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Classified wherever convenient:
 
Following the conclusion of the Great Liberation War, the task of rebuilding now lay ahead of the Soviet government in Petrograd. 
 
To start with, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party issued a decree dissolving the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee (PMRC). The PMRC served its purposes well - it established the frameworks of Soviet rule, mobilized the population and resources for the war against the Dark Hand and Imperial revanchists, and inaugurated the formation of the Red Army - but a more permanent institution was needed.
 
Henceforth, a provisional Council of People's Commissars was formed to serve as the executive branch of the government pending legislative elections. Headed by the Premier (head of government), the CPC would be responsible for the "general administration of the affairs of the Soviet state", meaning it was to serve as a conduit through which individual People's Commissariats coordinated and carried out their work under the purview of the Central Committee. It would consist of fifteen members, the prominent of them which was Foreign Affairs, Defense, Internal Affairs, and State Security. 
 
As for law and order, the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) would be responsible for internal affairs, including but not limited to law enforcement. Consequently, existing police forces on all levels were incorporated into the NKVD, and new ones established whenever possible. 
 
In turn, the People's Commissariat for State Security (NKGB) would be responsible for matters pertaining to secret police, intelligence, and counterintelligence. As such, it would be responsible for combating espionage, sabotage, and terrorism in the Soviet Republic, the liquidation of anti-Soviet elements and organizations, and the protection of high-ranking party and government officials. NKGB field offices would be opened in major cities, starting with Petrograd and Moscow.
 
To assist in the transplantation of Soviet power into the liberated lands, the Decree on the Reform of the Administrative System was issued. It replaced the Imperial oversectors with Soviet Republics (the Central Oversector into the Moscow Soviet Republic, for instance), many governorates and other provinces into autonomous republics, and so on. Certain provinces such as Chechnya, Dagestan, Tatarstan, and Karelia were designated autonomous oblasts. Local Soviets such as the Petrograd Soviet would remain in operation.
Edited by JEDCJT
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The Soviet state was strengthened when a decree ("The Decree on the Protection of Soviet Borders") was issued delegating border and custom duties to the NKGB; border crossings thus would come under control of the secret police, and the old Imperial border security zone would be reimposed in the fullest. To improve security, fixed and roving checkpoints would be established across the country, particularly on roads leading into and out of cities and towns.
 
Another decree (the "Decree on the Preservation and Propagation of the Political System") was issued, "temporarily" prohibiting the formation of political parties other than the reigning Communist Party. To address potential concerns, the Central Committee distributed a missive explaining that such a move was "temporary," and that when the general situation in Russia stabilized, the ban would be lifted and political parties would be allowed to participate in elections in the near-future. 
 
The same decree also empowered the government to deal with anti-Soviet organizations such as Dark Hand terrorists and Imperial holdouts in any way it saw fit. Unlike the above, this relevant part would be classified top-secret. The fledgling NKGB would be given the opportunity to prove itself; it was to eliminate a Dark Hand terrorist ring suspected of operating in Moscow. In what would become its baptism by fire, heavily-armed NKGB agents launched a concerted raid against several warehouses and apartment buildings in Moscow. After heavy fighting, at least fifteen ringleaders and members were killed, and another eighty-five arrested. Over half of them were executed without trial in secret makeshift prisons.
 
In the meanwhile, the People's Commissariat for Defense was busy reconstructing and reorganizing the former Imperial Military into the Revolutionary Defense Force (RDF), particularly the Red Army. The goal, as stated in a classified report by Stavka to the Central Committee, was to increase the size of the Red Army to over 630,000 soldiers. The Defense Commissariat also alluded to plans to revitalize and expand the Imperial defense systems, which had sustained some damage during the civil war.
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Citing regional security concerns, Stavka issued orders for the Red Army to deploy to the neighboring regions of Bashkortostan, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, and Sverdlovsk.
 
