Gazeta​

Est.1928 - The largest daily newspaper in Greater Serbovia. Available domestically in Serbovian, Lusatian and Sarmatian in general editions and in Korelan and Darujhi in local editions.​

NEWS IN BRIEF


- KARELINGRAD, SERBOVIA PROPER - Increasing cost of inhabitation in the Greater Karelingrad area is drawing political ire as members of the Decambrist Party, in Serbovia Proper in a coalition with the Kadet Party and the Monarchist Party criticize a perceived lack of enthusiasm in the Serbovia Proper Kadets and Monarchists in carrying forward the Decambrist's calls for lowering rent costs in the Serbovia Proper area. While a political impasse for the coalition is far away, Serbovia Proper Decambrist head and local Minister of the Interior Aleksandra Maximova has reportedly met leaders of the national Decambrist Party to discuss the matter.

Control over local government in Serbovia's heartland has typically been highly prized by all the major political parties. In addition, Serbovia Proper is significant in that it is the only state where the Kadets are in government and have been unable to form a coalition built around them and their national allies the Monarchists, instead having had to seek the Decembrists as a third coalition partner.

- ST. MIKHAIL, POMORNIA - The Dmitri Karelin surface task force, comprising the aircraft carrier IVK Dmitri Karelin, two Vinograd class guided missile destroyers and three Rodina class frigates along with a Medved class auxiliary and two Strelok class nuclear attack submarines, departed the St. Mikhail Naval Base today for a previously unannounced goodwill visit to Touzen. Admiral Nikolai Rochenko, Deputy Chief of the Stavka for the Navy, said that Dmitri Karelin and its escorts would conduct drills with forward-deployed Touzen Command naval units including carrier IVK Vladimir Rushkin.

The air group of the task force includes 40 multi-role fighters as well as several surveillance aircraft and maritime helicopters. In addition to conducting drills with Touzen Command units, officers of the task force will reportedly meet with Touzenite equivalents from the naval forces of the Constitutional State. The 4700 officers and sailors part of the task force will also enjoy shore leave in towns adjacent to Krepost Mikhailov, one of the three main naval bases of the Touzen Command.

- SHERBATY, KORELA - This month's earlier insurgent attack on a military outpost was followed today by the explosion of a car bomb on a parking lot in Western Sherbaty, which killed two members of the Korelan Police Force and wounded a third one. Law enforcement sources said that the patrol had been lured to the parking lot by a false emergency call from a pre-paid cell phone, and that the bomb had been concealed in a car which the caller had said contained a dead body. The bomb had apparently been remote-detonated when the patrol had arrived to the reported vehicle.

A phone call by a member of the Korelan National Liberation Army, which also claimed responsibility for the earlier outpost attack, identified the group as responsible. Major Talgit Yerimov, press spokesman of the Korelan Republican Guard Corps, said that investigation on the KNLA and whether it is an entirely new group or a wing of the former Korelan People's Army is still ongoing. The third policeman targeted by the attack was reportedly put into a critical condition in the explosion and is undergoing treatment at the Sherbaty Republican Guards Hospital. Major Yerimov said that local forces in concert with the GUVB and SRK were investigating the attack.

 

[Khemia]

ราชกระทรวงการต่างประเทศ
กรมสารนิเทศ
Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Department of Information

The Imperial Sinese Navy has requested transparency on behalf of the Serbovian and Touzen militaries and wishes to observe the joint military operation. Observation will be both civil and military, with observers on behalf of Imperial news organization ICN, and Imperial Sinese Navy analysts.

ด้วยใจ
Chaokrom Chakrit Chattagan

 

[Serbovia]

Naval Section
Supreme Command of the Union Forces
United States of Greater Serbovia

In regards to Sinese concerns regarding the character of the visit by IVK Dmitri Karelin and its escorts to Touzen, we wish to assure you that no effect whatsoever upon Sinhai is intended by the maneuvers in question. The unannounced nature of the visit occurred because the Staff Intelligence Command (SRK) had credible information about a clear and present danger to the security of vessels in the group by a nonstate actor.

Unfortunately for reasons of security, the presence of Sinese personnel aboard involved units of the Imperial Navy cannot be allowed. However, to redress the concerns expressed by Sinhai, Chief of the Touzen Command Colonel-General Rostislav Lugin is willing to receive a Sinese military attaché to Touzen or other officials as decided by Sri Rama to discuss the nature of the exercises and to redress any concerns the Sinese government might have.

