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

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Commissariate for Foreign Affairs

We trust the Serbovian government to not give in to attempts of radical fringe groups and lunatic individuals, trying to spark a war between the RDTO and PASILA.

 

[Serbovia]

Department of the State
United States of Greater Serbovia

Perhaps the Carentanian government should contact its Vangalan allies in that regard, after all they have been the ones accusing our democratic government of "massacres" and calling for us to restrict the rights of an Union Citizen and a life peer of the Privy Council.

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

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Commissariate for Foreign Affairs

We can only implore Serbovia to consider Vangalas position in this matter, a nation that is already threatened from several sides, including the presence of Sinhese forces along its coastline, and facing the possibility of war because there are political factions within nations in its proximity who have clear intentions to rebrand its peaceful nuclear programme into the developement of WMD's.
Rhetorics on both sides should tone down, but since Serbovia is in a less threatened and endangered position, it is probably the one nation in this incident that would have less trouble taking the first step to do so.

 

[Serbovia]

Department of the State
United States of Greater Serbovia

Early on during the developing Sinese-Vangalan crisis, the Union made a reciprocal offer to Vangala to allow a Vangalan visit to an Union-owned civil nuclear reactor plant for a reciprocal visit regarding the Vangalan nuclear program. Since the said offer was rejected Vangala has constantly sought to provoke the Union and its allies with political propaganda, as if trying to direct the international discourse away the questions and secrecy related to its own nuclear program. These facts leave very little maneuvering room for those trying to prove otherwise, even though the Directory is appreciative of the level-headed attitude Carentania has taken regarding the matter.

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

 

[Touzen]

Ministry of Revolutionary Defense and Foreign Affairs

The behavior of the Vangalan government is counter-productive and destabilizing the security situation in Touyou. Its aggressive agitation and doctrine of secrecy and confrontation are fueling the fires of reactionary forces seeking to exploit the Vangalan nuclear program for their own gain while raising concerns about the intentions of the nuclear ambitions of the People's Republic amongst freedom-loving democratic individuals. The Vangalan government has the option to both prevent extremist forces from exploiting the situation as well as dissolving the fears of democratic powers.

 

[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 - Regent lauds "second victory for Serbovian diplomacy", says the Union should become a "moral leader of nonproliferation"


After the government in Vangala decided to permit inspectors from several European countries to access its nuclear research sites, Regent and Chairman-Director Alexei Nikitin has followed earlier statements by Director of the State Petar Nikolich in describing the result as a "step forward for Vangala." Nikitin said that pressure on behalf of Karelingrad and allied powers had clearly been instrumental in driving forth the outcome.

Earlier Director of the State Nikolich in an official reply to the Vangalan government expressed his suspicions over Kikilia's choice of inspecting nations. Nikitin agreed with Director Nikolich's assessment that "suspicions remained" over the status of the Vangalan nuclear program, but said that he "trusted the judgement of responsible states such as Franken and Hajr on the matter" and that he would be consulting with the governments in question regarding their findings concerning the Vangalan nuclear program. On a broader level, Nikitin described the recent pressure on the Vangalan government as well as continuing assistance of the Main Administration of Atomic Energy to the Batavian government as "successful international export of Serbovian nuclear safety and a demonstration of Serbovian moral leadership."

"A wise lesson given to me by my priest is that pride is a vice", Nikitin continued, "However, this one time I do feel that my administration as a whole deserves to feel proud for its successful diplomacy, in securing the freedom of allied citizens in Trans-Nineveh, in continuing to work in Touyou and Batavië towards that the gift of the atom is used in the interests of peace, and each day contributing to the defense of freedom everywhere."

The Regent also said that the Directory was considering contacting friendly powers and other international actors to call a conference on worldwide development of civil nuclear energy and military non-proliferation, with a particular emphasis on what Nikitin described as "rogue states and nonstate actors" regarding the latter. He offered to host such a conference in Karelingrad, citing Serbovian nuclear expertise and ongoing contributions to nuclear safety.

Meanwhile, support of the Nikitin administration among the "hawks" of the Kadet-Monarchist coalition and nationalist opposition groups such as the Slavic Radical and Social-Nationalist parties has increased as a consequence of the administration's foreign policy. However, the same foreign policy has been targeted by Kadet dissenters and Trudovik, Decambrist and Communist oppositionists for what has been described as an excessively confrontational attitude.

