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Cybus1

Major Threat to Kazimir Line as Kyzyl Rises in Rebellion!

Just days after Andrei Bodin's 50,000-strong Voluntary Patriotic Legion was placed in command of the southern sector of the Kazimir Line, the Tuvan capital of Kyzyl has risen in open rebellion, threatening the integrity not just of the Kyzyl Sector, but of the whole Tsarist defensive. Kyzyl, a city with about 110,000 inhabitants, is only about 15% ethnically Russian, with nearly all of the remainder of the population belonging to the Tuvan ethnic group. Tuvans are a Turkic people who have historically been livestock-herding nomads with strong cultural ties to Central Asia. They have long practiced Buddhism, quite apart from the Orthodox majority in Lucija. Outside Kyzyl, settlements in Tuva Province have few if any Russian inhabitants and, in general, Tuvans use their original language as their first language. Like many ethnic and religious minorities in Lucija, the Tuvans had been marginalized by decades of policies aimed at cultural Russification, and effectively shut out of the political process by the centralization of law and justice decision-making in Saint Petersburg. Animosity has long built against the Winter Palace, which is nearly 2,500 miles away from Tuva.

The rebellion began in the early hours of the morning with a raid on the arsenal of the 55th Mountain Motor Rifle Brigade. The brigade, which is almost exclusively comprised of ethnic Tuvan conscripts, laid down their arms, with soldiers either ripping off their Tsarist uniforms or joining the rebels outright. Tuvan rebels quickly emptied the site of armored personnel carriers, light self-propelled guns, mortars, UAVs, and over 30 all-terrain infantry mobility vehicles. Soon after, mutinous Tuvan soldiers were able to enter Kyzyl Air Base and sabotage its main gate, allowing rebels to flow in and quickly overwhelm the Air Force servicemen asleep in their barracks. Mi-8 attack helicopters and An-26 transport aircraft are reported to have been seized. Police and National Guard units have made no effort to stop the rebels, and in some cases it appears false police broadcasts were used to distract Tsarist units and lead them away from key sites like the city's radio station, town hall, and main bridge across the Yenisey River, all of which were seized. The city of Kyzyl has effectively fallen into the hands of the Tuvan rebels.

The entire motion appears to have been intricately planned with the strong support of the local population, tens of thousands of whom have now taken up arms to defend their city. The Tuvan leader is a young, avowedly Communist medical student at the local university, Sayana Troyakova. She is named after the picturesque Sayan Mountains in the east of Tuva, where she grew up in a family which raised sheep. Just 23, Troyakova worked quickly to gather supporters to proclaim the 'Tuvan People's Republic', and broadcast her message outside the city.

In a radio broadcast around noon, Troyakova pledged absolute loyalty to the Free Lucijan Government, inviting General Baryshnikov to join up with her forces in Kyzyl, where he would enjoy 'a hero's welcome'. Subsequent broadcasts were directed at Tsarist volunteers spread out in the environs of the city, encouraging them to abandon their post and join the will of the people. Thousands of Tuvan villagers, some riding horses and reindeer, have begun streaming into Kyzyl to take up the call, carrying whatever weapons they could muster together. Tsarist flags have been torn down or have had their Romanov insignia crudely cut out, so that only the three horizontal bars of black, gold, and white remain.

Like most of the city's defenders, Bodin's legion is encamped to the northeast of Kyzyl, where they are in a better position to guard the city's approaches from advancing FLG regulars under General Baryshnikov. Consisting mainly of Cybusian and ethnic Russian volunteers, they have not been affected by the same attrition of local units. However, the small coterie of half a dozen JSR functionaries who had been sent to Kyzyl were reportedly captured at the radio station, and are being held in a secret location as hostages. Troyakova has signalled that she means no harm to Bodin or his men, and wants to minimize bloodshed as much as possible. Anticipating a quick movement south by Baryshnikov's veteran forces, she has demanded that Bodin pull his forces entirely out of Tuva, for which she can ensure their safe passage and the release of the JSR employees.