In addition, an ICN news team is allowed to visit Krepost Mikhailov provided that they are at all times accompanied by members of the Naval Gendarmerie and that they are only allowed to visit and record outside of naval vessels.

Regards,
Admiral Nikolai Rochenko,
Deputy Chief of the Supreme Command for the Navy

 

[Khemia]

ราชกระทรวงการต่างประเทศ
กรมสารนิเทศ
Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Department of Information

We are assured that Touzen-Serbovian operations do not directly pose a threat to Sinese ships. In addition, we find these terms agreeable. An ICN news team will be given transit authentication to Touzen, and a military attaché will be assigned to Touzen Command, and will be authorized to function as an official liaison between Serbovian-Touzen forces in the Touzen region, and Imperial forces, in the hopes of greater future cooperation between our militaries.

ด้วยใจ
Chaokrom Chakrit Chattagan

 

[Serbovia]

Karelingradskaya Gazeta​

Est.1928 - The largest daily newspaper in Greater Serbovia. Available domestically in Serbovian, Lusatian and Sarmatian in general editions and in Korelan and Darujhi in local editions.​

NÜRNBERG, FRANKEN - Alexander Dragovic willing to "assume throne if the Serbovians are ready"


In a rare interview with the Mayak current affairs program of the STV24 news channel, the heir of the Imperial House of Dragovic has stated his readiness to return to Serbovia. Alexander Dragovic, by his title His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of All the Serboves Alexander IV Dragovic, lives in Franken with the other members of the Imperial family and is a grandson of Alexander II, the last Serbovian Emperor to sit on a throne in Karelingrad.

Members of the House of Dragovic fled to Franken in 1922 when the situation of the Civil War looked grim for the Whites after Reds under Sergei Simonov took Karelingrad, then called St. Paul. However, a year later Whites under General Dmitri Karelin had turned the tables with foreign support, and the last Red holdouts were defeated in the course of the year 1924. At the end of the war, the Interim Duma decided not to summon back the autocratic Alexander II, instead appointing Karelin as Regent and implementing the constitutional reforms that transformed the Empire into the modern United States of Greater Serbovia.

"I understand that the constitution question is very much on the table in the Old Country", Alexander Dragovic spoke in his Franconian-accented Serbovian, "But also that there is a base of support for the restoration of the House of Dragovic, something I have been prepared for for my entire life and especially since I became the head of the Imperial House." Dragovic said that his vision of an Imperial restoration would entail a constitutional monarchy as formally underlined in the provisions of the Union Constitution, and that he would be willing to work with parliamentary factions including those officially calling for a fully federal Serbovian state.

Dragovic including other members of the Imperial family hold Franconian passports, as they have not been issued modern Union passports by the Serbovian government, and visa applications to visit Serbovia have been denied since 1924. Demands to the contrary by Serbovian monarchists have not been accepted by the Directory, a practice that has occasionally caused criticism against the Karelingrad government. With the Kadets and Monarchists in coalition, Regent and Chairman-Director Alexei Nikitin who is also the head of the Kadet Party has said that any constitutional reform would not occur before the next Duma elections. Dragovic also reasserted the House's claim for its remaining domestic financial assets, currently controlled by the Foundation of the Union Directory. This is another point of contention between federalist and monarchist members of the Karelingrad political establishment.

In addition to controlling foreign financial wealth of the Imperial family, Dragovic serves as an officer with the Königlich-Serbovische Cheveaulegers, a Franconian military unit with historical ties with the Serbovian Empire. An unit originally made up of ethnic Serboves, it now also recruits Franconian servicemen, much like the equivalent II/1st Foreign Hussars (Franconian) in the Foreign Guard also accepts Serbovian citizens and citizens of other countries. Born in Franken, he is married to a local noblewomen with three children.

 

[Serbovia]

Karelingradskaya Gazeta​

Est.1928 - The largest daily newspaper in Greater Serbovia. Available domestically in Serbovian, Lusatian and Sarmatian in general editions and in Korelan and Darujhi in local editions.​

NEWS IN BRIEF


- VINOGRAD, SERBOVIAN BANAT - Student activists opposed to the administration at the Central University of the Serbovian Banat and Banat Education Minister Jana Mladenov (Decambrist) have announced their intention to stage further protests in Vinograd. The Committee of Academic Democracy, consisting of members from the Alliance of Labour Justice, wings of the Communist Party and other leftist groups, said that it was prepared for "civil disobedience" if the Kadet-Monarchist coalition did not agree to hear the grievances regarding the dismissal of the so-called Vinograd Professors.