Elements of the Eleventh Red Army would begin crossing into Sverdlovsk from Perm, while those from the Eighth Red Army would enter Bashkortostan and Orenburg from Tatarstan and Samara, respectively. To elaborate, the 20th through 22nd Divisions were to occupy the city of Sverdlovsk along with other cities, while the 23rd and 27th would be earmarked for Orenburg. They would utilize their electronic warfare capabilities to jam communications if needed be.
 
At around the same time, paratroopers from the 40th and 42nd Airborne Divisions would be airdropped into Chelyabinsk and other surrounding cities through blackhawks and Antonov An-22 transport aircrafts, and secure control of strategic locations such as airports and airfields while the ground forces linked up with them. Speaking of aircrafts, at least four squadrons of Sukhoi Su-27s and MiG-29s would shadow the ground and paratrooper forces, and engage any opposition from the air using air-to-surface missiles if needed be.
 
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Bashkortostan/Orenburg (1/7 posts)
Chelyabinsk (1/7 posts)
Sverdlovsk (1/7 posts)
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Second Party congress held
 
PETROGRAD - Over a hundred of Party delegates converged in the Palace of Soviets to discuss several important issues pertaining to the Party and nation.
 
On the agenda of the Second Party Congress were: foreign policy, drafting of a Soviet constitution, formation of a Politburo, upcoming elections for the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet, reorganization of the Red Army and Red Guards, and the final location of the Soviet capital.
 
The last issue was the easiest to solve: the deputies overwhelmingly voted to make Petrograd the permanent capital, although a small group of deputies advocated for the retention of the capital in Moscow. Moscow's former status as Imperial capital, as well as its pro-Imperial sentiment, played a vital part in this decision.
 
In turn, the deputies voted in favor for a 20-seat Politburo. It would be the highest body of the Communist Party when the Party congress and the Central Committee are not in session. To prevent a Stalinist dictatorship, the Politburo would be strictly accountable to the overall Central Committee for its decisions and actions; it would be headed by a Chairman, not the First Secretary, and its members would be appointed and dismissed by the Central Committee.
 
In regards to foreign policy, many of the deputies were noticeably uncertain about the direction the Soviet Republic was to take. Should it largely uphold its treaty commitments and relations that it had inherited from the Imperial era, or should it focus on furthering ties with leftist states? In the end, the question was left unanswered.
 
The Constitution received considerable debate, with some deputies advocating for a federal system, and others supporting a highly-centralized state. Before the debates could get too heated, however, the deputies decided to defer discussions to the next Congress. At First Secretary Imran Markov's suggestion, a motion was passed altering the nation's provisional name to the 'Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic' (RSFSR) pending the final adoption of the Constitution.
 
As for legislative elections, most of the deputies were largely in agreement that it would be held in the near-future, that the existing Imperial electoral system would be modified to Soviet standards, and that the exact organizational details of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet would be based off on the final adoption of the Constitution.
 
Lastly, the reorganization of the Red Army and Red Guards would continue, with the possibility of expansion in the near-future. Less certain was the state of the nation's industrial-military complex, and the steps that would be needed to provide the military with high-quality weaponry and equipment.
Edited by JEDCJT
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In Bashkortostan and Orenburg, their respective capital cities of Ufa and Orenburg were captured after brief but intense battles. Martial law was swiftly imposed and troops from the 23rd and 27th Divisions proceeded to enforce them, using lethal force if necessary. Special military tribunals would be formed to try inhabitants that defied military regulations. Checkpoints would be established across the Bashkortostan and Orenburg regions to reduce the incidence of crime and other instances of lawlessness. Likewise, border checkpoints would be established alongside the border with the Parthian Empire.
 
What occurred in Bashkortostan and Orenburg also occurred in Sverdlovsk. After the 20th and 22nd Divisions occupied Sverdlovsk, martial law was proclaimed and nighttime curfew imposed; miscreants and hooligans would be harshly punished. The NKGB would receive special authorization from the Central Committee to establish border checkpoints alongside Russia's newest eastern border; soon, NKGB operatives were busy constructing two border crossings, one near the town of Tugulym and one near Sokolova.
 