 

[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.​

OP-ED - Nicosia and Solaren, a test for the European Defense Federation
Director of the State, Petar Nikolich

Hostage-taking appears to have become the measure of choice for all kinds of rogue regimes, first seen in Trans-Nineveh in what almost escalated into military action between Pasila Accord and the said state, and now seen in the priest junta state of Solaren. The international ramifications of such actions are obvious to an educated observer, so I shall not discuss them in the context of this editorial.

What matters in the current context, however, is the status of Nicosia as a member of the European Defense Federation. Typically considered to be among the major global alliances, perhaps even the major global alliance, the EDF is now placed in a test over the political will of its collective membership, measured in what actions the alliance now intends to pursue in dealing with the offending party. The example of Trans-Nineveh certainly showed that the Pasila Accord carries sufficient political will and cohesion to defend the interests of its memberstates and their citizenry in the face of such offense, even to the point of having prepared to transfer from the use of "soft" political and diplomatic power to "hard" military power.

The EDF now faces a similar test, made even more crucial by the Solaren state's position right in the heimat of the alliance. Solaren, immediately bordered by Lorraine and in the vicinity of EDF memberstates such as Eiffelland and Montelimar, is directly challenging the sovereignity and dignity of the Nicosian government, also a member of the EDF. Thus, the challenge posed by the priestly junta does not come far away from home, but directly in what the alliance has traditionally considered its core sphere of influence.

At the time of the writing of this editorial, naval forces from several EDF memberstates are in fact on their way to Lorraine as four thousand Nicosian citizens remain hostages of the Solaren regime. Exchange in the Council of Nations and elsewhere has shown Torrence to be far beyond Koh-i-Noor in a lack of repectiviness to the aforementioned means of soft power. Such naval movements certainly fall into the grey area between soft and hard power, and perhaps Torrence's behavior has prompted the EDF to jump over the use of said soft power in the scale of geopolitical exertion.

What matters now is how Torrence will react to this military pressure. Should the regime not bow down to the mounting international pressure - a prediction not entirely unlikely given its past track record - the EDF will find itself having to take a step forward. At this point in the face of such a challenge to the alliance's authority, it will tell whether the European Defense Federation possesses sufficient political will and cohesion to defend the interests of its memberstates and those of their citizens abroad, and either secure its authority in its sphere of influence or open itself to further offense.

Opinions expressed by Mr. Nikolich do not express the official opinions of the Union government, and he writes as an individual citizen albeit from a professional point of view.

 

[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 - Two separate aid teams departed Serbovia today for Nicosia, a nation recently targeted by serious terrorist attacks. A joint aid team of the Star of Life Association's International Crisis Service and the Republic of Korela is due to set up emergency treatment facilities in Ajaccio, the city affected by a severe hospital bombing, while a team from the Imperial Corps of Gendarmes is on its way to assist the Nicosian government with investigating the terrorist blast. At the same time, the Corps of Gendarmes' Vladimir Timoferov Academy is reportedly to host Nicosian law enforcement officers for counter-terrorist training.

The ICS and Korelan aid workers heading to Nicosia are described as experienced professionals, the former with experience in various international aid missions and the latter with terrorist attack response during the 1992-2008 Korelan insurgency, while the Gendarmes heading to investigate have been drafted from various counter-terrorism units and Gendarmerie details to the GUVB and SRK. Their departure comes at a time of heightened military tensions, as the EDF nations deploy military forces to Lorraine, a state bordering Solaren which is believed to be responsible for the acts of terrorism in Nicosia.

- KREPOST MARKOV, THE SERBOVIAN BANAT - The headquarters of the Air Assault Corps celebrates the 38th Commemorative Day of the Air Assault Corps today with a parade and combat demonstrations of troops from all four brigades of the Corps, as well as a downtown party arranged by the Air Assault Soldiers Association for active servicemen, veterans and their family members. In addition to the aforementioned, Imperial Regent Alexei Nikitin, Stavka chief Commander-General Gennadi Telashnikov and former Air Assault officer and former Stavka chief Commander-General (ret.) Alexander Buinov are participating among several other dignitaries.

