Rogue Generals: A Different Post-EDSA Uno Philippines TL

The point about Cam Ranh Bay is a valid one, though the OTL Soviet withdrawal of its Air Force was already completed by 1989. ITTL, it might be on schedule as well, although given its position, Cam Ranh Bay's Soviet naval vessels would have also been withdrawn back to Vladivostok. I can guarantee you that China would have its eye on Cam Ranh Bay for the takeover of the former US and Soviet military base there, with a simple strongarming of the Vietnamese government. In addition, there was also the FULRO Insurgency in Vietnam, consisting of Montagnards and Cham peoples as well, and they were mainly supported by the Khmer Rouge and China. ITTL, combined with a Chinese offensive against Vietnam and the Philippines, you might also see the FULRO gain some recognition by the Chinese, as well as possible Vietnamese territorial losses in addition to Paracel Island.

However, China at this point is also starting to develop its air force bombers, as the Xian H-6 was just getting mass produced at this point. You might also see a more sophisticated research into China's bombers, and other fighter planes as well. In addition, the larger costs of rebuilding the Bay Area as a result of a worse Loma Prieta Earthquake would take a huge hit out of the US defense budget, which would possibly result in the temporary suspension of some of its military projects. This would also have a huge effect on American military operations in Nicaragua (mentioned this already), and even a possible scaling back of its military forces from its bases in Japan, South Korea, the Middle East, and Europe.

I will correct it to a realistic level, but keep in mind that in addition to the reconstruction costs and the R&D for the earthquake resistant building technology, there is also medical costs of tending to injured people, and compensations for the earthquake victims, and given the larger casualties occurred from a massive earthquake like Loma Prieta, the 68% might be possible, though I don’t know the average US defense budget per year.

I guess that with Basra being heavily defended ITTL, it might have made more sense to try and at least cut off Iraq from the coastline, even if it did result in the establishment of the Basra IAJ, which may eventually become another flashpoint in the future. Agreed with the whole Kurdish portion, but as we will see in the next update, there might be a Kurdish martyr that they can rally around. Plus the Iranian Kurds were already fighting the Iranian government during the Iran-Iraq War, so that might be a bit tricky.

In this case, $9 billion would only be a fracture of the annual defense budget, though I suspect that I may have to revise this to $27 billion for the reconstruction investment. There will be a slight retconning to do in this case, as I did not know about US military expenditures.

$51 billion would be a bit more realistic, especially if we’re talking compensating the earthquake victims. We are already seeing a geopolitical change because of the Loma Prieta Earthquake taking place.

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Second Russian Civil War Part One



SECOND SOVIET GENERAL LEADS A MUTINY IN VLADIVOSTOK AGAINST SOVIET GOVERNMENT ORDER TO DISPERSE DEMONSTRATORS WITH LETHAL FORCE, DECLARES ALLEGIANCE TO LEBED-LED REBEL GROUP
Sydney Herald
August 19, 1990


Vladivostok, RUSSIAN SFSR – Only two months after Alexander Lebed, a rarely heard of Soviet general known for his prowess during the Soviet War in Afghanistan, another Soviet general had turned against his own government. Unlike the rarely heard of General Lebed, this general was known for triggering the very same war that propelled the de facto leader of the rebel forces that have now taken control of Sverdlovsk. General Leonid Khabarov, the newly appointed commander of the 83rd Guards Air Assault Brigade that was transferred from the Northern Forces Group in East Germany to their new home in Ussuriysk, Primorsky Krai, had led said Brigade during a demonstration against the Soviet government, in light of the recently revealed information about the tragic fate of former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, who was accidentally shot by a KGB officer who tried to kill one of his bodyguards back in March 14, 1990. The accidental murder of the now-late Premier Gorbachev, and the coup that was led by his opponent, Oleg Baklanov, had electrified the Soviet Union as more Soviet citizens began to openly oppose the government for the botched murder of their Premier.


“The fact that these monsters have shown their true faces when they tried to take back their power from Comrade Premier Gorbachev, indicates that they have lost legitimacy with the Soviet people!” General Khabarov says as he addresses the demonstrators in front of Vladivostok’s Monument to the Fighters for Soviet Power in the Far East. “Luckily for the ordinary people living in this treasured city, we have national comrades who decided not to ignore this travesty and stand on the side of the people who rightly demanded justice for his death. I salute to you, Comrade General Alexander Lebed, a fellow desyantnik and righteous officer, for your courageous actions! I say now, I will gladly follow your lead, and renounce my loyalty to the so-called Soviet government, and pledge my allegiance to the newly formed Russian Provisional Government under Gennady Burbulis!”