As for Chelyabinsk, after paratroopers occupied the city and other strategic points across the region, ground troops from the 20th Division would meet up with them and further consolidate their positions. Vostokslavian military bases across Chelyabinsk, as in the other aforementioned regions, would be taken over and put back in operation once again. Military governor I. L. Yakov would be dispatched to Chelyabinsk, where he would take up residence in the former Vostokslav Building, where former Vostokslav Chairman Travkin and his officials used to reign.
 
In all four regions, Party and military officials appointed by Petrograd would launch an "offensive" to win the minds, hearts, and souls of the local population, starting by recruiting former Vostokslav Party and government officials. The frameworks of a Soviet government in the regions were underway, with Travkin himself being offered a position in the upcoming Soviet government. A "Vostokslav Socialist Republic" within the RSFSR was well on the way to becoming a reality.
 
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Bashkortostan/Orenburg (2/7 posts)
Chelyabinsk (2/7 posts)
Sverdlovsk (2/7 posts)
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Thanks to aggressive enforcement of martial law in Bashkortostan and Orenburg, the hitherto endemic crime rate was halved in half. Well-fortified border checkpoints enabled troops to enforce order in the countryside, and anti-guerrila tactics would be employed to great effect. The Central Committee authorized the NKGB to establish a field office in Ufa and Orenburg, and in due time, NKGB agents would roam the streets and countryside, flushing out any and all opposition.
 
In Sverdlovsk, the Sverdlovsk Soviet was officially proclaimed, where it would begin assuming administrative and operative responsibility for the city and its namesake province. The same went to Chelyabinsk, where military governor Yakov agreed to a timetable for the formation of a civilian government in the form of the Chelyabinsk Soviet. In the meanwhile, NKGB offices were established in Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk, and the secret police promptly went to work in expanding its fledgling surveillance and monitoring networks.
 
In the meanwhile, Party agitators would continue their public relations "offensive", with propaganda being constantly broadcast throughout the regions. Patriotic songs would blare from the loudspeakers, Party banners with exhortative slogans ("The Party Beseeches You to Rebuild the Worker's Paradise!") would be displayed everywhere, and media reporters would constantly allude to the success of the Soviet experiment in Russia.
 
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Bashkortostan/Orenburg (3/7 posts)
Chelyabinsk (3/7 posts)
Sverdlovsk (3/7 posts)
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Confidential

 

To the Sovnarkom,

 

While your revolution does worry our politicians and citizens alike, the Greater Romanian nation would like to seek talks between our two regimes, in order to establish working relations and allow for a peaceful future. Europe has already one greater war, it seems to us that the suffering and destruction should not spread further. We thus invite you to send a delegation to Tiraspol.

 

With regards,

Mihaela Constante, Regent of Greater Romania

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Confidential

 

To the Sovnarkom,

 

While your revolution does worry our politicians and citizens alike, the Greater Romanian nation would like to seek talks between our two regimes, in order to establish working relations and allow for a peaceful future. Europe has already one greater war, it seems to us that the suffering and destruction should not spread further. We thus invite you to send a delegation to Tiraspol.

 

With regards,

Mihaela Constante, Regent of Greater Romania

 

Classified:
 
The reception of the diplomatic message from Romania prompted the convention of an extraordinary session of the Central Committee and sparked off a raucous debate. Some radical delegates urged for the rejection of Romania's invitation, given Romania's aggressive and irrational behavior in the past, while some moderates and liberals advocated for such a meeting as to strengthen the RSFSR's diplomatic standing and reduce the possibility of conflict between the two nations. First Secretary Markov suggested the Central Committee accept the invitation, if only to see what Bucharest had in mind, and then go from there. The Central Committee thus voted by a slim majority to approve this, and instructed Sovnarkom to comprise a message to Bucharest.
 
Shortly after, a confidential message would be sent to the Romanian Government:

To our comrades in Romania:
 
After great consideration, taking into account the previous interactions between Romania and the ancien regime, the Sovnarkom of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic have decided to accept your invitation on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. A representative from the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs shall be on their way to Tiraspol shortly.
 