The Commemorative Day of the Air Assault Corps was established for the 23th of March in 1973, in honor of the Battle of Hill 215 between the 4th and 23rd of March 1946 in Seora during the Great Eastern War. Elements of the 428th Parachute Infantry Battalion, then part of the 29th Parachute Infantry Division which is today known as the 29th Air Assault Brigade, fended off heavy assaults by a brigade of the Touzen Army for nearly three weeks before being relieved by armored elements of the 8th Serbovian Hussars. The resulting publicity of the engagement made the Battle of Hill 215 a part of Serbovian paratrooper mythology that is upheld by today's Air Assault Corps.

- DARKANAT, DARUJHISTAN - Darujhi Minister-President Dzhokar Kulakhmedov has ordered a moratorium on all executions within the Autonomous Republic after a senior supervisor of the Darujhi Investigative Magistrate's Office was placed under investigation for what Kulakhmedov described as "severe procedural violations." The unnamed senior investigative magistrate was in charge of the Office's section responsible for investigative prosecutions regarding homicide, kidnapping and armed robberies, and as such oversaw investigations of capital murders.

Sources within the Darujhi administration say that at least three executions carried out between 2007 and 2011 in the Republic may have been based on false or mishandled evidence, in addition to several penal convictions for offenses prosecuted by the supervisor in question. There are currently eleven people in death row in Darujhistan, which uses death by firing squad as a sentence for murder in the first degree.

Union Procurator-General Semyon Kurchatov has called for a full inquiry into the matter.

 

[Holy Frankish Empire]

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

In response to Mr. Nikolich's journalism, we have one resounding response. Almost 4,000 hostages being held against their will is not a test for Nicosia, the EDF, or the region; but is a test for the entire international community that value decency and a moral code.

 

[Serbovia]

Office of Petar Nikolich

I make this statement through my personal office as a member of the Duma and not as the Director of the State, seeing that the Nicosian commentary is addressed to my person instead of the office of the Director of the State, the Directorate of the State or the Union as a whole. What the Nicosian government has valiantly and accurately pointed out should be obvious to all members of the international community and the readership of Karelingradskaya Gazeta, so I chose to address the issue from a geopolitical perspective.

The use of the term "text" should be interpreted as a reference to the modus operandi of the Solaren regime, that is, to gain international attention and to provide distraction from domestic problems for citizenry of the country in addition to prodding neighboring powers to see their level of reaction.

Any offense to the Nicosian government or people was unintended.

Regards,
Hon. Mr. Petar Nikolich,
Deputy of the Union Duma

 

[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 - Director of the State Nikolich meets with Frescanian Chancellor Carlemas, described as a great success


The ongoing visit of Frescanian Chancellor Miguel Carlemas to Karelingrad saw him meet Director of the State Petar Nikolich yesterday at the Rushkin Palace, the headquarters of the Directorate of the State. Chancellor Carlemas and Director Nikolich discussed relations between the Pasila and Karlskrona Accords as well as bilateral relations, and the themes are expected to feature in a later meeting by Carlemas with His Excellency the Regent and Chairman-Director Alexei Nikitin.

An important topic that came up during the discussions between Carlemas and Nikolich was the establishment of a joint liaison council between the Pasila Accord and the Karlskrona Accord to further the ties between the alliances. "I think that this is something that we should pursue", Director Nikolich said to reporters at the Rushkin Palace, "What the Pasila and Karlskrona Accords have in common, in addition to the name form of course, is that both of our respective alliances operate on the basis of a certain ideological and moral standard. Thus, this is a logical avenue of cooperation."

The Union Council has also been receptive to the idea of improving cooperation between the Pasila Accord and the Karlskrona Accord, indeed noting an element of common interests. However, anonymous sources within the Directorate of the State point out to suspicions regarding Suionian foreign policy as part of the Karlskrona Accord. "We've seen in case of Trans-Nineveh and Solaren that the apparent foreign policy of the Swedish Kingdom is, effectively, to do nothing", said one anonymous official of the Directorate of the State, "This doesn't seem to be at all in line with the active foreign policy that has been pursued not only by the Nikitin Administration but also by our allies in Touzen and indeed by the Frescanian government."