Khabarov’s actions had also served to energize the morale of the Soviet Far Eastern fleet, which had to undergo a significant power struggle as the Soviet loyalists stationed in all naval vessels were summarily arrested and shot by pro-Lebed rebel sympathizers within the fleet, as they began to wear the three black horizontal stripes painted over an orange flag as their armbands, symbolizing the St. George Ribbon that was used as a component for medals earned by Soviet military personnel. In addition, Khabarov’s Vladivostok Mutiny had also resulted in the Soviet Far Eastern Military Command being divided along political lines, with Soviet loyalists emerging from Khabarovsk and Chita, while pro-Lebed rebel sympathizers in other parts of the Soviet Far East had emerged from Blagoveshchensk, Irkutsk, Birobidzhan, and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. In one notorious incident in Sakhalin Island, a KGB gulag commandant was ambushed by several gulag inmates, with a Vory v Zakone mobster leading the gang who killed the commandant, before additional guards were sent to stop the uprising, only to be ambushed and killed in the same way as the camp commandant. Vyacheslav Ivankov, also called the “Little Japanese”, had led the Sakhalin Gulag Uprising a few days before Khabarov’s Mutiny broke out, resulting in parts of Sakhalin being inundated with escaped gulag inmates, who proceeded to loot the gulag storage rooms for food and weapons, before being met by a representative of the Russian rebel group loyal to Lebed. After being examined by medical staff loyal to the rebels, they were eventually fed, trained, and armed with weapons confiscated from the former gulag administration staff turned prisoners, who were summarily executed by the freed inmates as their rite of passage before officially joining a new military group called the National Redemption Army.


General Leonid Khabarov leads the rag tag rebel troops during the capture of the border posts in the Soviet Union's only border with neighboring China. His quick thinking had averted a potential Chinese military intervention in the Soviet Far East.

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CHELYABINSK UNDER REBEL ATTACK AS SOVIET LOYALIST FORCES ATTEMPT TO HOLD THE LINE, AMIDST OUTBREAKS OF UPRISING BY REBEL SYMPATHIZERS WITHIN RED ARMY
Vancouver Sun
August 29, 1990


Chelyabinsk, RUSSIAN SFSR – The first major battle during the emerging civil war within the Soviet Union occurred today when the 106th Guards Airborne Division, led by Afghan War veteran Alexander Lebed, had launched an attack on the Soviet city of Chelyabinsk, in the Russian SFSR. Accompanying Lebed’s airborne troops were the 31st Guards Airborne Brigade, the 34th Motor Rifle Division (only after its pro-loyalist officer was overthrown by pro-rebel sympathizers within the junior officer corps) and the 3rd Guards Spetsnaz Brigade, which had also joined General Lebed after careful negotiations by KGB turncoat Lieutenant Colonel Sergei M. Smirnov. In defense of Chelyabinsk is Soviet General Vladimir Glebov, who commands the 21st and 23rd Guards Independent Motor Rifle Brigade, known for its usage of both BMPs and BTRs.


The battle for Chelyabinsk is expected to take weeks to complete, with both the Soviet loyalist forces and that of General Lebed’s National Redemption Army rebel soldiers, though looking initially at the two sides, it seems that the Soviet loyalist forces have the advantage in materiel and personnel. However, the rebels have an advantage in having a talented and motivated officer corps that consisted of several hundred Soviet officers who renounced their loyalty to the Soviet regime and joined the National Redemption Army faction. Moreover, NRA rebels have also managed to break into the Kosvinskiy labor camp, where they proceeded to shoot the KGB camp guards, but spared the junior KGB administration staff on Lt. Col. Smirnov’s recommendation, if they give additional information on other gulags within Sverdlovsk Oblast, as well as to feed and clothe the gulag inmates, who were then set free by the NLA rebel soldiers.


