1996
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After several armed border clashes on the Ussuri River during the autumn and early winter President Yeltsin finally agrees to meet the Chinese delegation on 3 January. The talks go nowhere, and radical Chinese officers provoke ever more violent border incidents. In the coup d'état of 7 January, dubbed the "Cossack Christmas Coup," Yeltsin is forced into exile by a government undermined by nationalist reactionaries and military leaders. Interior Minister Zhirinovsky becomes the "interim" President. His first act is to use his presidential powers to dissolve the Duma, which had supported Yeltsin's government. Seeing events unfold, the Chinese test the waters and send a new delegation to the Kremlin immediately after the coup. A furious Zhirinovsky literally throws the Chinese out of the room, bellowing after them that they should be grateful that the Czar ever left them any piece of China to inhabit. Zhirinovsky and his minions, having long plotted to annex the former Soviet republics, are forced to put off his planned "consequences" for the CIS states as Chinese tank columns cross the Ussuri River. Instead of disciplining the CIS states the new Kremlin finds itself at war with a foreign power. Enraged at this "stab in the back," Zhirinovsky vows to wipe the Yellow Peril off the face of the map, to the smiling approval of the General Staff. In a rapid counter-offensive the forces of Mother Russia crush the Chinese advance forces with their massive firepower, crossing the Ussuri River and penetrating deep into the industrial region of norhern China.
With the exception of Armenia, all the CIS defence pact signatories announce that they will not support the illegal Russian government. As the Armenians have their hands full with the Azeris, the Russians are in effect alone in their war. Ukraine and Belarus, whose armies are the strongest in the CIS after Russia's, and who have opposed Moscow's hegemony from the start, declare Russia to be expelled from the CIS. All the CIS states except Armenia join in on the declaration, but no one declares war on Russia, fearing that the restless Russian minorities would drag them into civil war.
The Chinese surprise most military experts with their ability to mobilize their reserves and move them into the front. Although the Russians make significant territorial gains their casualties keep mounting and their advance slows. Soon large numbers of People's Militia units (local defence forces/guerrillas) begin to function in their rear areas, attacking bases and destroying supply columns. As the Russians are forced to move more and more frontline troops into counter-insurgency tasks, the offensive grinds to a halt.
With the arrival of spring the Chinese forces counter-attack. To the astonishment of all western military experts they succeed in encircling large numbers of Russian forces. Most Russian units are able to break out thanks to their better mobility and overwhelming firepower, but casualties are significant, and as spring advances the Russian front is crumbling.
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More to follow!
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