In addition to PA-KA relations, Director of the State Nikolich and Chancellor Carlemas discussed trade ties and judicial cooperation in what were described as "fruitful negotiations" by Director Nikolich. After meeting with Regent Nikitin, Carlemas is expected to continue on his tour of state visits, which will take him to Oikawa, Franken, Suionia, Breotonia and Dagomba.

 

[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/AUGSBURG, WIESE - Duma deputies are calling for the resignation of Count Nikolai Evstasief, the Serbovian delegate to the Council of Nations, after he challenged the delegate of the Solaren government to the body into a sword duel. The challenge occured as a result of what were described as personal insults thrown at Evstasief by the Solaren delegate, Bishop Avali, and went unaccepted by the Bishop. Discussion as for the Solaren regime's hostage taking of four thousand Nicosian citizens is still continuing, with international tensions growing after troop movements by Carentanian and EDF forces.

"These kinds of archaic traditions shouldn't be mixed up with modern politics, and the Count should with all due respect shown more restraint", said Deputy Vladimir Galkin (Kadet) in discussing the duel change. At the same time, Regent and Chairman-Director Nikitin pointed out that the Duelling Code of 1886 is still in force and considers sword duels to first drawn blood an acceptable method of dispute resolution. However, Nikitin acknowledged that there should have been more "sensitivity" involved in recognizing that such tradition is not upheld elsewhere, and said that he would be discussing the matter with Count Evstasief.

- VENEDIKTGRAD, POMORNIA - The amount students enrolled into universities through corporate scholarship is on the increase, says a recent study of the Venediktgrad University of Economics and Business Administration. The study also points out an increase in so-called reciprocal scholarships, which require the receiving student to work for a certain period of years for the company issuing the scholarship in question. Such reciprocal scholarships are most commonly issued by the largest Serbovian companies and foreign companies operating in Serbovia.

With university tuitions averaging at thirty thousand Serbovian Marks (15000 €) for a five-year degree, corporate scholarships are popular among poorer students unable to take significant student loan or to attain a government or NGO scholarship. Though supporters of the system say that it allows businesses to attract qualified workforce while providing educational opportunities, critics say that the system is against worker rights and devaluates Serbovian academia into "big-business degree mills" as described by former Banatese professor Michal Sikorsky, one of the most prominent opponents of the scholarship practice.

- BELOZERSK, ZAPADNOSLAVIA - As the midterm holidays continue along the Southern coast on their second-last week, the resort city of Belozersk has been shocked by the discovery of a murdered body along the city's shoreline. Port Gendarmes pulled the body of an as of yet unidentified male, believed to be of Slavic ethnicity and between 20 to 30 years of age, from the water near the city's main throughfare of Karelin this morning. The Zapadnoslavian Police's Homicide unit in Belozersk is investigating the case.

Authorities have declined commentary until the victim has been identified and next-of-kin have been notified, but an anonymous police source told local paper Zapadnoslavskaja Izvestija that the victim had been shot "execution-style" and likely dumped into the sea elsewhere. Students holidaying in the city have been worried that the victim might be one of the students in Belozersk for their midterm holidays, but it is also thought possible that the killing could be gang-related. Belozersk has seen a growing amount of gang crime due to territorial disputes between Hajri street gangs - some of whom are affiliates of the Hajri immigrant-controlled Bloody Scimitars Gang - and the Magnitaya-based Zhukov Brigade.

 

[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 - Telashnikov wants 5% budget increase for the Union Forces to "guarantee security"


As the discussion concerning the FY2011 budget continues, Stavka chief Commander-General Gennadi Telashnikov has called for a hike in Serbovian defense spending. Speaking in a seminar arranged by the Dmitri Karelin Staff Officer Academy concerning future prospects of the Serbovian military, Telashnikov said that the Union Forces needed at least twelve billion Serbovian Marks to be able to cope with changing regional security conditions and threats.

"There's a strong chance that a regional arms race is sparking in Touyou, not to mention the Denisovan status as a member of the RDTO", Commander-General Telashnikov explained his reasoning to the audience, "The traditional Serbovian military doctrine has had a two-pronged approach of dealing both with the need to intervene abroad as a Pasila Accord memberstate, and with the need to provide national defense at home. In the current environment, prioritizing current resources to either direction is not a viable option."