In addition, Chelyabinsk is also surrounded by small towns and villages that have recently witnessed anti-government demonstrations mourning the late Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, forcing the KGB and OMON personnel to act as riot control, while the Red Army troops stationed in the towns and villages surrounding Chelyabinsk refused to fire on the demonstrators, vividly remembering the Chelyabinsk Massacre, where General Pavel Grachev had ordered his troops to shoot at the same demonstrators who came out on the streets to mourn the former Soviet Premier. The numerous small-scale mutinies were successfully suppressed by the Soviet loyalist forces stationed within Chelyabinsk, but other mutinies succeeded in desertions from Soviet Red Army conscripts, who simply defected to the NLA. More disturbing reports coming out of Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk of descendants of former Soviet prisoners of war who were sent to the gulags under Order No. 270 and Order No. 227, had began to form paramilitary units designed to harass the Soviet loyalist forces in the area.


“Stalin had treated the regular Red Army soldier like a beaten dog during the Great Patriotic War, and when after we were liberated from German PoW camps by our so-called ‘comrades’, we were directly sent to the gulags as punishment for falling into German hands! But today, we rectify the errors committed against our fathers, grandfathers and uncles and we will get our much-needed justice!” says Ivan Pavlovskiy, whose father was captured by the Germans during WWII and was sent to the gulag after he was liberated from a German PoW camp in what is now central Poland. “We stand here as sons and daughters of Red Army soldiers whose only crime was to surrender to the enemy when we could no longer fight, to get the justice our falsely imprisoned veterans deserve!”


The so-called Justice Brigades, a network of paramilitary formations established in Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk Oblasts, were formed with the help of recently demobilized Red Army soldiers who served in Afghanistan. Many of the men who formed these paramilitary units have acted as de facto Non-Commissioned Officers for the new recruits, many of whom were still waiting to start serving their mandatory military service in the Red Army. Although they were not as sufficiently trained as their NCO counterparts, they were motivated enough to fight for their families who were on the receiving end of Soviet tyranny. Although it might not be enough to form a de facto rebel version of the Soviet Union’s Internal Troops, they are enough to cause mayhem behind loyalist lines.


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“Initially when we were writing the screenplay for Robert’s Rebellion, I did not have any thoughts on how the scenes would be done. However, someone told me that I should study the opening stages of the Second Russian Civil War, especially the battles that it occurred from August of 1990 until April of 1992. The way Alexander Lebed had gotten lucky during his first three battles was something I had to add into how Robert Baratheon won the first three battles in the Stormlands. Unfortunately, I do not see much of Lebed in the future King Robert, but I do see a bit of Ned Stark and Tywin Lannister in the general who eventually played a part in the violent downfall of the Soviet Union. So, in a way, when I envision how the fall of the Targaryen Dynasty would occur, I would picture the fall of the Soviet Union, with the National Redemption Army’s victory over the Soviet loyalists.” Portion of George R.R. Martin’s interview with HBO on the ASOIAF Prequel: Robert’s Rebellion.


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Excerpts from “The Second Russian Civil War and the Evolution of Modern Warfare”
By: Paul van Riper
Published by Taylor and Francis


Chapter Four: The Evolution of Military Vehicles in a Changing Warfare


I was one of the few lucky US Marine Corps officers who was stationed back in Japan after finishing up with the Loma Prieta Earthquake cleanup effort when the civil war in the former Soviet Union, and the incident in Sakhalin Island had rattled some of the Marine Corps soldiers under my command. I also heard about the mutiny that broke out in Vladivostok and a few months after the Vladivostok Mutiny, the US and Japanese militaries were surprised by the presence of what appeared to be a Soviet Navy vessel, but it was flying a white flag, indicating a parley. I was surprised to hear that Admiral Feliks Kuroyedov was aboard the infamous cruiser Varyag, and it was being accompanied by three submarines and four ASW destroyers as they were approaching Japanese waters, seeking an audience with us and the Japanese military. It was through an interpreter that we learned that Admiral Kuroyedov is leading the now-NLA-aligned Russian Navy (back then, they formed the naval arm of the NLA, called the National Redemption Navy) and that he announced that most or all the former Soviet Far East fleet are fighting under the rebel banner.