Signed,
Lev Gromyko,
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs 

 

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Romanovgrad renamed
 
STALINGRAD - The Extraordinary Executive Committee of the Volga Soviet Republic voted by a comfortable margin to approve the decision by the Romanovgrad Soviet to reinstate a 1925 decree reverting the city's name to Stalingrad.
 
In the words of Anton Travkin, chairman of the Extraordinary Executive Committee, "The name, Stalingrad, holds great significance for the Russian people and nation. It reflects not the great excesses that occurred under Stalin's reign, nor the controversial character of Stalin himself, but the monumental achievements and glories that he brought to Russia, then the Soviet Union, in the twentieth century. It would be a great disservice, if not a severe affront, to the Russian people for us not to commemorate the great sacrifice that was required of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War."
 
Known at one time as Tsaritsyn, the city was renamed in Stalin's honor in 1925. It was the site of a great, decisive battle that marked the beginning of the end of the warmongering Nazi state, and the ascendancy of the Soviet Union to superpower status. Unfortunately, the sacrifices at Stalingrad was sullied by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's 1961 decision to rename the city to Volgograd, and then the decision by the Romanovs to rename it after them. The Russian people had long been waiting for the chance to erase this great insult, and the time has at last come.
 
A similar initiative by the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet Republic to revert the capital's name to Leningrad, after Soviet founder and leader Vladimir Lenin, has ended in failure, although a decree was soon passed renaming the Petrograd Oblast to the Leningrad Oblast.
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Classified:
 
As the war against criminal elements raged on in the cities and the countryside, the public relations offensive took the form of shipments of food, supplies, products, equipment, and resources that were being channeled into Bashkortostan, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, and Sverdlovsk. Retailers, supermarkets, shopping malls, shops, and other venues would be re-opened under the auspices of the Food and Supply Commission in the People's Commissariat for Food Supplies (Narkomprod).
 
As for banks, they would be placed under the exclusive state control as in the mainland. All domestic banks, private and public, would be placed under the control of the State Bank of the RSFSR (Gosudarstvenny bank RSFSR, Gosbank), a subsidiary of the People's Commissariat for Finance (Narkomfin); foreign ones, if any at all, would be nationalized without compensation.
 
The same went for railways, posts, and telegraphs throughout the former Vostokslavia. Due to the centralized structure of the previous regime, the People's Commissariat for Railways (Narkomrai) had a simple time assuming control of the regions' roads, railways, and other road infrastructure and placing them under the exclusive jurisdiction of the NKGB.
 
In the educational sphere, educational institutions ranging from kindergartens to universities would reopen after appropriate funding and resources were allocated, and their curriculum reviewed and approved by educational review boards of the People's Commissariat for Education (Narkompros).
 
Lastly, to further enhance national security, the Central Committee passed a secret directive expanding the border security zones (BSZs) to the newest border regions, and instructing the NKGB border agents to enforce them in full.
 
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Bashkortostan/Orenburg (4/7 posts)
Chelyabinsk (4/7 posts)
Sverdlovsk (4/7 posts)
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Highly-classified:
 
As agreed in the Second Party Congress, elections were held for the 20-seat Politburo in the Central Committee. After two days of round voting, members' votes were tallied and confirmed by the Party's Orgburo, and twenty members were allowed to take their seats. When the Politburo members assembled for the first time in the Smolny Institute, they overwhelmingly elected Vladimir Kosygin as their first Chairman (a post separate from the First Secretary). With the Party Congress concluded and the Central Committee in recess, the Politburo is currently the highest body of the Communist Party.
 
Among the first actions of the Politburo was confirming all decrees issued by the Central Committee, particularly the Decree on the Preservation and Propagation of the Political System. The Politburo drafted a missive instructing the Election Commission to draw up a list of "acceptable" political parties, and suggesting a list of "appropriate" rules of electoral standards under which candidates from such parties are to run. One of these rules was a steep ten-percent threshold, in which any prospective party have to receive over ten percent of the popular vote to secure representation in the Soviet legislature; and another which was the vetting of political candidates. The frameworks for elections to the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet was currently being laid down.
 