Going further to elaborate on his planned use of such additional resources, Telashnikov said that the FY2011 budget needed to bring forth an increase in both conventional and unconventional means of deterrence. The Stavka chief proposed the provision of funding to the constituent state governments for a total increase of fifty-thousand men into the Republican and Territorial Guard Corps of respective constituent states with an emphasis in units of Southern constituent states, as well as provision of funding to the regular forces primarily to the Air and Air Defense Forces to increase the strategic deterrent and to the Corps of Gendarmes to increase the equipment level of militarized Gendarmerie units.

Previously, Colonel-General Natalya Putina, Deputy Chief of the Stavka Army Section for Territorial Defense who oversees the Republican and Territorial Guards, has called for an increase of five combat brigades to the overall strength of the territorial defense forces. Increases to the size of such units are typically considered more politically acceptable to the Union Council, since they cannot be used abroad expect in the case of a direct armed attack on Serbovian or allied forces, and with the exception of officers and specialist personnel consist of volunteers serving from 60 to 100 days a year under regular conditions.

Telashnikov's comments sparked an immediate response in the Union Council, with Director of the Treasury Vyacheslav Merkulov (Kadet) criticizing the Stavka chief for sidelining the Directory Budget Team even as it prepares the FY2011 budget proposal. However, Telashnikov received support from others including the chairman of the Subcouncil of National Security Privy Councillor Bronislaw Sikorsky (Kadet). The FY2011 budget proposal is expected to be presented to the Union Council in April.

 

[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 - In the wake of Nicosia's ransoming off four thousand citizens to resolve the recent hostage crisis in Solaren and the appeared concerns over hostage-taking as an increasing measure of choice for rogue regimes, the Union Council today reaffirmed Serbovian policy of non-negotiation with rogue states and terrorist groups by an official resolution. The joint Privy Council-Duma resolution affirms an escalating scale of pressure in regards to dealing with such incidents as standard protocol, beginning from diplomatic pressure and ending with open military action to safeguard lives of Serbovian citizens abroad. The so-called escalating scale of pressure is also applied to citizens of other Pasila Accord memberstates.

The proposition by Subcouncil of National Security chair Bronislaw Sikorsky (Kadet), often considered one of the leading "hawks" of the Nikitin administration, caused significant discussion in the Council. Though the Nikitin administration's conclusion of the Trans-Nineveh embassy siege and the stance it has taken in regards to Solaren have drawn in support from Council hawks, left-wing oppositionists have called the resolution an attempt to justify "right-wing neo-imperialism". In the media the policy affirmed in the resolution has been termed the Nikitin-Sikorsky doctrine.

- YUZOVKA, BELKANO-YUGOTIA - The Yuzovka Aircraft Manufactory's latest civil aviation product Yuzovka Superjet saw first flight today after three years of development. The 70-90 seat airliner is largely intended to regional airliner and feeder airliner customers operating in passenger and cargo transportation, and comes with a stated unit cost of "60-65 million Serbovian Marks" or 30-32 million dollars depending on configuration. Serbovia's second largest airliner Trans-Serbovian Airways has placed a preliminary order for at least thirty Superjets for its Serbovian Regional brand of feeder airliners.

"We're satisfied in the development that the Superjet has seen so far", said YAM Chief Executive Officer Konstantin Ivanov during a press conference at the Superjet's first flight test, "and we expect it to meet a demand particularly in larger countries as well as new market areas of commercial airliners." Yuzovka Aircraft Manufactory is Serbovia's largest aerospace industry company with several domestic and international civil and military clients including the Union Air and Air Defense Forces.

- SHERBATY, KORELA - A report leaked to local press from the intelligence headquarters of the Korelan Republican Guards Corps claims that the alleged Korelan National Liberation Army, a separatist group which has claimed the responsibility for several attacks that have taken place in the Republic last year, could stand at nearly a thousand active members. The report also claims a worrying level of armament for these KNLA members, alleging imports of automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades, explosives and even several mortars from black market sources.

