DATELINE : 24 December 2014 23:59 IGT
After months of threatening propaganda and rising rhetoric the Chernarussian Civil War has finally bled over into the semi-autonomous peninsula of Podagorsk, a self governing region bordering the Black Sea. Russian Separatist fighters from the 1st Liberation Brigade swept south out of the mountainous regions bordering Chernarus and Russia and took control of most of the north of the tiny Peninsula including the towns of Berezniki and Protvino. Separatist forces have stopped short of the regions capital of Zirnitra. Refugees have been fleeing the capital south to the small village of Kovrov.
Podagorsk was granted autonomous rule in in 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A peninsula region made up of the ethnic Pogar people, Chernarian, and Russian speaking immigrants. The regions autonomous status has been hotly contested by the Chernarussian and Russian governments. A brief invasion, designated a police action, by the Russian Federation in 2007 was eventually peacefully resolved by UN negotiators and sanctions.
General Zhutov Olegovich of the Russian Peoples Liberation Army, the main wing of the Russian Separatists fighting in Chernarus and now Podagorsk, held a press conference in Separatist controlled Gorka in Chernarus. - "Podagorsk is sacred to the Russian People. It's possession by the RPLA is divine will. The ancient lands of Russian People will not be carved up by the UN or other western imperial powers. We will fight to the death to recover our homelands and what is rightfully ours. God willing."
Ildus Azat, the elected Pogar Ugarat (Prime Minister) of Podagorsk spoke from the seiged Capital of Zirnitra hours after the invasion began. - "On this Christmas Eve a terrible evil has been done to my people. The people of Podagorsk are a peace loving people, we have no standing army and do no conduct war or partake in other peoples conflicts. This invasion is yet another abuse by the Russian people on our native land and we call on the international community to once again rise up and help us. We call on the leader of Russia to call off his dogs and to stop supporting the Separatists in Chernarus. Tanks and Missles and Guns can not simply come out of the air, these Separatists are supplied with the best equipment, the newest tanks and the finest weapons that Russia can make. We call on the UN and NATO to come to our aid."
A small UN peacekeeping and humanitarian relief force of French and Turkish forces has been stationed at an Air Base on the small Podagorskan Island of Bolshevik just south of the Capital of Zirnitra. The UN today issued a statement that it is monitoring the situation and will take appropriate action in a timely and effective manner.
Other western powers are watching the situation unfold with considerable worry. Concerns of a widening conflict and general instability in the region have been discussed for months, and the events of Christmas Eve in Podagorsk only seem to prove the point.
Carl Kolchak - International Times - East European Branch
* This news report is a fictional work to support the 506th ARMA game play