Next, the Politburo issued a decree (the "Decree on the Protection and Propagation of the Media") regulating or shutting down any media organizations deemed "detrimental" to public safety. For this purpose, a new state agency was established in the form of the Main Administration for the Protection of the Press (Glavlit) under the People's Commissariat for Education (Narkompros). Glavit's first action was to "suspend" three major newspapers such as the Moscow Times, the Romanov Times, and the Imperial Gazette, pending final review. The aforementioned Decree also mandated the nationalization without compensation of foreign newspapers and other publishing organizations in Petrograd and Moscow, to be expanded to the rest of Russia at a later time.
 
On the sensitive subject of agriculture, the Politburo members held intensive and protracted discussions on how best to implement reforms without replicating the massive disaster that was collectivization of the 1930s. Given that Soviet power was still somewhat fragile outside of Petrograd, Moscow, and other major cities, they had to careful not to implement policies that could provoke a massive confrontation with society, particularly farmers. Ultimately, the Politburo settled on declaring all land, forests, minerals, animals, and plants throughout the RSFSR to be public property through the "Decree on the Management of Natural Resources". The Land and National Resource Bureau would be established to manage the allocation of such property, and legitimate ownership titles - that is, those which weren't seized or nationalized during the Revolution - would be converted into stewardship titles. Those in possession of such titles were required to work the lands productively in order to maintain continued rights to them in lieu of heavy fines or expropriation. 
 
Lastly, the Politburo passed a top-secret decree (the "Decree on the Codification of the Status of Military Bases in the Baltic States") establishing permanent status over Soviet military bases stationed in the Baltic states. While not authorizing the construction of new bases, the decree allowed for the "reinforcement and expansion" of existing ones, and stipulated that the People's Commissariat for Defense provide increased funding for such purposes. A secret addendum to the Decree allowed for the expansion of the NKGB into the Baltic states; in Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius, NKGB offices would be opened and the NKGB would begin operations there.
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Classified:
 
As crime levels continued to plummet in Bashkortostan and Orenburg, processes would be started in which law enforcement and investigative duties would be turned over to the local police (which were under NKGB control). Likewise, military tribunals would begin to transfer their responsibilities to the civilian People's Courts. 
 
The same occurred in Sverdlovsk, where law enforcement and the regional judiciary systems would be placed under the jurisdiction of the namesake Soviet. Preparations were underway to elect a provincial Soviet to legislate for the Sverdlovsk Soviet Republic. In Chelyabinsk, military governor Yakov issued a special decree downgrading military law to a state of emergency, and ordered his subordinate to implement or enforce it accordingly. 
 
Lastly, the Politburo issued a decree reorganizing the Red Guards - or at least units which had not been assimilated into the Red Army - into the Revolutionary Guards, and mandated the formation of a more centralized structure in the form of the Revolutionary Guard Bureau of the People's Commissariat for Defense.
 
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Bashkortostan/Orenburg (5/7 posts)
Chelyabinsk (5/7 posts)
Sverdlovsk (5/7 posts)
Edited by JEDCJT
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Classified:
 
The divestment of administrative and law enforcement responsibility in Bashkortostan and Orenburg allowed the military to focus more on the defensive fortifications that had been built under the Tsarist regime but never completed. On the orders of the Defense Commissariat, Red Army engineers would begin evaluating the state of the existing fortifications - military bases, airbases, launcher platforms, minefields, etc - in the two aforementioned provinces.
 
In Sverdlovsk, Army engineers in conjunction with NKGB officials would begin conducting extensive inspections of all railways and roads crisscrossing the region. Their findings was to be compiled in a comprehensive report and delivered to the Central Committee for final decision. Steps would be taken to continue and expand the national defense project to the region.
 