No comment was readily available from the KRGC headquarters, the Imperial Gendarmerie in Korela or the Southeastern Command of the Union Forces. If accurate, the leaked report increases worries that the insurgency in the eastern portions of the Republic, declared by Karelingrad to have ended with the 2008 Operation Blizzard which defeated most of the former Korelan People's Army. Involvement of former KPA veteran insurgents with the new Korelan National Liberation Army is thought to be possible.

 

[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 - Controversial report identifies immigrant gang crime as a "new kind of security threat"


A report released by the Corps of Gendarmes' Department of Investigative Operations, better known as DSD, has caused controversy after identifying immigrant street gangs as an entirely new category of serious non-political threats to Serbovian internal security. The annual Organized criminal activities report was released today by the DSD in Karelingrad, instantly prompting online discussion. The Union Subcouncil on Internal Security is expected to review the report next week.

In the report, drafted by officials of the DSD's Criminal Intelligence Unit, immigrant street gangs are identified as a third category of major organized crime in addition to traditional elements of the Serbovian mafia and Serbovian outlaw biker gangs. The report identifies Hajri Uroduah, Nethian and Seoran immigrant communities in particular as those in danger of forming organized criminal groups, warning that several major city neighborhoods inhabited by immigrant groups are in danger of becoming gang territory. It also warns of the increasing risk of violent gang conflict as traditional Serbovian groups - such as the Magnitaya-based Zhukov Brigade and the the Vorshensky Group and the Eastern Group in Karelingrad, and biker gangs such as Cossacks MC and Hellriders MC - seek to defend their own territory. Immigrant groups are described as a third significant wave of Serbovian organized crime, the first and second waves being the formation of the aforementioned types of groups by displaced refugees and veterans of the Civil War and disaffected Eastern War veterans respectively in the 1920s and 1940s.

According to the DSD report, Hajri criminal groups such as the Bloody Scimitars and the Vipers could near twenty thousand members in their total size, having members throughout the country in so-called Little Hajrs - areas primarily inhabited by Hajri immigrants. Seoran and Nethian ethnic gangs are estimated to have over a hundred thousand members in total, rivalling in size street-level gangs formed by ethnic Serboves, Darujhis and Korelans. Though the report acknowledges that historically gang activity has been a known phenomenon in Serbovia, it claims that a distinction between the traditional gangs and the new immigrant ones is that the latter have more characteristics of traditional organized crime groups, attempting to group in an intercity level and seize control of entire city areas from the authorities.

"In terms of punishments, we already have sufficient means of dealing with criminal groups", said DSD head Colonel-General Sergei Davidov, "However, we need other legistlative means." Colonel-General Davidov called for stricter deportation regulations to deal with gang members who are not Serbovian citizens, saying that "conditions back home should not be an issue for us as long as these people keep threatening the lives of ordinary taxpayers." In addition, Davidov called for flexibility related to search and surveillance warrants issued to gang investigators, as well as additional funding to joint Union-state level enforcement programs.

Immigrant advocacy groups were quick to accuse the report of racism in "labelling entire communities as potential criminals", as described by prominent human rights activist and Rights Alliance head Boris Petrenko. At the same time, opposition commentators have called for greater social initiatives concerning immigrants instead of utilizing law enforcement for the task. However, right-wing commentators have expressed concern over the lack of integration demonstrated in certain immigrant communities, calling for both policy changes and stricter police action.

 

[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 promises support to Korelan administration, meets with Minister-President Nazarbayev


Korela Minister-President Shrabat Nazarbayev's (Independent) visit to Karelingrad concluded today with a visit by him and a delegation representing Korelan Union Councillors to Anichkov Palace, where the Korelan joint delegation met with Imperial Regent and Chairman-Director Alexei Nikitin. A large part of the meeting was occupied by discussion over the situation in the Republic, which has faced concerns over a possible reignition of the insurgency due to a growing pace of separatist activities since 2010.

"For over ten years, Serbovian men and women from everywhere in the Union stood in support of our Korelan brethren against separatist forces seeking to splinter the Union, and succeeded", Regent Nikitin said in a joint address with Minister-President Nazarbayev, "Under no circumstances shall we allow the dark stains of this insurgency to return to the Republic. The democratically elected administration in Korela continues to have Karelingrad's full support, as do all the other Union States whatever problems they might have."

