Russian President Vladmir Putin
Path to Re-unification
In a campaign speech in February of 2004, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the dismantlement of the Soviet Union a "national tragedy on an enormous scale," from which "only the elites and nationalists of the republics gained." He added, "I think that ordinary citizens of the former Soviet Union and the post-Soviet space gained nothing from this. On the contrary, people have faced a huge number of problems."
On December 26, 2004, pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych was elected as President of the Ukraine. Both Vladimir Putin and Belorussian president Alexander Lukashenko conveyed their congratulations to the new Ukrainian president.
During the following year, Vladimir Putin was accused by the West of interfering in Ukrainian affairs and fixing the said country's election results. The gap between the West and the Russian Federation increased further when the Ukraine petitioned to join the Union State, which consisted of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation. Vladimir Putin happily accepted the Ukraine into the Union State as he said, "Today marks the day that the brothers and sisters of the former Soviet Union will come together again."
In 2006, the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan was also welcomed into the Union State of Belarus, Russia, and the Ukraine. With the four largest members of the Commonwealth of Independent States joined together in the Union State, the smaller C.I.S. members began to feel the weight of pressure slowly weigh down on them. The president of the Republic of Georgia meets secretly with American President George W. Bush and voices his concern that this Union State's growing membership symbolizes a return of the old Soviet Empire and that those former Republics who don't join willingly may be forced to do so via military force. However, with the U.S. Armed Forces currently spread out in fighting the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is not much President Bush can do should armed conflict erupt among the former Soviet Republics.
The Georgian President's concerns slowly become apparent in spring of 2007 when the members of the Union State votes to centralize the organization. Union State Headquarters is moved from Minsk to the Kremlin in Moscow where Russian President Vladimir Putin is made the President of the Union State of Eurasian Republics. The Armed Forces of all four members are merged into one and a common flag and anthem is created.
The New Cold War
On November 7th 2007, USER President Vladimir Putin declared the re-organization of the Union State into the Second Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and that all political parties not aligned with the Communist Party were eradicated effective immediately. As Putin made this declaration, USER military forces stormed the Parliament and surrounded its members. The Parliament affirmed Putin's declaration at gunpoint and Putin then allowed them to live as a testament that he was not a monster. However, many of them perished in various accidents and natural causes over the next several months. President Bush and other NATO leaders are all shocked at this turn of events and begin preparing for possible future conflict.
Throughout early 2008, the fomer Soviet Republics of Armenia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, and Tajikistan joined the Soviet Union only months after the armed forces of those countries staged a coup. The Georgian separatist provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia and petitions to join the USSR. Both the governments of Georgia and America condemn the declaration and vows to prevent the separatist terrorists from joining the USSR. President George W. Bush orders that 15,000 troops under U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus be deployed to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. The First Armored Division stationed in Germany is deployed to the Baltic countries of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia.
South Ossetia Showdown
In August, US and Georgian troops launch attacks against rebel forces in South Ossetia and Abkhazia to re-establish Georgian control of the region. The next day, Soviet troops invades Georgia and links up with separatist forces in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.