In Chelyabinsk, Army enlistment offices were reporting varying degree of success, with the number of enlistees higher in the capital city of Chelyabinsk and its surrounding areas than some cities. Boot training camps were in the process of reopening across the province, with new ones planned in the near-future. After an extensive search of aeronautics research and development offices, plans for the MiG-Sukhoi 1 along with a working design were discovered, and the Defense Commissariat authorized the formation of an Extraordinary Committee for Aeronautics Development to study and test the aircraft for its possible mass-production and inclusion in the Red Air Force.
 
OOC:
Bashkortostan/Orenburg (6/7 posts)
Chelyabinsk (6/7 posts)
Sverdlovsk (6/7 posts)
Edited by JEDCJT
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Classified:
 
The devolution of administrative and law enforcement responsibility to the respective Bashkortostan and Orenburg Soviets was accompanied by the intensification of political censorship. The Decree on the Protection and Propagation of the Media would be used to shut down any anti-Soviet newspapers and other media outlets throughout the provinces. Narkompros would establish an Extraordinary Commission to evaluate the possibility of a 'Red Shield Project', to be known as the Red Firewall, involving the Internet.
 
As in the rest of Russia, the Land and Natural Resource Trust Commission, better known as the Land Trust Commission, would nationalize nonproductive land in the Sverdlovsk region by paying farmers to give up their stewardship titles, and combine them into cooperatives; efficient techniques of soil conservation and industrialization would be employed to re-cultivate the land. As for the other lands, the government would adopt a voluntary route by encouraging, not requiring, peasants to use their stewardships to form farm collectives based off on the kibbutzim. Should they do so, they would receive technical assistance, access to funding, supplies, and equipment, and other form of government support.
 
In Chelyabinsk, Governor Yakov privately issued a decree prohibiting the public and private flying of the old Tsarist flag under the penalty of twenty years of hard labor; the same went for the black flag that had been used by the Dark Hand regime. Citizens were ordered to turn in any and all Tsarist flags, if any, to the nearest state flag recycling center for disposal. The liquidation of the Tsarist flag would symbolize the final ascendancy of Soviet power in Chelyabinsk as well as the rest of Russia.
 
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Bashkortostan/Orenburg (7/7 posts)
Chelyabinsk (7/7 posts)
Sverdlovsk (7/7 posts)
Edited by JEDCJT
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Classified:
 
In a special convocation of the Central Committee, the death penalty was officially abolished throughout the RFSR and its protectorate territories. The official reasoning behind the promulgation of the "Decree on the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Russia" was that the death penalty was an expensive, if not inhumane, act that was unbecoming of the Russian revolutionary state. To others, it was seen as an attempt by the Soviet regime to distance itself from its violent, bloody past.
 
It was perhaps a coincidence the Decree was issued the day before the rebellion in the Donbass broke out. It didn't take too long for hardliners in the Politburo to exploit a loophole in the Decree that specifically stated that the death penalty "shall not be used in any shape or form across Russia or its protectorates under normal circumstances." They interpreted "normal circumstances" as normal readiness, and accordingly imposed a state of emergency over the Donbass in response to the rebellion. As the rebellion was not "normal circumstances", NKVN agents would freely use the death penalty on captured insurgents in top-secret locations.
 
Furthermore, the NKVN would begin constructing fortified checkpoints around the major cities in the Donbass, not merely the roads leading up to them. This would add yet another level of security that the Ukrainian rebels would have to contend with. They would ramp up security around select areas such as the city hall buildings, schools, police headquarters, and other important ones.
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Riots erupt in Moscow
 
rYB9dN6.jpg
 
MOSCOW - The decision of the Extraordinary Session of the Moscow Soviet to re-open the Lenin Mausoleum provoked demonstrations in the former Russian capital. At first, hundreds of Muscovites massed at Red Square to protest this specific decision. 
 
However, thanks to "anti-Soviet agent provocateurs", the number quickly swelled up to hundreds of thousands, many which defiantly waved the old Tsarist flag and chanted "Down with Lenin! Down with Soviet Power!" They defied mayor Antonin Galev's warnings to disperse, organizing massive sit-ins. The same occurred in many places throughout Moscow, most particularly the Kremlin complex.
 