However, that is not why I chose to write the segment of this chapter. You see, both sides of the Second Russian Civil War used the same T-72, T-64, and T-80 battle tanks during the conflict. The T-80, from what I heard, had significant problems with its deployment, and numerous casualties from within both sides that employed T-80 battle tanks had problems with gas turbine engines. It was this kind of deficiency, along with its inability to help support in the capture of major cities (both Soviet loyalist and rebel forces alike used anti-tank weapons to take them out), that led to its temporary disuse until they were upgraded with the diesel engine, and a composite armor that was much better than the T-80. I was sent to the former Soviet Union by President Dole to monitor the situation in the former Soviet Far East, along with General James Mattis, to watch the NLA rebel troops perform. To my surprise, they were more motivated to fight despite being poorly trained and insufficiently armed. Sure, there were BMPs and BTRs being captured by rebel troops, but their lack of experience in using it proved to be fatal for the rebel side. I told General Khabarov and General Viktor Chechevatov that with improved training and morale, the rebel side could potentially take the fight to the loyalist, and that I see a potential for the rebel forces to embrace the newly developed military doctrine that Alexander Lebed used in Afghanistan (and to a lesser extent, what I used with the Marines against the Sadinistas in Nicaragua), against the old-fashioned methods that the Soviet Army was using. It was also during the civil war in the former Soviet Union that rebels had began to tinker with the T-80, by replacing its gas turbine engines with diesel ones. One of the improved T-80 tanks became so modified that it soon became a new kind of tank, which they christened it as the T-81. Because of the civil war, many prototype projects that the Russians had hoped to launch were suspended until 2005, when they tested and completed Object 187, which was eventually named the T-99 Kodiak Tank. Another successor, the T-00 Sotnia Tank, was basically a heavily modified version of the T-99 Kodiak Tank, but with two additional machine guns placed on both sides of its turrets, giving it additional protection against anti-tank hunters. The significant feature of both the Kodiak and Sotnia tanks were the additional capacity in terms of crew numbers, as both tanks can fit in four crew members, and that they were assigned special duties. I also noticed how different the designs of the two tanks were from the M1 Abrams that we were using, and especially with the number of mechanics and engineers that are defecting to the rebel side every week, the Soviet loyalists were forced to conscript new graduates from the military academy, as well as students seeking internship with anyone that they would be assigned to work in. The loyalist-aligned engineers were not as enthusiastic about working for them as their counterparts that were enthusiastic about working for the rebels.



The prototype Object 187, which evolved into the T-99 Kodiak Tank, had been first introduced in 1999, four years after the Second Russian Civil War had ended. Though Object 187 the prototype had some problems, some of the improvements on its predecessor, the T-81 battle tank originated in Ukraine, had been applied to the T-99 Kodiak Tank.

Looking back now, the stark difference in how the two sides maintained their military vehicles was evident by how the rebels had to be resourceful in implementing the modifications needed to get their tanks in better shape. In fact, the Second Russian Civil War taught them a lesson in how the tanks had to be produced with quality in mind, though they could also combine the top-notch quality of their tanks with the quantities they made in numbers. By 2000, five years after the Second Russian Civil War had ended, the Russian Armed Forces had in its possession over 2,000 old Soviet military vehicles, and with their economy already stretched to the limit, they decided to dismantle three quarters of their vehicles that have been parked in what they called the tank graveyard, and to use the chassis of those vehicles for newly introduced ones. Ukraine’s tank graveyard consisted mostly of disused T-80s that were later repaired, dismantled, and rebuilt into the T-81. The Kodiak Tank was eventually built, using the Object 187 prototype as a blueprint, though with several modifications from the T-81, while its successor, the Sotnia Tank, was built with the cancelled Black Eagle prototype as a blueprint, though the latter had adopted the opposed piston engine and a 152 mm 2A83 smoothbore gun. However, the chassis from the dismantled T-80 tank would be preserved as a testbed for the future development of the successor to the Tunguska anti-aircraft tank and the Msta self-propelled artillery vehicle.




The completed T-00M Sotnia Tank was an amalgamation of the following prototype tanks: Object 640, Object 292, and Object 490. To date, the Sotnia Tank is the most advanced of the latest post-Cold War tanks, though after the fall of the Soviet Union, the new Russian government preferred to improve the nation's crumbling infrastructure, health care, economy and welfare of its citizens, meaning that military engineers had to approach the modernization from a fiscally frugal and conservative viewpoint. (OTL Picture of T-90M battle tank)

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REBEL GEORGIAN TROOPS SEIZE CONTROL OF SUKHUMI FROM PRO-SOVIET LOYALIST ABKHAZIAN MILITIA AND LOYALIST GEORGIAN SOLDIERS
The Sun
October 12, 1990