After last week's student riots, tensions in Vinograd are still high. Andrei Korolyov, one of the dismissed CUSB Social Sciences professors and a member of the Trudovik Party, appeared before members of the Trudovik Party youth wing on Saturday saying that "he did not wish that radicals took over the cause of him and his academic partners in order to carry out acts of violence." However, he said he supported the legitimate demonstrators currently acting in his name.

- KREPOST MIKHAILOV, TOUZEN - For the first time in Serbovian history news media from a non-allied country are allowed to record inside a Serbovian military base. A news crew from the Sinhalese ICN channel was given clearance by the Stavka to record in the pier area of Krepost Mikhailov, where aircraft carrier IVK Dmitri Karelin and its escorts are expected to dock later this week. In addition, the Sinese military attaché to Touzen will meet with Colonel-General Rostislav Lugin, Chief of the Touzen Command of the Imperial Union Army.

Right-wing Councilmen criticized the move, warning that it could compromise military security. However, Colonel-General Lugin has retorted that any foreign news crews will be under strict supervision and surveillance by the Naval Gendarmes in charge of Krepost Mikhailov's security, and that they would also be screened for dangerous objects or illicit surveillance equipment. Lugin said that the reason for the action was to dispel Sinhalese concerns over the visit of Dmitri Karelin and its escorts to Touzen as "an act of de-escalating liaison."

- SHERBATY, KORELA - Security forces have arrested two men accused of involvement with the death of two police officers in a car bombing in Sherbaty. Government forces said that members of the Mounted Gendarmerie's UDREK special unit had captured the men in raids on three properties in Greater Sherbaty, also confiscating firearms and explosive materials from the sites. One of the suspects was shot and wounded during the operation when he raised a handgun in the direction of four Gendarmerie members.

According to Major Anastasia Nikolajevna, chief spokesperson for the Corps of Gendarmes in the Republic of Korela, the two suspects are being jointly interrogated by the GUVB and the SRK, which have been put in charge of the inquiry into the recently carried out separatist attacks. It is believed that the two have been in charge of providing support to the actual perpetrators behind the attack, and investigations are still ongoing. Major Nikolajevna refused to comment on whether or not the persons responsible are still within Greater Sherbaty area.

 

[Thaumantica]

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If in fact Serbovia is not prepared to embrace its noble past, which defines the Union to this day, then there are certainly a few sincere doubts in Cantigny directed towards Serbovia. For a nation of Serbovia's stature should dare not reveal how squeamish it is to its Imperial past, and at the risk of projecting a deprecating message - Cantigny has more to regret, and less to celebrate than Serbovia - as does perhaps the entirety of this neutered network of Imperial Commerce and Common Security.

His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of All the Serboves Alexander IV Dragovic is hereby invited to the National Capital Territory in Vesper, where His Majesty and all other Guests shall be treated according to their proper station. It is the hope of this nation that we can serve as an integral mediator between the power that is, the power that was, and the power that will be in Serbovia. We seek a resolution that is equitable to all peoples of Serbovia, which must include the Royal Family, if all parties are to be honest with themselves.

Benjamin Stokes,
Envoy to Imperial States,
Department of Foreign Affairs

 

[Serbovia]

Directorate of the State
United States of Greater Serbovia

The current Nikitin coalition government intends to postpone any constitutional discourse until the next Union Duma elections in 2013. Regardless, matters regarding any such constitutional reform are the sole discretion of the Union Citizens and their democratically elected representatives, and should not affect relations between the Union and the state of Cantigny.

Furthermore, the Union will summon the ambassador of Cantigny into Karelingrad to explain whether Alexander Dragovic is being afforded the status of a head of state by the country for this occasion or if he is invited as a private citizen.

Regards,
Hon Mr. Petar Nikolich,
Director of the State,
United States of Greater Serbovia

Office of H.I.M Alexander IV

His Imperial Majesty Alexander IV and Her Imperial Majesty Empress Consort Tabea Dragovic-von Bamberg will gladly accept the invitation put forward by our friends in Cantigny.

Regards,
Baron Tomislav von Steinhaus,
Personal secretary to H.I.M Alexander IV, Emperor of all the Serboves