Security situation in the Republic has been a topic of significant debate after a Korelan Republican Guard report, yesterday acknowledged as authentic by KRGC head Lieutenant General Dashkar Kriazhev, said that the new Korelan National Liberation Army separatist group could control up to a thousand armed fighters within the Republic. However, Nikitin and Nazarbayev both said that primary responsibility for security in the Republic continued to rest with the KRGC, the Korelan Police and the Imperial Gendarmerie, and that under current circumstances there was no need to return to previous stages of Union Forces involvement. Since the 2008 end of Operation Eastern Star, which at its highest point involved 30000 regular Serbovian forces in addition to KRGC, KPF and ICG forces, Union Forces in Korela have restricted themselves to providing limited assistance to the KRGC and carrying out usual duties of territorial defense.

The topic of recent civilian casualties was also discussed, and Regent Nikitin said that he had instructed the Stavka's Southeastern Command to liaison with KRGC and the Korelan government in the future before employing artillery or airpower within the Republic. In addition, Nikitin promised compensation to the families of the two ethnic Korelans killed in an air strike several weeks ago, but dismissed calls for a criminal inquiry by saying that the deaths had occured as collateral damage.

In addition to security matters, participants of the meeting discussed development of the Republic. "Korela still has lower living standards than the rest of the Serbovia", Minister-President Nazarbayev said, referencing statistics such as the 2010 report which identified a GDP per capita of 18000 Serbovian Marks for Korela as opposed to roughly 40000 for the entire country, "And that can only be solved by encouraging development." Nazarbayev submitted a proposal for the creation of a so-called Special Economic Zone in Korela's capital city of Sherbaty to prompt regional development, in addition to coordinating more aid on behalf of the central government and charitable institutions to Korela.

 

[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 political career of former Stavka chief Alexander Buinov, a Privy Councillor by the virtue of his Life Duchy of Eastern Volinia, appears to have gained lift following the recent Vangalan nuclear controversy. Buinov made international news at that time by calling for pre-emptive air and missile strikes on Vangalan nuclear facilities, prompting the Vangalan government to call for his dismissal from his official posts. Since then, he has become a media name, having appeared in television discussions concerning security policy and the Vangalan nuclear program, and he has reportedly received several speech invitations from political groups across Serbovia.

Having been a polarizing figure even during his military career, Buinov has been criticized for endangering Serbovian relations with Socialist states and advocating gunboat diplomacy by his critics, while others have praised his outspokenness in regards to issues such as the Vangalan nuclear program. In the Union Council, Buinov sits as an independent representative, in 2007 having famously said "I am a citizen and a Serbovian, and a servant of Serbovian citizens, not of a party. I dislike parties, I had enough of them when I dealt with the Directory during my time in the Stavka."

- MAGNITAYA, ZAPADNOSLAVIA - Authorities in the Republics of Zapadnoslavia and Lusatia are warning residents about a heightened level of spring flooding within the Western Mountains region. Spring flooding in the Western Mountains, as well as the Darujhi highlands in Darujhistan and Korela, is a common occurence as snows left by the winter melt down, and typically hold significant effects for communities in these regions in spite of pre-emptive and reactive efforts by local governments and the Union during the past decades.

The Main Administration for Emergency Situations of the Directorate of Welfare has warned that due to heavy winter weather in Western Serbovia, significant amounts of snow have been amassed to the mountains and are likely to produce large amounts of floodwater as temperatures in the region become warmer. Spring flooding is expected to commence during the first half of April, and local rescue services in concert with the GUCA have updated their response plans to deal with the predicted pace of flooding.

- VINOGRAD, THE SERBOVIAN BANAT - Martial arts enthusiasts are expected to flock to Vinograd's Chernigov Sports Center between the 28th of March and the 17th of April for the three-week Union Mixed Martial Arts Championships, sponsored again by the Chernigov Brewery which is also in ownership of the venue. 130 top-ranked MMA competitors from different parts of the country will compete in light, medium and heavyweight men's series and a general women's series, as well as an unofficial "universal competition" featuring contestants from all four categories.