Sukhumi, (Breakaway) FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA – Approximately 5,400 rebel Georgian troops loyal to former Georgian Soviet Army general Igor Giorgadze have seized control of the tiny port city of Sukhumi from both the pro-Soviet loyalist Georgian soldiers and loyalist Abkhaz paramilitaries, in a surprise raid on the would-be breakaway Abkhaz province. This crucial territory, a part of the former Georgian SSR, witnessed the first pro-Soviet uprising among the Abkhaz population that was successfully put down by rebel Georgian troops before a faction of the Abkhaz population who joined the rebel Georgian troops began to attack the Abkhaz loyalist forces within Sukhumi. Led by Tengiz Kitovani, the rebel Georgian forces had also succeeded in taking control of the neighboring town of Gulripshi, to prevent the loyalist forces from reinforcing the city.


The first rebel victory of the emerging Second Russian Civil War in the Caucasian Theater did however, go to the rebel Georgian forces personally led by Giorgadze himself when he sent an addition 3,900 rebel troops to secure both Tskhinvali, in Georgian-controlled South Ossetia, and Nar, in the Russian-controlled North Ossetia, though the seizure of Nar was done with elements of the National Redemption Army and the newly formed anti-Soviet Justice Brigades. One of the most prominent anti-Soviet factions that joined the rebel side were the newly revived Don and Kuban Cossack paramilitary groups. Formerly known for their skills with the saber and horseback riding, the modern-day Cossacks have instead requisitioned old UAZ-469 off road military trucks and captured BMP-1s and BMP-2s for their military activities. Their role in the opening stages of the Caucasian Theater of the Second Russian Civil War was largely minor, mainly tasked with patrolling roads and villages, and served as reconnaissance teams for both the NLA and the Justice Brigades.


“The Cossacks had a grim reputation the last time they stepped on Georgian soil, but I am proud to say that they have made up for their past sins by helping us throw out the Soviet communist authorities from an independent Georgia,” comments Kitovani during a celebration feast with the Don and Kuban Cossacks at the North Ossetian town of Nar. “Now the real war begins with the liberation of the entire Caucasus region. From Circassia to Azerbaijan, the Caucasus shall be free from the communist regime.”



Tengiz Kitovani arrives at the outskirts of Tskhinvali alongside his troops as they secure the important Nar-Tskhinvali highway that goes through Roki Tunnel. The control of Roki Tunnel by the rebels have enabled Igor Giorgadze to strangle the Soviet loyalist forces mired in a brutal guerrilla warfare inside the breakaway Federal Republic of Georgia.
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ZAPORIZHIA REVOLTS AGAINST SOVIET REGIME WITH THE REBIRTH OF THE ZAPORIZHIAN COSSACKS AS PARAMILITARY UNIT
Ukrainski Visti*
November 14, 1990


Zalyvne, UKRAINIAN SSR – For the first time since the abolition of the Zaporizhian Sich, the Zaporizhian Cossacks are making a comeback to Ukraine, albeit as paramilitary units. Though the modern day Zaporizhian paramilitaries have known little of their ancestors’ traditions, 300 Kuban Cossacks from the Russian SFSR have arrived in southern Ukraine to help train the new Zaporizhian paramilitaries. Oleh Vitovych was appointed the paramilitary commander of the Zaporizhian paramilitary unit, and they have equipped themselves with captured Soviet weapons and vehicles taken from Ukrainian soldiers of the Red Army who deserted or defected to their side. In addition, the newly formed Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People’s Self Defense have also been formed in parts of Ukraine that have revolted against the Soviet government, often cooperating with the recently formed Justice Brigades, both within Ukraine and Russia, since they consist of descendants of former Red Army veterans who were sent to the gulags after being liberated from German POW camps by their ‘comrades’ within the Red Army.


“The time for Ukraine to become independent is now!” says Andriy Shkil, during a rally in Ivano-Frankivsk only three days after the Sverdlovsk Mutiny broke out. “We have suffered far too long under the Soviet jackboot and Muscovite imperialism! It is time for Ukraine to break out of the Russian Empire and to become a sovereign state once again!”


