There was a dour atmosphere in the air around the Kremlin in the years between 1990 - 1993, as sanctions and looming economic collapse haunt the imagination Soviet Union Premier Yanayev and his inner circle, there have been calls to slowly follow the Chinese example of limited economic investment areas as the Moscow leadership begins to court Latin American, Indian and Mediterranean investors not participating in sanctions to try and salvage the economy, though the same hard liners so against leaving the satellite states of Eastern Europe are also trying to curtail the development of capitalism in the Soviet Union. Eventually, though it will begin to halt the decline, the quality of life in the Soviet Union will dramatically decline during this period as only the lives of a new class of oligarchs benefit from the limited reforms, leading to more protests and demonstrations and in turn more repressive backlashes.
In Kiev, General Aleksandyr Lebed leads the forces of the Kiev Military district as it brutally cracks down on the opponent's of Ukrainian SSR leader Stanislav Hurenko as the leaders of the republics nationalist movements become increasingly of the opinion that they should succede from the Soviet Union. What alarms the Politbureau is the resurgence of neo-fascist movements amongst the Baltic states and the Ukraine. Around Kiev the Red Army fights a series of running battles against Banderite separatists.
But a major breakthrough would occur in June 1992 when Premier Yanayev manages to cut a back room deal with President Bush brokered by KGB General Vladimir Putin through one of his agents known only as "Sweetpea" whereby the USSR and China will abstain for a UN resolution, thereby allowing the creation of "No Fly Zones" over Kuwait, Shi'ite and Kurdish majority areas of Iraq and allow for limited US bombing without either side losing face in return for a removal of sanctions on non military goods and investment and a commitment to end the crisis without a fullscale invasion of Iraq. General V.V. Putin would also advise Western leaders to great effect that the Red Army will leave the satellite states, it's a foregone conclusion, so there's no point exasperating the situation within the Soviet Union.
KGB General Vladimir Putin, the man who most likely averted a Third World War in 1992, his biography The Handler would become a world best seller in 2001, he would be played by Christoph Waltz, with "Sweetpea" being played by Abbie Cornish.
May 1992, Red Army artillery batteries shelling nationalist positions on the approached to Kiev.
In Kiev, General Aleksandyr Lebed leads the forces of the Kiev Military district as it brutally cracks down on the opponent's of Ukrainian SSR leader Stanislav Hurenko as the leaders of the republics nationalist movements become increasingly of the opinion that they should succede from the Soviet Union. What alarms the Politbureau is the resurgence of neo-fascist movements amongst the Baltic states and the Ukraine. Around Kiev the Red Army fights a series of running battles against Banderite separatists.
But a major breakthrough would occur in June 1992 when Premier Yanayev manages to cut a back room deal with President Bush brokered by KGB General Vladimir Putin through one of his agents known only as "Sweetpea" whereby the USSR and China will abstain for a UN resolution, thereby allowing the creation of "No Fly Zones" over Kuwait, Shi'ite and Kurdish majority areas of Iraq and allow for limited US bombing without either side losing face in return for a removal of sanctions on non military goods and investment and a commitment to end the crisis without a fullscale invasion of Iraq. General V.V. Putin would also advise Western leaders to great effect that the Red Army will leave the satellite states, it's a foregone conclusion, so there's no point exasperating the situation within the Soviet Union.
KGB General Vladimir Putin, the man who most likely averted a Third World War in 1992, his biography The Handler would become a world best seller in 2001, he would be played by Christoph Waltz, with "Sweetpea" being played by Abbie Cornish.
May 1992, Red Army artillery batteries shelling nationalist positions on the approached to Kiev.