Police units and NKVN troopers were mobilized to the scene, where they issued repeated warnings. The protestors, instead of complying, grew violent and the police were forced to undertake self-defensive measures. Pandemonium ensued as bloody clashes between the protestors and police raged across the former capital. It got so bad that Mayor Galev was forced to proclaim a state of emergency and call upon the Revolutionary Guards to intervene.
 
In a public speech in Petrograd, First Secretary Imran Markov deplored the violence unfolding in Moscow, condemning the "anti-Soviet leaders" for "hijacking" a relatively nonpartisan issue for their "nefarious ends." He urged the protestors to stand down, obey Soviet law, and proceed with their daily lives; and for Galev's city administration to handle the situation with a "careful and considerable hand", alas, not to escalate the situation any further. 
 
Opened in 1930, the Lenin Mausoleum served as the final resting place of Soviet founder and leader Vladimir Lenin, and as a symbol of Soviet power throughout the existance of the USSR. It was vaporized, along with Lenin's mummified remains, in the Great Apocalypse, and was rebuilt into the Mausoleum of the Tsars by the ancien regime.
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Highly-classified:
 
Dissatisfied with the NKVN's less than stellar performance in dealing with the rebellion in the Donbass and the riots in Moscow, the Politburo issued a secret directive transferring the NKVN's Main Directorate for Security (GUGB) to the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD). Any concerns on the negative connotations or the implications behind this decision were disregarded. In compensation, the NKVN received the right to investigate corruption, and to arrest corrupt officials, in various Commissariats - except the NKVD - and its actions would be beyond official scrutiny.
 
To reduce its legislative workload, the Politburo established a new organization: the Central Executive Committee (VTsIK). Pending elections for the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet, which are on the verge of being delayed due to the ongoing crises, the Committee will have powers commonly possessed by national legislatures, such as passing legislation, collecting taxes and duties, regulating commerce, borrowing and coining money,  declaring war and proclaiming peace, and so on. Mikhail Bukharin was appointed VTsIK's first Chairman, which would be the unofficial head of state of Russia.
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Returning to Soviet Roots: Petrograd reverted to Leningrad
 
LENINGRAD - An initiative, this time by the Extraordinary Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, succeeded in gathering enough support to pass a special resolution restoring the city's name to Leningrad. 
 
A local referendum indicated that over 75 percent of the city's population, particularly workers and sailors, approved the name change. The Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet Republic narrowly voted to ratify this decision, and the National Geographic Bureau of the NKVD ordered all signs bearing the old name to reflect the change.
 
As in the case of Stalingrad, the decision to revert the capital's name to Leningrad has less to do with Lenin himself than the "great signifiance that his name had held for the Russian people for much of the twentieth century." Supporters of the name change, among them Lev Antonin, Chairman of the now-Leningrad Soviet, maintained that the time has now come for the "Cradle of the Revolution" to appropriately commemorate the historic role Vladimir Lenin played in establishing the world's first socialist state and the sacrifices bore by the Soviet people in Leningrad and the rest of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War. Some said it swept away the last vestiges of the ancien regime.
 
As a sop to critics of the name change, the resolution retained the name of Petrograd for the city's historic center. The Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization of the People's Commissariat for Culture designated the historic core as a Soviet Heritage Site, along with a number of locations such as the Kronstadt Fortress, Pulkovo Observatory, and the Finland Station.
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Classified:
 
Despite the First Secretary's urging, the riots persisted in Moscow and even intensified in some places. Instead of launching a massive clampdown that would prove to be counterproductive, the NKVD began targeting individual "agent provocateurs". Although it took some time and effort, the secret police succeeded in identifying and rooting out many of these leaders, dispatching highly-specialized and highly-trained assassination teams after them.
 