However, tensions between those who preferred total independence and those who are interested in a power sharing agreement with Alexander Lebed and the Russian Provisional Government are high, as skirmishes between the two Ukrainian groups are common. At the same time, General Viktor Lazarenko met with various Ukrainian politicians, most notable Leonid Kuchma, Leonid Kravchuk, and Mykola Azarov, in Kyiv, to discuss their potential role during the Second Russian Civil War, and the role of Ukraine in destroying the communist regime. Azarov had also proposed to send the Zaporizhian Cossack paramilitaries to Belarus to help the pro-independence Belarusian rebels to kick out their Soviet communist overlords.


“We could opt for total independence, or we can be the ones to resurrect the glory of Kyivan Rus’ by first uniting with our White Ruthenian neighbors in the north, in a future Union State between Ukraine, and Belarus. Then, we shall position ourselves as the potential saviors of the Muscovite-Novgorodian half of the former Kyivan Rus’,” Azarov says in front of a small group of supporters, just outside Kyiv. “The greatest revenge against the Muscovites would be for us to usurp their authority and make ourselves the real masters of Rus!”


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UNION STATE OF UKRAINE AND BELARUS FOUNDED IN CHERNOBYL, AZAROV CONFIRMED AS FIRST PRESIDENT, WITH MILINKEVICH AS FIRST PRIME MINISTER
Moscow Times
January 22, 1995


Chernobyl, UKRAINE – To the surprise of no one in the former Soviet Union, the proposal for the creation of a Union State between the Republics of Ukraine and Belarus have been established, with Mykola Azarov as the first President of the Union State, and Alyaksandr Milinkevich as its first Prime Minister. The formation of the Union State of Ukraine and Belarus is notable for taking place after the famous Battle of Chernobyl in the same day as the official foundation of the Union State, albeit two years ago, with little fanfare as Ukrainian and Belarusian nationalists have celebrated the foundation of the new union. To their surprise, the Russian Provisional Government recognized their merger, and in fact, Gennady Burbulis arrived in Chernobyl as a special delegate of the Russian Provisional Government, though officially he is the Acting President.


“The establishment of this Union State between our two countries is just a prelude to the restoration of the true glory of ancient Kyivan Rus’ and the political reformation that will soon take place,” Mykola Azarov says in front of delegates who arrived to witness the political merger. “Right now, we are building the foundation for the possible joint Ukrainian-Belarusian merger with Russia, in a new kind of federation that will serve our peoples well.”


The terms of the Union State treaty would cover mostly defense, but would also have a common parliament, currency, coat of arms, constitution, and legislature. Moreover, the capital of this Union State would be in Chernobyl, where the declaration was made. In addition, free movement between the citizens of Ukraine and Belarus would be guaranteed, as well as the right of residency and the right to study in each other’s schools. Moreover, the Union State would become the center of a radical currency reform, where the physical and intellectual value of a nation’s labour force would be where the new Union State’s currency, the Hrosh, would be pegged to. Although critics have complained that this would lead to the dissolution of the sovereignty of both Ukraine and Belarus, they agreed in the end that this is preferable to being swallowed by Russia.


“Do not forget that we still intend to have friendly relations with the Russian people, but we want to eventually absorb Russia on our terms. We are far more Westernized and modernized than our Russian cousins, so we would like to be the ones to truly modernize Russia along the Western European and North American system,” Alyaksandr Milinkevich said in front of reporters during a briefing in Minsk after arriving from Chernobyl. “It is still a long way from integration with Russia, but we will be the ones initiating the integration, not the Russians. Besides, President Burbulis is also open to the idea of an integration between our states, as he is only an Acting President until he is elected as its first Official President, or until myself or President Azarov becomes President through a referendum.”


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*Ukrainski Visti is TTL's version of Kyiv Post, but founded earlier in 1990.

True, though the naming of the rebel group might be tricky. Free Russian Army would sound a bit too ethnocentric, and the White Army would also be a propaganda disaster for the rebels as well. They could simply call themselves the Nationalists, but it might be too simple. Council of National Salvation might be confusing, as the initials would already be taken by Tadiar. Maybe the National Salvation Army might be a better option?

Don’t forget that the Baltic could also be another theater of conflict as well, so that might push the Baltic Russian population to come home as well. So technically, the entire former Soviet Union would become a war zone, although I could also throw in the fate of the Soviet nuclear arsenal as well.

EDIT: I finally changed the name from National Liberation Army to the National Redemption Army.