The Union Mixed Martial Arts Association which organizes the contest expects a turnout of 60000 viewers during the championships, as well as a high viewing rate at the STV Sports channel. MMA has become increasingly popular as a martial arts style in Serbovia since the UMMAA was founded in 1993 by Sergei Makarov, formerly known as a six-time heavyweight boxing champion. Both competitive and non-competitive associations have been founded in nearly all major cities since the founding of the association.

 

[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 Directory plans for an increase in taxation concerning alcohol, tobacco products and certain categories of unhealthy food and refreshments to be included in the FY 2011 budget. In an interview with the Ekonomist newspaper the Directorate of the Treasury's Political Secretary-in-Chief - the most senior civil servant within the Directorate - Boris Kasyanov spoke of a program of "Taxes for Social Responsibility" that is going to be included in the initial FY 2011 proposal. In addition, Kasyanov said that there was going to be a drop to the income taxation but also a corresponding hike to the value added tax carried from consumer sales. Several Trudovik deputies have already expressed opposition to the latter by saying that it will bring Serbovia closer to a flat tax system.

Kasyanov referred to growing obesity statistics as well as Serbovia's traditionally high rate of cancer and alcohol-related illnesses as a reason for the move, saying that the growth in alcohol tax was specifically intended to target heavy liquors, including traditional Serbovian kroja, Kyivan vodka and imported whiskey. "We are going to selectively target certain groups of products that contribute to unhealthiness in the Serbovian society", Kasyanov said in the interview, saying that energy drinks and sugar-containing snacks and refreshments would be also included in the tax hike.

- KROLEWIEC, LUSATIA - Union Film Award-winning director Stepan Korolyov has commenced the filming of his latest piece, expected to hit the theatres by the end of the year. Called White Wolves, the film details a fictional alternate-history story about a 2013 invasion of Serbovia by Carentanian and Vangalan Communist forces, resulting in the occupation of the Western sections of the country by Communist forces. The protagonist, played by Korolyov's "top actor" Valentin Klimov, is described by the director as a "ordinary country boy who one day witnesses a massacre of civilians by Carentanian troops, and bands up with a group of other patriotic locals in formation of a partisan force known as the White Wolves."

Though the film has just commenced filming, it has aroused a significant amount of controversy. Autonomist and Vanguardist Duma deputies of the Communist Party have criticized the film, describing it as political propaganda, with CP-V head Deputy Adam Zaleski even having threatened to sue Korolyov for libel due to the inclusion of a Serbovian collaborationist leader named Artyom Zaikov in the film. Zaleski has also claimed that the film is being funded by nationalist radicals for agitative purposes, a claim denied by Korolyov who says that the film is being entirely funded by his own FilmArt Studios.

- PORT IMPERATOR, KOMORAN - Researchers at the Port Imperator Maritime University believe to have finally discovered the wreck of S/S Veritas, a steamship which went missing in the July of 1885 and gave birth to one of the most long-standing mysteries of Serbovian maritime history. A wreck believed to be corresponding with the size of the lost vessel was discovered by University's research ship Aurora, lying at two thousand kilometers east of the Serbovian Eastern coast. A deep-sea submersible operated by the Port Imperator Maritime University is on its way aboard another research vessel, and is expected to dive to the wreckage next week.

Forty crewmembers went down with the ship, which was carrying wine to Cantigny at the time of the disaster. According to Dr. Anna Simonova, head of the research team studying the wreckage, the team intends to prove the most widespread hypothesis on the Veritas's sinking, that being that the ship went down due to a boiler room explosion. While the boiler room theory is the most accepted one, other theories concerning the ship's fate vary from insurance fraud on behalf of the ship's operator Vladimirov Steamship Company to more outlandish suggestions such as an alien abduction of the vessel and its crew.

 

[Serenierre]

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The People's Republic is appalled by the latest project of Mr. Korolyov. "White Wolves" features a markedly anti-communist storyline and we are greatly disappointed.

Jean-Jacques Rogére
State Councilor for Foreign Affairs
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[Touzen]

Freedom Foundation

The Freedom Foundation has recently become aware of the movie "White Wolves" that seeks to spread awareness about the dangers of collectivist totalitarianism and we laud Free Man Korolyov for his commitment to the cause of freedom. We invite him to present his work at the Freedom Foundation Film Festival 2011 in Nokanawa, where a freedom-minded audience can appreciate this strong statement of love for liberty.