Noticeably, after the successful results, the riots began winding down, but the NKVD wasn't relaxing yet. It began setting up fortified checkpoints in all entrances to Moscow and drastically tightened security in a number of select locations, such as the Kremlin, Red Square, and the Moscow Metro. Likewise, police stations and military bases became "fortresses", and the secret police began expanding its already-extensive informant network across the city. Roving NKVD units would conduct random ID checks on the streets, and mete out "revolutionary justice" on the spot anyone who didn't have the required documents. A nighttime curfew would be imposed and enforced with full severity; violators would be shot out of hand. 
 
Likewise, the Revolutionary Guards managed to contain the unrest, arresting and even shooting any protesters who continued to resist. Any shooting incidents, however, were few and far between. As with the NKVD, Revolutionary Guardsmen would conduct random searches and enforce the curfew, even although they were legally required to turn over the arrested to the People's Courts for justice. 
 
To further contain and reduce the simmering unrest, a media blackout would be imposed on Moscow. Under the Decree on the Protection and Propagation of the Media, all newspapers and other media outlets would be subject to intense censorship; those considered "anti-Soviet" or "politically inflammatory" would be shut down and their personnel carted off to labor camps or psychiatric wards. Likewise, cyber security experts would do their best to regulate the Internet, although with less success; consequently, work on the ongoing Red Shield Project would be accelerated.
 
As for the announced reopening of the Lenin Mausoleum, it would proceed in the end.
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Latvian Riflemen formed
 
RIGA - The protectorate authorities in Riga voted to approve the formation of a new military unit in Latvia as well the rest of the Baltic states: the Latvian Riflemen. 
 
Named after a famous military formation that fought for the Bolsheviks in the first Civil War, the Latvian Riflemen will consist of two infantry divisions - 20,000 troops and personnel total, along with an appropriate number of tanks, other military vehicles, and aircrafts - and will be tasked with the protection and defense of the Baltic protectorate. The number of the 20,000-strong Livonian Protectorate Garrison will be gradually reduced to 10,000. General Antonin Vatsis was appointed commander of the Riflemens.
 
Lastly, the Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) passed a special resolution designating the Baltic states a military district on the same basis as military districts in Russia proper. Likewise, the Revolutionary Guard was authorized to operate in the Baltic states.
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Politburo decision on NKVD overturned
 
LENINGRAD - In a highly-surprising move, the Central Committee on its fifth convocation voted to overturn the Politburo's decision regarding the NKVD. 
 
"Given its monstrous crimes in its days, the specter of the NKVD continue to haunt Russia to this day," Deputy Secretary Ivan Volgin said in a public speech in Red Square. "The decision by the Politburo to resurrect the NKVD was highly-unsettling and had implications for the Russian people that ought not be addressed." He criticized this move as a attempt at a powergrab by Politburo members, saying that had it allowed to continue any further, it would have led to another "Great Purge" in this time period.
 
The Politburo fired back, arguing that Volgin's statement was based on "fear-mongering speculation that was mired in outright paranoia". The reestablishment of the NKVD, they said in a publicized letter that was circulated to Party centers around the country, "had less to do with any resurrection of the Great Terror than it was simply to improve Russia's national security capabilities." The secret police, they said, wasn't the same one that existed in Stalinist Russia of the 1930s, and was actually subjected to various checks and balances to ensure it didn't overstep its boundaries.
 
National security may be one of the most primary issues facing Russia today, but that doesn't change the fact the NKVD had long suffered a negative reputation in recent Russian history, and that many Russians tremble at its mere mention, constantly looking over their shoulders and packing a suitcase at night in expectations of a nighttime visit by friendly police officers. 
 
Exactly what the government will do next regarding this remains unclear, but it should be clarified that the Committee and Politburo's statements were misleading, if not incorrect: the Politburo decision only affected the state security aspect (GUGB) of the NKVD, and not the institution as a whole. The NKVD had always existed since the Revolution, if only as the equivalent to an interior ministry in other countries.
 
Withstanding the main issue, the willingness of the Committee to counteract the Politburo's decisions holds great implications for the Russian state in regards to the developing concept of checks and balances.
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